The Song

Reader, we are through. No, no, not with you, you're fine, we love you. You're great. What we're through with is work. I mean it. We've been toiling away all summer, with the minor of exception of that beach trip to Fort Tilden we took. Oh, or that crazy Indian wedding. Oh, and that trip up to that music festival upstate. And those other trips to Fort Tilden and then Rockaway. Other than that—toiling away! All! Summer!

So we're out of here, south-bound toward slower times and easier ways, in full hopes that the southern drawl I hated as a kid creeps its way back into my vernacular. 

But oh the dilemma, Reader—what do we leave you with by way of sweet tunes? We've been a bit too much on the new-80's tip of late, methinks, so nothing along those lines. Nothing that you're going to get sick of like a indie-pop equivalent of "Call Me Maybe" (tell the truth—it's already stuck in your head isn't it?). Dungeons + Dragons themed death metal? Tempting, but not really our style. The metal part, I mean.

No, instead, being the studious, responsible planers that we are, we're leaving you with a bit of a slow-burner to last you the couple weeks we'll be away. 

I first heard Cate Le Bon over at the now regretably-defunct music blog, Naive Harmonies (our good friend, Reid, who ran the blog and whose musical taste is impeccable is still doing the occasional post over at tuneMine—you should check it out). The occasion was the debut of her second full-length, Cyrk, and, at the time, I was mildly impressed but not blown away. Seemingly really nice song-writing—slow, deliberate music with beautiful but near-deadpan vocals—but I just wasn't hooked immediately.

This week's Song, "What Is Worse," from Le Bon's follow-up to Cyrk, an EP called Cyrk II (no idea where the name came from), had a similar effect on me at first. But the more I heard it, the more I wanted to hear it. It's simple, rough, jerky guitar is impossible to sidestep—much like Le Bon's voice—and the flat presentation of the verse, reminiscent of the Velvet Underground + Nico, pitches the higher vocals of the chorus into sharp relief, giving the song a surprising degree of depth. Overall, really, really nice dark-ish, folksy rock with a UK twist.

Le Bon originally hails from from Whales and still makes it her home, often singing songs in Welsh, which is clearly awesome and gives her some solid 'Keeping It Real' points. She also seems to be a bit off as compared to your average folk-rock-type, explaining her uncharacteristically macabre lyrical content to the BBC: "Early experiences with a string of pet deaths had a profound lasting effect on me. I have an abnormal fixation with death." We're not sure if that's creepy or endearing...or both, but we like what she's doing with her music, at least.

Give it a listen. And then another. See if it grows on you like it did me. If it does, grab the EP, out tomorrow in the states via The Control Group. You can also check out her playing the All Souls Church Organ version of "The Man I Wanted" below.

Peace out!    

Note: Music posted to this site is kept online for a limited period of time out of fairness to the artists and, you know, our server. So if this is now an older post, the links may well be dead.

The Find

Reader, you know how Hollywood and the larger/smaller film world that, for most people, is encompassed by the vague term of 'Hollywood' has the tendency to put out films with very similar premises at roughly the same time? I know, I know—I'm trying to get better about run-on sentences, but you know. Meh. But, for instance, say there are two end-of-the-world disaster movies coming out at the same time—which there are, like, every other week—or two romantic comedies where friends decide to sleep together against their better judgement or two movies that are totally both about Snow White for some reason. Here, I even just found a Wikipedia page about it, so you know it's true/made up by someone with way too much time on their hands.

Case in point, last year, I read some really positive press on a small-time, low-budget film being made about a crazy planet that suddenly appears in the night sky and gets closer and closer to Earth, understandably freaking everybody out and particularly affecting the life of the main character, a young blonde woman. Though I didn't get a chance to catch the movie while it was in theatres, I made a mental note to Netflix it when it made it to DVD.

Recently I followed up on that promise to myself and made sure to put Melancholia—staring Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and (oddly) Keifer Sutherland—into our queue. 

Actors from Melancholia, being über-dramatic.

