[…] this is basically a hipster’s Chuck E. Cheese. The restaurant has everything a self respecting Brooklynite could ever want – a big wood burning oven, a self-sustaining roof garden, loud music, communal tables, craft beers, pizza – I kind of expected to see a ball pit made just for dudes in short shorts out back.
I wanted to have a general store, with fur and skins. I’ve been hunting and trapping all my life, and I wanted a store where designers could get, like, fucking polar-bear skins. And we’d have toys for kids.” He pauses. “And just a little butcher counter in the back.” Another pause. “And we’d make meat pies for the winter.
Much of my time was spent in a fog of pleasure, sitting dumbfounded on the shores of excess.
1/5 Stars for Philadelphia Bar & Restaurant on Yelp
This jawn just opened, so I feel like I should be cutting them more slack, but the mediocre-to-disappointing meal I had leads me to believe that PBR is either wildly misguided or just painfully unprepared for the challenges of opening a new restaurant.
You can read more on Yelp. Have any of you tried the new gastropub on Market?
Inception
Inception is one of those movies people theorize about, so here’s my take. I have not read about it or looked it up except to check the characters’ names, so this is based solely on what I got from watching it. Needless to say, tremendous spoilers follow for those who have not seen it.
And I add thoughts of my own below the jump (mega spoiler alert)
Source: halphillips
Dance-punk superstar James Murphy turned 40 this year. He celebrated by renting the recording studio/leisure palace The Mansion for several months to record his latest (and purportedly last) LCD Soundsystem LP This is Happening. Maybe his age is irrelevant, but the sound of the new album is decidedly mature, a powerhouse of well-executed songs continuing some trends from 2007’s acclaimed Sound of Silver while exploring new sonic territory with a practiced ear and unique creative direction.
The signature sound certainly abounds: sturdy bass lines carry Murphy’s half-sung tenor and refined synths. However, new sounds and production styles hearken to the late 70s: Gang of Four bass lines are nothing new, but songs like “All I Want” feel fresh with tinny, bouncy piano and distorted guitar hedging on screechy reminiscent of earlier Bowie; slightly eerie vocals and guitars elsewhere on the album conjure up Brian Eno and Robert Fripp.
The album opens with a champ: “Dance Yrself Clean” has a haunting element, with a heavy synth bass line and very simple, human background vocals, yet hooks in your brain with crisp drums and screaming bridges, breaks, and crescendos.
The single “Drunk Girls,” with a video directed by Spike Jonze, is a rowdy jam, sure to be lubricating the summer’s hipster house parties, resting on solid rock n’ roll chops.
Another standout is the subdued “You Wanted A Hit.” Though opening light, the song moves into refined heavy groove peers like Ratatat or Fujiya & Miyagi strive for. Though simple, the track possess a maturity and restraint which cannot be taught to just any jerk with Pro Tools, but Murphy has cultivated for years. Though that sound present on Soundsystems hits of yore “Daft Punk Is Playing At My House” or “Losing My Edge,” the lyrics on this pop anthem clarify that this is something new:
Yeah, you wanted a hit
But tell me where’s the point in it?
You wanted the hit
But that’s not what we do
Appealing to scenesters and, apparently, the masses alike (the record debuted on the Billboard 200 at #10 and replaced Queen Gaga from the top of the Dance/Electronic charts), this album is more than art party fare: it doubles as a headphone record, worth repeat listens, with a lot of inspiration and personality vested in it. Humbly self-reflective, James Murphy knows how to kick out the jams from early middle age.
This is Happening is available from DFA Records through iTunes, Amazon, and other retailers.
P.S
Kid Cudi and Chip tha Rapper add their voices to “Dance Yrself Clean,” with “All Talk” (via Fader)(mp3 [Play]
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P.P.S
Do check out the cooler-than-cool, yet genuine, behind the scenes mini-documentary, part 1 of which is embedded below.
