Farflung

Monday, November 21, 2011

European Tour 2012

March 29 @ Sinister Noise Club - Roma (ITA)

March 30 @ Circolo Valverde - Forlì (ITA)

March 31 @ United Club - Torino (ITA)

April 01 @ Le Kab de L'Usine - Geneva (CH)

April 02 @ Le Brin de Zinc - Valloire (FRA)

April 03 @ TBA

April 04 @ Gaswerk - Winterthur (CH)

April 05 @ TBA

April 06 @ Berlin-Red Rooster (GER)

April 07 @ TBA

April 08 @ Kapu -Linz (Austria)

April 09 @ Arena - Wien (Austria)

April 10 @ TBA

April 11 @ Jh de Mans - Meeuwen Gruitrode (BEL)

April 12 @ De Rots - Antwerp (TBC) (BEL)

April 13 @ ROADBURN Tilburg (NL)

April 14 @ Magazin 4 - Bruxelles (BEL)

We are pleased to announce that we will be playing Roadburn 2012

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Dosed.... Notes from the Underground

We are very proud to present as the next installment of Dosed

Our Sister in Space

Ego Sensation

of White Hills

http://www.egosensation.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ego-Sensation/280281758013

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ego-Sensation/280281758013#!/pages/WHITE-HILLS/90476409450

http://www.youtube.com/egosensation

House 1977

Directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi

A movie review by Ego Sensation

I have come to the poignant realization that "cheesy" is the short bridge between reality and fantasy: the space in the middle of the mundane and the otherworldly. I discovered this on my third viewing of House, a Japanese horror/fantasy film from 1977 directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi. It was a cold, late night in London when my friend Heather first introduced me to the film. "You're welcome", she said as my mouth dropped to the floor 30 seconds into the movie. And here's the deal: once the acid kicks in, it keeps giving for the entire 1 hour and 28 minutes.

House is my new favorite movie and I'll tell you why: I was entertained, transported out of reality and inspired for the entire duration of the film. From acid drenched sequences of a chandelier coming alive to seemingly non-sequitur musical interludes to innocent 70s photo-style dreamy effects, it's truly a psychedelic masterpiece.

The basic plot is as follows: seven schoolgirls, Gorgeous, Fantasy, Sweet, Prof, Mac, Melody and Kung Fu (played by young models the director had worked with on commercials), go to the country to spend their summer vacation with Gorgeous' wheelchair bound-auntie only to become terrorized by her haunted house. Forget about the storyline however as it is entirely auxiliary to the true genius of the film which lies in the direction, the artistry and the technique.

Obayashi’s direction turns what was meant to be a horror film created to compete with the popular American movie Jaws and elevates it to an artistic theatrical production. The acting in this film could be described as campy or over the top- completely playing to the back of the room. This lends perfectly to the film’s entire aesthetic- a complete suspension of disbelief narratively and visually. Simple blocking moves are used to create especially creepy dramatic effects. For instance, the seven girls gather in auntie’s piano room and simultaneously freeze as auntie appears to glide into the room in her wheelchair. It’s such a basic move yet so visually arresting. Sometimes he even takes them out of their supposed location to an altered fantasy space such as when they ride the train out to aunties and are transported into an open area against a moving painted backdrop mimicking their ride through the countryside.

The art direction on House infuses a playful candy land sensibility with a fantastical romanticism. First of all, the color is spectacular though black and white as well as muted tones are used additionally for certain themed effects. Several scenes use hyper-realistic painted backdrops of spectacular sunsets and landscapes. One particularly clever set appears in a scene at Gorgeous’ home. The action takes place on the balcony but is shot from the inside through a series of windowpanes that are filled with beveled glass. The result is simple and stunning: the camera drifts back and forth allowing the beveled glass to create a ghost-like doubling effect to the characters’ movements. The film is full of simple yet genius tricks like these that elevate its quality far beyond the plot or characters. Even simple elements such as scarves and flowing drapes are used to dramatic effect with the help of fans.

Special effects are used often and freely in this film without an ounce of self-consciousness. It’s kind of like an ice cream sundae with chocolate sauce, peanut butter, chocolate chips, fresh strawberries, raspberries, whipped cream, marzipan, and yummy thing after decadent treat. You might say, “That’s too much!” but why would you say that if you like sweets? To deprive yourself? Well, for the martyrs out there I’m going to suggest Bergman’s Persona (an amazing film I might add) but for the hedonists, check out the abundance of 70s photo filter effects, animation and split screens that House has to offer. In one scene, pieces of Gorgeous’ face break off revealing a fire underneath. What makes many of the effects so fantastic is that while we’ve become accustomed to the plethora of today’s digital possibilities, seeing work that was done most likely with an optical printer appears charming and somehow more authentic. The collection of techniques used in a scene where the piano devours Melody builds a beautiful surreal sequence in the space of a minute and a half.

