The Weekly Recommendations

We here at Indie Schmarm feel it is our duty to not only report the news, but now to also give a weekly recommendation of things that we feel are deemed worthy of our attention. We’ve decided to bring out the big guns and encompass multiple categories such as books, film, T.V., food, and of course music.

This last week’s Indie Schmarm recommendations:

Dan Tana

The Music:

Billy Joel - Songs In the Attic

I picked this tasty treat at a Goodwill about 2 months ago, and since then it has treated me quite nicely. For those completely out of the loop, shopping for vinyl at Goodwill stores is nearly the only way to go to shop for vinyl. Of course, if you want the rare shit you’d probably have to go to the smaller/perhaps bigger stores with cred, or sift through any sorta flea market. I however have built most of my vinyl collection from Goodwill stores.

During the early 70’s Billy Joel and his band did extensive touring, 9 months a year from 1971 to 1976 to be exact. During that time, the only records that achieved any significant recognition were “Piano Man” and “Captain Jack”. After years of touring with his own band, they decided to record their live performances. In 1980 they taped 15 shows, which included older and newer material. They collected 11 songs from these 15 shows and put together Songs in the Attic. They did this to capture the live energetic feeling of the songs, which any musician can tell you can be difficult to duplicate in the studio, rather than just make another record that might lack in energy. I must say they did capture the energy of the shows in these songs. It does come through in the recordings, and the recording quality actually turned out good as well. Of course, it IS Billy Joel, so even without the live aspect it still most likely would have delivered. So do yourself a favor and deliver to yourself a copy of Songs in the Attic.

Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?

Kevin Barnes toured with Neutral Milk Hotel. He wins. He can do whatever he wants. Wear a dress on stage? Yes Kevin, please do. Get on a giant ladder, dress yourself in a huge cape and wear some sorta weird fruit headpiece? Well, be my guest. Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? is a great follow up to The Sunlandic Twins complete with all the same ticks and charm. He of course once again recorded 90% percent of the record himself, which of course would allow him to get naked on stage if he wanted to…oh wait, he already did.
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The Movie:

Safe Men

This movie came out in 1998 featuring Sam Rockwell, Steve Zahn, Josh Pias, Marc Ruffalo, and Paul Giamatti. My friend gave this to me a few weeks back and said it was the funniest movie he’s ever seen. Naturally, I went into it with high hopes, and I must say it didn’t let down. I thought it was pretty well made and had me laughing a few times, but I don’t know about the funniest movie ever. The story is pretty goofy and the performances and characters are done well to fit the story. It has the sorta sketch comedy vibe about it, and I’m sure most of it was improv-ed. Go ahead, rent it, love it and perhaps cuddle with it for a night and see how it works out for you.
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The TV Show:

24

Do I need to say more?
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Torquil Crossingham

The Music:

Elvis Costello and the Attractions - Get Happy!!

Amphetamines + soul and r&b + Declan MacManus at the height of his affection for self-parodying turns of turns of phrase = HOLY FUCK! Dude is out and about, smothering his blues with a pocket-pharmacy and a forced party and, while the experience ain’t pretty, it sounds beautiful. As with most of the pure gold this lad churned out in the 70’s and 80’s, you should be able to find this record used on vinyl for about $3. Make it happen.
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The YouTube:

Clone High USA

When this little engine that apparently couldn’t was terminated after just one season I feared I would never see it again and I thought my poor little heart had taken all it could. I went on a quest for answers. I sent out private investigators, I had Chloe Sullivan question her contact at Viacom, I trekked through the Himalayas with my Sherpa, Carl…finally I found out that some people had apparently made a kerfuffle about the show’s portrayal of a shoddily-cloned teenage Ghandi. Then MTV, being the humorless, fearful, shivering vagina that they collectively are, canceled the show. I had just about finished assembling a task force to handle the problem when somebody invented YouTube.
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The Beverage:

Trader Joe’s Irish Breakfast Tea:

Accompanied by an impressionistic sketch of a Celtic harp and a painting of Ye Olde Irish Maze of a Thousand Stones, there’s no way Trader O’Callahan was going to miss with these lil’ bags o’ joy. Just steep for 3 to 5 and allow yourself to be transported to a land of civil war, famine and wrap-around bug-eye glasses.
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The Internets:

eMusic.com

If you’re poor but have a vague moral aversion to KaZaa here’s what you do:
These dude-bros have a free trial period with 25 free downloads. The selection’s a tad on the shitty side (No Rolling Stones? Really!?!?) but that might work to your advantage, forcing you to get some of those records at the end of your list that you’d otherwise lose interest in before committing to the purchase. Then you can unsubscribe before they charge your card, ’cause no one wants to live like that.