Pale Cocoon - 繭

 1984; 12 tracks The echoes of a dream, lost in a nebulous emptiness deep inside your head. 繭 (Cocoon) was released as a cassete in 1984 by Japanese duo Pale Cocoon, and it is unreal.

This music seems to have spawned from a disconnected TV program from a far away universe, broadcasted over time that is not time to finally echo inside our heads while we dream. I have never experienced an album so illusory, but the sensation is incredible. There is no structure, no direction - just as in a dream... Enigmas raining from the sky in unpredictable patterns. Distant hums of an unimaginable instrument accompany dreamlike and utterly surreal vocals. From time to time the mirrored sounds from a remote childhood make themselves heard (as on "Toy Box") alongside the sheer strangeness of Pale Cocoon, a band as mysterious as their music. Some aspects of this could be called shoegaze, or dreampop, but it is more experimental than anything else, and incapable of fitting into any one genre. I am so glad I got this, though it was purely on a whim. It seems as though whenever I find something completely randomly it always ends up being infinitely more enjoyable than something on one of my many "music to listen to" lists.

a very private sonic universe

Ef - Give Me Beauty... Or Give Me Death!

2006; 6 tracks

This is the debut album of Swedish post-rock band Ef, and it is a perfect May album. Each track resonates with a shimmering energy that seems to embody the entire genre of "post-rock." Vocals are scarce, but lovely and powerful when heard (see "Hello Scotland"). I just can't find enough words to explain the beauty of Give Me Beauty... Or Give Me Death!. The best experience I had listening to this album was last year on a day that I didn't have school. My mom took me and my sister and brother to a park right on the edge of a huge forest. Me and my sister ran through the forest and found a lake that we had visited when we were younger, and we just laid out on the rock staring at the clouds for hours. Time doesn't even exist in moments like this, when the most beautiful music and the most perfect sky calmly hold you still above the world.

City streets, in late spring...
Where smoke covers everyone, and everything.

I just finished watching Micmacs, or Micmacs à tire-larigot. It took me like 3 days to finish as I had to go on a meaningless trip with my school this weekend and never had a chance. I posted the soundtrack a little while back (link here), but that's beside the point. This film is just incredible! It was directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, whose previous films (of this style) include La cité des enfants perdus, Delicatessen (both with the art direction of Marc Caro) and Amélie. Already you should realize this a film that stands apart from many others. Jeunet exposes so magnificently both the absurdities and weaknesses of his characters. Each character has a story that follows them through the film (I was pleased to see Dominique Pinon make his appearance once more! he is so great), and they all work together so well with their quirks, uncommon abilities, and fascinating personalities. Among these characters there is the Elastic Girl, a highly flexible woman who can hide in the smallest of spaces, including a fridge and/or briefcase; Remington, a Congolese ethnographer obsessed with idioms; Tiny Pete, a small man who has an uncanny ability to create peculiar machines out of practically anything; and then there's Mama Chow, Slammer, Calculator, Buster, etc. I haven't watched a movie with such great characters in forever. The plot revolves around Bazil(the main character)'s revenge on two powerful companies who both created the mine by which Bazil's father died while attempting to disarm it, and were responsible for the bullet that quite randomly entered Bazil's head. The movie is touching and strong in both characters and absurdist humour. Jeunet's childlike view of an everyday world enchants the viewer and makes Micmacs a very beautiful, fun film. So, the point of this post... you should watch it. I suck at film reviews or whatever, but who doesn't?