A few months back, I heard about a really bizarre movie coming out involving toys, stop-motion animation, and subtitles. It was called A Town Called Panic (2009), and once I saw the preview, I nearly lost my shit; if I didn’t go see that movie, I didn’t know what was right in the world. However, seeing as it is foreign and strange, I knew that normal “mainstream” theaters (like the VRC Regal) would not shine the light of day on this strange creature.
Fast-forward about three months to Patterson and 13th, on a normal Thursday afternoon. The sun was shining outside, but I made the choice to leave the sunny lawn in front of the EMU to embark in one of the most bizarre hour and twenty-five minutes of my life. I gave up sunshine for a chance to see A Town Called Panic at the Bijou Theater.
Here’s a loose plotline: Based off of an older kids “TV show” (I say this in quotes because it wasn’t exactly a full show, but rather a group of small clips), A Town Called Panic follows the lives of Cowboy (played by a gumball-machine cowboy figurine), Indian (an Indian figurine) and Horse (a horse figurine) as they live in this insane town. In the movie, Cowboy and Indian decide to build Horse a barbeque for his birthday, but instead of ordering the 50 bricks they need to build it, they accidentally order 50,000,000. Even though the party goes well, the bricks destroy the house and (practically) the rest of town. Horse, pissed about the whole event, gets Cowboy and Indian to rebuild their beloved house only to find that, after they fall asleep every night, weird water creatures are stealing their walls. So the rest of the movie is spent trying to get their walls back from the insane water creatures. Yes, this is the plotline. No, I’m not insane.
Annnnd here’s the preview:
Now I know you’re probably thinking I’m crazy for spending my time to see this movie, but to be completely honest: this was the best movie I’ve seen the whole year! It’s ridiculous, it’s nut-job insane, and it’s fantastic!
But I’ve been thinking… Stop-motion animation is really beginning to turn around again: late last year we had Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), the classic story book retold by indie movie god Wes Anderson, and shows like “Robot Chicken” (on late at night on [adult swim]) are becoming more and more popular.
However, people tend to take this style of animation as a crazy person’s nightmares. And in a way that’s true. I mean, there are COUNTLESS numbers of terrifying claymations that just irk you in a creeptastic way.
When I hear people say this, however, I like to remind them of all the TV shows they enjoyed when they were kids. After all, back in the 90s, stop-motion animation was in practically every popular cartoon!
So, with this, I’d like to count down to my TOP FIVE favorite stop-motion animated kids’ shows! NOW WITH CLIPS!!
“Nancy! Come quick. There’s trouble on the University of Oregon campus!” Noah exclaimed. His brow was furrowed, he looked concerned.
“Oh my goodness!” Nancy yelped.
“I biked all the way back to the Campbell Club after leaving the Dance-Off just to tell you about it, since you’re such a super mystery-solver,” added Scot, Editor-in-Chief of the Oregon Voice. He was exasperated.
Nancy Drew’s blue eyes twinkled. “Tell me the details!” she urged them.
The two boys explained to Nancy that there had been a Dance-Off between the Oregon Voice and Ethos Magazine that night. On his way home after celebrating a glorious victory, Noah had come to find that the Voice distribution box near the library had been broken.
“It was fully intact when I left work at the library this afternoon,” Scot related.
“Let’s not be hasty,” Nancy insisted. “After all, while it seems we have an idea of exactly the kind of person who would do such a thing, we can never be sure.”
The boys agreed. Alas, Nancy had another case to solve, and she would not rest until she brought the culprits to justice.
Until the next chapter… I leave you all with this image of a very sad Noah the next morning when we scoped the scene in the daylight…
Andre Nickatina, formerly known as Dre Dog, brought some Bay Area rap to WOW Hall on Friday April 16th. The after party was held at the strip club that Nickatina himself just opened in our very own Springfield. They announced this before Nickatina came out while throwing dollar bills out into the audience; it was classy. The audience was similar to a frat party, a lot of drunk grinding, but Andre Nickatina was on his game. I had been nervous because I heard that you either get a really good show or a really bad show from Nickatina, depending on how drugged out he is prior to his performance. Luckily I got a good one, so either he took it easy this time or he’s just mastered the art of rapping while under the influence.
