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When True Romance was released in theaters 25 years ago this week, “a Tarantino movie” wasn’t something audiences and critics could rely on as shorthand. You say that now, and it evokes a very particular kind of image: dialogue packed with references to pop cultural arcana, brutal-yet-stylish violence with a particular emphasis on the body-ripping power of gunplay, powerful but distinctly sexualized women, and a cast assembled from beloved character actors from both the film’s production era and prior Hollywood epochs alike. The “Tarantino movie” is part of American culture now, a subgenre unto itself, often imitated and rarely duplicated well. But let’s take a leap back to 1993 for a moment. (If you’re reading this and you say to yourself, “C’mon, that’s not that long ago,” both of my younger sisters weren’t born yet when True Romance was released in theaters. I know. Freaks me out, too.) Tony Scott is one of Hollywood’s hottest action directors, coming off the massive success of Days of Thunder and the more modest one of The Last Boy Scout. Quentin Tarantino has just released Reservoir Dogs, and he’s shopping scripts around while riding the success of that film to work on his next feature, this weird thing where John Travolta is one of the leads. Christian Slater is a movie star, albeit one aging out of some of the boyish Jack Nicholson performances on which he made his name. Hans Zimmer is scoring Cool Runnings in the same year. It’s a different time. Scott latched onto a script by Tarantino, an inversion of so many old Hollywood stories about a boy and a girl, both from the wrong side of the tracks, who fall in love and run off together with trouble following close behind. By Tarantino’s standards, it’s a fairly autobiographical piece, or at least it’s the Tarantino fantasy version of autobiographical: a mild-mannered comic book salesman meets cute with a gorgeous blonde call girl at a Sonny Chiba triple feature in Detroit. He slays her pimp (rastafarian Gary Oldman, making a meal out of every brief minute he enjoys onscreen) and steals a massive haul of cocaine, and together they jump in a pink Cadillac bound for Los Angeles with dreams of a better life ahead of them. For a certain generation of pop culture geek, one whose fantasies and creations alike were so often influenced by the suave antiheroes of yore, this was the ultimate daydream. It goes without saying that True Romance is a distinctly male movie; Tarantino’s influence over residents of dorm rooms, then and now, is well-trod territory. But what sets Scott’s film apart from so many stylized action flicks of the era is the genuine sweetness at its core, one which its director often only understood in the broadest terms and its writer abandoned not long after this. Clarence (Slater) and Alabama (Patricia Arquette) might be types, inventions of a fevered ’90s screenwriter, but the duo imbue them with a genuine soul that carries through the film’s occasionally clunky dialogue. So many movies of this style would abandon sentiment before long, careening into bloody nihilism while mostly being pretty bad at it, but for all of the Mexican stand-offs and verbose sparring sessions that characterize so much of True Romance, what lingers most is the genuine desire its leads exude. That sweetness is sustained across the board, from the oddball performances to Zimmer’s “You’re So Cool”, the glockenspiel-forward main theme that pops up at moments both touching and brutal. That jaunty tune is just one of several winking contradictions throughout True Romance, starting with its first appearance over a hopelessly gray, run-down Detroit when the film begins. The neon-blue opening titles and the quick, nerdy repartee both situate this as a hilariously ’90s American movie, but like so many Tarantino stories, it exists outside of time, in a pastiche era built from the past and present and knowing future alike. Movies like this aren’t made anymore, in no small part because of just how bad the imitators eventually became, but True Romance is for the most part a delightful relic of its era. Except when it isn’t, anyway. Tarantino’s ongoing love affairs with the n-word and quirky ironic racism at large crop up throughout the film, and that’s to say nothing of the extended juxtaposition between Clarence ordering cheeseburgers and Alabama being violently abused by a terrifying, baby-faced James Gandolfini. True Romance is a relic of its time in every way, down to the then-tendency to indulge in just about any warped impulse under the auspices of shocking art, and age has certainly been unkind in at least that respect. Yet, it’s that ironic note of bouncing tone that sustains it through its sicker moments, as well as a handful of stunning one-off sequences that utterly command the senses. Clarence and Alabama fall in love on a shaky rooftop billboard in the middle of winter. Dennis Hopper, as Clarence’s father, smokes his last cigarette while dressing down Christopher Walken‘s mob heavy. Scott stages a coke deal on a roller coaster and shoots it with all the noise and bombast of Top Gun. The moments work, even when the whole falters on occasion. True Romance is the hedonistic excess of the ’90s indie filmmaking wave made manifest in a single place. There’s no idea too superfluous to cut, whether it’s Val Kilmer playing a hallucinatory Elvis or an entire scene in which Brad Pitt‘s stoner roommate stages a riff on “Who’s on First?” at gunpoint. It’s a film from a brief, wonderful era when studio movies would go off on any strange tangent they wanted, and audiences were willing to roll along with it. It’s not perfect, and none of those movies were, and there’s at least a little bit of truth to the idea that anybody who’d call a movie like True Romance their favorite movie just hasn’t seen enough movies yet. But its heart is true, and it’s true enough that if it were to be called somebody’s favorite movie, at least you can see why. Source

As if this weekend couldn’t get any crazier for hip-hop, Drake went ahead and squashed his long-standing beef with Meek Mill. On Saturday night, the Canadian star brought out the Philadelphia rapper at the Boston stop for his Aubrey and the Three Amigos Tour. Shortly after Meek Mill emerged out of the stage, looking like Luke Skywalker entering the carbon-freezing chamber in Bespin in Empire Strikes Back, the two performed “Dreams & Nightmares” off of his 2012 album of the same name. “We need more peace in the world, we need more love in the world,” Drake told everyone shortly after. “Meek Mill, that’s my brother.” Well, hopefully the two of them can keep these good vibes going, perhaps with a nice meal at White Castle. Nevertheless, it’s a great moment, which you can watch below. Your move, Ms. Minaj. Drake brings out @MeekMill for his Dreams and Nightmares intro tonight in Boston. #AATTM pic.twitter.com/msfcegt5xz — Word On Road (@WordOnRd) September 9, 2018 Source

Two years ago, while on tour promoting The Life of Pablo, Kanye West insisted that “there will never be a Watch the Throne 2” with Jay Z, citing some “Tidal/Apple bullshit”, among other issues. Well, never say never, because Yeezy is now teasing a follow-up to his 2011 blockbuster collaboration album. Tonight, he lit up his Twitter account and sent everyone into a frenzy with his classic shorthand tweet-style, writing: throne2 coming soon — KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) September 8, 2018 The news comes as a surprise given that Yeezy and Jay Z haven’t exactly been on great terms. Back in 2016, Yeezy eerily claimed Jay has hitmen, while Jay addressed his own frustrations while promoting last year’s 4:44, even airing his grievances on the album. Since then, things have kind of, maybe, sort of smoothed over. By the end of 2017, Jay contended that “I love Kanye. I do. It’s a complicated relationship with us,” and earlier this summer, Kanye admitted they’ve been texting, which is nice. What’s more, Jay is credited as a composer and lyricist for “The Games We Play” and “Infrared” off of Pusha-T’s recent Kanye-produced Daytona, so who the hell knows. At the very least, it’s highly unlikely they’re on a Cardi-Nicki level right now. So, we’ll see. Source

Law enforcement officials investigating Mac Miller’s death believe the rapper’s home was scrubbed clean of drugs prior to paramedics being called. Miller was found dead Friday afternoon at his San Fernando Valley home. A drug overdose is believed to be the cause of his death. According to TMZ, when police arrived, they found only a small trace of white powder. Based on interviews with witnesses and other evidence, investigators now believe someone removed other drugs from Miller’s house sometime between Thursday night and early Friday morning. An autopsy and toxicology report is being performed to determine Miller’s exact cause of death. Meanwhile, Miller’s ex-girlfriend, Ariana Grande, acknowledged his death for the first time on Saturday by posting a photo of Miller on her Instagram page. Earlier this year, Grande ended their relationship, reportedly due to Miller’s drug use. “Pls take care of yourself,” Grande tweeted after Miller was arrested and charged with a DUI in May. Later, after a fan suggested their breakup was responsible for Miller’s relapse, Grande responded, “I am not a babysitter or a mother and no woman should feel that they need to be. I have cared for him and tried to support his sobriety & prayed for his balance for years.” Source

Pick one or pick all four. You cannot go wrong with listening to Win and Woo‘s mixtapes. Win and Woo’s mixtapes are kinda like Pokemon as in once you hear any one of them, you will have to hear them all. Win and Woo The Chicago duo, compromised of longtime friends Nick Winholt and Austin Woo, bring together a special blend of music every month. As of this moment, the four part series brings together music from a wide range of angles. I can guarantee they are worth every second of your time. Save yourself the hours of digging for new music and just listen to these mixtapes to get up to speed on the latest house music.  If these samples have you wanting more Win and Woo, you can catch them later this month. The pair go on tour with Chicago’s favorite, Whethan. Check out some tour dates below and be sure to hit them up on any one of there media outlets for new information. 13 Sep The Marc w/ Whethan San Marcos, TX 14 Sep Stereo Live w/ Whethan Dallas, TX 15 Sep Stereo Live w/ Whethan Houston, TX 16 Sep Varsity Theatre w/ Whethan Minneapolis, MN 03 Oct The Majestic Theatre w/ Whethan Detroit, MI Now listen to Win and Woo’s latest release ‘Beam Me Up’: Follow Win and Woo: Website |Facebook | Twitter |Instagram The post Stay Up to Speed with the Latest House Music with Win and Woo Mixtapes appeared first on EDM | Electronic Music | EDM Music | EDM Festivals | EDM Events. Source

Last week, Mastodon members revealed that their longtime manager Nick John was battling pancreatic cancer. Today comes the sad news that John, who also managed Gojira, has passed away. At the end of August, Mastodon had canceled their fall tour with Dinosaur Jr. due to a “critical situation of a member of the Mastodon family,” just days before the trek was scheduled to kick off. A few days later guitarist-singer Brent Hinds and drummer-singer Brann Dailor both acknowledged John’s illness in separate Instagram posts. John managed Mastodon and Gojira as a member of the Rick Sales Entertainment team. His death was made public by Hinds, who simply posted “R.I.P. Nick John” on his Instagram account. The news was further confirmed by rock photographer Andrew Stuart, who wrote on Facebook, “Still not computing that this day is actually real. Rest easy Nick John. I’m honored to have spent over 15 years working with you, learning from you and becoming your friend. You’ll always live on as family, I love you dude.” Our thoughts at this time are with Nick John’s family, friends and the bands whom he managed. Source

