Nobody does it meta like 
Charlie Kaufman. The reclusive screenwriter behind contemporary cinema’s most delightful psych-out comedies steps behind the camera for the first time. Grab your ears so your head stays put when your mind explodes.
People like to throw around the word “surreal” when they talk about Charlie Kaufman’s movies. What do they mean, exactly? The screenwriter’s signature comedies—which include
Being John Malkovich,
Adaptation and
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind—might also be called weird, fantastical, ridiculous, twisted, process-oriented, in tune with the swooning lyricism of heartache, eccentric, rococo, mordant, antic, wackadoodle and—in an entirely different frame of reference than the one critic Manny Farber intended when commenting on Godard’s
Weekend—in love with its own body odor.
Posted on October 24th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Features, Film & TV, Lead Stories, Music, adaptation, being john malkovich, charlie kaufman, eternal sunshine of the spotless mind, issue 48, synecdoche new york | No Comments »
Athens, Ga.-spawned 4 to Watch alums Modern Skirts are readying a new album, All of Us in Our Night, set to drop on Jan. 20. The band’s first album since Catalogue of Generous Men in 2005 includes cuts produced by R.E.M. bassist Mike Mills and Cracker’s David Lowery and was recorded in Richmond, Va., New Orleans and back home in Athens. The record features original artwork by an Atlanta artist that creates a sequential narrative broken up for each new track.
Posted on October 23rd, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Lead Stories, Music, Music, News, all of us in our night, modern skirts, record release, tour | No Comments »
After toiling in relative obscurity for nearly a decade, Kevin Barnes’ constantly mutating indie-pop project Of Montreal is finally poised to breach the mainstream. On new album Skeletal Lamping, Barnes navigates a choppy sea of sexuality while shining a spotlight on the strange beasts and angels lurking just beneath his soul’s surface.
As the early-March sun sets on the Langerado Music Festival, a ninja and a half-dozen masked, body-suited drones—all brandishing heads impaled on spears—dance in 
ecstatic mystery across the stage, the menacing pulse of “The Past is a Grotesque Animal” undulating over the dusk-lit swamps of Florida’s Everglades. In a grand climax to this bizarre ritual taking place on the Big Cypress Seminole reservation, Of Montreal frontman Kevin Barnes emerges from a coffin almost entirely naked—albeit covered head-to-toe in shaving cream—and steps to the mic to finish the set’s final song.
Posted on October 22nd, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Features, Lead Stories, Music, Music, cover story, issue 48, of montreal, skeletal lamping | No Comments »
Amidst Athens, Ga.’s dance-inspiring rock ‘n’ roll scene, which featured the likes of The B-52’s and Pylon, college-rock upstarts R.E.M. released full-length debut Murmur in 1983. It went gold, became Rolling Stone’s album of the year (beating out Thriller) and began the path that would eventually lead to this year’s Accelerate.
Posted on October 21st, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Lead Stories, Music, Music, News, i.r.s., murmur, r.e.m., record release | No Comments »
Will Arnett is one of the funniest people around. But it’s been sort of rough going for the Arrested Development vet these last few years. Blades of Glory? Semi-Pro? The Brothers Solomon? Come on! He can do better. Fox thinks so, too. Luckily, the network is putting its money where its mouth is, signing Arnett to a seven-figure deal to develop a sitcom.
Posted on October 20th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: 30 rock, Film & TV, Lead Stories, Music, News, amy poehler, arrested development, david cross, fox, will arnett | No Comments »
Hometown: Barcelona, Spain
Fun Fact: Album title Alegranza! roughly translates to “joy” in Spanish and is also an island in the Canary Islands. El guincho is a rare, endangered bird from that area.
Why He’s Worth Watching: El Guincho’s sample-cluttered, buoyant avant-pop pulls in a world-wide array of sounds to captivate passive listeners and rowdy dancers alike.
For Fans Of: Panda Bear/Animal Collective, Gilberto Gil, Brian Wilson
It takes ninety seconds of El Guincho’s “Antillas” to feel slightly uneasy. The stuttering polyrhythms and carnival motifs hammer on, cyclic and unremitting. Finally, nearing the four-minute mark, a cymbal crash ushers in a euphoric climax, layers of chiming melodies and pattering drums cascading through the mix: Sweet, strange relief through deferred resolution.
Posted on October 20th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Features, Lead Stories, Music, Music, band of the week, coconot, el guincho | No Comments »
Release Date: Oct. 17
Director: Oliver Stone
Writers: Stanley Weiser and Oliver Stone
Cinematographer: Phedon Papamichael
Starring: Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Banks, Richard Dreyfuss
Studio/Running Time: Lions Gate Entertainment, 129 mins.
One of the unwritten rules for a biopic is that its subject’s accomplishments should already be completed. Controversy has surrounded Oliver Stone’s W. ever since it was announced, due to
its breach of this rule in covering the highly charged President while he’s still
in power. But a point the film makes is
that George W. Bush already wrote his legacy before his second term began, so
this target should be fair game. Others might argue that Bush doesn’t deserve a fair depiction, and along those lines,
rather than a true biopic, W. is a
satirical portrait of the presidency that sacrifices accuracy for visceral
laughs.
