Sarah Hallman

In the music world, the word "multi-talented" is usually synonymous with "multi-instrumentalist," bringing to mind musical masterminds such as Sufjan Stevens or Elliot Smith. It may even force a listener to respect a guy like Jack White, who I have to admit, is a solid producer.

Sarah Hallman, on the other hand, is an artist. She paints, can do graphic design and even makes pillows. Most importantly, she also writes songs. Make no mistake, Hallman is not a Sufjan Stevens or an Elliot Smith. But she is a darn good songwriter, with a lovely voice, and a great backing band (including the Arcade Fire's Jeremy Gara on drums). Hailing from Ottawa, Canada, Hallman just released her self-titled debut LP on the indie label Busted Flat Records. Hallman is already getting great exposure on college radio in Ottawa, and seems poised to break out in Canada in 2007. Check out a preview MP3 below...

Forget You Listen

Arcade Fire Lead List of Anticipated 2007 Releases

With this weekend's unveiling of the Arcade Fire's first single from their upcoming sophmore LP (streaming here, click on Win's scrapbook), The Neon Bible, I thought it would be a good time to preview some of the other 2007 releases. 2007 is shaping up to be one of the best years in recent memory, featuring a slew of followups to excellent freshmen LPs (Arcade Fire, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Bloc Party), as well as new releases from some of the music world's most consistently good artists (Deerhoof, Modest Mouse). The possibility of a March release of the long delayed Chinese Democracy also looms, as well as a new record by 70s punk originators, The Stooges. Without further ado, our music preview:
January
Deerhoof, "Friend Opportunity," due out the 23rd
Of Montreal, "Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?" due out the 23rd
The Shins, "Wincing the Night Away," due out the 23rd
Menomena, "Friend and Foe," due out the 23rd
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, "Some Loud Thunder," due out the 30th

February
Bloc Party, "A Weekend in the City," due out the 6th
Apples in Stereo, "New Magnetic Wonder," due out the 6th
Magic Numbers, "Those the Brokes," due out the 20th

March
Guns n Roses, "Chinese Democracy," due out the 6th
Air, "Pocket Symphony," due out the 6th
LCD Soundsystem, "The Sound of Silver," due out the 20th
Ted Leo & the Pharmacists, "Living with the Living," due out the 20th
The Stooges, "The Weirdness," due out the 20th
Modest Mouse, "We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank," due out in March
The Arcade Fire, "Neon Bible," due out in March
Les Savy Fav, new LP due out in March

Also in 2007...
Bright Eyes, "Cassadaga," due out April 10th
Wilco, new LP due out in May
Andrew Bird, "Armchair Apocrypha," due out in the spring
Kings of Leon, "Because of the Times," due out in early 2007
Art Brut, new LP due out in 2007
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, LP due out early 2007
British Sea Power, LP due out in 2007
Interpol, LP due out in 2007
The Postal Service, new LP due out in 2007
John Vanderslice, new LP due out in 2007

Wishful Thinking...
The Pixies are said to be at work on a new album
Radiohead's next album should be out soon
Gang of Four are said to follow The Stooges and The New York Dolls and come out with a new album

Orlando's Band Marino

If you live in Orlando, you've probably already heard of Band Marino and their danceable, perfectably crafted indie-pop gems. In 2007, they are poised to make the rest of the country know them as well. They kick off a tour of the southeast tonight in Daytona Beach, and although they stay mostly in Florida and Georgia, they make it as far north as Tennessee, and even have a February 23rd gig in New York. However, the group promises to be touring for most of 2007, on strength of their debut LP released last month, The Sea and the Beast, so hopefully they will expand beyond the Florida area. Even the mainstream press has begun to take notice of these guys, as Rolling Stone named it one of the 25 Best Bands on Myspace in its latest issue .

Every Time I Make a Girl Cry, I Know I've Done My Job Listen

Gruff Rhys

I was never a big fan of the Super Furry Animals, but ever since I saw front man Gruff Rhys perform with Bright Eyes at Bonnaroo this summer, I've been anxiously waiting for his solo record, Candylion, due out January 11th, and, thankfully, not entirely in Welsh.

Having just listened to the leaked album, I can say that Rhys has released the first solid album of 2007. Candylion's songs are bouncy and playful, and somehow manage to pull off a strange marriage of freak folk like Vetiver and recent Camera Obscura (Let's Get Out of this Country era) faux-twee. Ultimately, it is Rhys' sweet vocals (which recall earlyCat Stevens) that make this record as good as it is. Check out the video from the first single, the album's title track,below.

Critics Poll: The Top 25 Movies of 2006

In 1999, Charlie Kaufman's Being John Malkovich won the Village Voice's Take 1 film critics' poll. The alt-weekly supported the poll for its next 6 incarnations. Sadly, they decided to cut it this year, to the chagrin of many already angered by the Voice's summer sellout.

Thankfully, the poll found a new home on indiewire.com, and 2006's results were recently released and can be found here.

The poll, conducted primarily among film critics to alternative media outlets, named Romania's The Death of Mr. Lazarescu the best film of the year. Placing second was another foreign title, France's L'Enfant.

I'm always interested in the differences in media coverage between the alternative and mainstream press, so I searched through the Top 10 lists of 68 different mainstream newspapers, magazines and websites. Assigning 10 points to each movie named Number 1 on a list, 9 points to number 2, etc, I compiled a mainstream version of the Take 8 Poll, and found the results quite interesting. Below is the Top 25, with the number of points each movie received in parenthesis:

1: United 93 (305)
2: The Departed (276)
3: The Queen (236)
4: Letters From Iwo Jima (189)
5: Pan's Labyrinth (167)
6: Little Miss Sunshine (149)
7: Borat (135)
8: Flags of Our Fathers (125)
9: Babel (106)
10: Army of Shadows (96)
11: Children of Men (93)
12(t): Dreamgirls (77)
12(t): Half Nelson (77)
14: Inland Empire (76)
15: Volver (72)
16(t): Casino Royale (70)
16(t): The Death of Mr Lazarescu (70)
18: Little Children (69)
19: Thank You For Smoking (68)
20: A Prarie Home Companion (64)
21: Brick (46)
22(t): L'Enfant (45)
22(t): The Prestige (45)
24: The Proposition (43)
25: Stranger Than Fiction (41)

This list differs vastly from indiewires. I think it goes without saying that the Academy's thinking is more in line with this mainstream list than indiewires (I'm not even sure if The Death of Mr Lazarescu is eligible for best foreign film). I wouldn't be surprised if the first 5 films on this represent this year's Best Picture nominees, although the overhyped Dreamgirls appears to be a lock.