"Haaanh?"
I had to take care of some real furtive shit this weekend, so there was no way that I was getting in any cuts. Once I tied up those loose ends, I had some time to relax, and came across a couple things worth talking about.
First, is the new Ada single, Call the Tune. A-side "Call the Tune" is on some real sinister shit. A deep, sharp analog line dominates in the early going. However, at about the halfway mark a pretty synth cord, I mean Superpitcher type shit, is thrown into the mix, and it holds us until the outro, which is again dominated by the analog. Though obliquely, the track speaks to that whole "beauty out of ugliness" motif that somehow seems to recur in most good, current instrumental music. The flip, "Live It Up" is straight pretty, a lot of breeze and water efx, strings, and alto sounds, close to Lawrence, just a little more up tempo, especially when she kicks in that S.pitcher 2x hi-hat towards the end. The cut is so smooth that I really think, this being maybe the only time I'll ever say this about a tech-house jawn, that the inclusion of some vocals, perhaps only a few of bars of crooning, would have put this one over the top.
Second is the movie Inside Man. It is the third really good movie I've seen this year, along with Syriana (I know it was released late last year. Cut me some slack.) and, of course, Little Miss Sunshine. There's no way I would have watched Inside Man had I been going into da cut. If I were not in this completely relaxed, completely bored state of mind, on a Saturday night, I would not have stumbled upon it going through On Demand. I don't remember strong marketing for the film and I did not hear any strong reviews or recommendations for it. I was interested in it because I figured, "Hey, it's Clive Owen." Then I find out it's a Spike Lee joint. Having seen all of He Got Game, I thought, "Yeah, that was okay." So I was livening up to the movie, and the next two hours turned out to be quite a fun time.
First, let me start off by saying Inside Man was in no way meant to be a glorification of a slick, fast-talking Afro-American cop. It was a Spike Lee movie not about Denzel Washington. This movie was about a modern-day Robin Hood, Owen's character, which he was so effortless at. It was about a "regular" guy, who had honed some extraordinary skills, who was educated, who was honorable, who took down an evil capitalist. Appropriately enough, though I can't believe that much wasn't made about this, this movie was written by an African-American. It therefore was about racelessness, a black writer with a white hero. It was about responsibly educating our youth (there's a scene where Clive Owen rebukes a child for playing a game called "Kill that Nigga", also raceless.) It was about "Money Isn't Everything." It was about the middle class helping the lower class score a blow against the seemingly untouchable elite, something which is desperately needed in our society. There were some pretty funny jokes in it too.
Check out Call the Tune and Inside Man if you get a chance. They might surprise you like they did me and make your day or weekend.
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