Categories
Music

Porij: Indie Redefined?

High up on the historic intersection of Hollywood and Vine sits the Bardot Hollywood – a one time VIP section attached to the Avalon that hosted the likes of Jerry Lewis, the Ramones, and Frank Sinatra. But not tonight. As I approach the venue, I hear a swath of synths emulating from inside, leading me to just who I’m looking for.

Porij has been on the upswing for the past year now. Just within the past six weeks, the 4-piece Manchester outift has played the BBC6 Music Festival with the Smile, multiple shows at SXSW, and New York’s Baby’s Alright. Just this morning they were featured on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic, and have even opened for the likes of Coldplay, Wet Leg, and Metronomy. But tonight they play to a crowd of L.A. music enthusiasts, ones that are always on the hunt for bragging rights to be able to say “I was there.”

As I enter soundcheck, I hear them playing their latest single, “Unpredictable,” the first off their debut album, Teething, out now on PIAS Recordings. Co-produced with David Wrench (Frank Ocean, Jamie XX), expertly mixed, precisely arranged, it sounds as if I’d been transported to the Haçienda for a brief moment. And had Porij been around during the days of the infamous club, without a doubt they would’ve been on the bill.

Given they’re a band that’s been touring extensively, Porij shows no signs of lethargy as they meet me in the back bar area. Jacob (guitar), James (bass), Nathan (drums) and the vocalist simply known as Egg, appear as if they have nothing in common from the outside in. As James approaches with a rolled cigarette, I find it evident they’re craving some sun, and suggest we step outside.

As they look down upon Hollywood and Vine, there’s a stark contrast between the view and the Northern English four-piece seeing the United States for the first time. Considering their rising status, and coming hot off of SXSW and their first U.S. tour, my first instinct is to ask how they find our grassroots venues compared to theirs.

“Grassroots venues are equally as important over in the U.K.” Egg takes the lead. “You know Glastonbury festival?” Of course. “They just announced the lineup, and they took out all of the performers who came up through grassroots venues. I think there’s only a handful of names still on that poster. Everyone is coming up through these grassroots venues.”

Along with the U.S., the U.K. also faces a grassroots venue crisis, one that saw about 125 venues shut down in 2023, which has led to fewer grassroots bands forming in the first place.

“If you don’t have them, then you can’t let artists get their legs and figure out how to do the thing before they blow up,” Egg continues. “Also, it’s just a different vibe of performance. It’s so wonderful, I don’t think there’s anything like it. Those intimate, sweaty, small gigs. It’s the most fun.”

“We’re all massive fans of grassroot music venues,” Nathan preaches. “And so it’s a big time. I think we all spent so much time in there. We’ve done a lot of shows in those venues as well. So it’s nice to be able to represent that.”

Whereas most bands start out by casting each other in roles, writing songs, and rehearsing to “hopefully” play a live show, Porij started as the opposite. Instead of having worked together for months or even years, Porij was haphazardly thrown together as a request by a friend of the band who needed their set time filled after dropping out of a lineup. Seeing the opportunity as a tailwind, Egg grabbed three of their schoolmates at Manchester’s Royal Northern College of Music, threw together some songs, and delivered at the show.

Soon enough, they kept being asked back. But whereas many young bands cater to TikTok or Spotify algorithms, Porij tailors their music for performance.

“I think Porij makes sense live,” Egg hypes. “I think it definitely can be enjoyed recorded, that’s a wonderful time. But I think, because we play such an eclectic, kind of blended music, I think we really make sense when you come to a show. And you see it in its whole thing, and you feel it in the moment. I think that’s what people have said a lot… ‘oh yeah I listened to your tunes… and then we came to see the show… wow, okay, we get the vision.’ So definitely always, [we’re] first and foremost a live band.”

This, inevitably, led to radical approaches in recording music.

“It’s kind of like, ‘what can you get away with writing and playing dance music as a band?” Egg proclaims. “When we first started out… we would write a song, and then we’d play it in a rehearsal room, and then we’d record what we could then play in a rehearsal room, and that would be what was on the track. We’ve since got a little bit more…” Egg trails, “…maximalist. Just in terms of layers. I think we’ve got more… Optimistic. I think we’ve allowed ourselves to be a bit more experimental.”

“We were all split across the country,” they continue. “We were living in different places, and so we would send ideas across… like on soundcloud, would add bits – it was like musical ‘pass the parcel.’”

Since their inception, they’ve been labeled the inescapable title of “indie,” shamefully by default, because they have so much more to offer than just that status. Birthed from Manchester, their DNA is inarguably made up of the dance genre, the same thing that’s been in the blood of the Happy Mondays and the Stone Roses.

However, “indie” has always been a varied term in flux. Yes, it may be short for “independent,” but its definition has now transcended what it literally means. It wasn’t until another Mancunian band, The Smiths, were called indie that the term was really assigned a sound. But hailing from their DIY beginnings, and given their support for and from grassroots venues now across two continents, is the term “indie” currently being redefined? And are they an example?

“I mean I don’t really know what our music is when people ask us,” Egg confesses. “Because I think we take so much inspiration from so many different genres of music. I don’t know if our music is ‘indie,’ but it wouldn’t bad if it was. I don’t know if ‘indie’ is taking on a new meaning, but we’ll have a bit of it! We’ll take it.”

Porij (courtesy of Jesse Glazzard)

ㅤㅤ

“But does the overwhelming feeling of coming out in debt at the end of this tour ever intimidate you? As it has with so many other bands starting out and backed by a label?” I ask.

“Being a musician in this current climate is really hard,” Egg reflects. “I don’t know if you saw James Blake talking about recently that people have been led to believe music is free now. And it’s super hard as a touring musician. It costs SO much money to tour. I don’t think people realize quite how much. We did a run in January of these incredible grassroots venues in the U.K. when we were road testing our album. We sold out every venue and we still made a loss.”

“There was a time when touring was the only way to make money,” Jacob chimes in. “And now that seems to have gone, so it’s like, what are we left with to actually be sustainable?”

Egg follows up, “I mean… it’s our favorite thing to do in the world. I don’t know what I would do if I wasn’t doing music. None of us are in it for the money, otherwise we wouldn’t be doing it!”

“And the opportunity to be in America, it’s wild,” Jacob added.

“I mean we’re incredibly grateful for where we are,” Egg remarks as they raise their arms in a gesture to the Hollywood hills behind them. “This past week and a half has been utterly mind blowing, like life changing stuff. We were sitting in a dive bar last night and our music was on the jukebox! And it’s like, ‘what the hell is happening!’”

But with all the surmounting obstacles young bands face, I dare ask: “Is a life in music still possible?”

“As long as people keep creating music, then a life in music is still possible,” Egg declares. “It’s a tricky environment, but I think music is always going to survive through whatever comes because I think it’s innate. I think humans want to make music. I think that’s never going to change.”

Porij will be playing Get Together 2024 in Sheffield, England on May 18th. Their debut LP, Teething, is out now via PIAS Recordings.

ㅤㅤ

Featured image courtesy of PIAS Recordings

Categories
Music

Coachella Slump: Has The Music Festival Bubble Finally Burst?

If all the years felt like they were too good to be true, then, they probably were. With the second weekend of Coachella upon us, this year’s run of main slate festivals is officially underway, albeit to some underwhelming response.

From Coachella, to Bonnaroo, to Governor’s Ball, this year’s festival lineups have been met with little excitement due to their lack of thrilling, surprising headlining acts one can’t see on any major touring circuit. With unexpected reunions becoming the norm as the years progressed, U.S. audiences have become accustomed to being surprised by ballsy festival choices. So much so, that when 2024’s major festival announcements rolled out, everyone felt a little glass half-empty, resulting in the slowest Coachella ticket sales in a decade. Where was room for all the alternative acts? Why are they all pop stars we could easily see anywhere else? And higher ticket prices? The answer is not as simple as one would think. There are many facets that factor into these decisions, because choices like these aren’t made within a vacuum.

To assess why festival lineups are so lackluster this year, one must look at the live music economic climate we’re currently in.

The Cost of Touring

The current climate in today’s touring ecosystem has all but dwindled since the comeback from the pandemic, having never fully returned to pre-2020 levels due to the high cost of touring in the United States post-COVID. In the wake of the circuit coming back to life, it only became more expensive to tour due to venues and ticketing companies trying to recoup expenses they lost. Even as recently as this month, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services instituted a 250% visa fee increase for global musicians hoping to tour in the U.S. The touring/gigging life was hard enough as it is, but when the pandemic came and left, it became nearly impossible. Sure, 2023 may have been a record-breaking year for Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, and Drake. But for grassroots venues and artists, the financial cost hit hard.

This, as a result, has become the new catch 22: where venues in major cities like New York or Los Angeles had pay-to-play policies, touring is now looking very much the same way. There are countless stories by reputable musicians who have been dupped by this broken touring system, such as Arooj Aftab. After being mentioned on Obama’s year end list, nominated for Grammys, playing Coachella, even she saw difficulty in making ends meet. “We headlined a ton, had massive turnouts and have proven ourselves in all the markets,” she tweeted. “Yet still, running 10s of thousands in debt from the tour and I’m being told that it’s ‘normal’. Why is this normal. This should not be normalized.”

