Thursday, June 30, 2011

Winona, Winona and Wynona

Undoubtedly, when you think about Winona Ryder your mind can't help focusing on 90s.
Because it's in everything she evokes (evoked): it was in her haircut, in the way she nodded her head, in the position of the camera that made it look like she was less tall than you and she was watching you like a scoutgirl at your front door on a mission to sell as many biscuits as possible (*gasp*, forgot to breathe!..), it's in "Reality bites" as well as in "Edward Scissorhands" (and in her lovestory with Johnny Depp), it's in the way she dressed, it's in her bewildered fawn glance.
(however... er... she always left me unimpressed; my younger sister, instead, was definitely a "winonian")
This clueless post would like to... celebrate Winona Ryder through three classic (to me) 90s videos that simply bear "Winona" in their title or... feature Winona lip-synching.

We start with gross "Wynona's big brown beaver" by Primus* (although leader Les Claypool always denied any reference with the girl from Minnesota).
Second video is "Talk about the Blues" by superb Jon Spencer Blues Explosion: Winona sings, Giovanni Ribisi plays guitar, and John C. Reilly is on drums.
Third video is "Winona", by guiltily underrated Drop Nineteens: intense Uk-style shoegaze made in Boston. And that's my favourite by far of the bunch.
Enjoy

(*I hated Primus. It'not (only) their fault. I'll write a post about it)

Primus - Wynona's big brown beaver (1995)


Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Talk about the Blues (1998)


Drop Nineteens - Winona (1992)

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

It's 90s g(r)eeks!

Slowdive - Souvlaki (1993)

Just came back from a trip to the island of Rhodes, Greece (suffice it to say: you do have to visit that place!).
After strolling along the windy alleys of the Old City for a few minutes, you immediately realize that you've been surrounded by... menus! They are everywhere, trying to enchant the unwary tourist from a restaurant window, or triumphally invading the (narrow) streets in form of a 2x1 metre board, or lasciviously offering their goodies to your hungry eyes from an unsteady lectern.
And all of them promise nothing but one thing: authentic, real, genuine greek food.
And in a whiff you feel comfortable with words like "dolmades", "gyros", "moussaka" (and "tzatziki") and, of course, "souvlaki".
But... could have a 90s geek like me simply eaten that delicious thing without thinking about Slowdive?
This post is for the cold-hearted readers out there who don't know that "Souvlaki" is, also, the 1993 masterpiece by essential Slowdive (and for all the people who thinks that their 90s would have been poorer without that band and that album).

file under: shoegazing, My Bloody Valentine without distortions, music to float to, thank God there had been Creation Records, oh my! Rachel Goswell turned 40 last month.

Slowdive - Alison


Slowdive - Souvlaki Space station


Slowdive - When the sun hits


Slowdive - Machine gun

Friday, June 17, 2011

How to disappear. Not completely

Hello again.
To the millions of (silent, apparently) readers of this blog out there... sorry for disappearing again.
I promise it won't happen any more.
I offer you Lush's "500 (shake baby shake)" as an apology.
There's an alternate video for this song, and it's definitely sooo 90s: a kind of summary of 90s videos mood, something resembling Stone Temple Pilots' "Creep" meets Garbage's "Stupid girl" meets Whale's "Hobo humpin slobo babe" meets Smashing Pumpkins' "Bullet with butterfly wings".
Pretty cool indeed.
But tonight I prefer version #1. An image for "carefree happyness"? Miki (Berenyi) singing and nodding her head in time while driving a 500 (yes, "500" is that tiny car's model, symbol of Italy's history and culture. My family owned two of them when I was a kid!).
Enjoy
(Now go and buy "Lovelife"!)

Lush - 500 (shake baby shake) (1996)