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angel-with-paper-wings · 4 months

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Seeing POTO Live: Part 2 (Show Review)

This is my personal review of my first time seeing a live production of The Phantom of the Opera, on the West End on May 20th 2024 (see Part 1 of this post for that crazy story). The main trio cast was: Lily Kerhoas as Christine, Jon Robyns as The Phantom, and Joe Griffiths-Brown (I will list the rest of the cast as I mention their characters).

Act 1:

Auction/Overture:

JAMES GANT HIMSELF WAS THE AUCTIONEER 🤩🤩 TWO PHANTOMS IN ONE NIGHT, I CANT BELIEVE MY LUCK

He was totally channeling the Phantom when it got to the “Lot 666…” part, I got chills

I was watching Raoul (Joe Griffiths-Brown) like a hawk during the auction scene because I wanted to study his acting, and he did not disappoint. When the music box came out, he leaned forward and touched it longingly with his fingertips 🥺 And he spoke in this hushed, gravelly old man voice that was so accurate. No notes.

THE OVERTURE

SCREAMING CRYING THROWING UP

ITS JUST AS MAGICAL AS I ALWAYS DREAMED 😍😍😍

I totally got flashbanged by the chandelier 😂😂 (the sparks and pyro effects in this musical are BRIGHT)

Hannibal/Think of Me:

Both Carlotta (Lily de-la-Haye) and Piangi (David Kristopher-Brown) SLAYED, not only with their singing but their comedy bits were perfectly timed

Guys these costumes are SPARKLY 😍😍✨✨ like I didn’t realize until seeing it live but almost EVERY costume has sparkles and it makes everything look gorgeous under the stage lights

This Andre (Adam Linstead) and Firmin (Matt Harrop) were SO FUNNY OMG

Andre was such a little fanboy over Carlotta, and Firmin was like a grumpy old man

Lily’s “Think of Me” was DELIGHTFUL, her voice is so smooth and sweet! When she started her “audition” her voice was VERY quiet (barely audible), but once she got going she had such a beautiful crystal-clear tone.

Again, I was watching Joe Griffiths-Brown a lot during “Think of Me” because I wanted to watch his reactions. For a while, Raoul didn’t really look at the stage to see Christine playing Elissa, he was too busy looking at his programme and greeting the managers when they joined his box. But eventually he saw her, and then he looked back down at his programme to search for her name and check if it was really her! I loved it and thought it was such a neat acting detail!!!

Angel of Music/Little Lotte:

While Madame Giry is scolding the ballerinas for being “a disgrace”, Christine was talking with… some dude?? I couldn’t really tell who it was, but I’m almost certain it wasn’t Raoul or either of the managers. It looked like a stagehand. Does anyone know who this is and why she was talking to him? I’ve never noticed this detail before in other productions.

OMG BRUNETTE MEG NATION RISE UP

Meg (Maiya Hikasa) has a few extra lines during the show that I haven’t heard before, and the one I remember best was a little frustrated remark after Madame Giry told her to go off and practice: it was something like “There’s always more practice.” I thought it was cool that they gave her a bit more character!

Okay idk if this was intentional, but during the beginning of “Angel of Music”, Christine’s dressing room set was covered by a curtain but illuminated from the inside by a lamp, and the wardrobe mistress was in there arranging her dressing gown. But since Christine was singing about her father at the time, I thought that part of the stage was like a “flashback” scene to show us what Christine was remembering in her mind. Idk if that makes sense, but that was what crossed my mind.

Idk if this was intentional either (or maybe it was just the angle from where I was sitting) but you could see the actual conductor of the show reflected in the mirror from the orchestra pit, which I thought was cool and tied things together thematically

Lily’s Christine was quite hesitant and timid when Raoul came to see her in her dressing room. I liked this choice because to me, it showed that even though she is happy to see him, Christine is aware that the Phantom is listening and she is afraid for Raoul’s safety.

And Joe was just so sweet and charming the whole time!! He didn’t seem too demanding when he said they’ll go to supper, which is a plus for me.