During an interview with the Parkland teens midway through Fahrenheit 11/9, Michael Moore halfheartedly tries to give the baby boomers and Gen X a modicum of credit. If there’s anything my generation did right, he posits, maybe it was raising the next one. With brutal honesty — and maybe a touch of youthful bravado — they shoot this theory down immediately. “Social media raised us,” one retorts. It’s easy to imagine at least a generation and a half of viewers having a similar reaction to Fahrenheit 11/9. There are almost no facts, viewpoints, and perspectives offered over the course of the film that haven’t already been shared and disseminated over various platforms. There’s definitely nothing about the portrait of modern-day America that Moore offers that will be the least bit surprising or new to anyone who follows more than a handful of people even remotely interested in justice. Social media has, in fact, already taught a lot of us what other media — like high-profile documentary films, for example — can only begin to touch on now. To his credit, though, Moore never again reaches for any sort of platitudes with Fahrenheit 11/9 — or at least he doesn’t let himself or his audience linger on comforting hints of hope for very long. This might not be a particularly groundbreaking film in terms of content, but the way in which this content is presented is actually quite refreshing. This isn’t a feature that’s been made to allow The Resistance, whatever that is, to navel-gaze and wallow in glib jokes about the incompetence of the Trump administration. Almost all of the more humorous elements that have long been a hallmark of Moore’s films have been stripped away (the few stunts that remain feeling awkwardly out of place) in favor of something more thoughtful, more urgent, and more troubled. Weaving together Trump’s rise from joke candidate to authoritarian power figure with profiles on the water crisis in Flint, the teachers’ strike in West Virginia, and the student-organized protests that happened in the wake of the Parkland school shooting, Fahrenheit 11/9 pulls very few punches in its thesis: None of this should come as a surprise if you’ve been paying attention. Now what are you going to do about it? Fahrenheit 11/9‘s exploration of these points is hardly perfect. It’s easily Moore’s least focused narrative in quite some time, although in all fairness, there simply might be too much happening at all times to allow anyone to draw a much clearer argument out of an unceasing nightmare. In keeping with that sort of movement, the end feels rushed in the way that the conclusions of essays finished on last-minute deadlines tend to be. When the film is on, however, it’s smarter, more self-examining, and far less interested in simple jokes and answers than almost any other mainstream (ostensibly) leftist entertainment has been since November 2016. As an examination of complicity, the film is surprisingly and encouragingly soul-searching. Moore is quite clear and thoughtful about the role the media has played in bolstering Trump, whether through blatant ratings grabs or casual complacency. A segment which juxtaposes footage of high-profile male members of the media criticizing Hilary Clinton’s tone and likability with rap sheets of their offenses as sexual predators — all set to Hole’s “Violet” — is particularly pointed. Moore doesn’t even flinch from examining the role that he himself has played in the long-term enablement and exacerbation of this monster. It’s also a powerful, if heavy-handed, indictment of complacency at large. Fahrenheit 11/9 is never unduly bleak or alarmist for the sake of being alarmist. The moments where Moore plays Trump soundbites over footage of Hitler are, arguably, over the top, but they’re also bookended with thoughtful discussions from experts as to how the comparisons between pre-war Germany and the current U.S. do and don’t work, and why they do need to be addressed. The film offers heartening looks into what can be possible when citizens work together for positive change as well, from the grassroots candidates pushing for meaningful change in the Democratic party to the collective powers of the West Virginia teachers’ union to high school students across America. But it never allows viewers to take too much solace in a joke, or the delicate seedlings of change that have started to blossom nationwide. Laughing off atrocities in the making, and resting assured that someone else will pick up the slack, is part of the reason that America is currently in the state it’s in. Just when it seems like Moore is going to wrap things up by arguing for an all-too-popular white liberal platitude — that sometimes it takes something as awful as Trump to force people to take down the whole rotten system — he quickly shifts into something less soothing and far more honest. Is Fahrenheit 11/9 impressively reflective for a piece of media of its size and profile and influence? Absolutely. Is it enough? Probably not. But in a climate where far too much entertainment passes itself off as “resistance” for making empty gestures and landing easy punchlines, this is at least a step toward a more honest and open look at what America has always been, what it really is now, and what it’s going to take to make it live up to even a fraction of its dream. Trailer: Source

On Friday night, Car Seat Headrest conquered Chicago’s Riviera Theatre in support of their redux album, Twin Fantasy (Face to Face). Thanks to a change in weather — let’s just say, there’s been a chill in the air lately — the venue was hot and stuffy, making for an epic, sweaty night for a diehard crowd. Photographer Heather Kaplan braved the chaos and came out some incredible photos. View the gallery below and peep the full setlist shortly after. Follow Heather on Instagram for more visual delights and add us on there while you’re at it, too. Setlist: Waves of Fear(Lou Reed cover) (‘The Ending of Dramamine’ intro) Bodys Fill in the Blank (Joe Gets Kicked Out of School for Using) Drugs With Friends (But Says This Isn’t a Problem) Cute Thing Sober to Death / Powderfinger (Neil Young & Crazy Horse cover) Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales America (Never Been) Destroyed by Hippie Powers Something Soon Encore: Beach Life-In-Death Source

It was only a matter of time before someone brought Are You Afraid of the Dark? to the silver screen. That task has been given by Paramount to screenwriter Gary Dauberman (The Nun, It: Chapter Two), who’s hoping to “honor the darker, scarier tone of the show.” So, what does that mean? Well, one look at our exhaustive ranking, provides plenty of clarity into what’s “darker” and “scarier” about the series, but Dauberman has his own ideas, which is why he’s giving this new Midnight Society a completely original story. In other words, don’t expect to see a return by Zeebo the Clown. “It is a completely original story I came up with, but it still has the Midnight Society and it still has the campfire,” Dauberman tells /Film, easing anyone’s fears that the movie wouldn’t have its most iconic qualities. “It’s still a story being told.” Well, thank god for that. “That show is so important to me,” he continues. “I didn’t want to age it down too much because for it’s time, it had some really disturbing episodes and some really dark episodes. Not every story the Midnight Society told ended with happily ever after or a person learning their lesson and it will never happen again. I really embraced that side of things and I think it’s been a long time. “I think fear is healthy for kids, he adds. “I don’t think we have to always sand down the edges of things and that’s something I really wanted to do with Are You Afraid of the Dark. I think it is scary and I think kids will be scared watching it at times, and also they’ll laugh at times. I think it’s got a great message. I think it’s got a great heart to it but it is still scary. I think that’s great. I think it’s going to open it up to a wider audience.” He’s not wrong, but as someone who just had to sit through his piss poor script for The Nun, arguably one of the worst horror movies in recent memory, he’ll have to really find his inner Gary if he wants to win over this guy again. We’ll see come October 11, 2019. In the meantime, you can watch the original series over at Nicksplat. Source