He played Conversation with the Devil early on which was a relief, because it’s one of his best songs. Killa Whale was a hit as the whale calls echoed through the room. He also did Dice of Life (Cuz all my homies love the bottle, like Tyson loves Cus D’amatooo) which is great mainly because it’s over an Irish, medieval melody created by what sounds like a mandolin. He had the crowd enthusiastically spell C-O-C-A-I-N-E (several times) prior to “ayo for yayo, walk around with yayo, all in my nasal, I must have been craze yo”. Around the middle of the show he yelled to the smokey audience, “Let’s give it up for drugs and alcohol, without them I wouldn’t be here today.” I think we all can learn something from this San Franciscan Pisces’ lyrics: “So on the days you feelin’ real bad, think of the best week that you’ve ever had.”
Portugal. The Man is playing WOW Hall tonight with Hello Electric. Doors open at 7:30, music starts at 8. The band shares the hometown of Wasilla, Alaska with Sarah Palin, but relocated to Portland, Oregon. (I wonder why…) They play bluesy, folk, indie rock that sometimes is a little psychedelic. Basically they got it all covered. Some of their popular albums include Censored Colors and The Satanic Satanist. There newest album was released March 2nd this year and is called American Ghetto. You need to listen to the music to really get it, so I’m just going to leave you with this…
All the low is still low
And all the high still get high
How I wish we could dance
Beach House is the moniker for the duo of Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally, who play keyboard and guitar, respectively, in addition to their touring drummer and drum machine. After the extensive touring for their second full length Devotion in 2008 and 2009, the duo began working on a new record, at a new record label: Sub Pop. This along with the addition of flashy- among indie music nerds- producer/engineer Chris Coady led to their most distinct, ambitious and all around awesome album to date, Teen Dream, which was released in late January (but let’s be honest, if you’re taking the time to read this review you probably had a leaked copy ahead of time, too). The last time I saw Beach House, at the Sasquatch Music Festival in 2009, they stopped mid song, multiple times, due to technical difficulties with their sound monitors. It left me with the understanding that from that point forward, they would have to be a band which I appreciated for their recording abilities, and that they couldn’t bring the same qualities to a live show. Yet, on Saturday night I was tucked into bed with a couple hundred other audience members at the Doug Fir by the sonic blanket that they quilted for us.
Walk in the Park opened the set, for a still skeptical me, and by the time the tremolo picking of the chorus hit, combined with Legrand’s lyric, “In a matter of time / It would slip from my mind,” I was captivated, all my cares forgotten, swaying and head bobbing with my glass of red wine like a love struck buffoon. Lo and behold, they had figured out their monitor issues in the past 11 months and sounded absolutely stunning. The composition of their songs are simplistic, but Legrand brings the gravity of her voice, and mystical, love lorn lyrics to give the songs power. Also, I have never seen someone dance so well with a keyboard. Decked out in a Miami Vice looking white blazer, crewneck t-shirt combo she head banged (yes, she head banged to dream pop) her auburn locks, while maintaining a totally sexy demeanor, making me once again envious of French women. They moved onto mainly singles from their previous two albums: Gila, Heart of Chambers, and Apple Orchard. But the main focus was on the more lush, fully realized songs from Teen Dream. I often judge songs, and live sets, on whether or not they take you for a ride, to a place where you lose yourself in four, or forty-five, minutes of bliss through a build in energy. Used to Be, a single which they released in 2008 and appears on Teen Dream, opens with a steady, canned drum beat and a piano chord, and ends in a beautiful, breathy single chord, accomplishing the aforementioned task somewhere in the subdued yet cacophonous middle. Then, there are the songs like Lover of Mine and Zebra which open with a defined rhythm, for Beach House, and get a toe tap or two out of the sea of pretty Portlanders I found myself lost in.