HEEHEE JON ROBYNS HAS A PERFECT PHANTOM VOICE AND NO ONE CAN TELL ME OTHERWISE

He has a very mixed range which I like in a Phantom, going from a higher goblin-y voice to a really low seductive growl on “I am your Angel of Music…”

Title Song:

God I just love the scenery changes that happen during this song, they are nothing short of STUNNING

Lily’s and Jon’s voices sound SO GREAT together

When the candles started raising out of the stage, Christine leaned forward in the boat and looked so enraptured (same), and I don’t think the Phantom took his eyes off of her once during the whole song (again, same)

Unfortunately, there was no cape swirl because poor Jon dropped the cape 😭😭 I felt so bad for him but he recovered very well (let’s just say he was so awed by Christine’s singing that his hands stopped working)

Lily’s high notes at the very end had almost no vibrato and were very choral-sounding, if that makes sense. They kinda reminded me of Emmy Rossum’s high notes in the 2004 movie. Overall very nice.

Music of the Night:

Jon Robyns made this song look EASY. His vocals and acting choices were top notch, it was a treat to watch.

In the pause after “abandon their defenses…” when Christine looks away from the Phantom and towards the audience, he gasped and touched his mask as if ensuring it was still there. SUCH a great detail 🥺

He WHIMPERED when Christine touched him during the portcullis sprawl (after that, I wasn’t sure I would survive PONR, the horniness was too strong)

Lily’s Christine seemed quite unsure about the Phantom’s sensual touches at first, especially when he went in for the iconic pose, but then she relaxed and just fell against his arm

His “touch me” was the lowest sensual whisper I— 😩🥵

Christine touched his mask for a good couple of seconds during “savor each sensation”, but then it looked like her thumb went underneath the edge and was about to take it off, and that was when the Phantom pulled her hand away. Great stuff 👍

I know why they don’t do it anymore, but I miss the catch 😭 Christine fell to the floor and Jon’s Phantom reached out for her, before grabbing the cloak and covering her up. Then he knelt down next to her with his hands on his knees (like a lil kid) to say “you alone can make…” it was adorable and so sad 🥹

Stranger Than You Dreamt It:

When Christine first lays eyes on Erik’s deformity, she doesn’t flinch until he lunges at her. But then later, after she returned his mask, she flinched right away as if expecting him to lunge at her again 🥺

She even pushed herself as far away from him as she could when he began STYDI

He dragged—and I mean DRAGGED— himself across the door on his belly

Also he gave this like angry grunt before “repulsive carcass”

Jon’s voice sounded so scary, but his “dreams of beauty” and “oh, Christine” were WHIMPERS 😭😭😭

PATHETIC LITTLE MEOW MEOW ENERGY

After “oh, Christine”, he covered his face with both hands and sat on his knees with his back to the audience. When Christine handed him the mask, he ripped it out of her hand and put it back on.

Notes I/Prima Donna:

Excellent chemistry between Adam Linstead and Matt Harrop as the managers, I couldn’t get enough of their antics

This scene was where Joe Griffiths-Brown began to show his colors as a more aggressive Raoul, akin to Hadley Fraser in the 25th anniversary. Whether you prefer this portrayal of Raoul or not, I think it worked well here.

While the managers are busy singing “Prima Donna” with Carlotta and Piangi, Raoul was seen chatting with Madame Giry (Francesca Ellis). There were a couple more moments in the show where they are seen talking together or sharing a knowing look, which I’ve never really noticed before when watching recordings/bootlegs. It makes their little one-on-one discussion after “Masquerade” seem less random because we know they are already familiar with each other.

Also, Joe Griffiths-Brown’s voice is STRONG, like it cut through all the rest of the voices and could be clearly heard at the end of “Prima Donna”

Il Muto:

Lily de-la-Haye’s croaks were kind of strange… like I know it’s a strange part of the musical, but they sounded less like croaks and more like big yells. Idk

Guys. Jon’s Phantom laugh. 😳😩 Deeper than the Mariana Trench. Sent chills up my spine.

After hearing the Phantom’s voice, Raoul starts searching for him around Box Five

Guys, Adam Linstead is HILARIOUS as Andre. He was shaking like a leaf when he had to go out and announce the change in plan, flipping through his programme nervously. And his antics with the ballet dancers seemed so naturally clumsy!

“the ~BALLET~” 😂😂😂

When the scary silhouettes of the Phantom were showing up during the ballet, they were spotted by the shepherd dancer (Jacob Hughes), and he looked SO SCARED. He had on this huge nervous smile, you could tell he was thinking “oh shit god please no”, it was just a good piece of acting

All I Ask of You:

Lily’s Christine was very up-front about what she wants from Raoul in this song. During “say you love me every waking moment…”, she had her hand out to him as if saying “these are the terms, you can either agree to them or be done.” This, along with some other moments later in the show, made Lily’s interpretation refreshingly strong and assertive.