Add in how ticket prices have soared due to price-gouging (*cough* Ticketmaster *cough*), and given that many of these acts are international who require visas that need to be paid for, the touring circuit as we know it has dried up significantly. And those that do go on tour often aren’t on the road for as long and only visit the biggest cities. Ultimately, rising costs means fewer bands are touring.

Cost of Living Crisis

Take also into account the cost of living crises occurring in both the U.S. and the U.K. As rent prices soar in metropolitan areas, many local art and music scenes are driven out due to in-affordability. This results in fewer local bands gigging, which results in fewer music goers going to see shows, which results in venues shutting down. And as rent costs soar, energy, service, and supply costs do as well, forcing many venues to shut down or raise prices to pay bills. Just this year, the Music Venue Trust (MVT) – a charity in the U.K. that aims to protect, secure, and improve grassroots music venues – released figures that show two grassroots venues closing per week, with 125 venues shutting their doors in the last 12 months. And those that do remain report a 38% financial loss despite seeing an increased demand for tickets in 2023.

But local venues aren’t the only ones that are suffering, entire festivals have been forced to close shop due to these circumstances. In the U.S., Jay Z’s Made in America has been forced to cancel yet another year, as well as Delaware’s Firefly Music Festival and Memphis’s Beale Street Music Festival due to lack resources and finances, therefore closing off any type of international exposure smaller artists previously had access to. And in the U.K., festivals such as Barn on the Farm, Bluedot, and Nozstock have either been cancelled or postponed, amongst others.

Fewer People Going to Gigs

Moreover, fewer and fewer people are going to gigs as a result of these soaring prices. Combined with an energy crisis and a cost of living crisis, more concert goers have become discouraged to splurge on what used to be an affordable night out. This has resulted in an almost runaway feedback loop: as venues continue to shut down, fewer young bands are able to launch their careers, which ultimately discourages the younger generations to start any type of band without the hope of a future.

And as the younger generation focuses on making music for TikTok and Spotify to cater to algorithm rather than performance, venues are close to running the well dry in finding fresh acts.

Even the artists who can afford to tour are deciding not to. Residencies have become more and more popular among established artists, because why spend money on tour expenses with little return when audiences can just come to you? Ever since Celine Dion became the first modern popstar to enjoy the financial benefits of touring from the comfort of a Vegas suite in the early 2000s, many artists have approached the same model, either in one market or bringing the residency to other markets. And since these residencies take place in destination locals like Vegas and Palm Springs, there’s already a healthy amount of foot traffic coming through to offset production expenses without the need for travel.

What also takes away from “general interest” festivals like Coachella or Lollapalooza is the current rise of niche, genre-specific festivals. Festivals such as Goldenvoice’s Just Like Heaven or Live Nation’s When We Were Young serve to cater to different demographics that might have felt out of touch with the current general interest festival circuit, further draining a pool of potential acts who may have been deemed too specific for a prominent spot at Bonnaroo or Governor’s Ball.

All of this, and more, leads to an un-eclectic lineup pool to draw from. Headlining festivals is just not as lucrative or prolific as it used to be. The dearth of touring artists, combined with high cost of living, and a dwindling concert-going clientele can only lead to so many options. Whereas festivals like Coachella usually rely on big “gets,” this year’s lineup selections feature headliners who can easily be seen anywhere else, or in other words, the ones who can afford to tour. That’s not to say 2024 didn’t have the potential to pull off such a feat – there were many possibilities that could’ve come into play. Olivia Rodrigo, Taylor Swift, even the Rolling Stones… big names who just did well attended, highly sought after tours with sky-rocketed ticket prices.

On the reunion side of things, much less probable, but still in the realm of possibility: Talking Heads were rumored to reunite after doing several Q&A’s for the Stop Making Sense 40th anniversary, with Live Nation reportedly offering $80 million to reunite and Goldenvoice offering $20 million to play Coachella, but it became very apparent from the rapport of the members that reunion talks were off the table. A Smiths reunion had been rumored on and off for years, but due to the recent death of bassist Andy Rourke that window seems to have shrunk. The White Stripes always circle the minds of entertainment promoters, but that decision will be entirely left up to Meg White. And of course, as every year, there’s Daft Punk.

But even as we see a dearth now, this can’t bode well for the future of live music. As grassroots ecosystems are phased out, and stadium-sized headliners continue to inflate, soon there isn’t going to be anyone to fill those arenas or to headline these festivals. It’s a pipeline that’s been broken and the gap between the two extremes is only widening further.

However, both the U.S. and the U.K. are doing what they can to thwart this shift in culture. The MVT in the U.K. recently introduced a move to secure a £1 contribution to grassroots venues for every arena ticket sold to help sustain their ecosystem. France has adopted laws for taxation that feeds back into grassroots venues as well, an acknowledgement that local, live arts are an integral part to both countries’ cultures. In the U.S., the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA), which played a pivotal role in forming the “Save Our Stages” act early on the pandemic, provided financial bonuses to local promoters and tour representatives who help execute shows, as well as venue crew members who have worked over 500 hours in 2023.

People often take for granted the art scenes they locally have access to. Particularly in big cities, live music is always there. You may ignore it, which by all means is fine, but it’s there to be enjoyed. However, people often don’t realize it’s a foundation for something bigger – not just future “Coachella headliners,” but a rich, creative, challenging, forward-thinking culture, one that stays in touch with what’s contemporary. It’s there to be valued, it’s there to be talked about, digested. It’s there to remind us just how much live music can truly be a gift to the world.

Featured image courtesy of Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times

Categories
Film

Oscars 2024: Who Will Win in All 23 Categories

As Oscars 2024 approaches, we ask, “what does it take to win an Oscar nowadays?” Well, if the film is backed by a major studio, it takes millions to bank roll an Oscar campaign. Then come the endless press tours, promotions, and interviews, then the roundtables, then whichever publicists grant the best gifts, the “for-your-consideration” ads, and the usual curtain raiser award shows (Golden Globes, Critics Choice, every guild awards.) Then take into account your relationship with the press, how “of the moment” your win would be, and above all else, if you have any skeletons in your closet.

Predictability and momentum go hand in hand. That’s how it is every awards season, and Oscars 2024 is no different. Awards campaigning has become such a running snowball effect, such a numbers game, that it’s barely about the quality of the movies themselves anymore, and more so who has the most money to keep campaigning. Strategies change, awards are bought, and worthy nominees are robbed. Nowadays a movie will begin an awards campaign well before it even comes out.

And yet, we buy into it. We give into the façade, the illusion of glamour. We give into the fallacy of choosing a “best” and how predetermined it all is. We choose to believe there’s still an honorary ranking system in this institution, that there is still some sort of moral judgement upholding the integrity of Oscars 2024. Why? Because it’s the closest thing we have. Here’s who will win in all 23 categories at the Oscars 2024:

Best Picture

“American Fiction”

“Anatomy of a Fall” 

“Barbie”

“The Holdovers”

“Killers of the Flower Moon” 

“Maestro” 

“Oppenheimer” 

“Past Lives” 

“Poor Things” 

“The Zone of Interest” 

Best Director 

Justine Triet — “Anatomy of a Fall”  

Martin Scorsese — “Killers of the Flower Moon”  

Christopher Nolan — “Oppenheimer”  

Yorgos Lanthimos — “Poor Things” 

Jonathan Glazer — “The Zone of Interest”  

Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures

Actor in a Leading Role 

Bradley Cooper — “Maestro”  

Colman Domingo — “Rustin” 

Paul Giamatti — “The Holdovers”  

Cillian Murphy — “Oppenheimer”  

Jeffrey Wright — “American Fiction”  

Actress in a Leading Role 

Annette Bening — “Nyad”  

Lily Gladstone — “Killers of the Flower Moon”  

Sandra Hüller — “Anatomy of a Fall”  

Carey Mulligan — “Maestro” 

Emma Stone — “Poor Things”  

Actor in a Supporting Role

Sterling K. Brown — “American Fiction”  

Robert De Niro – “Killers of the Flower Moon”  

Robert Downey Jr. — “Oppenheimer”  

Ryan Gosling — “Barbie”  

Mark Ruffalo — “Poor Things”  

Actress in a Supporting Role 

Emily Blunt — “Oppenheimer”  

Danielle Brooks — “The Color Purple”  

America Ferrera – “Barbie”

Jodie Foster — “Nyad”  

Da’Vine Joy Randolph — “The Holdovers”  

Adapted Screenplay

“American Fiction,” written for the screen by Cord Jefferson

“Barbie,” written by Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach

“Oppenheimer,” written for the screen by Christopher Nolan

“Poor Things,” screenplay by Tony McNamara

“The Zone of Interest,” written by Jonathan Glazer

Anatomy of a Fall. Courtesy of NEON.

