To those that know me, it’s no secret that I am a huge fan of romantic comedies, Rom-Coms to those in the know. What’s not to like about these pictures? They’ve got everything. Laughs, cries, ups, downs, and usually an all-knowing little kid who seems to have things figured out before the adults do. Lately though, they’ve been shit. Don’t give me All About Steve, and tell me it’s gonna be just as good as Miss Congeniality. That’s just a bald-faced lie. Then you’ve got pictures like Valentine’s Day and New Years Eve. I saw both of those in theaters and they were atrocious. Fuck you George Lopez. Get out of my Rom-Coms. The only thing I can do is reflect back on the greats from the 90’s (One Fine Day, You’ve Got Mail, Sleepless In Seattle) and the early 2000’s; which featured the greatest Rom-Com of all time Love Actually.
But sometimes I get surprised. I especially caught off guard by one a few years back. I went in knowing nothing and left absolutely delighted. Not just delighted with the movie itself, but with the film’s co-star as well. I had an all out man crush on the guy. The movie was Crazy, Stupid, Love. The co-star in question was Ryan Gosling. I had always been aware of Gosling but I never really gave him the time of day. After CSL I had to dive into his catalogue, everything from The Notebook and Half Nelson, all the way to Drive. Really didn’t seem like the dude could miss. So here I am, obsessing over homeboy’s acting thinking this was all the guy did, and then a friend of mine gives me a mixtape with a band called Dead Man’s Bones on the opening track. When I asked her for more info on them she said,“Oh yeah! That’s Ryan Gosling’s band.” Of course. Why wouldn’t the former Mousketeer have a band? GOSLING! TOTAL POWERHOUSE! That fist song from them wasLose Your Soul, off of their self-titled debut. This week’s ARTIST OF THE WEEK: DEAD MAN’S BONES.
The band is made up of Gosling and his buddy Zach Shields. The two of them share all instrumental and vocal duties. A list of those instruments played is much too large to go through here, but just know they play them all pretty well, and both these dudes can relly sing.
According to interviews with the band, the whole thing came about after Gosling and Shields got together and tried writing a play.
The play became too big and expensive so it got scraped. But the fellas being the smart guys that they are, took the music from it and decided to release an album. Why let good tunes go to waste? They then collaborated with the Silverlake Conservatory Children’s Choir and in 2009 they released their first record Dead Man’s Bones. The record is a concept album about ghosts, demons, and other supernatural elements, real spooky shit. So of course, the tunes themselves are quite spooky.
I don’t know why but children’s choirs have always creeped me out. Their voices are too high, they all sing in unison… I feel like they’re seconds away form going all Children Of The Corn on everyone. Knock it off kids choirs.
Here’s their track Pa Pa Power. It opens up the record and it’s a great damn song. I love that electric organ. It always takes me back to some Ray Charles stuff. Those kids though. Straight creepin me out sing about “not destroying me”. Kinda sounds like they want to. Try getting those lyrics out of your head. The video is exceptionally haunting.
What gets me is how each track has so many layers of sound. Popping on a pair of decent headphones allows the listener to absorb so much more than some simple computer speakers. It’s incredible. A great track to dive into is Paper Ships. It starts out like an old-school Buddy Holly do-wop type track about strolling through a graveyard. Like ya do. And then unfolds into an all out fright-fest.
Also, what would a supernatural concept album be with out a song called Werewolf Heart? This song genuinely weirds me out. The other night when I was listening through the album to pick out tracks for the article and I fell asleep with my head phones on. I was suddenly jarred awake by howling wolves mixed with strumming guitars, and some ghastly lady telling me about black 
magic. Normally I’m fully on board for this kind of thing, but not at 1AM after dosing off. It’s gonna give me bad dreams. I don’t need more bad dreams.
They did some light touring after the album’s release in 2010 but there hasn’t been much action since then. I really want a second album from these cats and hope that they’re working towards doing that. I understand the delays. Gosling has a full on movie career and is shacked up with Eva Mendes. I get it. That’s a lot to have your plate. I’d be busy trying to keep that lovely lady as happy as possible too. Oh, well. Maybe this Halloween we will get lucky and they’ll give us all a chilling soundtrack to groove to. Check them out. You’ll love them.
Big Hugs
Kelly
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