The Scenestar

Trailer: Gainsbourg, Vie Heroique (2010)

Influencial French musician Serge Gainsbourg is finally getting his due exposure on the big screen! Gainsbourg Vie Heroique is the new French biopic film written and directed by Joann Sfar based on his graphic novel based on Serge Gainsbourg's life. It follows Gainsbourg's life growing up in the 1940's to his death in 1991. Eric Elmosnino plays Serge Gainsbourg with the role of his partner Jane Birkin being played by the late Lucy Gordon. Gainsbourg Vie Heroique is set to be released on January 20th, 2010 in France. No word yet on a US release date but we at The Scenestar can't wait to check it out once it does hit our shores!

Sleepercar: West Texas

BY PAULA GONZALEZ

Sleepercar
West Texas
Doghouse

Texas. You don’t mess with it. Don’t mess with Texas. There is no way I want to mess with Texas after seeing the movie No Country for Old Men. I wouldn’t want someone to make me call a coin toss. Now that was a hardcore, American-made cowboy shootout movie. So when you come across a band that doesn’t fall into the immediate labeling of Brit-pop/rock and play instead in the field of Johnny Cash, acoustic Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Band of Horses, The Cobbs and Ryan Adams, you got yourself a “Made in the U.S.A.” band. Sleepercar isn’t a new band, nor a local band. West Texas is a debut album, and it’s Jim Ward’s project. Recognize the name? He’s the lead singer and guitarist for the band Sparta.

Stevenson Ranch Davidians: Psalms, Hymns, & Spiritual Songs

BY MYCHELLE PETERSON

Stevenson Ranch Davidians
Psalms, Hymns, & Spiritual Songs
Self-Released

Among the throngs of Los Angeles-based bands, every so often you come across one that stands so far above the rest that it almost takes you by surprise. Listening to the amount of music that we here at The Scenestar do, occasionally the giddiness of discovering a new band seems a thing of the past. With the advent of MySpace and other music sites, anyone can form a band and push their mediocre music onto masses of unsuspecting people looking for something new.

So when a friend recommended the Stevenson Ranch Davidians a few weeks ago, I almost begrudgingly took a listen, mostly expecting to hear something average at best. And there I was, half-way through the first track, “Let It All Go,” when I suddenly felt this surge of unbridled joy take over my entire body. As if I had been previously in a state of semi-consciousness, I fully came to, sat straight up and wondered where this band had been all my life. In one word, the band's sound is euphoric.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club: Baby 81

BY PAULA GONZALEZ

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Baby 81
RCA

Nothing is better than loving a rock band that knows how to transform for each album without failure. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club is one of the very few bands out there that has been able to reinvent its music without changing its hardcore style.

A couple of months ago, thousands of mouths dropped when an email was sent by BRMC’s Robert Levon Been announcing the new album: “It’s been a long time since I’ve written to everyone, but I think we have something well worth mentioning. We’ve just finished work on our fourth album. We’re very proud of it and it took a lot of blood, sweat and cheers to get it to this point.”

After reading this comes some anxiousness, as BRMC has done almost everything possible—from its first self-titled album to its second to 2005 release Howl. What would this new album sound like?