130 sleepy minutes later, I walked away from the movie a bit perplexed—though the the film was visually engaging, starting off with a prolonged, glacially paced, dreamlike sequence of silent scenes with booming music overlaid, the whole thing struck me as artistic in a forced way, not at all engaging, devoid of a compelling narrative or characters you cared at all about, and really, really slow. And not in a cool 'new-slow' movie way. 

Katie agreed. Her review—a near-immediate deep sleep.

Cut to (I know, we're such movie-makers lately) me browsing our queue a few weeks later and, among the recommended releases (nice work, Netflix), finding one I recognized right away—Another Earth, the real highly recommended movie about a fair-haired white lady whose life becomes inexorably intertwined in the fate of a planet moving closer and closer to the Earth. You know. The other one of those that happened to get made that year.

Compared to Melancholia, Another Earth is wildly compelling, wonderfully acted (by lead actor + co-writer, Brit Marling + former Lost 'Other,' William Mapother), also beautiful in a much less 'look at how beautiful this is' way, and even starts off in a jarringly explosive manner as compared to Melancholia's wordless molasses dream sequence intro. I will give this to them though—Melancholia does have an awesomely designed Web site, somewhat technically reminiscent of another we wrote up last month.

All that is to say—go rent this crazy drama about bizarre planetary discoveries and interpersonal relationships, not that one. Unless you're just looking to catch up on your sleep or get a glimpse of Kirsten Dunst's tatas + hoohaw, in which case, have at it!

Below, stills from Another Earth.

The Song

Reader, as you've likely picked up by now, we're a fairly schizophrenic blog. I'm not saying our blog is going to hug you and then stab you with a knife, I'm more saying we're kinda all over the place—one day, a post on a band we like; one day, a recipe we think's 'pretty rad'; another day, something on a movie.

To wit, we're often emailing a variety of people, from band members or other music industry types to authors and restauranteurs. Recently, it's come to my attention that my email address seems to have inadvertently been added to the employee list of one restauranteur who shall remain nameless so as to avoid any e-embarassment. So I started getting emails about cleaning out the staff fridge more diligently and summer holiday hours and when the health department might be stopping by. Until now, though, I've avoided the temptation to write back to say, 'Hey, I don't actually work there and I think you might have put me on these emails by accident,' thinking they'd eventually figure out and, again, to avoid any undue embarrassment.

Today, however, I received yet another email of this ilk, but this one included an attachment entitled 'SCHEDULE.' Just out of curiosity, I opened up the attachment, and, lo and behold, I'm totally scheduled to work while I'm on vacation. 

So the question, Reader, is—what's the etiquette here. Do I just not show up, which seems rude and, frankly, isn't very 'me,' you know? But there's not quite time to give two weeks notice, which I'm guessing is still industry standard (it's been a while since I've been in that kind of environment). So that's out. Do you think I can get someone to cover my shift? I mean, I didn't even know I worked there, so that should garner some sympathy with the co-workers I didn't even know I had. Or do I just need to bite the bullet, cancel vacation, and hope that this just ends up being the turning of a fated new page in my life? 

Well, worst case scenario, at least I'll have the sweet, island-y, early-80s-inspired tunes of St. Lucia to keep me in that vacation state of mind, even as Katie's frolicking through the waves without me. The solo endeavor of Jean-Philip Grobler of Brooklyn (by way of Johannesberg...I think there's a Chunnel), St. Lucia pretty unabashedly lifts some solid pop strategy from the 1980's game book here, but his song-writing skills are just good enough to make it work. And his spattering of more modern electronic riffs and smooth, clean, choir-trained vocals go a long way to give his music an air of easy enjoyability.

Listen to this week's Song, St. Lucia's superb "All Eyes on You" from Grobler's debut, self-titled EP, which you can stream fully below, purchase via the iTunes, and order on 10" vinyl via Neon Gold. You can also check out St. Lucia's video for another great, groove-heavy EP track, "Before the Dive" below.

And yes—there are sax solos. Embrace them. They are warm, like love or those crescent rolls in the commercials.    

Note: Music posted to this site is kept online for a limited period of time out of fairness to the artists and, you know, our server. So if this is now an older post, the links may well be dead.

