February 2010: Best Animated Films

According to Rotten Tomatoes, (their fifty best animated films of all time) i selected nine from this list to watch, all great choices i think, in the end, aesthetic value depending on film
LIST:

1) Paprika (2006) Satoshi Kon - this one needs another watch, (dense, with psychoanalytic symboletry) but definitely has harbored in my mind some of the most iconic images of dreams/insanity i've ever seen.




2) Akira (1988) Katsuhiro Otomo - I am Tetsuo. Anime at its finest, dark, surreal, techno-religious underpinnings, epic, nice

3) Bambi (1942) Walt Disney Classic - Mythological, symbolic of the cycle of Life/Death, nature and its cycles of youth, love, death, metamorphosis, didnt realize that Bambi was a prince! along with iconic characters as Thumper and Flower, attributing a most heart-wrenching scene where Bambi makes it back to safety harbor,with cries of "we made it momma!" to no reply, and from there on in, the father, absent as he was, nopw speaking to him from behind a wall of gently falling snow (which you could taste the blood on each little flake) that now he was to become a "man" a "deer" all grown, and this could only happen with his safe surroundings, his maternal force, ripped away

4) Yellow Submarine (1968) George Dunning - Beatles' flair, dry Liverpudlian humor, blue meanies and such, all with a decent and thoughtful appraisal including philosophy, loneliness, and a sublime sect of sadness harbored at within the screenplay, there might be more here than meets the eye, perhaps a second viewing will reveal more? funny cameo by band at the end

5) Dumbo (1941) Walt Disney Classic - great animation, creative use of the "drunken" scene (what else was in that champgane those hoodlum clowns were drinking?) liquid LSD! crows were characterized as black, the elephantess older cows you just wanted to whip and beat with all their judgments, a stereotypical look at females btw, great story of coming round despite character flaws, physical abnormality and due stress because of each, thanks to that mouse, timothy, they were able to rise above states of despair, together, poor dumbo and his mother, but freak show turned hero, you know the story

















6) Spirited Away - (2001) Hayao Miyazaki - great story, children's story, liked the hog motif, the place of the dead, of spirits, showcasing japanese culture and folklore here, the stuff of great legend and myth, No Face has become a greatest character of all time to me, what he represents, that malleable consistency within each of us, the force of environment, that all one needs, is that right puissance in your surroundings, thanks no face, go have some more cake

7) Fantasia (1941) Walt Disney Classic - a masterwork, really shows the tightly knit ties between visuals and audio, the forerunner of the modern music video, Disney's dream to incorporate all the sense dates back some time, probably 19th century? after developments of opera, therefore incorporating even touch and smell, taste even, this was Disney's dream too, too far beyond his time, has withstood the test of it, night on bald mountain/ave maria was brilliant and the firebird suite, all of it was inspired and creative, one of my favs

8) Pinocchio (1940) Walt Disney Classic - just now realized how heavily I relied on Disney movies for my list, anime as well, and there is still so much more Disney to watch, this was grand, a real mythos capture, the fox as "evil seed", the island with all boys who sinned turning into asses, neatly opposes the wish motif, something that against common belief, one must work for, conflicts involved, one must strive for the wish to come true, as opposed to the mode of everything handed to you on silver platter as in the Pleasure Island motif, where once given and slackened, one is transformed to gruel, physically, morally and spiritually

9) Snow White (1937) Walt Disney Classic - there is a god in this version? is there one in the grimm's? must see...only problem i had with this one was the music, and that only in certain parts, they dated it by using some jazz instrumentation (namely muted horns) dated it to the era, late thirties, yet most of the rest of musics were mythical and worked well in this fairy tale complex, violent, the evil witch with her dagger, remember this distinctly when younger, this mixed with baptist blood imagery, the daggers, the blood, the hearts pierced, the man upon the cross! it goes on, yet twas the need to puncture her virginity, her purity, ) a jesus theme as well?) so that she would be tainted, polluted, like the mature and evil witch, her vanity sought to destroy her, and off her off the side of a cliff she was, right to the depths of her self-loathing, corruption of the pure, a very old story eh?

A Certain Ratio (part of the "Guardian's 1000 albums to hear before you die" list)

A Certain Ratio - Early (2002) - punk-funk fathers? post-punk? cool energy and synergy of funk (leaning heavy on disco at times) mixed with punk, in certain instances/songs not really clear where the punk lay, yet others is clear and distinct, usually when vocals are present, no typical funk slogans here, energetic like punk, seems only natural the two would pair, much like the punk/reggae fusion of ska, the Police, etc. This record comps up all singles (I suppose?) from their heyday which seems to be primarily from the late 1970s to the early 1990s (?) also fused latin within their mash-ups, dark at times and aggressive, danceable and unique, nice...

