Now You Know: Polyenso

I haven't heard a lot of good indie rock this year. I feel like I'm saying that about a lot of genres of music though, lately.  For some weird reason death metal is knocking it out of the park in every category (the new Gorguts and Revocation albums are incredible), which is great, but I'm an old man now and that's the type of shit that gave me tinnitus in the first place. I need to chill out, you know?

Polyenso is one band I've found that has been on repeated listens lately. They hail from St. Petersburg, Florida and used to go by the name Oceana.  Waaaaay back in 2008 they used to have a more rough edged or hardcore sound, but with the name change to Polyenso in 2013 they've gone straight into the indie rock hole and refuse to climb out.

Their new album, One Big Particular Loop, is definitely a more laid back and melancholy affair than most. This is probably not what you want to listen to on your daily jog. This is more for sparking a joint on the porch and reading a book on how to grow your own urban garden.

I definitely get a stripped down Radiohead vibe from this group, so take that whatever way you want. I really like Thom Yorke so I give their singer a pass for his borderline frightening ability to sound like him at times. I give credit for these guys to go from a genre such as post-hardcore, which is mostly lame, to heartfelt indie rock such as this. Go ahead and play this for your significant other so you can show them you have better taste in everything life has to offer. If you're single then go jack off or something.

If you like what you hear you should pop on over to their bandcamp and give the album a listen at http://polyenso.bandcamp.com/  or hell, it's only ten bucks to just go ahead and nab it for digital download! God, I love the internet.

Rap·ture /'rapCHer/ Noun.

A Feeling of Intense Pleasure


Though I haven't played the The Last Of Us and therefore don't know anything and have shit for brains, I think the original Bioshock is the best narrative video game experience to come along this console cycle. It came as the antithesis of conventional first-person shooters, with a shocking crescendo that challenged our conception of free will in games. But we shan't let the 'it' moment of Bioshock eclipse all it has to offer. Aside the barrage of continuous plot shifts there are the masterfully voiced characters and milieu (see: welcome to the circus of value, ha ha ha!) the horrific beauty in claustrophobic passages and chambers, a palette formed through aquatic light and bold color, the thrill of blowing a Splicer's head off with The Ink Spots lilting in the background. The bridge of form and content was also undeniable, especially in the Plasmids, which lent as much to the plot-line as they did to your arsenal. Almost as brash as Andrew Ryan is the sum of these merged elements: Rapture. Rapture coalesces so many unique aspects that it's an irreproducible feat. Every little aspect of this world seems to breathe, to have a soul. Games since have come close to being as compelling and immersive... but as audacious? As mad?

Ironically the crux that drives Bioshock is also the tragedy. You're a little late to the party and by the time you get there, Rapture's completely fucked. Dammit. A mingling longing follows you throughout Rapture's corridors. 'Why couldn't I have visited Rapture in its renaissance? in its prime! When it was all hustle and bustle and playing pinochle with Brigid Tenenbaum in Olympus Heights!'

Well according to today's news. You will.

Irrational Games teased Bioshock Infinite's second DLC pack Burial At Sea, which finds Infinite's Booker DeWitt and Elizabeth crossing paths in--breathe--Rapture. Not sure you will actually get to play cards with Tenenbaum but today's video footage depicted a fully functioning, pre-fit hits the shan Rapture.

I'm calling it: the storyline will contain no references to time travel or alternate universes and this DLC will follow Booker DeWitt and Elizabeth immediately following the events in Bioshock Infinite without any rabbits in any hats, any twists, any turns.  My prediction is that we're looking at a straight shooter, guys.   

Courtesies,
The Brothers Rebel

CCW.

An Acronym You're About to Understand

Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, I give you the first of many Rebel Brothers Cinema Civil Wars!

For our debut, we have in Tucker's (my) corner James Wan's The Conjuring and in Mike's corner Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim.

We saw them back to back over the weekend. 
Each of us will try to convey why the film we're defending is superior.

*****Spoilers below!!!!!! Read at your own risk!!!!!******

I'll start. 

Mike, let's start where we began after leaving the theater. We both mentioned that Pacific Rim would certainly be our unequivocal, undoubted favoritest movie of forever-ever if we were 12. Even more so than Waterworld, which hasn't been dethroned from its #1 spot since even before it existed. One of your qualms about The Conjuring was it's lackluster scariness, and how tarred and feathered by its PG-13 rating it was. Well, if I were 12 I would have been scared so shitless by The Conjuring I would have found the PG-13 rating merciful. It would also have made a number of prestige horror films feel stale if I hadn't seen them yet. The Conjuring basically populated a haunted house with heart-quickening tropes and techniques from all over the cannon horrorscape. Cue slow zoom. 

Something I felt the two films had in common was each one arrived at the table fully loaded with possibilities. Pacific Rim had robots, giant monsters, Idris Elba, and GLADDOS's voice actress--check. The Conjuring had its creepy doll, clap game, crawl spaces, the mirror/music box, basically a plethora of devices that could have triggered throughout and made something interesting to happen. But did either movie build a castle in its sandbox? Not plain to see. 