I play a game with myself before every live show I see: I try to guess what they will close with. This time, I won! 10 Mile Stereo is one of the strongest tracks from Teen Dream with a steady guitar line that drives the song, challenging Legrand’s voice, and when performed she and Scally seem to be playfully flirting for the audience through their instruments, a direct juxtaposition of the sweeping cinematic quality of the song itself. The musical duo seemed genuinely excited to play for their audience, and conveyed it through their attention to details, passion, and quality, and if I could I would buy us a round of drinks and we could sway together as the end of Take Care fades out. But instead I will most likely just keep attending their concerts, and wishing they played in Oregon more often.
Tonight, the McDonald Theater welcomes Austin, Texas based band SPOON, playing at 8:00pm with special guest Explode Into Colors. Spoon has been playing their indie hits since 1993, but really broke into the spotlight with their 2002 album Kill The Moonlight (which saw one of their songs gain popularity through the popular teen-drama “The O.C.”). Since then, their songs have been featured in tv shows and movies alike for the past 5 years. More recently, the song “The Underdog” has been used in movies like Cloverfield, 17 Again, and I Love You, Man.
Their style is funky fresh, and they have almost a British-feel to their music that speaks to the indie crowds. If you’re in the area and wanna check out some awesomeness, stop by the McDonald Theater to check out Spoon. At least I know I’ll be there!
I walked into WOW hall during Bambu’s set. He had a smaller crowd because it was still early and he was wearing a Jason Mraz fedora, but other than that he was good. He dropped one of his songs over the beat of Hip Hop by Dead Prez that managed to get the crowd going.
By the time Macklemore came on the crowd had gotten much bigger. He put on a really good show, that included some acapella rapping about nikes and being an original. Sounds a little cliché, but the crowd was into it. For the last song he ran off stage and came back on with a wig and a british accent, at least I’m ninety percent sure that’s what happened. He started saying that he came all the way over from Great Britain to start a dance party, and he heard that in Eugene we liked to….dance. The crowd yelled back in response, although I’m sure they would have had the same reaction to anything else. Overall the performance was good quality and creative. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ new album is available for free online because as he put it, they are “hella nice.”
The Blue Scholars finally came on, the hall was for the most part packed with a large number of guys, but a good number of girls too (both groups with the “You Go Girl!” stamps that they got on their wrists at the door). They had great stage presence. For one song they managed to bring up about thirty girls, and a few eager guys, onto the stage. Their playlist included The Ave, 50 Thousand Deep, some of their newer material like Paul Valery (which samples the song Fireflies by Owl City), and some even newer material that they are working on for a new album. Their encore consisted of North by Northwest being sung by not only the Blue Scholars, but Macklemore and Bambu as well. Along with some crowd surfing by a couple of the rappers themselves.
I think the audience in general felt a personal connection with the Blue Scholars and Macklemore that helped make the show. They are Northwest hip hop, they live and rap about the Northwest, and we ARE the Northwest. It also helps that they are singing about something more than a girl with a nice ass, not that I’m saying that doesn’t make a good song too. Finally there is simply something about a hip hop concert in general where each person is moving in unison to the beat allowing the crowd to almost pulse as one unit to the music. Thirteen bucks was more than worth the experience.
Last Monday, Stephen, Megan and I journeyed up to Portland to catch a screening of Animal Collective’s visual album, ODDSAC. After the show, band members Avey Tare and Deakin said what’s up to us… Ch-ch-ch-check it out.
After their performance with Built to Spill and Disco Doom at the WOW Hall back in November, our friends Finn Riggins took the time to say hello to us from the depths of the women’s bathroom. Why? We don’t know… it just made sense at the time.
Oregon Voice Magazine is paid for and produced by students at the University of Oregon. Our weekly meeting is on Wednesday at 6pm in Century Room E. Contributors are welcome.