Posted on October 17th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Film & TV, Lead Stories, Music, Reviews, elizabeth banks, josh brolin, oliver stone, richard dreyfuss, w | No Comments »
[Above: Sweet P and her husband Sage]
Project Runway Season
Four contestant Sweet P watched Wednesday night’s Season Five finale at a PR party in Los Angeles, along with designers Jeffrey Sebelia,
Santino and others. Here’s what she had to say about Leanne’s collection,
Kenley’s Alexander McQueen look-alike dress and playing a decoy at Bryant Park.
Posted on October 17th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Film & TV, Lead Stories, Music, News, alexander mcqueen, bryant park, culture, kenley, leanne, project runway, sweet p, television, tim gunn | No Comments »
In the wake of last week’s maddeningly brief announcement that recording had wrapped and mixing commenced on the Decemberists’ upcoming fifth release, Paste got in touch with frontman Colin Meloy
—not to
chat about meat, but to further flesh out some details on the album now known as
Hazards of Love. And unless your indie rock crystal ball somehow indicated the band’s eventual adoption of British stoner metal as a major sonic touchstone, what we learned might surprise you.
Posted on October 16th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Lead Stories, Music, Music, News, colin meloy, electric wizard, hazards of love, pentangle, record release, the decemberists, wendy carlos | No Comments »
As ringmaster of 29-person pop-monster I’m From Barcelona, Emmanuel Lundgren usually has a lot on his plate. So it was almost no surprise—almost—that when Paste rang, the Swede was in the middle of cleaning up Malaysia.
Posted on October 16th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Features, Lead Stories, Music, Music, catching up with, emmanual lundgren, i'm from barecelona, who killed harry houdini? | No Comments »
Has Johnny Cash’s spirit rested easier since the city of Starkville,
Miss. posthumously pardoned him last Fall for a 1965 public
intoxication arrest? Whatever the case may be, the inaugural Flower
Pickin’ Festival
—named for the the Man in Black’s insistence that he
was merely admiring some purty plants and NOT drunkenly relieving
himself upon them when police apprehended him (as the rumors goes)—was a hit, so it’s no surprise that this weekend’s second-annual event
offers even more classic country and Cash family blessings.
Posted on October 15th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Lead Stories, Music, Music, News, culture, flower pickin' festival, johnny cash, mississippi, starkville | No Comments »
Until this summer’s Forth, The Verve hadn’t released an album since 1997’s critically acclaimed Urban Hymns, and many of the band members hadn’t seen each other since that period of time. But now, over a decade later, the band is back to try and recapture the momentum of what was once considered one of the biggest forces in music, though they’re now playing largely to audiences that were just discovering the radio when “Bitter Sweet Symphony” ruled the airwaves. Paste recently caught up with bassist Simon Jones to talk about The Verve’s new music, the ever-present rumors and how the reunion came about.
Posted on October 15th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Features, Lead Stories, Music, Music, catching up with, the verve | No Comments »
Whatever the subject matter, Lucinda Williams’ music has always dripped with the feel of the old, rural Deep South, but as I talk to her before the release of her 10th record, Little Honey (out Oct. 14), she’s at her home in Los Angeles, having just finished a conversation with online music portal iMeem about her 10 favorite protest songs. The times, they are a-changin’.
Posted on October 14th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Features, Lead Stories, Music, Music, catching up with, little honey, lucinda williams | No Comments »
Jolie Holland has long existed in the shadows of other
singer-songwriters. Maybe it all comes down to her voice: There’s a unique
quality to it that can be initially off-putting to some, but once you’ve spent
time with it, hone in on how she twists and turns her annunciations, what
emerges is an artist who is expressive on many different levels. Her music is
often times characterized as timeless, and her catalog largely possesses an
aesthetic that defies any sort of “flavor of the month” notions.
After spending a long time in the Bay area, Holland
recently relocated to Brooklyn to complete her
fourth record, The Living and the Dead, which dropped Oct. 7 on Anti- Records. Paste
recently sat down with Holland in a small park along
Fifth Avenue
in Brooklyn, sharing morning caffeine amongst
children playing on swing sets and benches, to talk about her upcoming
projects.
Posted on October 14th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Features, Lead Stories, Music, Music, catching up with, jolie holland | No Comments »
Hometown: Seattle, Washington
Fun Fact: Prior to lending his melodic
tapping to Minus the Bear, virtuosic guitarist Dave Knudson was a founding
member of the revolutionary hardcore outfit Botch. Other MTB members
were previously in a rival hardcore band called Kill Sadie.
Why It’s Worth Watching: Trading
violent screamo thrashing for mellow arrangement, the men of Minus
The Bear create a pleasant culmination of lighthearted melody and
tireless rhythm.
For Fans Of: Circa Survive, Cursive,
These Arms Are Snakes
They say that it is the journey, not
the destination, that is most important in life. Seattle’s Minus the
Bear couldn’t agree more. That is, of course, since the band’s
recent acquisition of a tour bus. “We’ve paid our dues with the
whole band-in-a-van thing,” says bassist Cory Murchy, “If I never
have to squeeze into a tightly packed van with five other guys, I’ll
be okay with that.”
Posted on October 13th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Features, Lead Stories, Music, Music, band of the week, minus the bear | No Comments »