My 'rocket punch' (loved every single term in Pacific Rim) in The Conjuring's favor is that its performances were unmistakably superior. Everyone there at least 'held it down,' so to speak. Meanwhile, in Pacific Rim leads Charlie Hunnam and Rinko Kikuchi had about as much chemistry as a wet cardboard box and a second, more wet, even more flaccid, useless cardboard box.  Especially considering that their plot point hinged so crucially on their ability to 'merge,' shouldn't I buy at least the most basic interlocution between these two? Which reminds me about my confusion during their training scene. During their 1-on-1 fight before the commander they traded off wins but kept a tie match to illustrate their connection. If these pilots were truly mind-meld compatible shouldn't the whole thing be one big stalemate without either cadet landing a single blow? Like a ballet of blocks? Think tai chi wash. 

Ugh, I don't even want to get into the scientists. Or the Top Gun banter between Australian dude and protagonist (and I've never even seen Top Gun, just inherently knew that's what it was). 

Lastly I was completely with you post-screening that the stakes surrounding the clairvoyant's episode from a previous exorcism in The Conjuring amounted to nothing. Seriously, what the hell was that, a total throwaway? Admittedly The Conjuring was saturated with roads to nowhere. In defense however I'd like to point out a clumsily used stakes-device in Pacific Rim. Pentecost's affliction with cancer comes out just before he's about to sacrifice himself to save the world. Doesn't the fact that he's going to perish anyhow undercut this sacrifice? Also were we really supposed to believe he just had constant nosebleeds for no reason?  I for one await the day when a movie character has endless nosebleeds without explanation.     

Ready for your rebut, Mike. 

Courtesies. 




---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Okay.  My Turn.

Let's get any and all talk about The Conjuring out of the way as quickly as possible.  I know I walked out saying "yeah, that was a piece of shit", but I don't think you realize honestly that this is the piece of shit left by a 30-year old elephant with amoebic dysentery. Fucking hell. Fucking hell.

Maybe I'm jaded because I've grown up on horror movies as a child and the whole "exorcism" genre of horror has never done it for me.  I always walk out feeling like I saw a religious propaganda film; that the power of Jesus will save you from the demons that lurk around in your darkened scary areas of the house. I noticed you also commented that this got an R rating.  Seriously?  A dog died and a dude got his cheek scratched.  Probably the biggest pussy of a demon I've ever seen.  The plot was, even for a horror movie, pretty vacant. Family moves into house, oh no a demon, hire clairvoyant husband/wife team to root out evil, have exorcism, goodnight ladies and gentlemen. I think at the end of the day it just takes itself way too seriously (based on a true story? Suck my dick.) and just fell on it's face for me. The acting was the one facet I can think of that didn't bother me, everyone turned in decent to good performances, I just thought the material itself was paper thin.

Pacific Rim, on the other hand, was just what I needed after that experience. My god man, those special effects.  I love how you included that this would be our favorite 12-year old movie, because I'm pretty sure I just turned 13 emotionally and still love this type of shit.  Give me some semi-retarded actors, some fantastic visuals, and no romance plot whatsoever and I'm willing to see where it goes. I think it's hilarious you point out the Top Gun relationship in the film because I couldn't stop thinking about that comparison when watching it.  Granted, Pacific Rim doesn't pull it off half as well as Val Kilmer and Tom Cruise did over.......20 years ago? 25? Fuck, I'm old.

So what?  This film isn't about oscar-winning performances, it's about giant robots fighting aliens that travel through a dimensional rift in the Pacific Ocean for god's sake.  At least Idris Elba was there so white people could point out that he played Stringer Bell in The Wire. The biggest annoyance for me, or probably both of us with this flick was the dumbass scientists; one of which played by Charlie Day from It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. These guys wasted probably a good half hour of this movie trying to provide comic relief when I didn't even ask for it in the first place.  I felt like they could have cut out their plotline, including the dumb revelation they make, and this would have been a fucking leviathan of a summer movie.

So was it still great?  I think so.  I put it maybe a couple tiers below Independence Day, which is undoubtedly the best summer movie of all time, and I think that says a lot. The plot is admittingly thin and goofy, but it is still a ton of fun and didn't harsh my buzz like The Conjuring did. 

"WE ARE OUT OF AMMO!!!! WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO????

I DON'T KNOW HOW ABOUT THIS GIANT FUCKING SWORD THAT WE SHOULD HAVE BEEN USING THE ENTIRE TIME?????"

-Pacific Rim

Magic Number.