Joe Griffiths-Brown was BORN to sing Raoul. His voice suits AIAOY so well

He did a lil twirl with his arms out during AIAOY as he said “then say you’ll share with me…” and it was the sweetest thing ever 🥹

THE KISS!!! 😍😍 Raoul kissed Christine first (it was a little earlier than I was expecting), but after he pulled away Christine leaned in and gave him a bigger kiss back!

AIAOY Reprise:

Behind me, a girl went *gasp* “SHIT” when the Pegasus turned and revealed the Phantom, and that alone was worth the price of admission. (Btw, that moment of shock is exactly why you wait to reveal that the Phantom is eavesdropping until AFTER Christine and Raoul leave the rooftop… unlike SOME versions *glares at 2004 movie 😒)

Jon made me cry with his “I gave you my music…”

HIS WHIMPERS WHEN HE HEARS RAOUL AND CHRISTINE SINGING, Y’ALL I AM UNWELL

The horse statue is center-stage during this part, and the Phantom is perched right on top (VERY high up, holy shit). As he sang “you will curseâ€¦” he looked down at the audience and istg STRAIGHT AT ME 😳 (I was sitting dead center). Even though he definitely wasn’t staring at me in particular, I felt like we had a moment.

Act 2:

Masquerade/Why So Silent:

THE COSTUMES

SO SPARKLY ✨✨✨✨✨

AND SO DETAILED

AAAAAAAAAA MY EYES CANNOT HANDLE SUCH MAJESTY

If you’re like me and have only ever seen photos/video of the Masquerade scene, let me tell you that it does NOT do them justice

Speaking of which… I would like to formally apologize for hating on Christine’s “Star Princess” dress. It is a LOT prettier in person. I understand the hype now.

There was another moment where Raoul was seen chatting with Madame Giry about something. Again, this makes their convo at the end of this song make more sense since they already know each other.

Omg the Phantom’s entrance was STUNNING

Y’all how does he balance his big ol’ hat??? It’s just a big red puffball on top of his head lmao

Some people in the audience laughed in shock when the skull mask’s jaw started moving

Got flashbanged so I didn’t see the Phantom go down the trap door (which I guess is the whole point of the flashbang lol)

The convo between Raoul and Madame Giry was kinda rushed. Madame Giry reveals some important information about the Phantom’s backstory here, but Raoul was talking over her at some points and it was hard to hear.

Notes II:

I kinda wanted more acting-wise from Lily (Christine) during this sceneâ€¦ I was hoping she would get more angry at Carlotta and the managers, but she seemed oddly quiet. I think she was trying to convey how Christine is tired of all the bullshit happening around her during this scene. She was just done with everything.

Her “I cannot sing it, duty or not” and “I can’t. I won’t do it.” were certain and final.

Again, Joe’s Raoul was rather aggressive during this scene when he was coming up with the plan to trap the Phantom. Of course he was still gentle with her physically, but he was not hearing any arguments against the plan.

Having both a stubborn Christine and a stubborn Raoul seems like a difficult thing to make work, but I think it did in this show! Their clash during this scene makes Christine’s storming out more realistic—she has lost all her patience and just needs to be alone.

Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again:

Lily really shone here. This was her moment, and she did not disappoint.

“Little Lotte thought of everything and nothing…” sounded so defeated and sad 😔

Her voice is just very nice to listen to. It’s not as classically operatic as some other Christines, it has more of a modern musical theater flair, but it suits the role very well imo.

When it got to “too many years…”, she let out all of her repressed anger and frustration in a powerful final chorus. It was very satisfying.

Wandering Child:

“Far-reaching gaze”

Damn these three sound SO GOOD together!!! Their vocals blend perfectly with each other

The sparks from the staff were cool! I’m always worried that they will look cheesy (and yeah, they kinda do), but Jon Robyns was selling it

GOD that fire effect at the end is HOTTT 🔥🔥🔥

Point of No Return:

Oh boy, this one was fun

His “preeeeeeey” was so long and creepy 😳

Maybe I’m just a simp, but I kinda wanted their acting to be a bit more sexy… like I don’t think Lily’s Christine was into it as much as I’ve seen some other Christines get into it, but it was spicy enough

You could tell the moment Christine realized it was the Phantom under the cloak, a look of understanding passed over her face. In the pause before she starts singing her verse, she was thinking for a bit… and then her “decided…” was so long and sultry.