A forlorn man wants to erase the memory of his ex-lover, and the pseudo-scientific process is depicted through him traversing the desaturated hallways of his own mind, like Poe splattered with white-out ink. A gifted chauffeur-cum-ninja whoops the ass of several baddies through the very visual process of “Kato Vision,” a mix of Predator-like targeting and shoot ‘em up game logic that shifts speed and perspective like great acid. A Sharpie-drawn dog runs in circles to illustrate conceptual theory. A man’s stitched, felt pony comes to life through the power of dreams. A marching band proudly carries the beat as Kanye West pops “Jesus Walks” on the mic. Who other than Michel Gondry could achieve such eclectic images? A commercial and video wunderkind, Gondry’s transition to the silver screen was one initially met with puzzlement. Who is this French aesthete with wacky cuts, herky-jerky musicalia, and paper-mâché trinkets? Seventeen years since his debut, Human Nature, Michel Gondry is now an Academy Award-winning visualist and a cult entity admired for his ceaseless heart and imagination. But here’s the thing – he’s not just an eclectic. Gondry’s films above all else are about love, creation, curiosity, and the human desire to see the world a little differently. In honor of the new Showtime series Kidding, produced and directed by Gondry and premiering September 9th at 10pm, Consequence of Sound is looking back at the feature films of Michel Gondry, reflecting on his knack for offbeat sounds and images. Ground rules: music videos, shorts, and other parts of Gondry’s impressive list of credits will be covered elsewhere. In the end, we hope you’ll find this retrospective to be, trés magnifique? And, if you can’t wait for the 9th, watch the series premiere of Kidding here now. –Blake Goble Senior Writer _________________________________________________________ 11. The Green Hornet (2011) The Green Hornet, Columbia Pictures Cast: Seth Rogen, Jay Chou, Cameron Diaz, Christoph Waltz Plot: Britt Reid (Rogen). A total brat. Publishing heir with an affinity for partying. But inevitably he becomes a hero and dons a duster and mask under the alias “Green Hornet.” With his trusty aide Kato (Chou), Brit becomes an ersatz Tony Stark, fighting crime one screw-up at a time. Music, Video: Gondry struggles to breathe under the confines of studio filmmaking here, but for what it’s worth, the soundtrack slays (Van Halen and Rolling Stones montages are the definition ‘guilty pleasures’), and James Newton Howard’s score is mostly traditional until it sneaks in some punchy rhythmic goods. Father of Invention: The Black Beauty, hands down. The movie’s just so giddily aware of what a boy toy Hornet’s car is. Think Visual: 3D studio filmmaking in the wake of Avatar, ladies and gentlemen. Gondry was forced to play with studio upcharge ideas here, and it’s an odd mix of Gondry’s vibe colliding with standard studio mayhem. But there’s cool stuff within. Cascading perspective shots, creamy and crude fights, and some flowy slow-motion. The Green Hornet, Columbia Pictures Can’t Cage him: Nicolas Cage was originally cast as Chudnosfky, the film’s villain. He dropped out after proposing he play the character with a Jamaican accent, which didn’t sit well with Gondry. Shame. Well… Green Hornets: The property floated around Hollywood for years with bigs like Eddie Murphy and George Clooney and Jake Gyllenhaal being involved as far back as 1992. Eventually, after Kevin Smith dropped out around 2008, Seth Rogen wrote a draft that got momentum enough for a 2011 release. God only knows what the pre-production costs look like on this. The Gondry Eye: Gondry’s best visual touch on this film is Kato-vision. It’s the most fun this movie gets. Well, that and the split car. Kato-vision is like a fun, more playable version of Bay and Bruckheimer. Verdict: The critical verdict was swift and decisive. (Even mean, to be honest.) But also kinda fair. Green Hornet was an off and often clunky star vehicle for Seth Rogen that smelled of studio anxiety. It strives to make something above its action-comedy cliché and has enough style, cartoonishness, and creative imagery to get viewers to the end. But it’s often an exhausting effort. Best thing you can say: One wonders what another pure Hollywood effort might look like from Gondry. –Blake Goble _________________________________________________________ 10. The Thorn in the Heart (2009) The Thorn in the Heart Cast: Suzette Gondry, Michel Gondry, Jean-Yives Gondry Plot: Michael Gondry chronicles the life and times of his aunt Suzette and her relationship with her son Jean-Yves. In time, secrets about the reclusive Jean-Yves’ sexuality and artistic aspirations are revealed. And Michel interviews his aunt with a loving eye, as we hear of her years teaching, her spontaneity, and her passion for showing movies. Music, Video: Does the film’s trains – station photography and toy recreations – remind anyone of the “Star Guitar” video? Is Gondry really into cabooses? Father of Invention: Gondry is not making anything here. But he does use toy trains as a transitional device, fitting of Gondry’s visual witticisms. Think Visual: There’s some funny projection and train stuff within. But at one point, Gondry and family beat the tar out of a stuck wheelchair. Trying to open and close it. The viewer assumes the chair is for Suzette. Nuh-uh. She asks what the chair is for, and Gondry explains: it’s a way to film her walking and talking with Gondry on the cheap. Roger Corman would be proud. $17,849: That is precisely how much money this movie made at the box office. Worldwide! Arts, media, and entertainment writers make more than that yearly. Kevin Spacey movies in 2018, however, make less. Just pointing this all out. Can Cannes: Thorn in the Heart was screened at Cannes, but didn’t win any awards. What? You were gonna ask, and this bit of trivia saved a trip to IMDB. The Gondry Eye: The movie’s look is plain. Testimonials, with occasional cutaways. Something abot the cutaways to 4:3 home movies feels so decidedly uh, Gondry, in their use. Old film of Suzette would seem like an easy move for any other filmmaker, but Gondry caresses and presents the footage lovingly. Verdict: Thorn in the Heart can feel a little home movie. Laugh-heavy meals, cutesy recreations of events past. It’s like Gondry attempting to make his own Italianamerican, with insight into his culture, his heritage, and the notion of motherly love. But in a less obvious sense, Gondry’s interested in memory and how it affects storytelling. (Granted, his quasi-thesis on maternal relations gets sidelined as a result.) But even when the film feels a little lax, or unclear, Gondry’s adoration and intrigue with his family is what carries the intimate project. Not essential. Challenging, too. But curious all the same. –Blake Goble _________________________________________________________ 09. Human Nature (2001) Human Nature, Fine Line Features Cast: Patricia Arquette, Rhys Ifans, Tim Robbins, Miranda Otto, Rosie Perez Plot: A love triangle evolves between a neurotic scientist (Robbins), a hirsute conservationist (Arquette), and a man raised in the forest like an ape (Ifans). Did we mention Charlie Kaufman wrote this? Yeah, making more sense now, huh? Music, Video: Björk, we thank thee. Gondry cribbed on some of his natural imagery used in Björk videos of all things. Seriously. There are shades of “Human Behaviour” and “Bachelorette” in Human Nature. Gondry has a penchant for the woods, cabins, and interior spaces in both his debut and his Björk efforts that’s too similar to ignore. Father of Invention: Tim Robbins’ Dr. Bronfman is teaching mice table manners. Ridiculous, yes. But see how many views a video of mice eating tiny food can get? The point being, mouse utensils are amazing, and we love them in this movie. Think Visual: Gondry appeals to shabby science and crudely constructed sets in a way that feels like an early attempt at putting his aesthetic out there. Just look at the admittedly un-scientific setup here that Bronfman uses to train the monkey man, Ifans. Human Nature, Fine Line Features Considering Kaufman: Kaufman’s script floated a while, attracting talent like Steven Soderbergh and Spike Jonze. Jonze was close, Fine Line wanted him, and he suggested Michel Gondry in his place. A film career is born. Duff Debut: This is Hillary Duff’s screen debut of all things. Hannah Montana with a hair problem. Hey, when someone asks, “What was Hillary Duff’s first movie?” You’ll know. The Gondry Eye: There’s something serene about Arquette’s furried, naked singing in the forest that feels like it could have carried an entire Gondry music video. Abnormally tracked, artificially staged, and yet it’s surreal and beautiful in its primal simplicty. Through obvious fakery, more humane emotions become strangely tangible. That’s Gondry’s gift of blending right there. Human Nature, Fine Line Features Verdict: It can feel a little static or attention deficit on the first watch, but Human Nature’s fun upon re-visitation. Perhaps a little ahead of itself in terms of understanding Gondry and Kaufman’s intentions, Human Nature takes curious approaches to evolution, romance, death, life, electrolysis, and fine dining. A worthwhile find and a show of Gondry’s promise. –Blake Goble _________________________________________________________ 08. Be Kind Rewind (2008) Be Kind Rewind, New Line Cinema Cast: Jack Black, Mos Def, Danny Glover, Mia Farrow, Melonie Diaz, Sigourney Weaver Plot: After being magnetized, store clerk Jerry (Jack Black) erases all of his rental store’s tapes. Panicked, he and his co-worker Mike (Mos Def) opt to recreate all their movies in low-rent fashion, becoming local stars. We’re talking Ghostbusters, Robocop, Driving Miss Daisy, and more on a shoestring. Cuz fuck the FBI warning. Music, Video: The shorts are music video-like in their expediency and rhythm. Like, the Ghostbusters recreation is more fun than the actual Ray Parker Jr. video. Father of Invention: Dude, Gondry remade Kubrick’s rotational shots from 2001 with what looks like … the inside tube of a dryer??? Think Visual: “Sweding.” It’s the term this film coined for threadbare recreations of zapped flicks. It comes from an argument in the movie. A fib on Mike and Jerry’s part, as they exclaim that their knock-off films are pricier to rent because they’re allegedly from Sweden. Elaborate! But the term stuck. Go to YouTube in 2008 and you could find gallons of “Sweded” parodies of favorite films. Hell, go back two years: Fair Use: The film exists in this curious gray area of fair and legal use between parody and homage. While films are directly mentioned, licensing and usage was still mediated and cased by a legal team. Example: Ghostbusters could be goofed, but Jack Black had to wing the theme song’s lyrics because the movie didn’t get rights to the Ray Parker jam. Fanatic: Not only did Gondry Swede the trailer for Be Kind Rewind; he Swedes for fun. Just watch his ode to Taxi Driver. The Gondry Eye: There’s something so crudely beautiful about Jack Black and Mos Def running down the steps of a library with tinsel and tin foil. Like kids playing make-believe, excited to pretend. Like, you know, the feel-good spirit of making movies and stuff. Be Kind Rewind, New Line Cinema Verdict: Easy-going and likeable, Be Kind Rewind is jolly (even if you wind up fast-forwarding to the good parts). A decent excuse for Gondry’s can-do, in-camera inventions – not to mention film fandom – the “Sweding” was this film’s accidental touchstone. It’s fun to love a movie, and Gondry’s reasonably sincere about that here. So even when the movie lags, or loses focus, we don’t feel rooked because Gondry pours a lot into his homages. –Blake Goble _________________________________________________________ 07. The We and the I (2012) The We and the I, Partizan Films Cast: Michael Brodie, Jonathan Scott Worell, Ladychen Carrasco, Teresa Lynn, and more in a diverse cast of non-actors Plot: Last day of school. South Bronx. Kids on the MTA bus shoot the shit, confront one another, and learn a bit about themselves along the ride in a micro-portrait of youth. Cruelty to the elderly. Smashed guitars. Loves lost and found via poems and crude interactions. Micro vignettes in the vein of Breakfast Club or Dazed and Confused, but even more contemporary. Music, Video: While this shares modest similarities with Gondry’s Earthier video forays, there’s something undeniably ‘80s about Gondry’s vibe here – and that has a lot to do with the soundtrack. Slick Rick, Run-D.M.C., and tons of Young MC appear and populate the atmosphere. We and the I is real 1985 like that. At least, hip-hop prevails until Boards of Canada show up. Father of Invention: That boom box bus is so dope. Blasting Young MC? Radio Shack gonna sell these? The We and the I, Partizan Films Think Visual: Even the surreal stuff – daydreaming about night clubs, beatings by grannies, yacht parties – feel rooted in the real. Gondry switches to cell camera as if to suggest social media culture and how these teens idealize their lives to maximum Like-potential. It’s a modestly nifty conceit. School bus: There’s no set trickery here. Gondry shot guerilla-style with a camera and boom inside a real MTA bus. How verité. The Real World: Gondry built this project over several years, accumulating actual stories from his amateur cast. For example, Brandon Diaz and Luis Figueroa’s heart-breaking relationship in the film? Really happened, and Gondry emboldened and shared this. The We and the I, Partizan Films The Gondry Eye: There’s at least a three-hour seminar involved in unpacking this image of a teenage boy wearing a girl’s wig. Race. Class. Gender. Whimsy. Gondry’s socioeconomic lens of the world. Now accepting applications. The We and the I, Partizan Films Verdict: Shot on location, using limited artificial devices, We and the I is very much an urban slice of life. Which comes with troubles for sure. The movie’s capable of being unpleasant and mean – teenagers are mean as hell – but it can’t be called dishonest. In 2012, this was likely antidote for Gondry after the highly commercial Green Hornet, and Gondry shows his chops for making nothing feel like everything. A bus ride. But it’s the most comprehensive, busy, and life-changing bus ride you ever saw. There’s drama in dates, drinking, beefs, kissing(!), and more in the life of teens. Friends swap. Feelings flatten and flip. And Gondry’s patient enough to stare. –Blake Goble _________________________________________________________ 06. Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy? (2013) Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy?, IFC Films Cast: Noam Chomsky, Michel Gondry Plot: Linguistic/science/art/social critic/super genius Noam Chomsky sits down with Michel Gondry to discuss his life’s work, insights, and philosophies in conversational fashion. Well, a conversation inasmuch as Gondry refuses to simply share video of the talk. The director illustrates the entire conversation through illustrations on a slide transparency in doodle form. Try-hard (love it). Music, Video: Off the top of the head – ever see Gondry’s Living Sisters video for “How Are You Doing?” Check out the opening illustrations for a parallel to his work on this doc. Then imagine him going whole hog with Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy?. Father of Invention: Gondry didn’t invent the movie camera. But he sure loves its power, and one of the secret weapons in his arsenal is his old home camera. It’s how he sees things, and helps the conversation here. At one point, he stops using digital video and insists on using an old home camera. Think Visual: Imagine the most impressive handbook you ever did saw. The fact that Gondry hand-draws every last image in this documentary almost makes you feel guilty if you don’t pay it the attention it deserves. Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy?, IFC Films Cheaters: In one of the film’s sweeter moments, Chomsky and Gondry admit to cheating as children and how it shaped their perceptions of honesty. Partners in crime. French-born, Brookyln-bred: Gondry made this project in his free time while editing The Green Hornet. Shooting and chopping and illustrating out of his apartment in Brooklyn. It’s impressive what a guy like Gondry can achieve when some of us can barely muster the strength to clean our apartments. The Gondry Eye: Mid-film, Gondry expresses frustration in his need to convey and communicate an idea with Chomsky, only for the scholar to refute and somewhat downplay Gondry’s words and efforts. This results in a maddening, hand-written confessional that only an individual like Gondry could get away with. Without being called ‘self-indulgent.’ It’s admirable. Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy?, IFC Films Verdict: Every last college lecturer should see this. The act of conversation driven by curiosity and a need for understanding takes on this vivacious life through Gondry’s eager and honest eyes. Chomsky, as reading, is hard. Damn hard. And Gondry admits this. Especially as a Frenchman whose native tongue makes it harder for him to convey. It’s heady: social psychology, semiotics, tree branches and donkeys as metaphors ad-nauseum. But it’s so game and enthusiastic you actually come away feeling a little more learned and appreciative. Plus, Gondry’s animation of dogs running in circles or brains honey-combing though thoughts or just how much time Gondry spends illustrating trees to make a point is something to admire. (Or take LSD before watching.) Unexpectedly required reading. –Blake Goble _________________________________________________________ 05. The Science of Sleep (2006) The Science of Sleep, Warner Independent Pictures Cast: Gael García Bernal, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Alain Chabat, Miou-Miou, Emma de Caunes Plot: A gentle animator (Bernal) with endless ideas and dreams of creating a “disasterology” calendar is met with continued disappointment when he returns home to France to discover that his new job is a tedious bore, nobody understands him, and he has no idea how to win over the attractive neighbor(s) next door. Soon, his daydreams and fantasies begin to collide with reality in increasingly uncontrollable ways as he tries to find love and stay sane. Music, Video: Sure, his classic video for Kylie Minogue’s “Come Into My World” isn’t anywhere near as whimsically surreal as The Science of Sleep, but it’s one of those cases where Gondry was messing around with the razor-thin lines between fantasy and reality, years before he further explored those ideas in cinematic form. As the video loops in and out on itself, it forms a kind of narrative Moebius strip while remaining consistently playful. Father of Invention: Bernal’s Stéphane is an inventor, albeit not one in the traditional sense. One of his most innovative, and poignant, creations is a “one-second time machine,” which allows the operator to travel backwards, if only for just one moment. It’s a microcosm of the film: constantly chasing something inarticulable, but which you already miss the second it goes away. Think Visual: Where do you even start with the visual innovations of a film like this one? We’ll go with Stéphane’s giant hands, triggered by a fit of outrage and influenced visually by a recurring nightmare of Gondry’s. Like the best of Gondry’s work, the sequence takes an all-too-familiar sensation (insecurity about a burgeoning new relationship) and escalates it to cartoonish, hysterical effect. The Science of Sleep, Warner Independent Pictures Home is Where the Heart Is: Gondry apparently lived in the film’s central apartment building about 15 years before directing Sleep, which only strengthens the pervasive sense throughout that this may be the closest thing to a personal/biographical feature of a kind that we’ll ever see out of the filmmaker. Get These Hands: Those giant hands we mentioned a second ago? They may be mined for a particular kind of emotional resonance here, but it’s not the first time Gondry has used that device, even in context of a dream. Jump back to his video for Foo Fighters’ “Everlong”, and you’ll see them pop up again. The Gondry Eye: His visualization of Stéphane attempting to emotionally connect through a series of dog costumes and an infinitely scrolling script is both lovely and a pure visualization of so much of Gondry’s perception of how art is made. Start with raw, confusing, messy emotion. Add handmade objects. Continue to grow the scene until you can’t even remember what reality started off looking like in the first place. Verdict: The Science of Sleep is the kind of Michel Gondry movie that people only loosely familiar with his work would immediately think about. From the childhood craft aesthetics to the occasionally painful explorations of male selfishness, Gondry uses some of his most fanciful imagery in any of his films to explore the ways in which falling in love with somebody can inhibit one from seeing the object of their desires as a person with their own feelings and needs and inner life. It’s every bit as scatterbrained a film as its protagonist, but therein lies the charm. It’s a film about how living inside dreams can’t become a permanent state, and more importantly, that it shouldn’t. –Dominick Suzanne-Mayer _________________________________________________________ 04. Microbe & Gasoline (2015) Microbe and Gasoline, StudioCanal Cast: Ange Dargent, Théophile Baquet, Diane Besnier, Audrey Tatou Plot: Daniel (Ange Dargent) is the smallest kid in his class, with long hair that confuses others into thinking he’s a girl. Nickname: “Microbe.” Théo (Théophile Baquet) is the new kid in class, brash and over-confident, with a knack for engineering. Nickname: “Gasoline.” Together, the amiable outsiders design a house car and take to the open road across France running away from their troubles. Music, Video: Once again, Gondry dabbles in the au naturel, but with the faintest twists of absurdism layered atop. Best example that helps explain the direction? The White Stripes’ “Hardest Button to Button” video by Gondry. Father of Invention: Like Green Hornet, it’s the car. It’s gotta be the car! Gondry engineered this amazing house-shaped four-wheeler that can camouflage the boy’s secret journey while doubling as an extended metaphor about the foundations of their bond and troubled homelives. Or something literary like that. Point being, we’d pay top dollar for this puppy and take it off the lot today if we could. Think Visual: What’s curious is how unfussy and uncluttered the visuals are here. Sure, the boys dabble in junkyard imagination and doodle art, but it’s grounded. Gondry sees the story through in almost Truffaut-like fashion, naturalistically with limited and mindful breaks from reality. It’s a car on wheels, but a wobbly, shabbily, amazingly assembled work that carries the boys and in essence, this movie. Microbe and Gasoline, StudioCanal Note From Teacher: Gondry admitted he was inspired by Diane Kurys’s Peppermint Soda and the 1953 classic The Little Fugitive. The director didn’t want a heightened reality, and something more naturalistic in terms of lensing with limited camera, and capturing academic texture. Take that, John Hughes. No storyboard: When interviewed, Gondry admitted that storyboards have always been an obsessive means of directing for him in prior projects. Less so here. He was worried it would over-direct his two stars, and he wanted something a little more easy-going. Only took him 14 years to loosen up, right? The Gondry Eye: There’s something so telling, and Gondry in its heightened reality, about the two boys dressed as old men at a party, lost among their peers and other youth. Microbe and Gasoline, StudioCanal Verdict: This is Gondry at his most minute and muted, and ironically, that’s what makes this effort stick out in Gondry’s filmography. Amidst a career of films stuffed with mise-en-scene to the max, Microbe and Gasoline sees the auteur scaling back, making an intimate and honest coming-of-age story. It’s affecting in its simplicity, and the leads are terrific salesmen as Gondry shares ideas on friendship, the complicated feelings of adolescence, and the strange thing kids do when forced to get out of their comfort zone. Also, Gondry if you’re reading – please contact this writer about the house car. Will make best offer! –Blake Goble _________________________________________________________ 03. Dave Chappelle’s Block Party (2014) Dave Chappelle’s Block Party, Rogue Pictures Cast: Dave Chappelle, Kanye West, Yasiin Bey, Talib Kweli, Jill Scott, The Roots, and a whole mess of other musicians Plot: Over one hot mid-September day in Brooklyn, circa 2004, Dave Chappelle took a beat away from existing at the center of pop culture to throw a block party and celebrate the simple beauty of pure joy. Music, Video: The visual and dramatic simplicity of Block Party as a doc means that it steps away a bit from many of Gondry’s hallmarks, but since this features one of the best recorded Kanye performances in existence (more on that momentarily), let’s jump back to Gondry’s video for “Heard ‘Em Say,” which immerses Kanye in some delightful stop-motion animation. Father of Invention: A megaphone that magically spits out words? Specifically opening credits? Think Visual: In a way, Block Party feels like a precursor to the kindhearted neighborhood exploration of Be Kind Rewind in a number of ways. While Gondry dials back many of his usual tricks, the warm light and lingering gazes at overjoyed faces in both the crowd and on the stage allows the director to convey something he often hits from far more abstract angles: earnest, sincere human warmth. Before They Were Stars: You’ll have to look carefully, but keep an eye out for a young J. Cole hanging out in the crowd, enjoying the show with everyone else. Do It Yourself: In keeping with the spirit of Gondry’s hand-crafted material, Chappelle put up the money for both the artist lineup and the block party himself. Granted, he had it to throw around at this particular moment in time, but still. The Gondry Eye: There’s something about Block Party that really makes all the small moments of the day pop with remarkable vibrance. Whether it’s the sun-saturated brick of the neighborhood or the lilting blue sky as the day reaches its end, Gondry brings his characteristic knack for color to even what’s basically a straighforward concert film. Verdict: Block Party was made shortly before Chappelle famously walked away from his $50 million Comedy Central deal, but it became quite a bit more resonant once he did. It’s a great concert film full of astounding footage, from its Fugees reunion to Kanye West delivering a performance of “Jesus Walks” guaranteed to send chills down the spine. But it’s perhaps best as a chronicle of a comedian in transition from years of hard-hustling stand-up to becoming perhaps the most famous comedian in America, all while attempting to retain some kind of a sense of self. The film may never really answer the question of who Dave Chappelle is or was, but that’s beside the point. It’s a snapshot of who he was, for one day, in this one moment. –Dominick Suzanne-Mayer _________________________________________________________ 02. Mood Indigo (2013) Mood Indigo, StudioCanal Cast: Romain Duris, Audrey Tatou, Omar Sy Plot: Love be thy name as two young Parisians come to fall for one another in high-styled fashion. Specifically, Colin (Romain Duris), a bacheror, is smitten with Chloé (Audrey Tatou), a woman with a flower growing in her heart. Music, Video: Gondry pulls every trick out of his sleeve on this. The effortful production design, prop-work, and creative photography is like watching a Best-Of reel from Gondry. Every Google Image result for this movie is epic and gallery ready. Long dancing legs are in this movie and remind one of the “Deadweight” video. A floating cloud-mobile of sorts looks like it could have floated through Gondry’s “Everlong” video and no one would have questioned its inclusion. Hyperbolically, Mood Indigo is like a carousel into Gondry’s mind, the wildest synaptic happenings, and his most creative imagery. Practically? We really like Gondry’s effort here! Maximum Gondry. Father of Invention: Gondry delights in cakes and carts but there’s something so satisfying about the “Pianocktail”. Harmonic cocktails. A piano that makes drinks from the mood of the music. Few bum notes. Brightly colored delights. Find a mixologist that could pull this off. Think Visual: Gondry was working at a giddily exaggerated level of invention here, with underwater nuptials, stop-motion car chases to an altar, and more. Cloth hearts, creative cakes, and on ‘n’ on. It’s like Gondry squeezed every last ridiculous vision or literary play or trinket-centric sight gag out of himself on this one. And the effort’s appreciated. Ebullience and adoration collaged and made tactile. France V. America: Why is the original cut 130 minutes and the American one 90 minutes? We’d like to know. Sincerely, an American writer and his American readers/Gondry fanatics. Tricky Translation: Now, the title is an entirely American concoction of nice-sounding referential word choices. “Mood Indigo”. A Duke Ellington tune and sensical choice for a title for this when it was released in the U.S. The film mentions the musician a-plenty, and it feels like an easy in for audiences here. But in France, the original title was L’écume des jours, which translates roughly to dream foam, or remnants of daydreams. Meaning, the title in and of itself is like a double lesson in marketing and semiotics. The Gondry Eye: In movie that is so overwhelmingly about love, there’s something so beauteous about a magical, radiating cloth heart. It’s a huggable image, comfortably textured, excitedly bright, loaded with all the meaning the film wants viewers to grasp. Mood Indigo, StudioCanal Verdict: Mood Indigo’s a straight narrative for the most part: crazy love story. But it’s slowly, sensationally brought to screen in some of the most excessively gorgeous ways possible. This is a triumph of style and mood and imagery above any traditional arc. And it’s all in Gondry’s direction and creative decision-making. There’s not a single side-stop Gondry doesn’t take; he insists on taking the hardest, most visual trip possible down to the core of his two lovers, and we welcome every feathery run through tunnels. Each non sequitur and silly idea Gondry serves up in service of this affair. Why not film a wedding underwater? Gondry can, and does it up with an ebullient grace. A late career jolt and reminder of his talents, Mood Indigo will endure. As a fairy tale, a love story, a heart-breaker, and a show of screen strength and creative approaches to staid material as exemplified by Gondry. –Blake Goble _________________________________________________________ 01. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Focus Features Cast: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Tom Wilkinson, Mark Ruffalo, Kirsten Dunst, Elijah Wood Plot: “Why remember a destructive love affair? We have perfected the safe, effective technique for the focused erasure of troubling memories.” – Dr. Howard Mierzwiak Feeling pain? Wipe your brain. Joel Barish (Jim Carrey) decides to wipe his memories of ex-girlfriend Clementine Kruczynski (Kate Winslet), only to screw up the entire medical procedure and challenge the whole fuzzy notions of love. Fate, free-will, and the complex notions of memory get thrown in the old brain blender as true love – whatever that means for some – finds a way out the other side. Music, Video: Jon Brion was tasked with scoring on this, and it’s a blend of clinkety sounds and tacky piano that feels like cogwork in the old noggin. And not to hold a grudge, but Beck’s “Everybody’s Got to Learn Sometimes” should have been nominated for Best Original Song at the Oscars. Yes, we’re well aware that it’s a James Warren tune from 1980, but so what!? Father of Invention: What’s startling about the memory-erasing machine isn’t just far-flung psych class logistics of it, but just how shabby it looks. It requires two geek doctors to watch like an old furnace and is prone to set-backs and glitches. An amazing device for the many challenges it presents and heady love story it inspires. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Focus Features Think Visual: Everything you need to know about Gondry can be seen on film here. He has a deep abiding love for gazing with fluttery eyes at the urban, for trinkets, for awkward human interactions. There’s a primary urban fantasy to how he mixes the banal with the fantastic. Effects-enhanced bookstores badly lit to look like they’re fading. Shitty-looking homemade electronics capable of the fantastical. Dorky Tommy opera t-shirts on his leads and colorful hair and grotesque illustrations of pen-made freaks. Down to the dippy, little card acknowledging erasure from Lacuna. All directly in service of this particular story. It’s jagged, to be certain, yet totally whole and connected. You’ve Been Erased: Back to that note about being erased. Michel Gondry’s friend Pierre Bismuth suggested that idea. What if you got a note telling you that you’d been erased from someone’s memory? Boom! Million dollar movie idea, folks. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Focus Features Do the Reading: Wanna get an A grade in English this September? Know this: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, the title, is a reference to Alexander Pope’s Eloisa to Abelard, a Medieval verse from 1717. It’s a heroic epistle? About suppressed and awakened love? Okay, that doesn’t guarantee a higher grade, or even trivia points, but don’t you feel smarter? Okay, fine, memory erase that, whatever. The Gondry Eye: God, to simplify analyze any one visual component in this? The leafy forests, the Montauk station’s isolation, the frail patter under bedsheets. Hey, wanna just get emo and talk about Joel and Clem on the ice for a few hours? Sigh, what a sight. Thank you, Michel Gondry. A world of feelings, reeling with emotion over the fragile intimacy of being in love perfected in two lovers on ice. Is it a metaphor for how couples can crack at any moment or how strong these two are swimming above despair? Or simply a pretty picture? Yes, yes. Yes! Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Focus Features Verdict: When Michel Gondry and Pierre Bismuth worked up this scenario, they brought it to Charlie Kaufman to help give it shape. What came of a deceptively simple idea, erased memory, has blossomed into a modern epic about the fragility and durability of love. Joel and Clem are fraught, destructive, and incapable of loving one another, and yet, we know that they couldn’t be more perfectly paired, warts and all. It’s with a bit of hesistancy that we leave hopeful. We really think that they’ll find their way back to one another. Maybe it’s fate, or maybe it’s just dumb luck that they get to delete the bad parts of their romance, but we are still thinking/debating/arguing/swooning over this. And Gondry showed his very best talents here, directing with an open-minded sensitivity and desperate curiosity that we’re still studying and picking apart to this day. It takes a nimble mind to make this movie flow as effortlessly as it does and a busy brain to give us so much to explore and re-explore. Eternal Sunshine begs re-watching, even though, somewhat ironically, it’s unforgettable. This is Gondry’s poem on the many indescribable parts that connect our head and our hearts when concocting those funny feelings about love. A new masterpiece. –Blake Goble Source