Music and the Rule of Three

Now that the universe has collectively agreed that Slow Focus, Fuck Buttons latest release, is the best thing to happen in instrumental music since Kind Of Blue, I'd like to explain hat tricks. Slow Focus has one. A series of three songs in the midst of a record that bind into a stretch and either overcome the surrounding body of work (which is usually also great) or define it is a hat trick. Like a rogue EP bivouacked within a great work, the hat trick can act as a fulcrum parting the album into a frontside and back, almost by transcending it. In the most uncomplicated terms, a hat trick is three really great songs in a row. 

On Slow Focus, it begins with 'The Red Wing,' the album's single, which morphs from a hip hop headbanger into a psionic scalpel opening up an eardrum. The track following is a paragon of the airtight machines Fuck Buttons craft and call songs. It's called 'Sentients,' and it feels like a birdcage elevator descending into hell. Fully realized here is the preciseness this duo deals in. 'Prince's Prize' finishes the hat trick, more directly synth laden and sounding like a Thom Yorke remix of Ratatat's post-Classics repertoire. A Petri dish swimming with the album's most imperative essence, a hat trick is born. Oh, the rest of Slow Focus is phenomenal. 

Last year's notable hat trick appeared appeared on Now, Now's record Threads. It stretches from 'But I Do,' through 'Separate Rooms,' and concludes on 'Thread.' The hat trick does not contain the album's best song, 'School Friends.' 

The hat trick concept was incepted while falling for Wilco's emergence album, Summerteeth. See the unmistakable 'Pieholden Suite,' 'How to Fight Loneliness,' 'Via Chicago' triple threat.  

Do you have a hat trick to throw in the mix or opinion on this topic? Enlighten us and enter the comments zone.

Courtesies,

The Brothers Rebel

You Weird, Nature

Hello all. Recently I've been thinking about a lot of things. I've always fantasized about being a zoologist when I was a kid. Hanging out with the gorillas as they smoke cigarettes and use sign language to make curse words.  Sounds like the life, really. Now I'm an adult and realize that these same gorillas would probably rip my face off and have sex with it for a few days until it falls apart from wear and tear . This face is too pretty to turn into some simian's sex toy. I've dealt with this crippling realization and resulting depression years ago, and with little to no therapy I've found a way to cope........

Welcome To REBELBROS Natural Oddities!!!!!

LET'S GET IT ON!!!!

Argentine Lake Duck

I bet you're looking at this picture and probably asking yourself  "why does that duck have it's small intestine for display"? What you are looking at is the twisting, 17-inch penis of a bird.  It's the longest penis in relation to size of any vertebrates. That's right, this duck is the envy of........well, no one probably. I mean seriously dude has like no girth going on, and apparently it's got a bristled tip.  I guess some chicks are into that sort of thing.

Scottish Red Deer

Now I'd like to introduce you to the psychopaths of the deer family.  This interesting species lives on the Isle of Rum, which is off the west coast of Scotland?  Man, never would have guessed Scotland!!! Anyways, these freaks live off a diet of the heads and limbs of baby seabirds, which I guess has got to taste better than grass or sticks or whatever the hell they usually eat. I bet these guys are into Burzum and burning upside down crosses into the lawn of churches. I would still ride one if given the chance; like if it beckoned me with it's horns to get on.

Squat Lobster

I just.........uggggghghgh. When something lives beneath 500 feet of water it's guaranteed to be more fucking horrifying than anything your imagination could conjure up in a lifetime. Of course no one knows jack shit about them since they live 5,000 meters deep (thank you lord), though I bet that monster tastes delicious with a cup of melted butter. You could serve me a shoe with a side of melted butter and you better believe I'd finish everything except the soles. It's a texture thing.

Axolotl

The axolotl is a salamander that is native to a specific lake in Mexico. Axolotl translates to "water monster" in Aztec, and is on the endangered species list as of 2010. Honestly I think this thing looks like some sort of alien that would burrow into your eyeballs and take over your brain if you got within five feet of it. I prefer to stay away from a reptile that looks cute like this, those eyes harbor a dead hatred for humankind that we could never understand.

Robot Camel Jockey

Come on  Come. On. If you want to argue and say this doesn't involve nature then I'd have to call you a commie bastard hellbent on destroying justice and freedom. Robots will either save us or destroy us one day, and I just want our mechanical overlords of the year 2032 to know that I'VE BEEN WITH YOU THIS ENTIRE TIME.  PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!!!! LOOK GUYS, I CAN PLAY THE ENTIRE SOLO FROM FREEBIRD BY LYNYRD SKYNYRD!!!! HOW ABOUT A LITTLE DANCE CALLED THE MACARENA???? OH DEAR GOD NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday Sabbath Edition: God's Corner II

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Video Spotlight: Daughter - Youth

Brothers! Hopefully your weekend has been filled with as much projectile vomiting and dangerous levels of alcohol consumption as ours! Today I'm bringing you a little ditty by the band Daughter, not to be confused with a grindcore metal act of similiar name Daughters who would scare the shit out of your beautiful mother. Get into it while you sit around in your underwear and decide if you're even going to leave the house today. I place my bets on "no". Enjoy!