Rubin Recommends

Watch this beautiful footage of First Aid Kit performing for the site Yours Truly right here in San Francisco.

Here is the new video for Neighbors title track off their new EP Hooligans! You can view the video on Vimeo by going here. We released their record on Paper Brigade on June 22nd and I’m excited to post this video.

Filmed by Ethan Blum
Directed by Noah Stitelman
Post Production by Evan Johnson
Ghost is Sarah Grinberg

Upcoming Shows:
Jul 28 2010 8:00P Public Assembly Brooklyn, NY
Aug 18 2010 8:00P The Bell House Brooklyn

Available on iTunes and Amazon.
myspace.com/neighborsmusic
paperbrigade.bigcartel.com (Purchase Vinyl)
digital.paperbrigade.com (Bandcamp)

You should go grab the Baths record that came out today. Just watch him do his thing live over at Yours Truly.

(If they have a STAR by them, it means I’ve heard it and I like it. Album title links go to Amazon. If I miss any good releases, please add them in the comments.)

For all your MP3 needs purchase from iTunes or Amazon.

Baths: Cerulean [mp3 version] ******
Big Boi: Sir Lucious Left Foot… The Son of Chico Dusty [cd & dvd] [mp3] *
John Phillips: Many Mamas Many Papas
Juvenile: Beast Mode
Kathryn Williams: The Quickening [mp3]
Robert Pollard: Moses on a Snail
The Roots: How I Got Over [vinyl]

Way Yes is summer music. If iTunes is correct I’ve listened to this 6 song EP 33 times since I got it last Tuesday so I am very thankful Glenn Davis from Way Yes contacted me.

It ends up they are from Ohio, put on shows with Saineseneca and even members from Saintseneca have played in the band. I’m loving the Columbus, Ohio music scene.

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MP3 >> Way Yes – Joanna

Listen / Purchase it at http://wayyes.bandcamp.com.
Myspace: http://myspace.com/wayyeswayyes

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MP3 >> Neighbors – Hooligans

I’m very excited to announce the newest release on my label Paper Brigade by the Brooklyn, NY based band Neighbors with their Hooligans digital EP / vinyl release. It’s been awesome to get to work with Noah on it over the past few months. (side note: we met in photography school in 2001 and it’s unreal that I am now releasing a record by him.) So please check out the record. Share it with everyone you know.

Hooligans is available at iTunes and Amazon.
You can stream the entire EP over Bandcamp.
Order the record on beautiful White Vinyl (comes with an instant free MP3 version of the record) over at the Paper Brigade Store.

View Neighbors on Myspace.
Visit the Paper Brigade website to check out my other releases.
The layout was done by Cortney Cassidy.

(Part of the weekly Instant Gratification feature)

Mala Noche
Run time: 78 mins | Director: Gus Van Sant
Netflix categorization: Understated, Romantic, Gritty, Steamy, Dark, Cerebral
Watch now

“Mala Noche”…bad night….whatever language you use, it’s an apt title for Gus Van Sant’s first feature film, based on the autobiographical book of the same name by poet Walt Curtis.  Shot on 16mm in black-and-white for a scant budget of $25K, the film is literally full of darkness and shadows. Within minutes, the light (or lack thereof) becomes a character in itself—scantly present to illuminate other characters’ inadequacies, hidden to keep quiet their desires (and perhaps understanding of them). Not unlike Van Sant’s later work (Elephant, especially), Mala Noche falls into a somewhat plodding, methodical rhythm that is not always entirely soothing.

We learn early on that “Walt”, a homosexual convenience store clerk (shittiest store ever, BTW) in Portland, craves the attention and love of a young Mexican patron, Johnny. At first, Walt seems hell bent on earning the boy’s love. But after Johnny’s ambivalence (we wonder, is it intentional?) to Walt’s advances and attempts, he abandons this plan and tries to buy it: sucks for Walt though, since he can’t even manage to scrape together the $25 Johnny will charge for sex.  Ah, Plan B. Invite him over for…dinner? Yes, unorthodox, but perhaps it might just work! Johnny and his brother Roberto “Pepper” come by Walt’s where the former quickly falls under the charms of Walt’s sister, Betty (thanks, Betty).

Tapping into something utterly primal (and sad to witness out at bars), a rejected Walt decides to go after the next best thing, Pepper. After all, Pepper and Johnny are brothers. But after a dangerous run-in with the cops (like, getting shot and killed dangerous), Pepper cannot reciprocate the misplaced feelings Walt throws at him. When Betty decides to hit the road and become a stripper in Alaska (really), Walt is left on his own to sort out the meaning of love and lust after a very weird, bad night.

Purchase the Criterion Collection DVD of Mala Noche at Amazon.

(Part of the weekly Instant Gratification feature)

Run time: 86 mins | Director: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
Netflix categorization: Witty, Quirky, Goofy
Watch now at Netflix

What is Collinwood? Well, in the Russo brothers’ comedy, Welcome to Collinwood, I think a shithole filled with inept criminals would serve as an apt description. Set in a drab section of Cleveland, this caper satire follows an unassuming group of likely thieves (Sam Rockwell, William H. Macy, Isiah “I swear I don’t hate gay people” Washington, and Luis Guzman) come together, despite their mutual hatred of one another, for one last job: break into a jewelry store’s safe (classic, right?). It sounds formulaic enough to deserve its placement on the Watch Instant queue, but the film’s hilarious cast and excellent dialogue often make you forget about the heist entirely (not to mention several goofy, but fun, plot twists).

The Russos (who have also shared stints directing shows like Arrested Development and the more recent, Community) may have struck out with box office success with the film (it only grossed $75K in its opening weekend—for perspective, Kangaroo Jack grossed $16.6 mm), but the hapless straight performances of Macy and Rockwell play well against the unadulterated comedic rage of Guzman. Even George Clooney makes a cameo (and a good one at that) as a retired safe picker who offers the gang lessons in his craft.

Although at times a bit meandering, the film does well by not obeying some of the rules of the genre (which is especially great since Cloonicle’s Ocean’s movies seem to be exactly what Collinwood lampoons). Indeed, there is only a slight twinge of melodramatic love story (which selfishly serves a criminal end), an utter void of logistical planning (from which some of the best comedy of the film spawns forth), an inept ringleader, and absolutely no glitz or glamour.

And in case you were wondering, no, this is not a sequel or spinoff to Safe Men (I wish).

Purchase Collinwood on DVD at Amazon.