Coming home by Neelu Mohaghegh (All photos taken are original work by Neelu; Saturday, August 18th, 2018) Sheppard is an Australian indie pop band from Brisbane, Australia that has been winning the pop hearts of thousands since 2009. The band is made up of 6 members, including George Sheppard (vocals and keys), Amy Sheppard (vocals, keys), Emma Sheppard (bass), Jason Bovino (guitar), Dean Gordon (drums), and Michael Butler (guitar). At the 2013 Aria Music Awards, Sheppard was nominated for Best Independent Release for “Let Me Down Easy”. Their debut studio album, Bombs Away, was released back in the summer of 2014 and made its way to the No. 2 spot on the ARIA Albums Chart. It then went on to being certified gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association. Their second single, “Geronimo”, was No. 1 for three weeks on the ARIA Singles Chart and was certified 5× platinum. In addition, in 2014, the pop group was nominated for Album of the Year, Best Group, Best Independent Release, Best Pop Release, Song of the Year, Producer of the Year, and Best Video. Their music is the kind that lifts your spirits and has you practically jumping up and down and singing along. The best part about it, they are TRULY a talented group of people! It’s the type of music you want in your life because it encompasses the roller coaster of human emotions. With stunning melodies, angelic harmonies, and epic rhythms that make you move no matter what you do, there’s no denying the fact that Sheppard is on to something! Hard to come by these days, Sheppard manages to have the live instrumentation down, the vocals just right, and a fun, eye-catching stage presence–true artists by trade. Check out their music below! So, how did this epic and extraordinary band get started? I had a chance to sit with this Aussie collective to ask them all of them all of my questions during their appearance at the 2018 Billboard Hot 100 Festival (Jones Beach, Long Island, NY). Amy explained to me the beginning of their story. “It was quite a natural progression, it started way back when we were kids, we were playing together, we all had music lessons, and I really wanted to do this for a living, so I went to school to study music”. She furthers elaborates on a project that one of her classes required which was to create a full EP, and like any student would, she was freaking out because she had procrastinated for it until the last minute. She then reached out to her brother George to ask him to help her add harmonies and more compositional pieces to her project and she was happy and impressed with what she was hearing. “And from that moment on we kept building and building it together and here we are today…” Amy says through a smile. As I sit across from 3 out of the 6 artists in the band, George, Amy, and Emma, I am happy to see how energized they are after a performance in the boiling heat (90 degrees Fahrenheit and sunny), while still being jet lagged for the past few days from their travels across the ocean, and knowing that they have the same flight back to Australia catch tomorrow after just getting over that jet lag. The ladies were practically glowing, Emma with her shiny dress and her glitter eye shadow and Amy with her incredible blue hair and matching blue lens sunglasses. George in a simple white T-shirt and pants was smiling cheek-to-cheek. “We’re pretty excited to be here”, George admits. “It’s an unbelievable festival and to be included in that line up is just amazing.” I proceeded to ask them how their music has evolved since they first started as an official band, and if the process for their new album Watching the Sky. “Actually ya, a lot different”, admits George. “Well we wanted to build it from the ground up to be played on a live scenario. So, for the first album it was just sort of writing songs for fun and really didn’t have any sense of what venues we would be playing, what our demographic was, who are fans were, versus this time around we definitely had a good idea of who we were as a band, and what kind of shows we were doing, so we were able to hone in and focus in on the vibe. So, we made sure all of the songs were tailored for big venues and epic sounds and stuff that brings people together and brings the good vibes.” Amy continues to explain the progression of their success and the hardships that came with it. “It’s been a lot of work, it has been challenging, but it has definitely been rewarding, We can definitely see ourselves growing as artists and that fanbase has grown…” Emma jumps in exclaiming “we’re really lucky for the opportunities we have gotten.” George follows up, “I think it’s like you struggle struggle struggle struggle, and then something clicks and then you struggle on that level, and struggle on that level, and then something happens and the planets align, and it just keeps on leveling up like a video game… and you keep moving up hopefully!” He chuckles at his analogy. In terms of their sound, I was curious how much of it was inspired by their roots in Australia. “We get a lot of our music from America and from the UK, we’re sort of like a hybrid baby of those two sort of industries”, George tells me. He does mention though how fortunate they are to have amazing musicians back home who are strong and talented. I asked the trio what the best part of being a band was in comparison to being a solo act, to which Amy replies immediately, “You’re not alone. You always have us, you always have someone to fall back on and be there for you”. Emma chimes in, “and even during the shittiest, excuse my language, even during the worst times, you have all these people to cheer you up, laugh about it, talk about it…” George furthers their comments by noting, “shows where there’s not as many people, it’s greater to have each other to just bounce off each other on stage and just sort of tune into what’s going on and bounce off each other’s energy”. So when I asked this energetic band’s one word to describe themselves, George immediately responded, “Euphoria!” Amy elaborates, “we want our music to bring people together and tell a story.” I then asked what Sheppard couldn’t live without. Emma responds, “a phone?”, Amy fittingly says, “hair dye” as she laughs and flips her vibrant aqua hair, and George says, “headphones…to listen to music, especially for traveling.” And, if these guys had to pick a spirit animal for their band? “A chicken!!!” George shouts, everyone laughs, and then he rescinds his answer to change it to “a blue whale.” Ha! What’s their ideal summer day? George goes on, setting the scene: “The beach, some good friends, a barbecue, water is definitely involved”, the girls agree and then George summarizes the story with “good food, good tunes, good friends.” What is Sheppard most excited about that is to come very soon? “Our Australian tour!” All three of them say in agreement. In line with that, their favorite memory performing live is “whenever the audience sings a song back to you, that’s an incredible feeling, it shows that they’re into it, and that they know the songs, and you put so much time writing and crafting your music, so that’s the biggest compliment”, Emma articulates. So, on Saturday, August 18th, Sheppard is #OnTheVerge of…. “#Sleep” George says. Then he changes his answer to “#JumpingintheWater”. Emma says “#DancingintheMosh” and Amy replies “#DancingintheRain”. (It was hot, I mean it, and it was supposed to rain…) Meeting with this incredible multi-faceted band was probably the highlight of my day as they shared just as much energy, charisma, and kindness in our interview as they did during their performance on the main stage! Be sure to Sheppard on social media to find out more about what they’re up to! Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Site | YouTube The post Aussie Indie-Pop Band Sheppard: Billboard Hot 100 Music Festival Interview No. 1 appeared first on Verge Campus. Source

