The Grant Catton Blog

WARNING: Spoiler Alert! Blah, blah, blah...you know you've seen it already. Here is a review of the final installment of the Dark Knight trilogy , in a series of witty, trenchant observations by yours truly... 1.) First off, it's worth the money. But I'd still have to rank this third place against the other three films. 2.) What is this? A comic book movie, or just a movie? Last film had the Joker, it had Scarecrow...both pretty comic-booky villians. The only thing comic-booky in this was Bane's weirdo gas mask. Cat woman wasn't even very "catty." And throwing-in the whole "Robin" thing at the end? Please. I'd be happy either way. But it's like, either do it up comic book style, or don't. 3.) I got goosebumps every time Batman did something good and they play that one big violin note. That's worth the price of admission right there.  4.) My eyes glossed over during the final action scene. "WHAT?" you may ask. I

Lower Dens are a shoegaze/postpunk band from Baltimore. I saw them open for Cass McCombs last year and then saw them again at the Pitchfork festival last weekend. That second time really got me hooked though. All week I've been revisiting their old album Twin Hand Movement , and just got their new one Nootropics . The new album is smoother, cooler, more trance-inducing than the first one, almost the kind of thing you could put on before bed. While that's not usually a ringing endorsement of an album, there are a few driving, head-bobbing tracks on album. The first one is a little more raw, a little more reminiscent of early Cure. Get a chance, check em out...

It's been a long and busy couple of weeks, though probably the most productive and fun weeks/month of my life. Suffice it to say, my brain is fried. But, not so fried that I can't tell you about this toasty band I've been listening to called Burnt Ones . These guys are originally from Indy but have since moved out to San Francisco. They play fuzzy, psychedelic pop/garage kind of stuff, which is right up my alley right now. I bought one of the their cassette tapes at LUNA the other day & haven't been able to stop listening to it. I find myself more and more listening to local and hyper-indie rock. It's just more raw, more innovative, and just flat-out more ballsy than most of the stuff you download or buy that has national distribution. The more people that something appeals to, the more watered-down it has to be. To me, that's just basic math. Not a hard-and-fast rule, mind you, and certainly the inverse isn't always true. But I just get more satisfa