Original Screenplay

“Anatomy of a Fall,” screenplay by Justine Triet and Arthur Harari

“The Holdovers,” written by David Hemingson

“Maestro,” written by Bradley Cooper and Josh Singer

“May December,” screenplay by Samy Burch; story by Samy Burch and Alex Mechanik

“Past Lives,” written by Celine Song

Cinematography 

“El Conde” – Edward Lachman

“Killers of the Flower Moon” – Rodrigo Prieto

“Maestro” – Matthew Libatique

“Oppenheimer” – Hoyte van Hoytema

“Poor Things” – Robbie Ryan

Original Song 

“The Fire Inside” from “Flamin’ Hot,” music and lyric by Diane Warren

“I’m Just Ken” from “Barbie,” music and lyric by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt

“It Never Went Away” from “American Symphony,” music and lyric by Jon Batiste and Dan Wilson

“Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)” from “Killers of the Flower Moon,” music and lyric by Scott George

“What Was I Made For?” from “Barbie,” music and lyric by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell

Costume Design 

“Barbie” – Jacqueline Durran

“Killers of the Flower Moon” – Jacqueline West

“Napoleon” – Janty Yates and Dave Crossman

“Oppenheimer” – Ellen Mirojnick

“Poor Things” – Holly Waddington

Sound

“The Creator,” Ian Voigt, Erik Aadahl, Ethan Van der Ryn, Tom Ozanich and Dean Zupancic

“Maestro,” Steven A. Morrow, Richard King, Jason Ruder, Tom Ozanich and Dean Zupancic

“Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One,” Chris Munro, James H. Mather, Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor

“Oppenheimer,” Willie Burton, Richard King, Gary A. Rizzo and Kevin O’Connell

“The Zone of Interest,” Tarn Willers and Johnnie Burn

Original Score 

“American Fiction” – Laura Karpman

“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” John Williams

“Killers of the Flower Moon” – Robbie Robertson

“Oppenheimer” – Ludwig Göransson

“Poor Things” – Jerskin Fendrix

Live Action Short Film

“The After,” Misan Harriman and Nicky Bentham

“Invincible,” Vincent René-Lortie and Samuel Caron

“Knight of Fortune,” Lasse Lyskjær Noer and Christian Norlyk

“Red, White and Blue,” Nazrin Choudhury and Sara McFarlane

“The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar,” Wes Anderson and Steven Rales

Animated Short Film 

“Letter to a Pig,” Tal Kantor and Amit R. Gicelter

“Ninety-Five Senses,” Jerusha Hess and Jared Hess

“Our Uniform,” Yegane Moghaddam

“Pachyderme,” Stéphanie Clément and Marc Rius

“War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko,” Dave Mullins and Brad Booker

Documentary Feature Film 

“Bobi Wine: The People’s President,” Moses Bwayo, Christopher Sharp and John Battsek

“The Eternal Memory”

“Four Daughters,” Kaouther Ben Hania and Nadim Cheikhrouha

“To Kill a Tiger,” Nisha Pahuja, Cornelia Principe and David Oppenheim

“20 Days in Mariupol,” Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner and Raney Aronson-Rath

Documentary Short Film 

“The ABCs of Book Banning,” Sheila Nevins and Trish Adlesic

“The Barber of Little Rock,” John Hoffman and Christine Turner

“Island in Between,” S. Leo Chiang and Jean Tsien

“The Last Repair Shop,” Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers

“Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó,” Sean Wang and Sam Davis

The Zone of Interest

International Feature Film 

“Io Capitano” (Italy)  

“Perfect Days” (Japan)  

“Society of the Snow” (Spain)  

“The Teachers’ Lounge” (Germany) 

“The Zone of Interest” (United Kingdom) 

Animated Feature Film 

“The Boy and the Heron,” Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki

“Elemental,” Peter Sohn and Denise Ream

“Nimona,” Nick Bruno, Troy Quane, Karen Ryan and Julie Zackary

“Robot Dreams,” Pablo Berger, Ibon Cormenzana, Ignasi Estapé and Sandra Tapia Díaz

“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Amy Pascal

Makeup and Hairstyling 

“Golda,” Karen Hartley Thomas, Suzi Battersby and Ashra Kelly-Blue

“Maestro,” Kazu Hiro, Kay Georgiou and Lori McCoy-Bell

“Oppenheimer,” Luisa Abel

“Poor Things,” Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier and Josh Weston

“Society of the Snow,” Ana López-Puigcerver, David Martí and Montse Ribé

Production Design 

“Barbie,” production design: Sarah Greenwood; set decoration: Katie Spencer

“Killers of the Flower Moon,” production design: Jack Fisk; set decoration: Adam Willis

“Napoleon,” production design: Arthur Max; set decoration: Elli Griff

“Oppenheimer,” production design: Ruth De Jong; set decoration: Claire Kaufman

“Poor Things,” production design: James Price and Shona Heath; set decoration: Zsuzsa Mihalek

Film Editing

“Anatomy of a Fall” – Laurent Sénéchal

“The Holdovers” – Kevin Tent

“Killers of the Flower Moon” – Thelma Schoonmaker

“Oppenheimer” – Jennifer Lame

“Poor Things” – Yorgos Mavropsaridis

Visual Effects

“The Creator,” Jay Cooper, Ian Comley, Andrew Roberts and Neil Corbould

“Godzilla Minus One,” Takashi Yamazaki, Kiyoko Shibuya, Masaki Takahashi and Tatsuji Nojima

“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” Stephane Ceretti, Alexis Wajsbrot, Guy Williams and Theo Bialek

“Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One,” Alex Wuttke, Simone Coco, Jeff Sutherland and Neil Corbould

“Napoleon,” Charley Henley, Luc-Ewen Martin-Fenouillet, Simone Coco and Neil Corbould

‎‎‎ㅤㅤㅤ

Featured Oscars 2024 image courtesy of Jaimie Park

Categories
Music

Top 10 Albums of 2023

Ranking 10 albums to sum up the year in music feels pretty daunting if not impossible. How does one define a year in music with such a brief amount of material? You look at not just the albums themselves, but the lore, atmosphere, and external world they conjured with them. Hundreds of great albums were released this year, all deserving a spot on this list. But these are the ones that didn’t just introduce game-changing music, but created an environment as an extension of themselves. Here are our top 10 albums of 2023:

10. Nakibembe Embaire Group, ‘Nakibembe Embaire Group’

Hailing from Nakibembe, a village in one of the four remaining constitutional monarchies in Uganda, the Nakibembe Embaire Group are one of the last bands to play on an Embaire – essentially a giant marimba made out of tree logs laid across a trench that requires 6-8 people to play it. Made loud enough so it can be heard over the cheers and screams of gathered folk in town squares, the Nakibembe Embaire Group was made for parties in communal gatherings. One could also argue they’re one of the last true traditional traveling jam bands. Originally traveling from village to village, the project has taken them far beyond their homeland to the most unlikely venues where you’d least expect to find them. Performances at Berlin’s Berghain and other international festivals have only heightened their popularity via word of mouth and further spread their psychedelic rhythms across waters. Although not a live album per se, the record gives off a block party feel to it, one that feels like you could stumble upon it in your own neighborhood. And everybody’s invited.

9. Liturgy, ‘93696’

Part Opeth, part Behemoth, part Stockhausen, Liturgy delivered a black metal opera to the tune of entering hell. Progressive in its nature, 93696 borrows from different sonic palettes to the point you completely forget you’re even listening to a metal record. Sure, it’s not metal in the “traditional” way we talk about the genre, but that’s what the genre has always been meant for: it’s an attitude, it’s about the definition one assigns it. The sonically deep soundscape provides the Brooklyn outfit a further outreach, an attempt to grasp onto something traditional metal has rarely been able to do. To redefine a genre is already a difficult task to accomplish, but to totally transcend it? It’s nearly impossible. Thankfully, Liturgy manages to at least eclipse that mission.

8. JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown, ‘SCARING THE HOES’

One would think that a JPEGMAFIA-Danny Brown album would be like a glazed donut dipped in an orange 7-11 Big Gulp. And at first, that’s pretty much what it is. But after a moment, you discover it doesn’t actually taste that bad. SCARING THE HOES is exactly that: an onslaught of all treble and little bass that immediately goes from zero to 100 and doesn’t stop. The title speaks for itself: the album is supposed to be cumbersome, supposed to be hard to get through. But instead of an intimidation, the album acts as a dare – it doesn’t so much “scare” the listener away as it does invitingly taunt them. It’s more of a, “Yeah I dare you to try and take us on,” rather than an assault. But once you’re on for the ride,and get the hang of its flow, you’ll find it hard to hop off.

7. Oneohtrix Point Never, ‘Again’

Returning to the sounds of his early works like Replica and Returnal, Oneohtrix Point Never has not only revisited his early studio roots but incorporated such lush symphonic sequences to provide stark contrast. Leave this one on loop and you’ll forget you’re listening to an OPN record, and more so something from Wagner or Mahler. But is it MIDI? Is it subtractive synthesis? Or are they actual strings? What makes OPN’s music so great is that he’s one of the last “blurring of the line” artists: we can’t tell what was made in a bedroom studio and what was made on a scoring stage. But in the end, does it matter? OPN has proven that these resources have become obsolete. Anybody can record anything anywhere in the world now. We all have the same tools. Another world’s orchestration is just within our reach, and Again is a perfection summation that, just like singular instruments, genres themselves have become musical tools as well.

