Songs and the City

Songs of summer: Jesus kicks the Beach Boys' butt, Joni Mitchell cooks the lawn & Brigitte Bardot ... sizzles

Let Brigitte Bardot take you back to summer.

Summer is in full swing, at least according to the mercury if not the calendar. As the days continue to heat up, here are some tunes to keep you free and easy.

What are some your favorite summertime songs?

"Surfin' USA (Summer Mix)" by The Jesus and Mary Chain

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The mere thought of the Scottish distortion kings tackling the sunny California pop of the Beach Boys is enough to perk up your ears. But once you hear it blasting from your speakers it makes perfect sense. The Reid brothers always knew their way around a sugary melody and they give this surf classic a kick in the ass, infusing it with a Pentecostal fervor and ladling on layer after layer of guitar fuzz and feedback. It's a thrilling update to a timeless pop nugget.

"Camino del Sol" by Antena

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"The best French-Belgian electro-samba record you've never heard." And so reads the tag-line for Antena's "El Camino Del Sol," the trio's criminally overlooked record from 1982 that was heavy on charm and way ahead of its time. In case your french is rusty, the lyrics reel off a litany of words associated with a tropical summer vacation to Palm Beach: Seaside resort, tropical climate, jet lag, friendly atmosphere, sauna, steam bath, tennis, Air Florida, the way of the sun.

"Here Comes the Summer" by The Fiery Furnaces

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Brother and sister duo Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger turn in a winner with this bouncy pop song about the approaching summer season. "I’ve been waiting since I don’t know when and now it finally seems about to start," Eleanor sings, the excitement in her voice palpable. This song is for anyone's who's ever spent long, cold winters counting down the days to June.

"The Hissing of Summer Lawns" by Joni Mitchell

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A brilliant title, it not only rolls off the tongue, but it perfectly captures the sound of a scorching summer afternoon in Houston when you can literally hear the heat. Seriously, when July rolls around step outside and listen to the lawn. The hissing is even more pronounced after the grass is watered. But before you step out, revel in this jazzy track from one of Joni Mithcell's best mid-period albums.

"Cool Ice Cream" by Eddy Current Suppression Ring

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"Chocolate, vanilla, forever! I just wanna eat you for dinner. Cool ice cream. Cool ice cream." Need I say more?

"Sincerely Hot" by Domenico + 2

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This trio includes the offspring of some of Brazil's musical royalty, including Moreno Veloso (son of Caetano) and Domênico Lancellotti (son of Ivor). An infectious stew of samba, bossa nova, tropicalia, rock and electronica, "Sincerely Hot" is just that — a scorching groove that burns like the Houston summer sun. The song, and the album from which it comes, makes the perfect soundtrack for an afternoon by the pool.

"Swimming Pools" by Thao with the Get Down Stay Down

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Speaking of pools, this rollicking track by Thao Nguyen heralds the age-old activity of doing the cannonball into and splashing around in an aqua blue swimming pool. The lyrics reference chlorine-laden water and nothing screams summer more than the chemical's comforting odor and the burning eyes that comes with a day in the pool.

"It's Summer" by the Tempations

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Oooh yeah! The Temptations turn up the heat with this laid back celebration of summer. Taken from the vocal group's 1970 "Psychedelic Shack" LP, it features basso Melvin Franklin cooly reciting the song's lyrics in spoken verse.

Throw in some syrupy strings and the quartet's trademark harmonies in all their stereo-shifting glory and you've got the ideal accompaniment for some sweet summer romance.

"Le Soleil" by Brigitte Bardot

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There was once a claim that Bardot did more for the French international trade balance than the entire French car industry. Based on her sensual whispered coo on this ye-ye exultation of the sun, I'd have to agree. Besides, if in 1963 you offered me a choice between an afternoon with Bardot or a brand new Citroën DS, I'd unquestionably select the former.

"Jogging Gorgeous Summer" by Islands

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Steel drums and tin whistle fuel this indie rock rave-up by Canadian upstarts, Islands. It's a perfect summer love song with sweet lyrics and a calypso backbeat that's sure to get you spontaneously dancing along. "Millions of sunsets, but the one I remember is the one where you told me you'd love me forever."