Based on how she acted during this song from that point on, my theory is that she put together her own plan to trap the Phantom by using his lust for her against him. She went along with the seductive choreo in order to expose him to the audience… her hand touched his mask, and it looked like she was going to pull of the hood then and there before he flinched away.

Once they were singing the final chorus, they were straight up arguing with each other. Christine was already letting out her spite and frustration ahead of the Final Lair, and sje was letting the Phantom have it.

After the hood is off, it is Christine who calls off the guards by holding out her hands. This didn't seem like a protective move to me, it seemed like she was just saying “not yet, it’s not the right time”.

When he said “Say you want me”, he patted his chest (like calling a cat lol)

OMG Raoul’s jump into the lake is HIGH like how is that even safe??? Massive props to all the Raouls, that looks scary as shit

Final Lair:

Holy. Shit.

No notes whatsoever.

It was perfection.

CHRISTINE LET ERIK HAVE IT

SHE WAS DONE PLAYING GAMES, SHE WAS SCOLDING HIM WITH ALL OF HER ANGER

And Erik was done too. He had so much disdain in his voice when he talked about his backstory, his bitterness felt so real and justified

When Raoul came in, Erik’s mood switched COMPLETELY to being a cocky lil shit 😂 He was having way too much fun teasing Raoul and mock-bowing to him and being a lil goblin

He also said a line I haven’t heard before! Instead of “I had rather hoped that you would come”, he said “I did not think we would be so blessed” or something like that. Idk if that’s a recent change or what, but it was hilarious because he said it dripping with sarcasm

After “tears of hate” when Christine ran back over to Raoul, she held both her hands out, one to protect Raoul and one to hold back Erik

Lily’s “You deceived me, I gave my mind blindly” was so angry and accusatory (as it should be, because it’s true)

“Make. Your. Choice.” Chills 😳🥶

THE KISS 😱😱😱💀💀💀 (I’m dead)

The first kiss surprised Erikâ€¦he held his arms out to the side, unsure what to do with them. Then during the hug he wrapped them around Christine’s waist (with his hands still splayed out). Then the second kiss he kept his arms where they were and ACTUALLY KISSED HER BACK, HE LEANED IN AND EVERYTHING

GOD I AM DECEASED 😭😭😭😭

He pulled away first, looking SO SHOCKED. He stumbled over to the other side of the stage, touching his lips with his fingers 🥺🥺

After he let Raoul go, he had to chase them out of the lair. His “go now and leave me” was the DEFINITION of heartbreaking 😭😭😭 I still haven’t recovered.

When he saw Christine had come back he looked SO HAPPY, but then he looked down and saw the ring, and you could see him just deflate 🥺🥺 she handed him the ring, and he just held her hand for a minute.

His “Christine, I love you” was LONGGG and it just ripped my heart apart further

Lily did NOT want to leave him. She lingered there for several seconds, before turning and running away, leaving Erik’s arm still outstretched 😭

GOD the little sobs he let out as he watched Raoul and Christine leave on the boat 😫 and he covered his ears again like in AIAOY reprise

Overall reflection:

It was SO GOOD. Like I cannot describe how perfect it was in so many different ways. The cast and crew were nothing short of PHENOMENAL and I already cannot wait for a chance to see it again, however long that takes!!

I am an unapologetic RAH 25th anniversary stan, and the Ramin/Sierra/Hadley trio will always hold a special place in my heart (it’s more like a chokehold but I digress). I bring this up because I was SHOOK with how similar the current West End cast sounded to the 25th anniversary cast. Some of the acting choices were also quite similar, especially Joe’s Raoul and Jon’s Phantom. Overall, the three complimented each other very well vocally and the directions in which they took their characters worked together very nicely to tell a cohesive story.

I didn’t really know what to make of Lily Kerhoas’s Christine at first. I kinda felt like I wanted a bit more from her acting-wise, but as the show went on and the more I thought about it, I started to understand the journey she was taking with her Christine throughout the show. She starts out very shy during the Hannibal audition scene and “Little Lotte”, and only during MOTN do we start to see her come out of her shell a bit. Over the course of the show, she learns to become more confident and to stand up for herself and her needs against Joe’s very assertive Raoul and Jon’s very needy Phantom. I really liked this, because too often Christine is written off as another sweet innocent ingenue who is seduced by the Phantom, but Lily’s Christine was nothing like that. She had her own goals in mind and held onto them stubbornly, which led to her having the upper hand in a lot of scenes. Perhaps not my favorite portrayal of Christine, but it was a refreshing change!