A Winter of Industry

And so, January 2010 was all things industrial month, 9 new albums i've never heard (well except for two, wanted to revisit those) So what is the ethos/aesthetic behind industrial musics? From sources they list things of transgression, punk provocation, totalitarianism, futurism, also been called brash, repetitive, melodic, noisy, it focuses on transgressive themes and polemics but this only focuses on one side and really embodies the early movements...it has split into many sub-genres as genres are wont to do, which include, as ive learned, death industrial, EBM, industrial metal, industrial rock, dark ambient, among others...the vocals can be harsh or melodic, could be bubble gum pop or abrasive authoritarian slogans...ive found that it embodies similar themes that cyberpunk conveys and the two seem to be comfortable bedfellows because of this, the use of certain aesthetic, technological techniques such as electronic instrumentation, beat loops, synths etc, give rise to a repetitive discourse, (and a synthos (as synthetic ethos, ethics of syntheticism) at times even seeming as perfect propaganda, and i think all these seemingly controlling aspects are but a ideology and social outcry against such mainstay ideas of status quo and hegemony, that in fact through what seems as adherence is undermined as rebellion (the "noise" aspect is also regarded as retaliation against what music is, or at least considered to be) it seems that although some groups implement a fascist tendency in their music, only rarely is it meant in regular and should otherwise be seen as discourse and criticism...
as stated in regen's article, (which i consulted for my list: top 10 best industrial albums ever ) industrial has spawned so many offshoots that it is incredibly difficult to pinpoint what it is exactly, so therefore has become a state of mind, sitting firmly within a modern and better yet post-modern ideology, which the cyberpunk film/literature genre is also comfortably placed. this attitude of dystopian futures, cold atmospheres, technology, control, authority, rebellion, very indicative of current psychological/political climates, esp of the past 30 years
learned much (and still much more to go) about industrial genre, esp the fact that it has grown to be an overarching ethos and that, at least in its earlier days, was combined with other forms of artistic expression and culture including but not limited to performance art and tape trading (mail art), also learned of its history from throbbing gristle and its own industrial records (hence name of genre) and even this name is multilayered in many interesting ways...
SO here's the list of what i absorbed (based on regen's results (except the skinny puppy which i added myself))

1) Ministry - The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste (1989) excellent. one of the first, if not the first, industrial albums i ever owned, still great after 2 decades Breathe, Thieves, Cannibal Song oh the list goes on...ministry helped bring metal to the genre, more guitar driven, cool that electro and live percussion was used

2) Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral (1994) u have to give reznor (along with ministry) the credit for introducing industrial to the masses, he also brought (according to wiki) more standard song structure formats to the genre (hence, or at least attributing to, its appeal) also didnt realize that this was a concept album, nice

3) Haujobb - Solutions for a Small Planet (1996) this was the first album in this series that i listened to that i had never heard and has instantly placed itself among my favs, according to regen it is a more subdued album for them and more beat heavy, i see this, excellent use of atmospheres and textures heard some electronica in there, vocals were a bit weak at times, couldve been more meaty, a la skinny puppy, had 3 instrumentals (actually 4 but the 3 aforementioned seemed to be of a running exposition) liked it, gave breathing room and nuance to the tracks/track order, upon hearing it i instantly saw the progression that industrial had made since my initial experiences of the genre, which were limited to late eighties/early nineties recordings - mainly skinny puppy and ministry

4) VNV Nation - Empires (2000) regen says vnv nation is a hybrid mix of industrial, trance, synthpop and EBM i saw this right off, liked the vocalist's timbre and the pounding beats, instantly saw the trance influence in the synth lines and appegiator, only used a couple samplers and the access virus synth to produce the record which is another feat, very lyrically driven, liked and the begin/end duo of Firstlight and Arclight, also enjoyed Fragments ... had a knack for repetitive sloganeering in Fragments ("all great things to come"), the whole album is very apocalyptic and dark even given the trance-y mood

5) Nitzer Ebb - That Total Age (1987) should have been called total ENERGY, it truly seems to be driven by a drum machine and the vocalist whose energy works to keep the album going, very punk provocative, sloganeering at its finest, Join in the Chant is a fav (Books Books, Books, Books, Burn , Burn, Burn etc...) gives more weight and power to the word when used in this way, also (where is the youth?) (now dont be lazy!) great energy, still relevant today, can see how this album spawned many dance floor hits

6) KMFDM - Angst (1993) prob my least fav overall out of this whole list yet can still see how it was included on regen's list, an extension of ministry's use of guitars, bringing metal to the genre (at least on this record) Blood Evil and Glory were my favs, another sloganeering attitude on this record, with all the KMFDM self-referencing involved, which from what i understand is something they do all the time anyways, which according to wiki is them satirizing themselves in a bit of lampoon

7) Einstürzende Neubauten Zeichnungen des Patienten O.T. / The Drawings of Patient O.T. (1983) apparently the fathers of dark ambient, very abrasive, what i think of when i think pure industrial, since they did use jackhammers and metal objects for the recording, disturbing, dark, cold, Armenia is a def fav

8) Front 242 - Front By Front (1988) first front 242 album ive heard, although i had seen them live - lollapalooza 1993 and remembering twas one of the most energetic/aggressive parts of the event, circling overland is a fav, lyrically and musically, great theme, from the planes perspective - supposedly vnv nation has done a cover must check this out, regen says front 242 are the fathers of EBM could see this in headhunter and several other songs, Agony (Until Death) was charged, regen also put this album at the top of their list, which was curious to me, nto sure why, but perhaps this album has more influential/historical effects that i am not considering, also perhaps the album succinctly displays the industrial ethos, in its purest sense? overall great album, still resonates today over 20 years later

9) Skinny Puppy - Mythmaker (2007) awesome, was wondering about this one, as so many bands seem to lose energy and edge with age, this album was a complete surprise esp for an act that has been active for so long, still seems relevant (as a group) and still has teeth, a perfect example to me of growth in an artist's career, an example of how a group can grow, within its own set framework, without having to resort to genre switches, seems to be a perfect evolution in their career, pedafly, politikil, and ugli are all dynamic, groove-centered, dark skinny puppy as i have known them yet with a sensibility that shows even more strength in their songwriting and production. instant classic!