Nicki Minaj and Cardi B were anything but fashionable Friday evening at Harper’s Bazaar ICONS Fashion Week event. The two hip-hop rivals reportedly engaged in an “epic brawl” upon arrival, and the details are, well, quite epic. According to TMZ, Cardi B “aggressively approached the table,” where Minaj and her crew had been sitting, allegedly shouting, “Let me tell you something.” Although security managed to subdue her, Cardi B still was able to toss her shoe at Minaj, even if she missed her. Sources told Cosmopolitan that Cardi B left the party with a bump on her face and the back of her dress torn. Cosmopolitan also reports that her wig was pulled off and she was escorted out of the event wearing only a single shoe. So far, it’s hard to discern what exactly happened, but appears the altercation stemmed from comments made about Cardi B’s baby daughter, Kulture. In one video that’s surfaced online, Cardi B can be heard mentioning her child as she is escorted out of the event. In a message posted to Instagram following the altercation, Cardi B defend her child among other things: “I’ve let a lot of shit slide! I let you sneak diss me, I let you lie on me, I let you attempt to stop my bags, fuck up the way I eat! You’ve threaten other artists in the industry, told them if they work with me you’ll stop fuckin with them! I let you talk big shit about me!! I addressed you once in person, I addressed you a second time in person, and every time you copped the plea! “But when you mention my child, you choose to like comments about me as a mother, make comments about my abilities to take care of my daughter is when all bets are fuckin off! I’ve worked to hard and come too far to let anybody fuck with my success!!!! Bitches talk all that shit in they raps but in real life they pussy!! This shit really is for entertainment!!” Omggggg nicki and Cardi almost fought #nickiminaj #cardib #cardi #monse #nyfw2018 #nyfw #omg pic.twitter.com/2gtOL5zoeI — kylie (@Hemsworth_kylie) September 8, 2018 Here's a better look: Nicki Minaj OR Rah Ali was talking about Cardi B's daughter, Kulture. pic.twitter.com/oRVlFSFVRG — miixtapechiick.com (@MXCKposts) September 8, 2018 Sadly, it doesn’t appear we’ll be getting a follow-up to “Motorsport” anytime soon. Oh well. Source