On My Block Interview no. 4—Melissa Caruso Scott

Our final neighbor interview for On My Block Films is with Melissa Caruso Scott, AKA, the dumpster-diving, Lean-Cuisine-eating, TV-watching woman from the the short film we made. In real life, Melissa's days are filled with much more enjoyable activities such as authoring children's books and setting up both play-dates and local musician showcases. And I'm guessing her diet's a good deal better too. 

Read on to find out what it was like to run a music venue in the Lower East Side in the 90's and aughts, why Val Kilmer walked out of a port-a-potty in the middle of said venue once, and how supervising music in a short film can prove to be more challenging than you may think.

Kindness of Ravens: So, what made you get involved with On My Block Films in the first place? Was Ryan just constantly knocking on your door, guilting you all into doing it?

Melissa Caruso Scott:  When I saw the flyer for OMB in my mailbox I noticed it was from my upstairs neighbor Ryan. He and his wife, Erin, seemed pretty cool and the project sounded intriguing so I decided to email him before incessant knocking ensued. 

KoR: Did you know anyone from the group before we started doing the film?

MCS: Aside from Ryan and his wife Erin, Michael, another neighbor from the building was in the film. I didn't know anyone else. I really didn’t know anyone on the block. 

KoR: Yeah, we didn’t really either. So crazy. Going into it, did you have a particular role in mind or anything specifically you wanted to get out of it? My guess is a parent of two boys doesn't have a ton of free time, so....

MCS: Yeah, free time is tight these days, although I do have a lot of play time! I’ve always been fascinated with how music in TV and films so greatly affects mood. My five-year-old can distinguish when the show he is watching isn’t actually scary and it’s the music that’s making him freak out. It’s such a powerful tool. Wielding such power carries great responsibility! Figuring out what mood we wanted to emote and when and where to add music to our footage was harder than I thought it would be, especially with the limited time frame.

The whole process was so rewarding that I’ve been inspired to work on a 4-page script for another OMB. If you're reading neighbors, (Union between Henry + Clinton) please collaborate with me!

KoR: Ooh? What's the rough premise? Or can you tell us?

MCS: Two brothers get inspiration from an afternoon on their block that sparks something epic.

KoR: I feel like I can even picture the two brothers…. What surprised you about the process or the film in the end?

MCS: I didn't realize the film would be so professional looking. It really came together beautifully. Everyone took their roles seriously and worked really hard. You might think you know and understand the filmmaking process but actually making one and seeing first hand how all aspects come together was really awesome.

KoR: And I'm guessing your role as musical supervisor was born from your love of music and background as owner of the old Lower East Side music venue, Tonic. When did you open Tonic and what compelled you to open a club in New York?

Tonic, on the Lower East Side. Photo by Michael Falco

MCS: No, really it came from being so good at “Name That Tune.” Hah. Before we opened Tonic, back in 1995, my husband and I opened alt.coffee, one of New York’s first internet cafes. We had a Monday night music series there and after awhile wanted a bigger venue. We saw this space with old wine casks and great acoustics in the unchartered territory of the Lower East Side and thought it would be great to have music there.

KoR: That’s awesome. In that period of time, you must have seen the neighborhood change really drastically. What's your thought on how things have changed there and in other similar NYC neighborhoods?

MCS: I grew up on the Lower East Side, a few blocks away from where we opened Tonic. As a kid, there was scarcely a cafe in the neighborhood and my high school friends couldn’t find my street on a map. I never imagined I would open a music club there.

We took over the old Kedem Kosher winery space, which had moved to New Jersey. For the first few years around Passover, a handful of orthodox Jews poked their heads in looking to buy wine.

I’m a bit nostalgic for the old Lower East Side when there were, among other family businesses, big old kosher wineries that could afford the rent (they were long gone before Tonic moved in!). I don’t like seeing big box stores replace mom + pop shops and somehow that lack of grit translates to a lack of character. BUT, there were long stretches of Lower East Side blocks that I was afraid to walk down as a kid. There were empty parking lots with barking dogs. The Essex Street Market wasn’t the beautiful food Mecca it is today and now there’s a cute little cafe around the corner from my mom’s apartment.