Joe Griffiths-Brown plays a very serious and determined Raoul that reminded me a lot of Hadley Fraser’s “out for blood” portrayal in the 25th anniversary production. He has his moments of sweetness of course, and he is very protective of Christine during AIAOY and the Final Lair. He definitely wasn't the sweet, golden-boi Raoul from the original novel, but alongside Lily’s very courageous Christine and Jon’s emotional Phantom I thought he was a great fit. Plus, he was pretty to look at. 🤭🫠

Jon Robyns NAILED IT. He mastered the balance between a terrifying force of nature and an emotionally broken man. His emotions felt real in the way that he said/sang each line… he meant every word he was saying. I think I would have liked a bit more physical sensuality from him (his Phantom Hands™️ were not as special as others I’ve seen), but other than that I cannot fault his portrayal. He ripped my heart out of my chest and stomped on it, and I said thank you.

Bonus:

My parents were waiting to meet me outside of the theatre after the show ended. According to them, the first person to leave the theatre was a teenage girl—she exited the doors with her hands stretched to the dark London sky, tears in her eyes, and said “OH MY GOD, I FEEL LIKE MY SOUL HAS BEEN RAPTURED!!!”

Same, girl. That pretty much sums it up.

#poto #phantom of the opera #poto west end #poto london #personal #jon robyns #lily kerhoas #joe griffiths brown

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jazzplusplus · 9 days

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1986 - Saxophone players / Saxophonistes - North Sea Jazz Festival - Den Haag / La Haye

Big Nick Nicholas, Johnny Griffin, Richie Cole, Stanley Turrentine, James Moody, Lee Konitz, Sonny Fortune, Flip Phillips, Joe Henderson, David Fathead Newman, Buddy Tate

#jazz #poster flyer #jazz festival #north sea jazz festival #big nick nicholas #johnny griffin #richie cole #stanley turrentine #james moody #lee konitz #sonny fortune #flip phillips #joe henderson #david newman #buddy tate #1986

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dustedmagazine · 2 months

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Dust, Volume 10, Number 7

Obsessed with Congo Funk in this month's dust

Without getting too deep into American electoral politics, let’s just say that we’ve been distracted lately. We’ve been mired in the slough of despair, frantic in our bargaining with god and lately, a feeling fresh breeze of optimism—it’s been so long, we hardly recognized it. But despite all that, the records keep coming, and we do our best to deal with them, not always with a fulsome 300-400 word review, but sometimes briefly, as here, in another edition of Dust. This month, we cover the run of it, from fictional characters that somehow participate in bands, to guitarists on synth holiday to vintage Swedish death metal reissued and more. Participants this time out include Jennifer Kelly, Byron Hayes, Bill Meyer, Jonathan Shaw, Christian Carey, Andrew Forell, Roz Milner and Ian Mathers.

Apifera — Keep the Outside Open (Stones Throw)

Four Israeli jazzmen take a jaunt through psychedelic rock and prog, incorporating trippy vocals and squalling synth runs into a space-age fusion. The musicians— Nitai Hershkovits on keyboards, the beatmaker (and evident link to Stones Throw) Yuvi Havkin, drummer Amir Bresler and guitarist Yonatan Albalak—have spent their careers crossing jazz with funk, hip hop and rock. Here they push it even further with vocal tracks that hardly sound like jazz at all. Trippy “Iris Is Neil,” for instance, delivers the title phrase in a keening vocal chant, as explosions of percussion go off like firecrackers on a string. Squiggles of synth, arcs of electric guitar reach for the epic, but in a manner more like Yes or ELP than Return to Forever. “Lucky Zoe” delves further into psychedelic pop, its wavery keyboards framing fanciful whimsies a la “Lucy in the Sky.” “Theodor Marmalade” thumps a funky beat behind flourishes of keys and vocal narratives about desert fauna. “Don’t you want to see the floating lights?” the cut inquires, and yes, I can just about make out strange, glowing objects in the sky. The instrumental pieces have a more conventionally jazzy feel; “I Love ECM” makes it case with light-fingered syncopations on rims and cymbals, liquid loops of bass and ice-chilled runs of electric keyboard. “Sera Sam,” at the end, brings on the trumpeter Avishai Cohen for a lyrical turn.