An outpouring of reactions have come in from artists all across the industry following the sudden death of Mac Miller. On Friday afternoon, it was reported that the 26-year-old rapper died of an apparent drug overdose, and the news has not been taken lightly by his colleagues and peers. Everyone from Chance the Rapper to Khalid, Wiz Khalifa to Jaden Smith, Questlove to Ellen Degeneres, and Missy Elliott to Mark McGrath have all offered their own respective tributes on Twitter. It’s an emotional response from a sea of artists hurt by the loss. In addition to talent, both of his record labels — Warner Bros. Records and Rostram Records — have also offered passionate statements. Look below for all the tributes and stay tuned for any ensuing updates. pic.twitter.com/E4pEoogBzN — Warner Bros. Records (@wbr) September 7, 2018 More than an artist, Mac was a loving and caring person whose drive and creativity were unmatched. Rest in paradise. We love you @macmiller pic.twitter.com/FwlxA9U6CW — Rostrum Records (@RostrumRecords) September 7, 2018 I dont know what to say Mac Miller took me on my second tour ever. But beyond helping me launch my career he was one of the sweetest guys I ever knew. Great man. I loved him for real. Im completely broken. God bless him. — Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) September 7, 2018 Its so crazy cause earl literally hit me up this morning him and vince were real friebds I met at a pivotal time in my life through mac. This shit hurts so bad. If you love someone male sure u tell em — Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) September 7, 2018 Rest in your peace Mac Miller. Always exuded so much kindness and goodness. Thank you for sharing your gifts with us all. — solange knowles (@solangeknowles) September 7, 2018 this hurts my heart man RIP bro @MacMiller — Khalid (@thegreatkhalid) September 7, 2018 THE MAN WAS TOO GENEROUS ! HE EXTENDED HIS HOME TO ALL OF US . PEACE TO THE MILLER FAMILY AND THE WHOLE EXTENDED FAMILY. WE HURTIN — thebe kgositsile (@earlxsweat) September 7, 2018 Praying for Mac’s family and that he rest easy #pgh #412 — Wiz Khalifa (@wizkhalifa) September 7, 2018 Long Live Mac Miller, Rest In Peace We Love You — Jaden Smith (@officialjaden) September 7, 2018 Damn… Rest In Peace, Mac Miller. My heart breaks for his family and friends. — MAREN MORRIS (@MarenMorris) September 7, 2018 Fuck. — Glasper’s Beef Patty Chef (@questlove) September 7, 2018 DAM LETS ALL SAY A PRAYER TO GOD FOR MAC MiLLER TO GO TO HEAVEN SUCH A GOOD ENERGY HE HAD A ViBE THAT BRiGHTENED UP ANY ROOM ALWAYS i WiLL NEVER FORGET MAKiNG AQUABERRY DOLPHiN AT YOUR HOUSE U LAUGHED WHEN i SAiD TO PUT AN ACTUAL DOLPHiN ON THE SONG LOVE U BROTHER @MacMiller pic.twitter.com/38s0JBS4iR — VåNiLLå GōRiLLå (@JODYHiGHROLLER) September 7, 2018 I’m so saddened to hear about @MacMiller such a kind spirit Sending prayers for strength for his family & friends & fans during this difficult time — Missy Elliott (@MissyElliott) September 7, 2018 So sad u gone home young Mac I had to post this to smile and think about the good Time we had on the set of this movie man god bless ya family. Pittsburg we lost a real one today @macmiller pic.twitter.com/AZkqUlhm1V — Snoop Dogg (@SnoopDogg) September 7, 2018 I cannot imagine what Mac Miller’s family and loved ones are feeling right now. I send love to his family, his friends, and his fans. pic.twitter.com/k32Em8kct1 — Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) September 7, 2018 Rest In Peace to the great soul Mac Miller — J. Cole (@JColeNC) September 7, 2018 So sorry to hear about Mac Miller… — Mark McGrath (@mark_mcgrath) September 7, 2018 Didn’t know Mac Miller, but was completely floored by Swimming. Such a beautiful record. Have had it on repeat since hearing it. Such an inspiring piece of art. Very sad day for music. Rest In Peace dude. — RÜFÜS DU SOL (@RufusDuSol) September 7, 2018 Sorry for misspelling last tweet im kinda twisted abt @MacMiller passing waay too soon. Super cool dude condolences to his family — QTip (@QtipTheAbstract) September 7, 2018 WE WERE SUPPOSED TO GO TO OHANAS THIS WEEK I WAS SUPPOSED TO COME THIS WEEKEND WE WERE SHOOTING YOUR VIDEO NEET WEEK WE HAD TO FINISH YOUR NEW FAVORITE SHOW NO NO NO NO U GOT THE SATURN TATOO AFTER I DID UR CHART THIS IS TOO MUCH — Kehlani (@Kehlani) September 7, 2018 My guy MAC MILLER…rest up bro — FUTURE/FREEBANDZ (@1future) September 7, 2018 Love you brother. you gave so much to this world. Rest easy Malcolm. — THE INTERNET (@intanetz) September 7, 2018 Really fucked up about Mac — The Chosen One (@KidCudi) September 7, 2018 RIP to the homey @MacMiller. Super cool dude who was a good friend and a true hip hop head. Always showed wild love when we’d link. Smh. — Skyzoo (@skyzoo) September 7, 2018 RIP Mac Miller K.I.D.S takes me back to my favorite summers, fuck man, rest easy legend pic.twitter.com/YARb1nfMaX — PURPP (@smokepurpp) September 7, 2018 one of the most kindest human beings i knew, i truly can’t believe this shit right now. a true artist and true friend. may you rest in peace Mac, will miss you and your music very very much — Aminé (@heyamine) September 7, 2018 This got me beyond fucked up. https://t.co/sU1gLe2syp — Statik Selektah (@StatikSelekt) September 7, 2018 Just landed and saw the sad news about Mac Miller. This was 2011 we did a joint for fun staying up til daylight. And he got busy on the first PRhyme LP. Man it’s so iLL how these Overdoses are taking our youngsters out. 26 years of age too. May your soul rest homie.@macmiller pic.twitter.com/DDH0F3esgE — PRhyme (@PRhyme_Official) September 8, 2018 Source

Listen and subscribe via iTunes | Google Play | Stitcher | YouTube | RSS Twenty years after her landmark album Little Plastic Castle, seasoned songwriter and activist Ani DiFranco speaks with Kyle Meredith about the “prophetic” qualities of songwriting, the vital importance of getting into the voting booth, and when she decided to stop reading press coverage about herself. DiFranco also discusses the origins of the song “Deep Dish”, what it was like producing a Dan Bern record, and her memoir, which is coming out in spring 2019. Kyle Meredith With… is an interview series in which WFPK’s Kyle Meredith speaks to a wide breadth of musicians. Each episode, Meredith digs deep into an artist’s work to find out how the music is made and where their journey is going, from legendary artists like Robert Plant, Paul McCartney, U2 and Bryan Ferry, to the newer class of The National, St. Vincent, Arctic Monkeys, Haim, and Father John Misty. Check back Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for new episodes. Rate the series now via iTunes. Follow on Facebook | Podchaser | Twitter Source