6. Model/Actriz, ‘Dogsbody’

Every year, there has to be at least one post-punk album that breaks into this list. And from a year that gave us plenty to choose from, none were as infectious and idiosyncratic as Model/Actriz’s debut album, Dogsbody. Brooding drum machines serve as a cold reminder that they can bring just as much attitude as any string instrument, and basses can serve just as much as a lead as any treble line. With low end clean electronic guitars that feel like the cold empty pit in your stomach a la Interpol, it’s punk rightly turned inside out – a deconstruction of the attitude we’ve become so aptly familiar with. And yet, it still moves, it still rallies against some sort of ideals. Gone are the simple guitar, bass, drum lineups, and in are the scathing soundscapes used as instruments themselves. I do not know who this album was made for. I do not know where the center or heart of it is. I do not know why its esoteric-ness precedes it. But that’s precisely why everyone should listen to it.

5. PJ Harvey, ‘I Inside the Old Year Dying’

Perhaps our earliest choice for one of the top 10 albums of 2023, I Inside the Old Year Dying returned PJ Harvey to her solace roots. It’s tender, self-effacing approach to songs about redemption and closure are reflected in the album’s choice of instrumentation: folk strings modulated by effects and non-distracting percussion. She herself even mutes her vocals at times on the record, adding to an already restrained approach to what seems like an attempt at growing comfortable with an older version of herself. These songs do, at their heart, sound like aged Irish folk tunes, long before Shane McGowan added his punk edge, and echoing most eerily Sinead O’Connor. Sounds of nature break through as if the record tries to scale back its human carbon footprint. And then when the human does try to leave their mark, she sings of earnestness, isolation, but no song is too long or too short. On perhaps her most sensitive album to date, PJ Harvey refuses to be the center of this record. Rather, she lets the sounds around her naturally breath and support her.

4. Sufjan Stevens, ‘Javelin’

Needless to say, it would be hard to name someone in music who’s had a tougher year than Sufjan Stevens. Along with going through physical rehabilitation relearning how to walk after a bout with Guillain-Barré syndrome, Javelin almost sounds precisely like that: a reintroduction to his music. His return to “full singer/songwriter mode” since 2015’s Carrie and Lowell, Javelin sounds like getting a giant eraser and starting over again. Containing pockets within pockets, each song is layered with instrumental and literary dimensions as seamless electronics blend in with acoustics. One can’t help but feel that he couldn’t have written these songs if he hadn’t experienced them himself, a testament to his 20+ year career as one of the greatest singer/songwriters on the planet. And at some points in this record, it feels like his entire career has been building up to this album. Aware that he has bigger fish to fry before returning to the stage, one can’t help but wonder the live outlet he’ll choose to exhibit this work.

3. Young Fathers, ‘Heavy Heavy’

Borrowing from what sounds like early Animal Collective and African tribal music, Scotland’s Young Fathers took a left turn this year with Heavy Heavy, their sixth studio album. Veering from electronic trip-hop structures to avant garde jams, Young Fathers ventured into a different instrumental palette. They’re songs that could be produced with little more than a synth and drums. And if they were just slightly more conventional, you might even hear them on the radio. And yet, they are, at their heart, pop songs: sporadic instrumental sequences give way to soaring harmonized vocals, and loped percussion serves as a vessel to carry melodies. One might take a moment to find exactly where these songs are coming form, but with repeated listens, their influences and inspirations become apparent.

2. Caroline Polachek, ‘Desire, I Want to Turn Into You’

Arguably the best pop album this year, Desire I want Turn Into You finally brings to fruition Polachek’s best work to date and finds the two singles she’s been teasing for the past two years a proper home. Filled with drum n’ bass break beats (a common theme among pop music this year) and soaring melodies that just take off with wings of their own, no pop album this year has ever felt so seamlessly “pop.” Every element feels like it’s in its proper place no matter how eccentric (bag pipes and mandolins included). Perhaps there aren’t many pop artists nowadays that actively challenge what pop music can mean. Yes, it may be short for “popular,” but that doesn’t mean it has to always pander to the greatest common denominator. Because even if this album did, we wouldn’t love it as much. And we’ll always have Caroline Polachek to thank for that.

1. Boygenius, ‘The Record’

This writer would be hard pressed to find a better musical combination this year than Julian Baker’s vocals, Lucy Dacus’s lyrics, and Phoebe Bridgers’s, well, Phoebe Bridgers-ness. And after finally releasing their debut album after what seemed like five long years since their formation, Boygenius fully reached their true potential and took the world by storm with The Record.

Never have three singular identities come together as a “side project” and felt like a naturally, sporadically formed garage-rock band. But that’s exactly what this feels like; it feels as if they’ve been playing together their entire lives, a harmonization of vocals and musicianship that easily compares to the Bee Gees, a reminder of when music used to be a songwriter’s medium rather than a producer’s. With lyrics so vivid that they get etched into your brain (“Spray paint my initials on an ATM”), their melodies sink so deep they beg for repeat listens, accompanying you on whatever youthful journeys that make, and encourage, you to feel young again. A brisk 42 minutes eventually turn into a longtime partner – an aid, a mirror, to provide you for self-reflection, song after song.

Categories
Film

Top 10 Films of 2023

This year, we had the atom bomb vs. the Barbie doll, simultaneous writer and actor strikes, and oh great, now artificial intelligence. The toughest year on the industry in a generation served as a wake up call to those who thought it couldn’t get any worse. Stingy CEOs, a “vacuum in leadership,” and the burst of the superhero movie bubble seem to mark a tough future ahead for the industry, one that will test just how “true” of a relationship there is between the studios and the labor force. Nonetheless, quality cinema prevailed in 2023, with or without promotion from its crews and stars. Here are our top 10 films of 2023:

10. Talk to Me

O.G. Youtubers Danny and Michael Philippou made their long awaited jump to the big screen this year. Having moved to Los Angeles specifically to get this film made, the brothers took their spin on psychedelic horror not with VFX, but with ingenious filmmaking techniques. The plot of an embalmed hand conjuring seances serves as an outlet to further explore the theme of connection. After discovering she’s able to communicate with her dead mother via this seance, Mia (Sophie Wilde) treads too deep only to put the ones closest to her at stake. As insane practices lead to insane prosthetic gore, Talk to Me doesn’t use horror flash for the cheap scare. Rather, it uses its techniques to pull you through an actual engaging story one thread at a time, setting the Philippou brothers on a trajectory that will put them among the same ranks this decade as Ari Aster and Robert Eggers.

9. The Zone of Interest

More art installation than narrative, The Zone of Interest dares to answer an age old question: how do we depict an atrocity? Do we add a narrative thru-line to convey a character amongst it? Do we follow a conflict at the risk of fetishizing or sympathizing with a character? The answer is: we don’t. Instead, we invoke complete objectivity. Holocaust films have become a genre in and of itself. They seclude themselves to a specific, sensitive kind of film category. There is no real conflict in this film, there is no real story (director Jonathan Glazer has even said so himself). For with it, the film runs the risk breaking through the wall of subjectivity. Following Rudolph Höss (Christian Friedel), the commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp, and his family, the film predominately takes place in their home just at the edge of the camp, as they go about their daily lives in blissful repression of what’s going on just on the other side of that wall. In each scene, we hear, not see, screams, gun shots, hounds, commands in German, with merely a smokestack in the background to convey any visual emphasis. We can close our eyes, but we can’t close our ears. How does someone find it so easy to kill people? Sadly, the answer is in front of our faces the entire time: you don’t see them as human.

8. Past Lives

Celine Song’s autobiographical debut film isn’t necessarily one that harkens back to an old love so much as it does an ulterior narrative that runs parallel to the one happening now. It’s not the “the one that got away”-type film. We already know he’s (Hae Sung, played by Teo Yoo) gotten away. Rather, it’s a film that deals with the phases of ourselves that come with it. With each new partner that leaves, we are forced to become a different person. This film’s about learning how to say goodbye – an acknowledgment of the past so that you can enter this new phase of yourself, and knowing that, in time, this new self will also require a goodbye. And then that will lead to another goodbye, and another… all leading up to the greatest goodbye of all. So how do we say goodbye? We administer the word in a breath of mercy and simply say it. Goodbye.

7. Return to Seoul

A Cambodian production, spoken in French, but set in Korea, Return to Seoul disguises itself as one thing only to seamlessly transform into another. When Freddie (Park Ji-min), a French national born in Korea but adopted by French parents, goes to find her birth parents when her flight from Japan is “cancelled,” she discovers that they are not what she was promised. Strained with guilt and desperation, her father pleads for her to stay, as she discovers the life she could have led is not what it seems. What at first starts out as lighthearted curiosity which turns into a thriller, Return to Seoul is a film about riding assimilation between cultures and identities, and how each one can take you in a radically different direction.