Jennifer Kelly

Majesty Crush — Butterflies Don’t Go Away

(Numero Group)

Butterflies Don't Go Away by Majesty Crush

A double LP or digital download from Detroit’s own Majesty Crush, the motor city’s answer to the sounds coming out on 4AD. With dreamy vocals by David Stroughter about being an obsessive fan or about bad relationships and a rhythm section kicking up a swirl of noise around him, Majesty Crush brings to mind about a dozen English bands without feeling particularly in debt to any specific group. Occasionally the guitar makes a really cool, almost crunchy sound, but mostly the music moves in the fog, blanketing the vocals in layers of distortion. They lack the fey lyricism of the Cocteau Twins or the dreamy harmonies of Lush but guitarist Michel Segal holds his own against Kevin Shields’s sheets of sound. Meanwhile, they invoke David Hinckley on “No. 1 Fan,” wake up with a bottle and a cigar in hand on “Brand” and dip into ambient spaces on three small interludes. The first half is made of their lone album Love 15, while sides three and four contain an early EP and singles, putting pretty much their entire catalog into one handy set. These Detroit guys seem unjustly forgotten, but thankfully Numero’s made their music easy to find.

Roz Milner

Dennis Callaci & Heimito Künst — First Light (Pass Without Trace)

Heimito Künst is one of many characters in Chilean novelist Roberto Bolaño’s The Savage Detectives, a tangled multi-narrative epic. The enigmatic Italian musician who produced the sounds underpinning First Light has adopted Heimito Künst as his pseudonym, likely in reference to the knotty soundscapes he builds from organs, synths and field recordings. On paper, Dennis Callaci’s lyrics and vocals seem like an odd pairing for Künst’s oblique audio collages. Callaci is half of the long-running lo-fi pop project Refrigerator and has helmed the Shrimper label for over three decades. His signature mid-range nasal utterances, more spoken than sung, populate the extraterrestrial ecosystems of Künst like strange seedlings peeping up from beneath loamy soil. First Light serves as a bridge between the mysterious and the familiar, another worthy entry in Callaci’s discography and a port of entry into an unknown artist’s body of work.

Bryon Hayes

Buck Curran — The Long Distance (Eiderdown/Obsolete)

Buck Curran is a guitar devotee. He’s a fluent player, a custodian of historic instruments, a chronicler of esteemed players and a compiler of albums that pay tribute to others. But sometimes a guy just needs a change of pace; enter The Long Distance. Mostly competed in a single night, it’s Curran’s holiday from the guitar. Instead, he plays analog synthesizer, layering sweeping tones and helicopter-rotor cadences into something rather like a lost Tangerine Dream album. Curran explains in the album notes that each piece is connected to a memory of a person or place, which may explain the melodies’ intimations of yearning and melancholy. But if you’re not Curran, they might evoke other associations; this music could easily be repurposed for film soundtracks.

Bill Meyer

Rhodri Davies — Telyn Wrachïod (Amgen)

Back in the mid-20th century, kids motorized their bikes with clothes pins and playing cards. The customization might not have yielded much additional propulsion, but the sound was cool. It turns out that they were simply following in the footsteps of 16th century Welsh harpists, who attached brays (slips of wood) to their strings to get a loud, buzzing sound. Rhodri Davies has explored the harp’s options in all manner of settings — Fluxus happenings, minimalist compositions, rock bands, free improv ensembles, the list goes on. Recently he’s commissioned speculative recreations of instruments from centuries ago, which he then uses to play the sort of short, wheels-within-wheels pieces that he formerly played with instruments amplified to a Konono No. 1-level of distortion. On Telyn Wrachïod he turns to the bray harp, which sounds rather like a cross between a banjo and a sitar. Each of its 12 tracks is spiky but so engrossing that you might find yourself hitting repeat a few times before you move on to the next one.

Bill Meyer

Desultory — Darkness Falls (The Early Years) (Darkness Shall Rise)

The repackaging and re-release of underground metal’s extensive archive of hyper-obscure demos and records continues apace. Darkness Falls (The Early Years) collects three demos from Swedish death metal outfit Desultory, originally independently issued on cassettes between 1990 and 1992. The record’s principal interest is its documentation of the sonic flexibility that informed the term “death metal” in the early 1990s; there’s just as much lightning thrash in these songs as there is moldering morbidity, especially the four engaging tracks on the band’s first demo, From Beyond (1990). The title track is especially pleasurable, in its sprinting, bludgeoning fashion — and this reviewer notes the added benefit of the title’s reference to an excellent H. P. Lovecraft story (is that you, Cthulhu?). Swedeath completists take heed. For the rest of us, it’s a fun release, and of some historical interest. Its relative necessity is open to debate — but hey, we didn’t really need that reissue version of Pig Destroyer’s Painter of Dead Girls on “black ice with metallic silver glitter” vinyl, either. Maybe Darkness Shall Rise should get some points for only releasing four different product versions of Darkness Falls….