Photo via Shambhala Music Festival After 21 years, Shambhala Music Festival 2018 welcomed thousands of attendees back home for another eye-opening experience at Salmo River Ranch, BC on August 10 – 13, 2018. The music and art festival offered an eclectic music style ranging between bass, funk, soul, breakbeats, techno and house. This year the festival brought a variety of underground producers to world renowned artists such as: Christian Loeffler, Liquid Stranger, Fisher, Rezz, A.Skillz, Justin Martin, ill.Gates, Claptone to name a few. The music was only half the experience of Shambhala. The incredible stage structures, visual production, and high-spirited souls that gathered all added to its euphoric atmosphere. Enjoy the Shambhala Music Festival 2018 official aftermovie:  photo credit Shambhala Each stage had its own scenic charm that evoked a refreshing feeling upon entry. Shambhala was equipped with six spectacular stages that offered a wide range of music. Fractal Forest, Pagoda, The Village, AMP, Living Room, and The Grove were conveniently just out of ear shy, allowing anyone to hop from set to set instantly, as if to teleport. The giant sized doorways at each entrance resembled portals that led you into a new realm of music, energy, and scenery. Rezz at Pagoda Stage – Photo by Oh Dag Yo The Pagoda stage was a large house structure that coincidentally welcomed a slew of house producers to perform on Friday evening. Tech-house prodigy Fisher shook up the dance floor with thumping beats and his latest anthem “Losing It”. Dirtybird’s favorite brothers, Justin and Christian Martin, each took the stage separately Friday night as well. Claude VonStroke controlled the dance floor, weaving Shiba San’s “Don’t Talk” seamlessly through the end of his mix. Other nights, the Pagoda stage saw bass heavy and mind-blowing sets from Adventure Club, Black Tiger Sex Machine, Feed Me and more. Rezz’s visuals transformed this house-like structure into a haunted mansion. Eerie scenes from her “Relax” video were perfectly displayed over the stage. Shadows of white light shined upon the background amongst the trees, resembling strikes of lightning.  Fractal Forest was dressed with beaming lasers, hypnotizing sun-shaped panels, and a giant white pyramid. Fractal Forest- Photo via Shambhala Music Festival Large hand-painted faces of Yoda, Chewbacca, and C-3PO centered around the stage. Fractal Forest offered a variety of breakbeat-influenced music that teetered off into other genres of funk, trip-hop, UK garage and bass. The stage saw the likes of funkadelic bass master Opiuo, glitch hop producer Slynk, bass and funk craftsman Gramatik, English electronic musician A.Skillz, Krafty Kuts, Dr. Fresch, and plenty more. Performing his 15th year at Shambhala, Stickybuds cohesively blended a range of funk, bass, reggae and breakbeats into his set while mixing in tracks from his latest album Take a Stand. Stanton Warriors brought the heat Saturday night for a 2 AM set, dropping bangers like “You Don’t” by Marten Hørger & Neon Steve. The crowd never stopped moving. Father Funk induced smiles across the crowd with an unheard funky remix to the Seinfeld theme song. Bass stages embraced ear-bending vibrations. The Village – Photo by Oh Dag Yo The Village had a half-dome shaped structure that hovered the stage, hung with floating, glowing bulbs. Catwalks surrounded this tiki themed town giving attendees a better glimpse of the scene from above. The Village housed wobbley bass sets by LA based producer Stylust, vomit-step originator Snails, Dirt Monkey, Boombox Cartel, ill.Gates, Delta Heavy, and others. The Glitch Mob played a mix of their classic tracks as well as new music from their See Without Eyes LP. The trio played an unforgettable DJ set that blew ears away. AMP was complete with body vibrating subs that showcased a variety of experimental and liquid dub music. AMP featured theatrical dancers that added a unique flavor to the stage with their locking movements. Freeform bass-master Liquid Stranger, psychedelic dub creator Space Jesus, rising bass producer Whipped Cream, Mr. Carmack, and Woolymammoth all graced the stage for the weekend and sent vibes to new heights. On Saturday night there was even a 1985 Label Showcase that featured old school beat stylists. Intimate Stages Activated Chill Sensations. photo credit Niko Flacka for Shambhala Music Festival Dirtwire at The Living Room- Photo by Frankie Spinosi Staged with staticky TVs, The Living Room was the place to relax and hear the occasional live set. Performances by the drippy melodic bass duo Dimond Saints, and the bluesy electronic world band Dirtwire. JPOD, Librarian, Mark Farina, Random Rab and many more continued the trancy grooves until the early morning. For an even more intimate and hypnotic set you could catch yourself at The Grove. Melodic styled bass and deep house swept across the air with magical sets by Goopsteppa, Christian Löffler, J:Kenzo, Kahn & Neek, to name a few. The Cedar Lounge (also known as the chill stage) also featured a variety of downtempo electronica. During the day the lounge offered workshops, including talks on herbal medicine, dance, and yoga activities. The Genuine foundation that Shambhala was built on will Perpetuate an everlasting music gathering. Photo taken by Robb McCaghren (Novus Photography ©) Shambhala is the Sanskrit term that means a place of peace and happiness. In Tibetan Buddhism texts, Shambhala refers to a mythical kingdom that is secretly surrounded by a chain of snowy mountains. It’s an enlightened society, where war and inequality are unknown. photo credit Shambhala Shambhala is located on a 500-acre farm that houses many farm animals all year round. The flowing Salmo River and the Selkirk Mountains surround the land. Green furry pines encircle the permanent stage structures that remain standing year after year. Shambhala has a sustaining mission to decline any corporate sponsorship. Not one advertisement or corporate logo will ever be spotted on the farm. As stated on the Shambhala website: “This allows the festival to retain a true reflection of the people on the dance floor and their vision of what their community looks like.” The festival’s genuineness is not only apparent but also infectious. Shambhala unites like-minded individuals with honest and good intentions for an enlightening experience. Heart-warming attendees pumped a magical energy into the Air. Photo via Shambhala Music Festival Facebook Frankie’s Story: I arrived early Friday morning around 3:30 AM, when most of the camping spots were already taken. However, I was welcomed by the ‘Stranger Danger’ camp who offered my friend and I a place to build our tent. These by far were the friendliest strangers that I’d ever met – they even offered free candy! While on paper this might sound like a parent’s worst nightmare, the irony was a representation of their hospitality. The camp had been running for 5 years, its intention to openly welcome newcomers and returning attendees to Shambhala. A place where strangers from anywhere in the world could gather and feel comfortable in a friendly community. Not only did I see this respect at the campsite- I saw it at the stages as well. As I mentioned earlier, the music was only half the experience. The attendees themselves really brought this festival to new heights. From the sharing and kindness to the LED lit costumes and outrageous totem poles, this group of festival goers all had one main intention: to make one another smile. One small example of this intention presented itself to me on Saturday evening during Lady Waks’ set at Fractal Forest, when a girl randomly walked up and asked me to pick out of the ‘mystery box’. I reached my hand inside and pulled out a magic wand! Something so unexpected and purely imaginative left me blissfully amazed. There were also trading posts where you could trade anything from a trinket, to a flashlight to anything in between. Message boards were also set up in the downtown area where you could write friendly note to others. Stranger Danger Totem in Fractal Forest- Photo by Frankie Spinosi Photo via Shambhala Music Festival Facebook Shambhala Music Festival began in 1998 with only 500 attendees on the same grounds that it stands on today. By 2010, 15,000 artists and guests were arriving from around the globe to engage in a rich experience of nature and music. Shambhala is like no other festival. It’s genuineness and virtue have endured through the many years of its existence and will continue for many years to come. *Written with support from Frankie Spinosi Follow Shambhala Music Festival: Website Facebook Twitter Instagram The post The 21st Chapter of the Shambhala Music Festival Story appeared first on EDM | Electronic Music | EDM Music | EDM Festivals | EDM Events. Source

Foo Fighters are bringing back CalJam on October 5th and 6th at the Glen Helen Regional Park and Amphitheater in San Bernardino, CA. Joining Dave Grohl and the gang this year are a motley crew of six-string heroes, namely Tenacious D, Garbage, Greta Van Fleet, Silversun Pickups, Manchester Orchestra, and an exclusive reunion of Iggy Pop with Post Pop Depression. Sounds like a pretty sick weekend, right? Well, the good news is that Consequence of Sound has two exclusive passes to get you into the hottest rock ‘n’ roll event of the year. So, if you think you’re lucky, punk, enter in our giveaway below. Who knows, maybe you’ll be ringing in the season of the witch with Dave, Iggy, Shirley, JB, and KG. Could you imagine what your friends might say? You know, after they fight for the +1? a Rafflecopter giveaway Source

Mac Miller has died of an apparent drug overdose, according to TMZ. He was 26 years old. Per TMZ: Miller has had trouble recently with substance abuse … in the wake of his breakup with Ariana Grande. The rapper wrecked his G-Wagon by wrapping it around a utility pole back in May and was arrested for DUI and hit and run. He fled the scene but cops say he later confessed at his home. He blew 2 times the legal limit. After his arrest Ariana tweeted, “Pls take care of yourself” and was clearly concerned about substance abuse. After their breakup, Ariana made it clear … his substance abuse had be a deal breaker in their 2-year relationship. This is a developing story… Source

Sitting on a bench in Marcus Garvey Park amid the various Harlem hustles and hangs, Black Dave is still trying to process it all. Following some formative years of D.I.Y. grinding both in music and skateboarding, he’s undeniably struck by his momentous win in the Vans’ inaugural Share The Stage competition. And for those just now hearing about Black Dave for the first time, he wants you to know a few things about him. “I got that ambition, I’m from New York, I’m raw,” he says with a confidence that belies a more natural humility and purposefulness as an artist.  Take his single “Surfin’”, for instance. The track’s underlying positivity reflects an evolution and maturation in Dave’s approach, one that started with the song’s creation. “On the hook, I say catch a wave, start surfin’,” he says. “I originally had it say this ain’t your wave, stop surfin’.” That lyrical inversion did more than some mere wordplay flip, but rather it honed a positive and inclusive point, no doubt influenced by his connection to the tight-knit hardcore punk scene. “This is our thing; let’s all get together and start this wave.” Dave couldn’t help but to think bigger and broader than the turn-up cuts he’s previously proven himself perfectly capable of delivering. “I’m not going to just make a song about partying and going crazy with my homies on some rebellious shit,” he says. “I wanted this to be something that makes people want to catch on, an inviting type of sound.” The competition assuredly played a role in this part of Dave’s journey. He started out on equal footing with some 150 contestants, all eager to take their careers to another level. He didn’t approach his qualifying Sessions performance at House Of Vans lightly either, putting in a bold and engaging appearance that ultimately landed him one of a mere 10 finalists slots alongside a range of genre-spanning artists. That live dynamism should serve Dave well for his upcoming show at House Of Vans Chicago opening for Schoolboy Q, one of his personal favorites in rap. Humble yet clearly excited, he considers it an honor to be on the same bill as the Top Dawg headliner. “I’ve watched his hustle from Day One,” he says. “He has cool vibes and he’s hungry–still! I love that!” Additionally, one of the fruits of his winning the competition include the opportunity to make a music video for “Surfin’,” on Coney Island, some 30 miles away from where he’s seated. The full circle of this journey is not lost on Dave, as he notes to me of his trips there as a young boy with a glowing grin. With a growing platform in hip-hop, Dave is highly conscious of and conscientious about the options this competition win affords him. “Right now is a time where music can do a lot, and I see my music being able to unite people,” he says with a particular emphasis on the youth. His active self-awareness around this already seems to be sparking and inspiring him to use his voice to speak for himself as well as to connect with others. “Truthfully, it feels great.” RSVP now to see Black Dave open for Schoolboy Q at House Of Vans Chicago on September 14th. Source

Ol’ Dirty Bastard will soon be the focus of a new biopic from Sony’s Columbia Pictures. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the late rapper’s cousin and fellow Wu-Tang Clan member RZA is already onboard to produce, and the search for a director is in motion. A founding member of Wu-Tang, ODB was an instrumental part of the group’s numerous albums, including the seminal 1993 debut, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). He also launched his own solo career, releasing full-lengths such as 2009’s Message to the Other Side, Osirus Part 1. (Read: Ranking + Dissected: Wu-Tang Clan) Like his discography, ODB’s rap sheet was similarly extensive. The rapper born Russell Tyrone Jones was arrested multiple times (shoplifting, criminal threatening, drug possession, etc.), convicted of second degree assault for an attempted robbery, and also served time behind bars. ODB died in November 2004 from an accidental drug overdose. RZA has long been attached to various ODB film projects that ultimately were never released. In 2016, he was involved with a biopic featuring a script penned by his and ODB’s first cousin. Although it didn’t see the light of day, at that time RZA spoke to Rolling Stone about Hollywood’s interest in hip-hop-centric films in the wake of the success of Straight Outta Compton: “Straight Outta Compton showed that hip-hop is a marketplace in cinema,” says the producer. “I always believed that the art we was creating was audio-visual, and it was headed towards visual-audio. And that’s why you see me in this world — my own heart drove me here — and I’m glad that a movie like that breaks out and does such numbers that it’s almost undeniable. It showed that with the proper team and marketing, many of us out here who grew up on this music would love to see the inside makings of those stories.” While still releasing music, RZA has also made plenty of headway in the film world, co-directing 2012’s The Man with the Iron Fists alongside Eli Roth. Nas' Top 5 Songs Travis Scott's Top 5 Videos Food References in Drake’s Music Eminem’s Highest Charting Songs Migos’ Top Songs Source

