Category: Personal

The Needle Dropped

There are always events I’m aware of and don’t attend. I’m not sure why I don’t go but I usual regret it that day or in the coming weeks.
Anthony  Fantano AKA The Needle Drop is a music reviewer, who I’m yet to decide if I love or hate. I always find his videos difficult to turn off because he knows so much about music. I don’t always agree with him and then sometimes I think his word is gospel.  He’s been in Australia recently primarily as a speaker at Big Sound in Brisbane and he’s done talks in Melbourne and Sydney as well.
I didn’t go to his talk in Melbourne so instead I’ve ironically read a review written by Wax Volcanic.

Source: theneedledrop.com

He is also a vegan.

You’re Dead!

This year has been saturated with critically acclaimed music releases which I have awaited with relish.
Some of these I have been enthralled with and listened to numerous times escaping to the sonic landscape. With just under three months of the year there is plenty still to come not to mention the countless records I haven’t yet been able to devour in their entirety (FKA Twigs’ LP 1, Pallbearer’s Foundations of Burden, Future Island’s Singles…just to name a few).

There is an album that is making October 3rd look like it’s going to be a great day. The record is none other than Flying Lotus’ You’re Dead! To be totally honest I get lost within the music of Steven Ellison, aka Flying Lotus, unsure of what to think or how to react. He creates an immersive listening experience that draws from an eclectic palette of genres.

The pedigree of this album is phenomenal.
Having Herbie Hancock feature on a couple of tracks alone would spark my immediate interest. If there is anyone in the world who knew how to play keys correctly it would be him. Secondly, my favourite Bass man Thundercat is present throughout.  A long time collaborator of Ellison’s the Cat’s bubbly and frenetic bass lines beautifully compliment the spacey and glitchy production Flylo is known for. Then there are the variety of vocalists who appear including Snoop Dog (Lion), Kendrick Lamar and Ellison himself as his Captain Murphy moniker. Lets face it, nothing beats the Captain’s cult influenced dark flow.
Supposedly Kimbra also appears alongside Laura Darlington on a track which in my opinion is yet another reason to get excited for this release.  Hopefully this album is a showcase of what can be created when geniuses of different musical disciplines come together and not a case of “too many cooks in the kitchen.”

I hope that in years to come I cherish this album as much as Bitches Brew which was Miles Davis being really progressive and weird. I really liked that album. I really want to like this album too.  For more on the album check out Pitchfork’s interview with Flylo himself.

Apple is Evil

Usually I love Apple because everything is shiny, sleek and designed in California.
Today though Apple have pulled off the biggest cover up since Utegate.
By unveiling both the iWrist and iPhone 6 they have diverted everyone’s attention away from the fact that they have discontinued the iPod Classic, the greatest product Apple has ever created.  It is a sad day for all us pretentious music nerds who feel that they must carry 160 GB of music with them at all times. For those of you going into shock and need the truth check it out on Pitchfork. 

I guess this means that I will hold my own Classic a little bit closer at night uncertain of our future together.

This is true love.

This is true love.

I couldn’t work out which poor taste joke to end on so here is both.
It’s as if Steve Jobs has died a third time (The second time he was killed by Ashton Kutcher).
The iPod Classic has joined Steve in the great iCloud in the sky.

Powerful combination of music and imagery that subverts a classic narrative.
Oneohtrix Point Never. 

Hard To Be a God

For the past week and a bit I’ve been chipping away at a bit of a review/summary of a film I saw with Michael and Berk at the Melbourne International Film festival. Whenever I go to write some more I get distracted or give up so here’s the trailer plus a semblance of what I managed to write. I would highly recommend it if you’re in to long Russian films filled with gore, public urination and crazy medieval people.

Going into a film knowledgeable of it’s mammoth 3 hour running length does influence your reading of it but I feel that if I didn’t know this I would have felt even more confined by the world presented in Hard To Be A God. For anyone who witnessed Aleksei Yuryevich German’s swan song at MIFF without the knowledge of it’s running time must have felt completely imprisoned in the claustrophobia of the film unaware it would ever reach a conclusion. Like the films protagonist Don Rumata a human scientist sent to a far away planet to study it’s transition from medieval life into prosperity, we the audience felt far from earth, longing for comfort.

The film drudged through long takes of sheer brutality, the camera situation amongst the bustling panicked scenes. Dialogue was delivered alongside grunts, wails and screams directly to the face of the listener so as not to be lost amongst the din of its medieval setting. The film kept the audience at a constant state of unease as characters struggles in confined locations.

Every single monochromatic shot was dripping with mud, the medieval setting of the film was purely horrific. This film made even the most stark and brutal representation of this age look glossy and romanticised. Each shot features some form of rotting food or carcass covered in mud. Black Blood mixed with mud and water, becoming just another layer of grime the characters existed within.

The film took the audience in a vicious head and did not relent. So often the camera was shoved in the face of  grotesque looking beings before swinging wildly to follow the action.  Scene would draw on without a cut, every setting rich with characters, the camera just another bewildered onlooker. This style was incredibly alienating and blurred the distinction between omniscience and whether we were watching the film through the eyes of bewildered character. Chills went through my spine almost every time a character looked directly into the camera chuckling or staring blankly. It was truly as if like the Don we had come to this planet and were stuck there observing helplessly as vile and violent life carried on.

Due to the films brutal honesty moments of comedy were bizarre and cruel. I did not find myself alone chuckling, as the Don was attack with a giant fish upon entry into a rival’s keep. Even in the most horrific scenes of battle, failing arms became pantomimic.

Don Rumata’s longing for Earth was evident in moments of silence, juxtaposing the frantic and confonting scenes. The camera draws back no longer another character in these confrontations. These scenes usually focus on Don as he sits in a rare moment of peace ,clearly longing for home, planet Earth. The audience share his feelings of alienation and longing for home. Once again we are one of Don’s colleagues longing to return to a world where poverty and disease does not lurk around every corner of  crumbling stone. At the conclusion of the film we the audience are given our freedom, unlike Don Rumata whose only connection to the Earth he loves is the smooth jazz he plays on his primitive saxophone as he drudges on….

 

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