Confidence sorta came and went last year without getting much attention, despite a somewhat high-powered cast. You can’t really call it an overlooked gem, though – it was okay, no more, no less. The plot is all bendy and twisty like good con films should, but it shoots well past being believable by the time everything plays out, and it doesn’t help that there’s little chemistry between Edward Burns and Rachel Weisz. Dustin Hoffman and Andy Garcia are slumming it as a crime lord and federal agent respectively, and Burns comes off as little more than a poor man’s Ben Affleck – probably overly harsh but true nonetheless. So yeah, all in all, Confidence nets an enthusiastic “meh” on the Chromewaves sliding scale of cosmic import.

Franz Ferdinand’s debut eponymous album, out in North America on Tuesday, is getting very solid reviews all around. You know, in case you were resisting the hype. Oh, and here’s a FF fansite, if you couldn’t get enough.

The new Pixies compilation Wave Of Mutilation and accompanying self-titled DVD will be in stores May 4. Personally, I think the comp should have been called Gouge Away… Get it? GOUGE? As in this comp is so unnecessary – Death To The Pixies was fine – and is just a lousy cash grab. Kinda like 4AD reissuing all the albums a couple years ago in exactly the same format as the ones that were currently on the market, but at full price instead of the discounted list that the Elektra versions were at. Oh, but wait – they decided to split up the Surfer Rosa/Come On Pilgrim disc so you had two records to buy instead of one, because that’s how it was originally. And they didn’t have that horrible major label logo on the artwork! SO SINCE IT’S NOW INDIE, OBVIOUSLY IT WILL SOUND BETTER, MAKE YOUR BREATH FRESHER AND MAKE YOU MORE ATTRACTIVE TO MEMBERS OF THE OPPOSITE SEX. WELL THANK GOD FOR THAT.

The Elephant 6 is coming to town! Elf Power walk the beggar boys into the the Horseshoe April 19th and the Apples In Stereo unload their aural sugar bombs May 4, same venue. EP are promoting Walking With The Beggar Boys, out April 9, and Apples In Stereo are, uh, trying to make money to pay the rent? They’ll be touring with High Water Marks, Hilarie Sidney’s other band, and Apollo Sunshine.

Pitchfork graciously directs us to the new American Analog Set webpage, which will be featuring downloads of rare AmAnSet tracks. Currently available is a studio version of live set closer “White House”, recorded in Dublin in 1992.

Ivy’s “Worry About You”, from their last album Long Distance, is the theme song for the new Stephen King-created television show Kingdom Hospital (story here). Adam Schlesinger will be collecting extra royalties from ABC for that show as Fountains Of Wayne’s “Red Dragon Tattoo”, from Utopia Parkway, will also be used in the show. Ivy expect to have a new album out by the end of the year and will be following that up with a CD/DVD compiling all their b-sides and videos.

The headline on the NME website gleefuly declares, “PJ Harvey reveals all about new album”. Except a title. Or when it’ll be coming out beyond ‘this summer’. Which is pretty much what we knew in the first place. Thanks for nothing, NME.

YAAAY. After being shut down for two months, the Bloor Cinema is re-opening on March 18.

Oh, and as a follow-up to my Alan Moore post a couple weeks ago, I’ve gotten a couple of the America’s Best Comics hardcovers from the library – the first Tom Strong and Promethea collections. Tom Strong was very enjoyable, don’t know if I’d buy them but I did enjoy reading it. Just starting Promethea now. Once again, I doff my hat to Mr. Moore. How someone maintains that level of output and quality is beyond me.

np – Ryan Adams / Rock N Roll

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