Jonathan Shaw

Devouring the Guilt — Not To Want To Say (Kettle Hole)

Devouring The Guilt is a Chicago-associated (meaning two members live there and one moved away but remains connected) improvising trio. The line-up is pretty classic — Gerrit Hatcher on tenor sax, Eli Namay on bass, Bill Harris on drums. And so are the trio’s roots. Hatcher summons a burly tone, steers mostly clear of extended techniques, and gives occasional nods to free jazz heroes like Archie Shepp, Frank Wright and Frank Lowe. These familiar parameters establish a framework to display their collective originality, which lies in the personal vernacular they’ve fashioned. Namay is an alternately pithy and seething presence, plucking spare, structure-defining figures or bowing a maelstrom of woody sound. Harris pushes back against expectations that the drums should push the music forward by punctuating his clearly articulated attack with lots of negative space. Hatcher situates lyricism in long, understated tones and vigorously masticated phases, but also navigates unpredictably through the tight corners and sudden gaps that the other two set up.

Bill Meyer

Carol Genetti / Peter Maunu — Gleaners (Amalgam)

No matter how you approach it, Gleaners will stretch your mind. Just what are Carol Genetti (voice, electronics) and Peter Maunu (guitar, violin, mandolin) gleaning? Not other people’s music, that’s for sure. Maybe the languages of long-extinct species, confidences exchanged between dusty appliances that come to life after the staff leaves the thrift shop, ideas about what instruments might sound like if you see them in pictures. Even when Maunu resorts to rock-ish fuzztones or Genetti exhales an unspooling coo, their co-creations are resolutely sui generis. Their partnership has been honed through years of regular performance, often with other Chicago-based musicians, which likely explains the brisk confidence that this resolutely abstract music exudes. Genetti is a ceramic artist as well as a musician, and the physical manifestation of this album comes in two forms. She made ten one-of-a-kind clay cases that you can mount on a wall; the regular CDs come in a folio adorned with close-ups of the art edition.

Bill Meyer

Dave Douglas — GIFTS (Greenleaf Music)

GIFTS by Dave Douglas

With sizzling guitar lines and a frontline horn duo of Douglas and James Brandon Lewis, you’d think it would be easy for this to be a mere blowing session. But it’s not. The music is frequently introspective and has a very ECM kind of ambience: it has this wide-angle sonic clarity where each instrument has room to breathe and let their notes slowly linger. The suite of Strayhorn songs in the middle doesn’t feel tired, either. Rafiq Bhatia’s chugging guitar keeps “Take the A Train” moving while Douglas and Lewis move in sync for the theme. When they stretch out, they’re sometimes playing against each other but always seem like they’re on the same page. Meanwhile Bhatia’s playing draws on Bill Frisell, making up for the lack of a low end with well-placed chords and sonic textures. These four make the music their own and it’s one of the year's most rewarding jazz records.

Roz Milner

Samara Lubelski & Marcia Bassett — Indexical/Rhizome (Relative Pitch)

Samara Lubelski and Marcia Bassett are both well-established members of the U.S. scene that engendered the moniker “new weird America” back in the early aughts. Both have CVs that stretch on for miles. Lubelski is best known as a star in the MV&EE solar system, while Bassett churns out murkier sound pools in a variety of projects, such as Double Leopards and Hototogisu. The pair have a long-standing partnership unfurling phosphorescent drone webs through guitar and violin. This is their eighth recording, and it presents two extended string seances that coax electric spirit whisps from unseen worlds. “Indexical” is the lengthier of the pair and features zoned out but controlled guitar howl from Bassett alongside Lubelski’s rapid bowing. The undulations intertwine to become a radiant lattice of sound. Alien timbres infect “Rhizome,” which sways between a noise-drone wall of sound and hushed electronic whispers. Both are live recordings, showing off the raw magic that this pair of string sirens can conjure.

Bryon Hayes

Joe McPhee With Ken Vandermark — