White Wilderness (Dead Oceans) is the latest album from the San Francisco-based John Vanderslice, and he’s joined on it by the classically trained Magik*Magik Orchestra. MMO artistic director Minna Choi arranged and conducted the Vanderslice-written music on the LP, which was recorded in a whirlwind three-day session by producer John Congleton (St. Vincent, Walkmen, Bill Callahan). Vanderslice himself is no stranger to production, running the Tiny Telephone recording studio for 14 years and having produced records by the likes of Spoon and the Mountain Goats. Now he can add MAGNET guest editor to his resume, as that’s what he’s doing at magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new Q&A with him.
Vanderslice: Holy shit. Synecdoche, New York is one of my favorite films from the past few years. Even though I’m a huge Charlie Kaufman fan, it took me a while to get around to see this one. I had heard that Spike Jonze dropped off as director to do Where The Wild Things Are and Kaufman took over as a first-time director. The film came and went, and honestly, most of my friends couldn’t make sense clear of it. This is a movie (like Inland Empire) that really rewards multiple viewings. The cast is stellar: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Samantha Morton, Emily Watson, Tom Noonan and Michelle Williams (who also did incredible work that year in Wendy And Lucy). Features an excellent soundtrack by Jon Brion.
Video after the jump.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eno9bNMOZuI