I can’t finish this without mentioning the exceptional sound design. The music, by Mickie Yoshino and Asei Kobayashi, is alternately creepy and exuberant meeting the film’s needs perfectly. Sound effects are placed with brilliance to create eerie dimension to scenes. The editing is also choice: cleverly throwing the viewer off at all the right moments. Everyone that worked on this film deserves a round of applause in my opinion.

An interview with Obayashi and his daughter at the end of the film reveals that most of the ideas in the story were derived from her imagination as a ten-year-old child. House reads accordingly. It’s a trip to Coney Island without taking the train.

I was convinced I’d have trouble finding the film in the states as it seemed obscure to me but I was surprised to find it available on netflix. So there. Enjoy!

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Playlist: Henry Rollins' 5 Favorite Bands

Henry Rollins

Henry Rollins will sing for you no more. After a three-decade career fronting the pioneering L.A. punk band Black Flag and his own group, Rollins Band, he has chosen to hang up his mic and focus on his spoken-word career; he's currently on a world tour that circles back to the U.S. on March 17. Rollins, 50, is also a columnist for L.A. Weekly and has created documentaries for National Geographic.
"I rang that bell very hard, very frequently, with a great deal of urgency," he says of quitting his music career. But it's not like Rollins has given up on discovering new bands. He still gets his kicks as a DJ for L.A.'s KCRW-FM and says he buys at least one new CD every day. Rollins' tastes are far-reaching, from French cold wave and Nigerian funk to obscure American noise and psychedelic rock: "I'm looking for more of the arcane, the little bit rougher, or eclectic, esoteric, way out there."
We asked Rollins for five of his favorite recent discoveries. Check out his picks and stream their songs below.

OFF!
There's no bad blood between Rollins and Black Flag co-founder Keith Morris — who Rollins replaced as lead singer a few years after Morris quit in 1979 — and Rollins will always check his latest projects, including his new hardcore supergroup, featuring members of Redd Kross, Rocket From the Crypt, and Burning Brides. "He's one of my heroes and he's the boss, as far as I'm concerned," says Rollins. "I like Off!'s 'Upside Down' — it sounds like Black Flag's 'Nervous Breakdown.' I love it. Keith is real. He's got pedal-to-the-metal or he just doesn't do it. It's a hell of a thing to watch."

Off!, "Upside Down"

JOHN OLSON'S NOISE BANDS
Rollins has an almost unhealthy obsession with Olson — the leader of experimental noise bands Wolf Eyes and the Dead Machines and founder of the cassette label American Tapes, based out of East Lansing, MI. "The guy has over 1,000 releases on his label, and I have almost 700 of them," says Rollins. "I have a great deal of time for all of these noise terrorists — it's modern avant-meets-stoners in a basement.... If you watch [Wolf Eyes or the Dead Machines] gigs on YouTube, it's flannelled longhaired guys hunched over laptops playing with effects pedals as eight people watch with tallboys in their hand going, 'Oooooooh!,' in some freezing basement in Michigan or Ohio. It's so underground that it has to have integrity."

Wolf Eyes, "Village Oblivia"

FARFLUNG
Rollins digs the spacey psychedelic sounds of this obscure West Coast-based band, which reminds him of proto-progressive English groups like Hawkwind. "It sounds like a bunch of guys that grew up on [Hawkwind's] In Search of Space," says Rollins. "They have their own thing, but it's all echoed out. Right up my alley."

Farflung, "Endless Drifting Wreck"

GALLOWS
Rollins flipped for this British hardcore band after seeing them perform in Austin, TX, last summer: "They played their asses off. The whole band was melting like margarine onstage and they just went for it. Every gig should be like pulling a ping-pong ball through your urinary tract. It should just change you forever and it should really hurt. Gallows did that for me."

Gallows, "In the Belly of a Shark"

THE AMAZEMENTS
An unsigned independent trio out of Los Angeles who haven't been very active since setting up a MySpace page in 2009. Still, Rollins digs their noisy vibe. "I played them on the radio and they were stunned," he says. "That's a cool band."

The Amazements, "Steel Mill"