Pick Your Poison: Thursday 1-24-13

If you didn’t know already, beyond my extreme passion for music, I’m also a bit of a film connoisseur. By that I mean I watch an average of 6 films every week, many of them at an actual theater, plus my DVD collection numbers close to 1,000 at this point. Some of my friends know me as the “movie guy” or call me their “personal Netflix” or the “human IMDB.” I’m not trying to brag (seriously), but rather attempt to establish that I know movies about as well as I know music, only I don’t really write about movies. Perhaps I should, but that’s a discussion for another day. What I really want to talk about is the intersection of music and movies. When an artist I love does a soundtrack for a film, like Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood doing the score for The Master, that’s an intersection. Similarly, when someone makes a movie about a rock band, like an Almost Famous or last year’s Not Fade Away, that’s an intersection too. Well, today I saw something that affected me more than most movie and music intersections. See, The Coen Bros. are among the most respected of film directors these days, what with masterpieces such as No Country for Old Men and The Big Lebowski under their belts, among others in their rich oeuvre. Each of their new movies is met with heavy anticipation thanks to great casts, acting work, plots and visuals. So imagine my surprise upon hearing that their next film due for release in 2013 is called Inside Llewyn Davis. It tells the story of a Bob Dylan-like folk musician trying to find success in 1960s New York. That one sentence summary is simple enough, but things are far from simple if you know the Coens. A trailer for it came out today, and it hit me straight at the core of my being. Bob Dylan’s “Farewell” acts as the soundtrack as we see the character of Llewyn Davis (played by Oscar Isaac who you may remember from Drive) travel around New York with his guitar, meeting restless souls and trading rather funny barbs with an ex (Carey Mulligan). John Goodman, F. Murray Abraham, Justin Timberlake, and Adam Driver (from the HBO show “Girls”) help to round out the cast. To me, this seems like it could be one of those really important films about rock and roll, which is why I wanted to share my thoughts with you on just the 2 minute trailer on the day it premiered. There’s currently no release date for the film, but I guess there’s a special screening or two happening early next month, the times and locations of which I have no idea. But yes, I’m dying to see this film, and if you watch that clip, I hope you will be too. Okay, now let’s talk Pick Your Poison. Tracks that get a gold star from me today come from Boxed Wine, Christina Courtin, Cliff Dweller, Matmos, Parisian and Pearl Necklace. In the Soundcloud section (located after the jump), you can stream new songs from Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Lady Lamb the Beekeeper, Mister Lies, Snowden and a remastered oldie from Husker Du.