KoR: Any quick, crazy Tonic stories you can share?

MCS: So many outrageous and awesome things happened at Tonic, I don't know where to begin. The downtown music fans went crazy when John Zorn, while playing sax, climbed onto the shoulders of Milfred Graves as he was drumming. It was also bananas having a port-a-potty in the middle of our lobby (long story) and seeing Val Kilmer walk out of it. Hmm…Cecil Taylor refusing to play the 6-foot piano we got for him because he wanted a 7-footer while an audience of 300 waited outside was crazy.

Having Devendra Banhart, Regina Spektor, and a few others like them play to a room of 25 early in their careers was pretty special.

KoR: Wait, Val Kilmer walked out of a port-a-potty in the middle of Tonic…? I have to ask…what was that about?

MCS: Ugh, our building was not without its many problems. One was a broken sewer line that disabled all our bathrooms for a week. Our insane and only solution was to bring in port-a-potties. Val Kilmer was there to see Yoko Ono perform on her birthday with Sean Lennon and Vincent Gallo.

KoR: That is nuts. For so many reasons. Do you all ever talk about opening another venue or is all of that pretty much in the past for you two? What else are you up to now?

MCS: I wouldn’t rule it out. It was such a rewarding experience. I still try to put on a few concerts a year. I also work with musicians who make cool music for kids and I have a blog called Super Sonic Kids which is a music resource for parents (it’s not all “Wheels on the Bus” these days).

Also, keep an eye out for a little board book series I'm working on set to launch in October called Les Petits Fairytales.

If the circumstances were right though, I wouldn’t be able to resist (opening another venue) and the next one would certainly be better, stronger and faster.

KoR: Awesome. Alright, lightning round—Totem animal?

MCS: Puma.

KoR: Superb. Best thing about having kids in New York?

MCS: There are so many unique opportunities and experiences to have here. I got to take my 5-year-old to the amazing dress rehearsal of the New York Philharmonic performance at the New York Armory (directed by Michael Counts). The next week he and his brother checked at 400-year-old armor and space rocks. They also got to be in a fab film without leaving our block.

KoR: I’ve heard of this fab film…. Worst thing about having kids in New York?

MCS: Getting around can be tough.

KoR: Noted. Band you can't stop listening to lately?

MCS: If the kids are around—New Raspberry Bandits which was started by Vanessa Saft and her husband Jamie Saft, who was a regular performer at Tonic (for grown-ups). If you know some kids, I highly recommend their folksy, rockin’ CD, Big Trucks and Little Birds.

KoR: Favorite spot in Carroll Gardens?

MCS: The library, especially when both kids are sitting quietly looking at books.

CG Library back in the 50's.

KoR: Yeah, I don't know if anyone will catch that the Carroll Gardens Library made the end credits with that historic shot. Any idea when that's opening back up?

MCS: The official word is that the library has closed for repairs to the roof and will re-open at the end of the summer. Staff at the library have said that, in addition to the roof, expect the lovely library staff to be replaced by a scanner machine. These self check-outs have already replaced personnel at the Brooklyn Heights library and it is a major bummer. I'd also be surprised if they were open by September.

KoR: What? That’s insane. Robots can’t recommend books or shush me! Favorite tattoo, either real or theoretical?

MCS: An alt.coffee regular was married to a beautiful, Japanese comedian. He had this very detailed, colorful, tattoo portrait of her with crossed eyes, tongue out, crazy hair.

KoR: Finally, most rewarding thing about being involved with On My Block Films?

MCS: Finding out that I have some awesome cool neighbors for sure!

KoR: Totally agree! High five!

Find out more about Tonic's history and sign up for their newsletter on their site, order Melissa's soon-to-be-realeased children's book (this fall) here, check out her kids' music blog, Super Sonic Kids, and catch her depiction of a slightly sad TV enthusiast in Free Camera here or over at the On My Block Films site. While you're over at OMB, sign up to make a movie with your own neighbors, why don't you? We highly recommend it. Finally, thanks to all of our neighbors for agreeing to be interviewed! See you on the block!