Music Matters

Beyond Carmageddon: The perfect playlist for anyone stuck in a traffic nightmare

Radiohead
Fleet Foxes

It’s about that time of year to pack up and hit the road, facing both the stress of the freeway and the doldrums of a long car ride. Carmageddon may have passed, but the summer traffic isn't going anywhere.

Ah, but I’ve got the remedy for you, my dear friends. It’s a mix of the best songs to cross my path in 2011, a pretty fruitful musical year so far. This mix is guaranteed to make those long hours on the road just a bit more bearable.

“The Valley” by Okkervil River: Let’s start this off with a cathartic rocker, guaranteed to get your trip off and rolling with authority. Okkervil front man Will Sheff sings about traversing “the valley of the rock and roll dead,” just as you’ll be weaving effortlessly between all of the zombies blocking your path.

“Velcro” by Bell XI: I’ll cop to being not too familiar with this band, which has been very popular in their native Ireland for some time now. This is an invigorating slice of dance pop a la Phoenix, and you might not hear a more romantic line all summer long than “I’ll be your Velcro.”

“Tree Down By The River” by Iron & Wine: You might consider bearded folkie Sam Beam more of a winter artist, with his hushed voice and acoustic renderings. Here, however, he spins off a gorgeously nostalgic summer reverie, complete with falsetto-backing vocals to capture a Beach Boys-vibe.

“Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall” by Coldplay: I don’t know if this upcoming album is the one that will be the group's first truly classic full-length. What I do know is that, until Bono and The Edge get untangled from their web, Chris Martin and company have cornered the market on effortlessly uplifting singles.

“Codex” by Radiohead: You’ll have to be careful not to get too transfixed on the beauty of this composition from The King Of Limbs while at the wheel, or else you might hurtle over a guard rail or two. At least you’ll do it in the most tranquil way possible.

“Dimming Of The Day” by Allison Krauss & Union Station: Tell the significant other that you’ve got some dust in your eye when this one comes on, because I guarantee you’ll be a bit misty when you hear Krauss’ take on this Richard & Linda Thompson classic.

“Time Spent In Los Angeles” by Dawes: This band hails from LA, so it knows from whence it speaks on this song about a girl with a “special kind of sadness.” The song joins the proud lineage of melancholy songs about the West Coast, a la the best offerings of Jackson Browne or Don Henley.

“Villains On The Moon” by Cold Cave: Do you remember that brief point in the 80’s where Depeche Mode was cranking out weirdly captivating songs like “Enjoy The Silence” and “Policy of Truth” with regularity? This song is just like one of those, courtesy of a New York City band to watch.

“Yonkers” by Tyler The Creator: I’m not condoning anything that’s going on this song, but it is impossible to deny both the captivating power of its Pac-Man-run amok rhythm and the inventiveness of the lyrics, as raw as they might be.

“Codeine” by Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit: The former Drive-By Trucker has carved out a nice little niche as the head of this new collective. This song is a quintessential piece of alt-country, with fiddles and pedal steel that accentuate Isbell’s tale of wayward former flame.

“Someone You’d Admire” by Fleet Foxes: The Foxes new album is definitely a contender for the finest of the year so far, and this unabashedly pretty song might be the highlight. Substitute anything from the latest Bon Iver album if you’re looking for something equally soft and luminous.

“June Hymn” by The Decemberists: OK, it’s a month late, but this sublime offering from The King Is Dead, the best album of the year in my opinion, encapsulates the season in perfect fashion. No traffic jam would be complete without it.

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Movie Review

Safe cracking takes center stage in new heist movie Tuner

Photo courtesy of Black Bear

Leo Woodall in Tuner.

Of all the ways that movies depict people trying to steal money and other valuables, safe cracking is among the least exciting. By design, it’s a laborious process that only those with a very certain set of skills can do. While clever editing and the right music can enhance scenes of safes being cracked, there’s a reason that the method is among the least used in heist films.

In the new film Tuner, Niki (Leo Woodall) has a job and a condition that just happens to lend itself well to committing that specific crime. He works as an apprentice piano tuner for Harry (Dustin Hoffman), usually doing the hard work while Harry schmoozes the client. Niki is well-suited for the job because he has a rare condition called hyperacusis, which makes him both sensitive to loud noises and able to hear subtle things that others cannot.

When he runs across a trio of criminals trying to break open a safe at a house where he’s tuning a piano, he helps them more out of frustration than avarice. But when Harry goes into the hospital and racks up huge bills, Niki decides to join the group to make some quick money. They soon want more than he’s willing to give, and he must find a way to extricate himself from them without losing himself completely.

Written and directed by documentary filmmaker Daniel Roher (making his narrative feature debut) and co-written by Robert Ramsey, the film has a nice pace to it despite there being relatively little action. Roher and Ramsey spend the first third or so establishing Niki, Harry, and Harry’s wife Marla (Tovah Feldshuh) as characters, letting the audience understand their relationships and how they interact with each other.

The time they devote to the personal storytelling pays dividends when Niki starts to descend into crime, as his divided loyalties — not to mention the danger of the thefts — insert tension into the plot. That stress is heightened even more when Niki starts a relationship with piano student Ruthie (Havana Rose Liu), as getting closer to her necessitates a series of lies.

There comes a point, though, where the plot stagnates to a degree. Niki’s end goal, if he has one, is never clear, and it’s obvious that it’s only a matter of time before things start to fall apart. After starting strong in their character development, Roher and Ramsey take shortcuts as the film rushes toward its conclusion. This is most notable in a weird argument scene between Niki and Ruthie that comes out of nowhere and seems to serve no purpose in the story.

Woodall, who had a memorable turn in season 2 of The White Lotus, is on the cusp of breaking out, and this understated-but-compelling lead role should help him become an even bigger name in Hollywood. Hoffman has a small role, but he remains as interesting as ever despite the lack of screentime. Liu (Bottoms) is also an up-and-coming actor who should become a star with more roles like this one.

Tuner is a low-key thriller that succeeds because of the way the filmmakers approach the under-used method of robbery. Even if it doesn’t quite reach its potential, the film maintains a high quality throughout thanks to its storytelling and acting.

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Tuner is now playing in theaters.

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