"Funkier than a Mosquito's Tweeter" by Nina Simone

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One of the drawbacks to the summer season is the mosquito plague that comes with it, especially in the swamp we call home. No worries, Nina Simone will distract you from the itchy swollen red bumps with a thoroughly groovy tribal rendition of "Funkier than a Mosquito's Tweeter."

"The Beach Party" by Hot Chip

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One of electronic pop's most sophisticated practitioners, Hot Chip, don't mince words when it comes to getting down at the shore: "Don't want all this cold cold shit/Throw off your shirt and let's get
hot hot hot ... I've been to all the beaches on the strip and you better believe this shit/I like to dip, dip, dip."

"Summer Babe (Winter Version)" by Pavement

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An off-kilter ode to the summer romance served up in classic Gen-X deadpan. This song never gets old.

TDT (TOKEN DYLAN TRACK)

"In the Summertime" by Bob Dylan

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Dylan's last album from his evangelical Christian phase, 1981's much-maligned Shot of Love has matured remarkably well. Along with "Every Grain of Sand," "In the Summertime" is one of the record's strongest songs.

It features an introspective Dylan looking back on a particularly memorable romance, one that seems to reference both a woman and God. His vocal and harmonica performances are sublime and rank among his best of the decade. If you're a non-believer, give Dylan and his "Shot of Love" another shot.

Let Brigitte Bardot take you back to summer.

Movie Review

New horror movie Faces of Death puts a modern twist on cult classic

Dacre Montgomery in Faces of Death

Photo courtesy of of IFC Films

Dacre Montgomery in Faces of Death.

True horror fans will likely be familiar with the 1978 cult film Faces of Death, which purported to be a documentary showing real-life killings in gory detail. It didn’t, of course, but that didn’t stop rumors from continuing to spread for decades. Now, almost 50 years and multiple sequels later, comes a new version of Faces of Death, an actual movie that pays homage to the original in interesting ways.

Margot (Barbie Ferreira) works at a YouTube-like company called Kino as a content moderator, flagging videos that violate the company’s policies. This means her job often involves seeing some truly despicable things from all manner of depraved people. One day, though, she comes across a video that seems a little too real, and after seeing more similar videos, she starts to believe they’re genuine murders.

Going against her company NDA, she starts to investigate the videos on her own, which puts her on the radar of Arthur (Dacre Montgomery), who is actually kidnapping people and killing them on camera through methods seen in the original Faces of Death film. It’s not long before Arthur tracks her down, with a plan to make her one of his next victims.

Written and directed by Daniel Goldhaber (How to Blow Up a Pipeline) and co-written by Isa Mazzei, the film is not so much scary as it is creepy, with the occasional gross-out sequence. The idea of having someone emulate the killings in the cult film is a good idea, and pairing it with the modern-day attention economy — in which content creators go to increasing lengths for clicks — is a clever twist on a concept that other films have done.

The film as a whole is a commentary on how social media and video sharing sites have often decided to prioritize profits over the well-being of their users. Margot is shown allowing videos involving violence and sexual assault to stay on the site while nixing ones depicting how to use Narcan or demonstrating putting on a condom on a banana. Josh (Jermaine Fowler), Margot’s boss, is even explicit in the company mandate that outrageous videos drive views.

While Arthur has the makings of a good villain, there are few attempts to make him seem truly diabolical. His kidnappings often seem more spur-of-the-moment than calculated, and even though he has a well thought-out dungeon at home, the house’s location in the suburbs seems to make him vulnerable to easy discovery. Goldhaber and Mazzei leave more than a few unanswered questions along the way that take away from the intensity of the story.

Ferreira is yet another actor from Euphoria who’s capitalizing on her exposure from that show. She plays Margot’s increasing anxiety well, and when the action ratchets up in the final act, she meets the moment in a satisfying way. Montgomery returns to the vibe he had while playing the evil Billy on Stranger Things, and even though his character doesn’t fully live up to his potential, Montgomery sells his evil for all it’s worth.

The new Faces of Death may not be what some are expecting given the reputation of the previous films, but it’s a solid horror/thriller that uses the brand as a launching pad into something different. It doesn’t make much of a dent in the scare department, but it does give its violence and gore a degree of relevance in today’s often desensitized world.

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Faces of Death is now playing in theaters.

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