6. May December

Boy that guy from Riverdale can really act huh? Todd Haynes’s latest feels like a Lifetime movie in the first half and then makes you realize you’ve been watching a psychological horror film in the second. Following an actress (Natalie Portman) as she studies an ex-tabloid frenzied mother (Julianne Moore) who had an affair with an underage kid (Charles Melton) years ago, May December shows that we truly remain the same age in which we experienced our trauma. Complete with a kitschy score and ridiculous zoom-ins to convey emphasis, it feels and plays like a TV movie (perfect for Netflix), only to unfurl into a psychological drama of repressed emotions that rise to the surface. Our trauma from then on shapes us who we are (physically and mentally), tells us how to act, tells us how to treat others, to the point where we never truly grow out of it, to the point where we feel we’ve been robbed of an authentic adolescent experience. Others know how to compartmentalize, properly digest, so much so that they don’t feel like they’re doing anything wrong at the expense of others. But hey, that’s just what adults do.

5. Anatomy of a Fall

This year’s Palme d’Or winner didn’t really supply any answers, only raised more questions. When Sandra Voyter (Sandra Hüller) is put on trial for pushing her husband off of their ski chalet, the film dives into ethical and moral dilemmas that traverse far beyond any answer to the question of “did she do it?” Whether that answer is actually given or not is beside the point. But the better question is, did she “kill” her husband? Yes, entirely possible. But even if it was a suicide, could she still have done it? Could her constant suppression of emotions and emotional discourse be enough to drive her husband to his death? This film goes far beyond any reasonable CSI forensic explanation, because when the culprit is emotional, intangible, what is there to be proven? Pornography for dialogue, Anatomy of a Fall explores the gray area in forensics and proves that the legal system does not account for human emotions.

4. Killers of the Flower Moon

Packed with everyone’s favorite rockstar, Killers of the Flower Moon ambitiously sets Scorsese’s sprawling gangster epic taste on the Osage Indian Reservation, serving as new territory for his often crime/gang-riddled stories. Standing at a daunting three and a half hours, the film is best digested, of course, in a theater. Some people will check their phones periodically, others will undoubtedly have to get up to visit the restroom. And that’s totally understandable. But the best way to experience this film is to let it just wash over you. The Robbie Robertson posthumous score and the towering performances remind us why cinema can just take over you, where your gut instinct and overall first impression take over intellect which becomes secondary. It’s one of those epics that instantly commands your attention. Featuring perhaps the best performances Scorsese has ever elicited from De Niro and DiCaprio, the casting choices take on lives of their own as they soar over you. Yes, the runtime seems overwhelming. Yes, the film’s brutality is hard to watch at times. And yes it does feel like “a lot” happens. But as the pendulum swings from long content to short content, where the two extremes grow further and further apart, a longer runtime becomes an indication of what can challenge you. And no other filmmaker alive right now is more dedicated to challenging their audiences than Martin Scorsese.

3. Poor Things

Is there any filmmaker who’s had a better trajectory in the new millennium than Yorgos Lanthimos? From small, low-budget Greek arthouse films to major studio deals, his films have never lost their true independent touch. Following Bella (Emma Stone), a Frankenstein-like experiment who after a suicide was brought back to life with her infant’s brain (yes, you read that right), Poor Things takes up a battle against proper, polite society. All viewed from Bella’s objective point-of-view, every major and minor bit of production design pushes her toward a higher enlightenment of thought, from the discovery of sex and pleasure, to ethics and philosophy. We see animals who couldn’t possibly exist, architecture that couldn’t possibly hold, and gadgets that couldn’t possibly function. Like every Lanthimos film, it’s a study of human behavior under a magnifying glass, an unbiassed view as to why we behave the way we do.

2. Oppenheimer

The year’s most anticipated film ultimately delivered upon a string of important factors: appearances by everyone’s favorite actor, the ever-present looming threat of international war, and, of course, a release date with Barbie. Unfortunately, what we will remember is not the story of Oppenheimer. What we’ll remember is the “idea” of Oppenheimer. A massive, epic summer blockbuster that debuted head to head with another pinnacle of American capitalism – the nuclear bomb vs. the Barbie doll. We’ll remember the IMAX 70mm roadshow release, and the film’s epic climax, the “event-ness” of it all. All of this, however, is precisely what will get in the way of how we’ll remember the film’s true theme of temptation. Oppenheimer feels like the film Christopher Nolan was born to make: a gripping two and a half hour biopic that constantly makes you feel you’re on the precipice of something. As J. Robert Oppenheimer stared down a void of no return, one couldn’t help but feel there was a possibility to do something just because it was within our grasp, a chance to evolve the way humans portray their past. Or maybe we are the instigators of our own fate. Maybe we do lack the intelligence to ensure humanity’s progress. The film speaks echoes of how we’ll view ourselves generations from now, and how we ourselves will be the source of our own destruction.

1. The Holdovers

This publication has never been one to tell you how to feel. At its best, it merely recommends or invokes thought within the spectator, to get the reader out of their conventional taste or mindset to try something new, or at least inquire. The Holdovers isn’t anything new. If anything, one wouldn’t be wrong if they were to say this film was plucked right out of the 70s. Because if this was the 70s, films like these would be much more commonplace. But it’s 2023, a cinematic year that’s been filled with the nuclear bomb, toy dolls, and labor strikes. But only one film this year, with its lack of ego, corporate sponsorship (and money), and celebrity shine, captured what feels like a shadow finding its soul.

Within this humility is precisely what makes The Holdovers so cinematic. It’s sheer lack of magnitude makes the film hold its weight. There are no set pieces, musical numbers, nor are there any points of self-interest to draw attention to itself. The story of tolerance via an asshole boarding school teacher (played by Paul Giamatti) forced to watch over the students who can’t go home for the holidays isn’t one that particularly fills seats. But in this intimacy, this self-effacing approach with performances, is precisely what makes its cinematic power shine through.

And I’m sure in the 70s, films like The Holdovers were a dime-a-dozen: sincere portrayals of flawed characters, intimate conflicts, stakes… movies! And it’s all right here, emulated in a chemical change. The character relationships change. They move: flawed characters being pushed toward change based on the cast of characters they’re surrounded by, a change that’s as deep as its emulsion. And for a moment, when the projector light illuminates these souls and shines through their glowing, fluorescent, flawed shells, we’re able to see what truly is the most cinematic phenomenon of all: people.

Categories
Film

How ‘Jingle All the Way’ is the Anti-Capitalist, Anti-Police Film of the Holiday Season

Every year, a plethora of holiday films try to leave their mark and define what the spirit of the holiday season truly means. Some are more memorable than others, some ring true no matter how old the holiday novelty theme lasts. Even some this year have the potential to stand the test of time (I’m looking at you Holdovers.) But then, there are some that are so specific in their themes, so intent on what they want to say, they’re properly misdiagnosed as something else to be socially accessible. When I think of the holiday season, I think about capitalism. I think about societal segregation. I think about heightened security. I think about Jingle All the Way.

It’s another way of portraying America: Christmas’s monetary necessity has far surpassed its true value, where the privileged congratulate themselves and the unfortunate suffer. And it didn’t take me until late in my twenties to notice that no holiday film better captures that sad truth than Jingle All the Way.

Having seen it probably a good 25 times, it’s anti-police, anti-capitalist views have been subdued by its seamless, easily accessible plot: a workaholic father tries to get the hottest toy of the Christmas season, the Turbo Man action figure, for his son on Christmas eve. The plot is simple enough that it supplies an outlet to explore deeper subliminal themes.

Jingle All the Way’s views against capitalism are pointed out fairly immediately within the first ten minutes, with the opening of the film being a commercial for the Turbo Man doll a la the Power Rangers, as presumably seen through the eyes of Jamie (Jake Lloyd), Howard Langston’s (Arnold Schwarzenegger) son. The sequence that follows it, however, reveals what Jamie truly wants. When Langston is late to Jamie’s karate class, we’re hinted that Jamie doesn’t ultimately want a doll, but a present father, and therefore casts his want for a leading male figure in his life in an action figure.

And yet, it’s this capitalist toy market that makes us think otherwise. American parents are so desperate to please their children through materialistic needs, that they themselves forget to be present in their lives when it truly matters. And when they don’t fulfill their wishes, they fear the worst – not only that their child’s demands aren’t met, but that they’ll grow up in resentment.

This, clearly, is represented in Sinbad’s character, Myron. Acting against Langston’s flaw of being a workaholic, Myron’s character essentially exists as a reminder of what Jamie can turn into if Langston doesn’t get him a Turbo Man doll, encapsulated in the image of Jamie pulling from a bottle of whiskey in a mailman outfit.

But in addition to its anti-capitalist values, Jingle All the Way also abides by an anti-authority, anti-police agenda. Throughout the film, Langston rallies against the police force one way or another, beginning when he’s first pulled over by a cop when rushing to Jamie’s karate class and forced to take an unnecessary breathalyzer test.

These moments further add to a detailed portrait of a man rallying against an establishment when all he’s trying to do is make his kid happy. But whereas the Turbo Man/capitalist ideals go against Langston’s flaw of being a workaholic, the police function as a way of acting against Langston’s trait of being an authority figure. Little by little, as the film progresses, he eases toward fooling the police, even going so far as to impersonate a police officer to save himself during a warehouse raid of criminal Santa Clauses.

