Joy Division Review

Last night I saw a screening of the new(ish) documentary on the seminal post-punk group Joy Division, aptly titled "Joy Division". I don't think I liked the editing or directing job on it--there were numerous uses of iTunes and iPods (not kidding) which sort of made the whole thing feel like a joke. The interviews were great, but not very insightful.

I think the best part of the movie was its effort to emulate the aesthetic and feel of 1970's Manchester. I think more than anything this treatment made me more receptive to Joy Division's sound, and also made me think a lot more about how certain political and social atmospheres can give rise to artistic movements like Joy Division.

I don't care much for the movie and can't recommend it to anyone but the most die-hard Joy Division fans, but I can recommend the music itself--there's no better way to learn about this timeless band than doing that.

New in Music: Beach House

Beach House has captured possession of my earphones for the past few days. They're a great two-piece from Baltimore that draws a lot of comparisons to the French two-piece Air, due to their first single, "Gila". Their austere, playful sound does indeed evoke the two Frenchmen (whose music also enjoys a prominent position in my library). However I think they sound a lot more like more dark, gloomy bands as the Cocteau Twins and The Cure. I think what makes this band work so well is their successful combination of positive, curious harmonies of bands like High Places with darker, solitary melodies. For lack of better terminology, the best way I can describe their sound is "doleful sexy". Any further pontification on my part will probably do little else than diminish the talent and impressiveness of this band, so instead of reading any further (that means stop, now--no, now!) you should just go check out their website (linked above) or their myspace.