Sure, the prospect of Tesla CEO Elon Musk smoking a joint with Joe Rogan, while wielding a samurai sword and a flamethrower as the two talked about artificial intelligence, is enough to give your weird second cousin who just discovered Wikileaks an erection so big it could blot out the sun. Unfortunately, your second cousin isn’t working the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. The Internet’s abuzz with chatter following the surfacing of a video taken of Musk during a recording of Rogan’s podcast The Joe Rogan Experience, in which the controversial tech bro shares a blunt, sips whiskey, and discusses everything from the Singularity to magnetic repellants on car bumpers. Unfortunately, the market noticed Musk’s erratic antics too; according to NBC, Tesla stock has taken as much as a nine percent drop on Friday, losing seven percent in the first hour of trading. This brings the company’s stocks down more than 30 percent from their all-time intraday high of $389.61. Granted, this isn’t the only factor that played into Tesla’s poor stocks today; Friday morning, the company announced a couple of C-suite executive resignations, as well as the Tuesday resignation of the company’s chief accounting officer, Dave Morton, after only a one-month stint at the company. It’s been a rough month for Mr. Grimes, coming off his controversial, unannounced tweets about taking Tesla private, the deeply strange conflict between him, Grimes and Azealia Banks, and accusing the cave diver who helped rescue the stranded Thai soccer team of being a “pedo guy”. This fracas is just another weird, weird nail in his solar-paneled space coffin. Watch the full podcast (whose official description describes Musk as a “business magnet”) below. Source

Underground dance music fans of the East Coast, rejoice – one of the hottest parties in the world is coming to you on October 27th. Circoloco Halloween will be throwing one of the premier parties of Halloween weekend at an undisclosed warehouse location in Brooklyn, NYC. What better way to get your ghoul on than with some tasteful house and techno in an industrial warehouse venue? New York house music staples The Martinez Brothers will be taking the decks, along with Korean powerhouse Peggy Gou, fashion meets music mogul Virgil Abloh, and Montreal dance music royalty Blond:ish. It’s going to be a night to remember, filled with nothing but savory spooky sounds and endless moving and grooving. Known internationally for throwing some of the best parties the underground has to offer, Circoloco Halloween will be a can’t-miss event for all those looking to satisfy their musical pallet. Don’t miss it! Tickets and more info can be found here. FEATURE PHOTO: Teksupport The post Circoloco Halloween 2018 Announced appeared first on EDM Maniac. Source

Hip-hop can often be about release: from pain, from sorrow, from misery. For New Orleans rapper Alfred Banks, hip-hop has been a way to process. After losing his oldest brother to mental health struggles, Banks poured his soul into his critical smash, The Beautiful, a concept album that wrestles with the complexities of schizophrenia and existence. “My music is about me,” Banks says. “It’s very personal.” Part of that economy derives from his passion, as he insists: “I want everything I do to be memorable and I take that same intensity with every single thing I do.” That intensity will come in handy as he’s one of 10 artists competing for a chance to open for ScHoolboy Q at House of Vans Chicago on September 14th. It’s all part of Vans inaugural Share The Stage competition, which began earlier this year when over 150 artists traveled across the United States and Canada to get their voice heard. Head to the Big Easy with Mr. Banks above and check out the rest of the Share The Stage finalists below: Source

Norm Macdonald is one of the funniest people on the planet, but his inability to kowtow to network strictures has kept him off the late night circuit, despite legends like Dave Letterman and Conan O’Brien routinely going to bat for him. Norm did it the hard way, launching a scrappy talk show with Jash on YouTube that found the comedian interviewing extremely high-profile guests—Adam Sandler, Larry King, Mike Tyson, and Caitlyn Jenner among them—while engaging in some shocking ribald humor. Finally, with networks never going to bite, Netflix stepped in and offered Norm his own show, one that, by the looks of its first trailer, thankfully just seems to be a slightly fancier version of what he was doing on YouTube. Norm’s rounded up a rogue’s gallery of guests that includes Lorne Michaels, Chevy Chase, Drew Barrymore, Jane Fonda, M. Night Shyamalan, and Judge freakin’ Judy, among many others. The trailer offers a glimpse of several of them, and promises that not all of Norm’s profane approach will be lost in the shift. His “trusty sidekick” Adam Eget, who Norm loves to drag through the mud, will be on hand, and the trailer finds him asking Barrymore if she “misses cocaine” and Letterman if he’s been “thinking about your mortality lately?” See the trailer below. Norm Macdonald Has a Show, which joins Netflix’s My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman as one of its few remaining talk shows, premieres next Friday, September 14th. Source

The following review is part of our coverage of the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival. Climax begins in typically Gaspar Noé-esque fashion: tip-toeing toward sensory overload with supersaturated colors, filled with equal parts malice and promise as a bloodied body crawls artistically through the snow. And what follows provokes a response almost as typical of Noé now: a cacophonous mix of glowing praise, some screening walkouts, a few screeds, and the occasional shrug. Based on the true story (according to the credits — whether this is actually true, or true like the events of Fargo were “true,” is unclear), Climax follows the chaotic descent of an experimental dance troupe after their sangria is spiked with LSD on the eve of an American tour. Getting to that moment, though, is where the film truly shines. Like stacking sexually and violently charged dominoes, Noé and his cast/collaborators (a collective including actors and dancers who were discovered everywhere from clubs to YouTube videos) piece together a complex and charged dynamic between a disparate crew. These divergent perspectives and personalities are first introduced via a series of audition tapes (played on a TV flanked by VHS tapes and books filled with references that will probably not come as a surprise to anyone who has ever seen a minute of Noé) where their goals, their visions of what dance should be, their concepts of America, and what they would do to get ahead are discussed in cool, casual detail. They come together in a rapturous dance number, perfectly executed by the cast and captured in stunning fashion by the camera. The schisms begin to show as we drift from one conversation to the next, voyeuristically creeping from awkward small talk to the admonishments of a disapproving brother to observations on dance, child-rearing, and anal sex. Then the sangria kicks in, and both civility and the group begin to crumble. And Climax, more often than not, descends right along with them. Noé clearly has a fondness — and, arguably, a talent — for gleefully exploring and exploiting the depravity and hollowness that bubbles beneath the surface of humankind through intensely physical performances. He made brutally realistic violence perversely compelling in Irréversible. He turned real (3D!) sex scenes into empty cries of ennui and despair with Love. Now, he and his cast have used dance as a means of expressing a Lord of the Flies-like breakdown of polite society. While this generally makes for interesting viewing, though, it doesn’t always make for convincing viewing., especially when other cinematic experiments with similarly physical storytelling have come to far less cynical conclusions. Shortbus‘ explicit sex scenes, for example, found catharsis where Love found only a cold, ironic take on its own name. Where Climax sees only darkness in intense, full body expression, other works of art — everything from The Fits to a good Hiroshi Tanahashi match — have hinted at something bordering on transcendence. This often makes Climax feel like more of a flailing work of provocation trying too hard to shock or unnerve than a searing romp through the id of a counterculture collective on LSD. Climax works best when it holds back from those impulses just a little, teetering and teasing complete drug-induced collapse without giving into full indulgence of any kind, including self-indulgence. It’s most intoxicating when we’re doused in the same sensory overload as the characters, stumbling through the hallways of their practice space with them as if we’ve been plunged into a hallucinatory haunted house, hearing menace, seeing it out of the corner of our eyes, and anticipating it without yet being engulfed in it. That paranoid high starts to fade right around the time that one of the dancers is literally engulfed in flames, though, the film eventually plunging so far into over-the-top depravity that it starts to feel cartoonish and hollow. There’s some skin scratching. There’s a lot of floor writhing and fighting. There’s a touch of womb kicking. A remix of Soft Cell’s version of “Tainted Love” throbs predictably in the background for a while, because that song hasn’t suffered enough indignity since Marilyn Manson dragged it onto Not Another Teen Movie‘s soundtrack. As a parade of exaggerated neon-soaked atrocities, Climax is certainly never boring, but it often strains credulity where it aims to provoke genuine discomfort. It exhausts where it should provoke. It comes close to scandalizing a few times, but can’t quite reach that peak. All of that conflict leaves the whole proceeding feeling a little like a faked version of the film’s titular act. Trailer: Source

The Mountain Goats are nothing if not prolific. John Darnielle’s long-running folk-rock project put out an LP, Goths, last year, and followed it up with the Marsh Witch Visions and covers of Bon Iver’s “Blood Bank”, Godspell’s “Save the People”, and Robin Trower’s “Bridge of Sighs”. Now, the Mountain Goats have returned with yet another EP, Hex of Infinite Binding. Stream it via Spotify or Bandcamp below. (Read: John Darnielle, Stranger Things, and The New Nostalgia) “Only one of these songs is directly about death but the person or persons in all these songs will someday die,” Darnielle said in a very Darnielle statement about the four-song release, which was recorded in studios in Chicago and Chapel Hill, NC, as well as his own home. It’s a tender batch of songs, driven by Darnielle’s guitar and, on several of the songs, restrained, yet robust, woodwind arrangements. The final song, “Tucson Fog”, should satisfy those who miss the Goats’ stripped-down recordings of yore. Read Darnielle’s full statement below: WELCOME WAYWARD TRAVELER TO THE HEX VORTEX. I used to release a whole bunch of EPs. I miss the general spiritual realm of the EP and am hereby centering an intention to spend more time thereat. These songs represent, in part, the first salvo of my resolve. “Almost Every Door” and “Song for Ted Sallis” were written at home in North Carolina sometime during the summer and recorded by Brandon Eggleston at Electrical Audio in Chicago during our three-night stand at Old Town School of Folk Music. “Tucson Fog” is a home recording from last December, things can get a little dark in December. “Hospital Reaction Shot” was produced & engineered by Chris Stamey at Modern Recording, Chapel Hill, NC; Chris also wrote the string arrangements and played bass and electric guitar. Percussion on “Almost Every Door” and “Song for Ted Sallis” by Matt Espy from Dead Rider, maximum respect. Only one of these songs is directly about death but the person or persons in all these songs will someday die. The death one, “Hospital Reaction Shot,” is drawn from a picture of Mickey Deans holding a press conference to inform the world of the death of Judy Garland, to whom he had been married for three months. Yet the press conference is a sham, because Judy Garland lives, as Ted Sallis lives, as do many others thought missing. They can often be found in the vortex shortly before sundown, plotting their return. We live in hope! The Mountain Goats are currently on tour and will play a slot at ACL this weekend. They’ll also play a pair of shows in Darnielle’s home state of North Carolina later this fall. Check out the dates below. The Mountain Goats 2018 Tour Dates: 09/07 – San Antonio, TX @ Paper Tiger 09/08 – Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits 09/10 – Tuscon, AZ @ 191 Toole 09/11 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Crescent Ballroom 09/12 – Santa Fe, NM @ Meow Wolf 09/13 – Boulder, CO @ Boulder Theater 09/14 – Fort Collins, CO @ Washington’s 11/30 – Saxapahaw, NC @ Haw River Ballroom 12/01 – Saxapahaw, NC @ Haw River Ballroom Source