And as the film follows this ACAB theme, Langston’s trajectory takes him into becoming the ultimate form of authority: Turbo Man himself. When Langston is suckered into donning the Turbo Man suit for a Christmas parade and somehow becomes “unrecognizable,” the authorities seem to show support for the toy, concluding with a salute by the captain before Langston reveals himself. In fact, the movie is bookended by this juxtaposing thru-line: from when we first see Langston being taken advantage of by authorities, to the authorities showing the upmost respect for Langston, or in this case, Turbo Man.

But the anti-police sentiment goes even deeper when viewed from the perspective of the minority: Myron. Whenever Myron gets into a position of power or gets what he’s after, the police swoop in to take it away, such as the few attempts he makes to achieve a Turbo Man doll. When Myron and Langston hold a radio DJ hostage during a contest to win a Turbo Man, it’s Myron, not Langston, who’s held up by the police while Langston manages to escape. This reoccurs in the end when it’s Myron, not Langston, who’s arrested for sabotaging the Christmas parade, even though Langston broke just as many laws if not more so when donning the Turbo Man suit in attempts to win a Turbo Man. Then why is it Myron, the poor mailman trying to please his son, who gets the short end of the stick? None of this, I’m sure, was by mistake.

After decades of watching this film, its true themes only became clear when I entered maturity. The film this writer sees now is not what was marketed to them in their early years: it was a simple, holiday comedy flick starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. And yet, it acts as a perfect trojan horse: a family holiday classic that preaches against the very infrastructure that birthed it. There have been other anti-holiday films since, this we know. But none have been as subversive, and as subliminal, as Jingle All the Way.

Categories
Film

What is ‘Oppenheimer’ REALLY About?

It has now been a full month since Oppenheimer hit U.S. theaters, to which the response has been rapturous if not near unanimous: Oppenheimer is our first awards worthy, earth-shattering epic so far this year. With a scale so big that it demands to be seen in theaters, it’s brought the greater moviegoing world closer to a collective consciousness in how we interpret and talk about film again.

Much has been said about Oppenheimer in the days since: it’s taken over conversations at parties, dinner tables, offices with co-workers, to which most have graduated to the side of fascination rather than critique. The organic engagement has been rewarding, and finally a project such as Oppenheimer has brought film criticism back into the spotlight of contemporary film culture. But with all the commotion surrounding it, just like the nuclear bomb itself, what’s at the center of it? We’ve gotten so caught up with its scale and immersion, what is Oppenheimer really about?

That answer ties into who Oppenheimer was as a person. Much has been said about J. Robert Oppenheimer since the film’s opening and I’m sure to the shock of many in the scientific community, Oppenheimer is now spoken in the same way we speak of Jim Morrison – he’s become more popular in the afterlife than he was during his time here on Earth. He was a womanizer, charming, charismatic in a sophisticated way, and spoke seven languages. He was often apolitical, stuck his nose up at the notion that a human has to be defined by merely one thing, held multiple fascinations, and contained multitudes.

All this, however, also makes up Oppenheimer’s fatal flaw as a protagonist: he was never able to pick one side. His eccentricities and esoteric-ness prevented him from having an ability to choose between right and wrong. He always held a firm stance against permanency. Just like quantum physics, his relation to things we’re constantly evolving and in movement. He had far too curious of a mind not to explore every creative and scientific avenue he came across.

All of this leads to a fantastically flawed individual who would eventually come into conflict with what would be the ultimate choice between right and wrong. And in turn, the film reveals its ultimate story engine: temptation.

Courtesy of Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures

Oppenheimer faces temptation throughout the duration of the film, first example being when he poisons his mentor’s apple, which then continues into dabbling in multiple love affairs, which then leads to the curiosity of having the power of a collapsing star in his hand. The entire film encapsulates standing on the precipice of a void the world has never seen before – politically, socially, and personally – and the consequences that follow it. What’s another way of saying that you’re tempted? “I’m considering it.”

These complexities of a man faced with a critical decision leads us to the ultra-paranoid world we live in today. Nolan has given us the ultimate “fuck around and find out” movie. After the bomb came the Cuban Missile Crisis, then Chernobyl, then 9/11, gradually determining a world where security becomes more important than one’s individual freedom.

When all these elements are wrapped into the enigma of Oppenheimer, they ultimately contextualize what it means to be American: a constant push for a manifest destiny, to constantly push the envelope and explore what we thought we couldn’t explore before. Very much like how this country was formed, we find new territory and claim it as ours.

“How could this man who saw so much be so blind?” asks Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr.). But Oppenheimer wasn’t blind. One could say that the entire country was blinded by the temptation of curiosity and the constant need to walk on fresh snow. That’s the American way. And with it, a legion of the world’s leading geniuses gathered in a desert and ultimately gave us the power to self-destruct ourselves. One of those scientists, Enrico Fermi, later went on to coin the Fermi paradox – the phenomenon of why humans haven’t been contacted by other intelligent beings, perhaps because they too discovered a way to self-destruct themselves before making contact outside of their planet. And out of our own human hubris, perhaps we, too, will come to have a similar fate.

Featured photo courtesy of Universal Pictures

Categories
Film

‘Barbenheimer’: What’s at Stake

The day we’ve all known has been coming is finally almost upon us. This Friday, July 21st, the moviegoing world will be offered two choices – one about the start of the end of the world as we know it, and the other about impending mortality. One is about how we have come to live in the world of fear we know today, the other about the finite time we’re given on Earth. One is backed by one of the most exclusive studio deals ever made, and the other has a marketing campaign that reached far beyond the boundaries of print and advertising.

Two viral promotional endeavors. Two vastly different demographics. The two biggest movies of the year. Yes, we’re talking about Barbie and Oppenheimer. Two films that couldn’t be more disparate will forever be held in the same sentence and breath as each other, resuscitating what moviegoing has long missed: an epic, clashing summer blockbuster event.

But the phenomenon forebodes an eerie quality to it as well, as if this may be one of the last big summer cinematic events we’ll see for quite some time. As fun as these two movies clashing appear to be, that’s exactly what’s at stake: summer movie events of such sizes have become few and far between in recent years. Will one film draw success from the other? Can one steal the other’s limelight? Could that lead to one of these films being the last of their kind? Depending on the successes of either of these films, this weekend may very well determine the future of summer movies as we know it.

Where the two films will have their first standoff is with demographics. The target demographics for each of these films is nearly night and day: one for the youth, one for the historians. One for the dads, and one for the daughters. The demographics are so opposite that the public has even branded this historical cinematic event with its own name: “Barbenheimer.”

Without a doubt, there will be crossover, but the numbers will be interesting to see, and just might set a precedent for whichever film does the better business. What might the gross of each film say about the other’s core demographic? And what might that say about similar films in the future? One film’s success might cause the other to become radioactive.

But what’s also at stake is the state of originality in cinematic films. One has to look at where both of these films are coming from to assess their own uniqueness with another. Oppenheimer is a deeply controversial historical figure who’s been mythologized, bad-mouthed, and exiled – a deeply flawed human being that changed the course of history, directed by one of the most singular, cinematic filmmakers of our time. In addition to a deal with Universal at which Nolan requested to have a 90 to 120 day exclusive theatrical window for the film, Oppenheimer also employed IMAX to develop a black-and-white film stock that had never existed before.

Barbie, on the other hand, has its puppet strings controlled by a much larger corporation, Mattel, another addition to Warner Bros’ IP canon. Now that’s not to say Barbie will fall into contrived corporate pitfalls, but one can’t help but feel that the film contains the fingerprints of higher-up executives from a toy company. Like Space Jam 2, or The Flash, one can sense that it’s a film made by a committee. Who is to say that, if one film performs better than the other, then corporate American interests will become more important than cinematic originality in favor of featuring more safe-bet intellectual properties?

Fan-made “Barbenheimer” poster

However, despite their differences, these two films have more in common than they appear. On paper, we merely see two differing clienteles as if they’re black and white. Yet, both have seeped into the crevices of contemporary American culture on multiple levels: countless memes around the event have circulated the internet, a myriad of fan-made “Barbenheimer” t-shirts and posters have been printed, and both promotional campaigns have stretched into the furthest depths of everyday life where even the most non-movie fans are acutely aware of the phenomenon.

And on a figurative level, the symbolism of “Barbenheimer” goes even further. Both films represent the two extreme sides of American capitalist manufacturing: the nuclear bomb and the Barbie doll – two of USA’s most coveted and prized symbols, both representing two different facets of what it means to be American. Inciting a conversation that goes beyond the stories these films tell on screen, such analytical depths have caused both films to fall into an intangible dance with each other, spurring an organic, viral groundswell of a box-office clash.

