Brooklyn Band 'Alberta Cross' - Sounds Like Indie Music

When Them Crooked Vultures played in Detroit in November 2009, they didn't have an opening band. And honestly, for these die-hard fans, I don't think they even knew there was an opening band - that is, Alberta Cross.

According to their website, Alberta Cross joined Them Crooked Vultures in Quebec City on May 11th, 2010, touring major cities in Canada before stopping at the border in Windsor for the show.

The group wraps up touring with Them Crooked Vultures in Chicago today.

Overall, I would recommend seeing or listening to Alberta Cross. Besides the amazing surge of Them Crooked Vultures, at least one of Alberta Cross' songs has kept with me, "Rise from the Shadows." I actually listened to it because when I asked their drummer Seb Sternberg what his favorite song to play was, he said "Rise from the Shadows."

The song has a slower melody with eerie vocals by Petter Ericson Stakee. I'd say the song reminds me of, well, something fitting for 2010 indie music.

To hear the music of Alberta Cross, go to albertacross.net.

Alberta Cross hails from Brooklyn, New York, but the nationalities of its members span the globe—from places like England, Sweden, and Northern California. They have been playing together for three years.

According to a spot on NPR.org, Alberta Cross has London roots, but American blues and rock influences. I would say this is somewhat true - to categorize music is somewhat precarious.

Overall, Alberta Cross was worth seeing - probably because they soothed my anxiousness to see Them Crooked Vultures.

Alberta Cross leaves the US mid-June to tour Europe, Australia, and Japan. They return to US soil in September.

Soft Review

Recently, I watched a short movie as part of my journalism studies - a class that focused on reviwing that week, interestingly enough. Unfortunately I couldn't just hand in one of my previous pieces of work, and so this review came about.

Soft is a short film, a medium that is surprisingly underrepresented when it comes to reviews. I haven't seen a lot of short films myself, true, but the few I have seen (such as Paths of Hate, or The Facts in the Case of Mr Hollow) tend to be finely made, with a certain visual flair to leave a lasting impression. Few such movies are over 15 minutes long, and so tend to be far more focused on grabbing the audiences attention. For many directors, a short film is their chance to garner attention and potential backing from financers for a ful length feature.

Soft is fairly typical in this respect - it is an urban drama exploring the issues of bullying and violence in youth. Some reviewers, like Peter Bradshaw of the Guardian Film Blog favourably compare it to A Clockwork Orange. The plot revolves around a father, his son, and the gang of teenagers who harass them. The course of events is almost entirely predictable, starting off with the son being assaulted and fleeing home, before the gang intimidates the father and then besieges the pair of them in their house. That's about it really - it's readily available on Youtube so feel free to check it out for yourselves.

There is a nice variety when it comes to techniques in this movie - camera phone footage is used in key sections, particularily when the gang is dealing out violence, whilst the rest of the film is presented in a typical fashion. To put it simply, there is nothing new or groundbreaking in this film, but it is a well crafted story told in a minimalistic way, and does a LOT with very little.

Made by Simon Ellis, this short movie has won the International Short Filmmaking Award at the Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for a BAFTA in 2008. Like many short movies, it's readily available on the internet, so do check it out.