Even though both are predicted to gross enough at the box office to make their way well into the green for what could be a near-$200 million dollar weekend, this writer can’t help but feel that “Barbenheimer” is akin to the stars aligning. The two most popular, most anticipated movies of the year coming out not just in the same summer, but the same day? Ones that evoke stakes? Create talking points? Incite pivotal moments that can shift an industry? It feels like movie weekends like this don’t come around that often anymore. Gone are the summer movie seasons like 2008 which introduced us to Iron Man, The Dark Knight, Tropic Thunder, Pineapple Express and many others within mere weeks of each other; movie seasons that gave us options.

Maybe we’ve been so starved of events like this that the rip-roar around these two films premiering on the same day was inevitable. Counter-programming is nothing new when it comes to summer releases, and contrasts as bold as “Barbenheimer” used to be commonplace. So it was an audacious move, genius even, by the studios to program the two most talked about films of the year back-to-back.

What’s truly at stake here is the last desperate fart of a dying summer movie corpse. The last sliver of “summer movie season” as we know it. With the oncoming of day–and–date releases and shorter theatrical windows, the summer movie season has become somewhat of a façade, something similar to how American radio stations try to decide the “song of the summer.” Such events seem futile nowadays. Except “Barbenheimer.” “Barbenheimer” has the chance to resuscitate the worth of seeing a film in a cinema. It has the potential to get the greater public talking about film critically again beyond the internet phenomenon. It has the chance to bring cinematic events back onto the world stage and prove once again that moviegoing is still a subject of contemporary culture – it exists not only as a private obsession, but also a communal experience.

Categories
Film

2023 Oscar Predictions: Who Will Win

This awards season has given a pretty firm indicator as to who will take the big prize, albite a few categories. To date, Everything Everywhere All At Once has taken the DGA, the PGA, the WGA, and SAG Awards. If it takes best picture (and our 2023 Oscar predictions say it will), it’ll be among No Country for Old Men, American Beauty, Slumdog Millionaire, and Argo to have also done so.

Other categories, as our 2023 Oscar predictions suggest, are not as certain: the supporting actress category has been ebbing and flowing between Angela Bassett (who took home the Golden Globe and Critics Choice Awards), Kerry Condon (who took home the BAFTA), and Jamie Lee Curtis (who took home the SAG). And the lead actress category, just as uncertain – while Cate Blanchett took the Golden Globe and the BAFTA, Michelle Yeoh took the Critics Choice and the SAG, the first time this race has done so since 1998.

Meanwhile, the adapted screenplay race is also split, as Sarah Polley’s Women Talking took home the WGA and the prestigious USC Scripter Awards, all while All Quiet on the Western Front was absent from those categories but managed to take home the BAFTA.

And so, while the outlets every year say, “Oh this is the most unpredictable awards season yet,” this year has been a little more transparent, but the uncertain categories are still ones to watch for surprises. Here are our 2023 Oscar predictions:

 ‍  ‍ 

2023 Oscar Predictions

BEST PICTURE

All Quiet on the Western Front 
Avatar: The Way of Water 
The Banshees of Inisherin 
Elvi
s
Everything Everywhere All At Once
The Fabelmans
Tár
Top Gun: Maverick

Triangle of Sadness
Women Talking

BEST DIRECTOR

The Banshees of Inisherin — Martin McDonagh
Everything Everywhere All at Once — Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert
The Fabelmans — Steven Spielberg
Tár — Todd Field
Triangle of Sadness — Ruben Östlund

BEST ACTOR

Austin Butler in Elvis
Colin Farrell in The Banshees of Inisherin
Brendan Fraser in The Whale
Paul Mescal in Aftersun
Bill Nighy in Living

BEST ACTRESS

Cate Blanchett in Tár
Ana de Armas in Blonde
Andrea Riseborough in To Leslie
Michelle Williams in The Fabelmans
Michelle Yeoh in Everything Everywhere All at Once

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Brendan Gleeson in The Banshees of Inisherin
Brian Tyree Henry in Causeway
Judd Hirsch in The Fabelmans
Barry Keoghan in The Banshees of Inisherin
Ke Huy Quan in Everything Everywhere All at Once

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Angela Bassett in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Hong Chau in The Whale
Kerry Condon in The Banshees of Inisherin
Jamie Lee Curtis in Everything Everywhere All at Once
Stephanie Hsu in Everything Everywhere All at Once

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

The Banshees of Inisherin — Written by Martin McDonagh
Everything Everywhere All at Once — Written by Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert
The Fabelmans — Written by Steven Spielberg & Tony Kushner
Tár — Written by Todd Field
Triangle of Sadness — Written by Ruben Östlund

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

All Quiet on the Western Front — Screenplay by Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson & Ian Stokell
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery — Written by Rian Johnson
Living — Written by Kazuo Ishiguro
Top Gun: Maverick — Screenplay by Ehren Kruger and Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie; Story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks
Women Talking — Screenplay by Sarah Polley

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

All Quiet on the Western Front — Germany
Argentina, 1985 — Argentina
Close — Belgium
EO — Poland
The Quiet Girl — Ireland

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio 
Marcel the Shell With Shoes On 
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish 
The Sea Beast 
Turning Red 

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

All That Breathes 
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed 
Fire of Love 
A House Made of Splinters 
Navalny 

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

All Quiet on the Western Front — Volker Bertelmann
Babylon — Justin Hurwitz
The Banshees of Inisherin — Carter Burwell
Everything Everywhere All at Once — Son Lux
The Fabelmans — John Williams

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

“Applause” from Tell It Like a Woman
“Hold My Hand” from Top Gun: Maverick
“Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
“Naatu Naatu” from RRR
“This Is a Life” from Everything Everywhere All at Once

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

All Quiet on the Western Front — James Friend
Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths — Darius Khondji
Elvis — Mandy Walker
Empire of Light — Roger Deakins
Tár — Florian Hoffmeister

BEST EDITING

The Banshees of Inisherin — Mikkel E.G. Nielsen
Elvis — Matt Villa and Jonathan Redmond
Everything Everywhere All at Once — Paul Rogers
Tár — Monika Willi
Top Gun: Maverick — Eddie Hamilton

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Babylon — Mary Zophres
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever — Ruth Carter
Elvis — Catherine Martin
Everything Everywhere All at Once — Shirley Kurata
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris — Jenny Beavan

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

All Quiet on the Western Front — Production Design: Christian M. Goldbeck; Set Decoration: Ernestine Hipper
Avatar: The Way of Water — Production Design: Dylan Cole and Ben Procter; Set Decoration: Vanessa Cole
Babylon — Production Design: Florencia Martin; Set Decoration: Anthony Carlino
Elvis — Production Design: Catherine Martin and Karen Murphy; Set Decoration: Bev Dunn
The Fabelmans — Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Karen O’Hara

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

All Quiet on the Western Front — Heike Merker and Linda Eisenhamerová
The Batman — Naomi Donne, Mike Marino and Mike Fontaine
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever — Camille Friend and Joel Harlow
Elvis — Mark Coulier, Jason Baird and Aldo Signoretti
The Whale — Adrien Morot, Judy Chin and Anne Marie Bradley

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

All Quiet on the Western Front — Frank Petzold, Viktor Müller, Markus Frank and Kamil Jafar
Avatar: The Way of Water — Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett
The Batman — Dan Lemmon, Russell Earl, Anders Langlands and Dominic Tuohy
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever — Geoffrey Baumann, Craig Hammack, R. Christopher White and Dan Sudick
Top Gun: Maverick — Ryan Tudhope, Seth Hill, Bryan Litson and Scott R. Fisher

BEST SOUND

All Quiet on the Western Front — Viktor Prásil, Frank Kruse, Markus Stemler, Lars Ginzel and Stefan Korte
Avatar: The Way of Water — Julian Howarth, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Dick Bernstein, Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers and Michael Hedges
The Batman — Stuart Wilson, William Files, Douglas Murray and Andy Nelson
Elvis — David Lee, Wayne Pashley, Andy Nelson and Michael Keller
Top Gun: Maverick — Mark Weingarten, James H. Mather, Al Nelson, Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT

“An Irish Goodbye” — Tom Berkeley and Ross White
“Ivalu” — Anders Walter and Rebecca Pruzan
“Le Pupille” — Alice Rohrwacher and Alfonso Cuarón
“Night Ride” — Eirik Tveiten and Gaute Lid Larssen
“The Red Suitcase” — Cyrus Neshvad

BEST ANIMATED SHORT

“The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse” — Charlie Mackesy and Matthew Freud
“The Flying Sailor” — Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby
“Ice Merchants” — João Gonzalez and Bruno Caetano
“My Year of Dicks” — Sara Gunnarsdóttir and Pamela Ribon
“An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It” — Lachlan Pendragon

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT

“The Elephant Whisperers” — Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga
“Haulout” — Evgenia Arbugaeva and Maxim Arbugaev
“How Do You Measure a Year?” — Jay Rosenblatt
“The Martha Mitchell Effect” — Anne Alvergue and Beth Levison
“Stranger at the Gate” — Joshua Seftel and Conall Jones

Featured image: Shutterstock/LanKS

Categories
Music

The 10 Best Albums of 2022

We’ve witnessed the hard downfall of music titans, the rise of others, all bringing into focus one single, important question: can we separate art from the artists? Depends on who you are. Sometimes it’s doable. Sometimes it’s downright unforgivable. 2022 made us ask ourselves a lot of these questions, all while incorporating the act of questioning the artist into the music itself. This year, reggaton reigned supreme, lo-fi indie-rock suddenly became not so lo-fi, and electronic dance found ways to borrow and re-invent itself. Artists not only challenged themselves, but challenged audiences in how they thought about and perceived them, the result being the most modern approach to music production we’ve seen this millennium. Here are the 10 best albums of 2022.

10. KING HANNAH – I’m Not Sorry, I Was Just Being Me

Earlier this year, Liverpool duo King Hannah took to the stage at LA’s Moroccan Lounge. The air was incendiary, the crowd positive, and the sound unique. After ripping through their opener “Well-Made Woman,” vocalist Hannah Merrick quivered, “Wow, hi, sorry we’re nervous, we weren’t expecting so many people.” The house lights came on, to which there was only about 15 people in the audience.

There was something genuine about that show. It felt like the perfect live representation for the album’s intimate, delicate soundscape. Part Portishead, part PJ Harvey, part trip-hop, part acid jazz, I’m Not Sorry, I Was Just Being Me is a solitary album that takes you to a place as it uses its tools wisely. Unapologetic in its approach, the album title speaks for itself: it’s another way of saying, “You all don’t have to agree on me, but I’m gonna do my thing.” And when they conjure up that feeling like a kindle of fire, in performance, with everywhere to spread, they could be one of the greatest duos in the world.

9. BLACK COUNTRY, NEW ROAD – Ants From Up There

Georgia Ellery has had quite the busy year. Aside from fronting her other band Jockstrap, she also had a hand in Black Country, New Road’s sophomore (and rumored to be last) album, Ants From Up There. And on her main instrument no less, the violin. But it’s hard to pin down what’s really at the heart of this record. It flourishes with lush instrumentals that seem to drift and sway all around you until you feel like you’re in the middle of an instrumental cyclone. But that’s perhaps the best part of this record – you don’t mind getting lost in it. In fact, it implores you to get lost in it. Soon enough, woodwinds sound like brass, strings get mistaken for percussion, and keys take the place of vocal melodies. It’s a very complex, post-rock record: you can practically feel how much time was spent on it in the intricacies of its layers. But the best way to listen to it? Pick a song from random, loop the album, and just let everything wash over you.

8. HORSEGIRL – Versions of Modern Performance

Chicago’s Horsegirl made an impressive run up to their debut album, Versions of Modern Performance, via a good amount of international airplay. Having established a growing audience overseas, one could easily mistake them as British (even we could’ve sworn they were British). Low-end, clean electric guitars, lyrics that seem far more mature than they could reach, it’s like something straight out of Interpol. Chicago never really got their “post-punk” band in the early 2000s, no band that truly rang with the heart of the city. But that changed with this record, although 20 years after the phenomenon. They sing of young romance, quarter-life existential dread, making a resonance with a city attachment that hasn’t been felt since Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. And for the first time in a long time, the streets of Chicago felt romantic again.

7. STEVE LACY – Gemini Rights

Lacy has made quite the trajectory over the last ten years since his time in The Internet, going from working with Vampire Weekend and Kali Uchis to his now seminal three album run. But Gemini Rights shows more of a maturity while still keeping a foot in his youthful radiance. There’s not a single minute on Gemini Rights that doesn’t allude to fate. Do you ever wonder what it takes, all the little moments that have to happen at exactly the right time, for two people to fall in love? The mission makes it feel nearly impossible, and Gemini Rights paints this phenomenon on a celestial backdrop. It really does feel like outer beings are in command of us outside of our control. Why do the circumstances have to happen in such way? It feels as if we have to relinquish our fate to something of a higher power. But when it does, it really feels as if stars are aligning (“But I could be your girlfriend/’Till retrograde is done.”) But Gemini Rights restores our faith in self-trust. No one’s going to tell us everything will turn out just as we planned, but we just have to trust ourselves that it’ll all turn out alright. Because it always does.

6. HAAi – Baby, We’re Ascending

Australia’s HAAi quickly came up in the electronic dance scene this year, not only because of her collaboration with Jon Hopkins, but due to her unique blend of eclectic electronic music. Drum ‘n Bass, jungle house, and UK garage all surface on this record, amongst others, lending to a seamless sonic journey through a record that doesn’t quite end where it begins, a natural flow of what feels like bouncing around a multi-room club like London’s Printworks or Manchester’s Warehouse Project. But she finds the elements of each genre that complement each other. It’s an education through the history of electronic music in what feels like a brisk 60 minutes, and we should all be signing up for the course.

5. JOCKSTRAP – I Love You Jennifer B.

As the linear expanse of original music production continues, as we embrace new technologies, new techniques to express ourselves, we begin to leave behind new methods as well. Then, this pool of old tech will eventually come back into fashion. What begins to happen, is that we start to contextualize it: not see it as “old” or “new,” but instead see them as tool sets, different muscles to lean on, and use the “old” as an instrument itself.

I don’t think Georgia Ellery and Taylor Skye knew what they were cooking up when they started jamming at London’s Guildhall School of Music. Ellery, a violin player, and Skye, a synth geek, were only using the tools they had available to them, but stood far away enough from the source material to arrange their placements where they saw fit. I Love You Jennifer B. has these, too. With an influence from Tori Amos and Joni Mitchell just as much as Aphex Twin or Squarepusher, the album takes elements of these varying sources and arranges them to live together peacefully. Theoretical musicians will be studying this album for years to come, which already feels like an ancient relic.

For an album that sounds so much like the future, it maintains a foothold in the traditional. Ellery’s lyrics elevate these stylistic grooves to actual formulaic songs, baring such elements that one can dare call them a singer/songwriter’s. But it’s not. This is electronic music used emotionally; the last brace of human touch before surrendering to an electronic world.

4. ROSALíA – Motomami

In all its glitch-poppiness, Motomami works best when you think of it in its different modes of apparition. In its chopped-and-screwed state, it feels like there could be many versions of each song on the album. Just like how one could argue the best version of a movie is all the dailies strung together, one could argue the same with this record with its varied takes in full strung together. But its choppiness is where it finds its rhythm. I honestly could not tell you what she’s singing or spitting about, but her aggressive delivery lets me know that it’s coming from a place. But within it, she paints a disjointed portrait of herself, asking us to put the pieces together. Motomami feels like such a futuristic modern art piece that some people won’t be able to relate to or interpret it (even for us it had to be an acquired taste). Some will be frustrated with it, or perhaps, she’s just building the foundation for something new.

3. ALVVAYS – Blue Rev

This album conjures up many images: the dissolve of a relationship, the smell of your first car, wind in your hair, the last summer before college. Alvvays has been on a steady rise the past eight years making their way around the college radio circuit early on, but nothing could have foreshadowed the sonic depth they would arrive at on Blue Rev. Its sound harks back to how a good an alt-rock band sounded like in the 90s – lots of guitars, lots of distortion, an analog shimmer, mixed in a way that doesn’t sound like mud nor does it sound like it can be achieved in any other fashion. Like the colored layers of technicolor film, the chemical reactions seep into each other to create a Kodachrome look for the ears: pastel, mosaic, light-trails across a screen that fade all too quickly but last long enough so we can cherish them, creating one of the best rock records of 2022.

2. WET LEG – Wet Leg

Wet Leg’s Wet Leg feels like a fever dream, a desperate longing to be somebody else: the perfectly flawed, unapologetic version of oneself. Hailing from the Isle of Wight, Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers took the rock scene by storm in 2022, easily becoming the most consistently talked about band ever since their first singles released earlier this year. Cheeky mumbled verses, epic guitar licks, undeniable charm, and British humor all fed into their rise regardless if you could relate to them or not (we didn’t even know what a chaise longue was until this year). But everyone should be able to relate to them, because Wet Leg is about becoming the best version of yourself you always wanted to be. And aside from all that, it’s just a phenomenal rock record from start to finish, each song better than the last.

1. BEYONCE – Renaissance

We could list the contributions made by the many collaborators on this album: Honey Dijon, Mike Dean, Giorgio Moroder… we could go into the specifics of the technological aspects or the complexities of these tunes. But more importantly, this album is a history lesson in dance music, a retribution in taking back your happiness and finding a way to fall back in love with yourself, time and time again. The weekend this record came out, one could hear it on just about every dance floor in every club in their city, a calling card to rally the troops and go into a zone where all time stops, biology ceases to age our bodies, no matter how brief (“Ass getting bigger…”). That’s what a dance floor can do to you, and if this record is playing – a seamless, constant 120 BPM – it feels as if everyone is the same age, all of our bodies in a race against time. This record doesn’t just use dance music as a genre, but as a vessel, an outlet to transport one’s mind into an ageless body, that thing we find ourselves to be so uncomfortable in most of the time that we forget how to love our flaws. It’s an opportunity to lose all inhibitions. We spend so much time trying to find a fictionalized version of ourselves within us, that we forget the key to finding our real selves has been on the dance floor all along. Go find it.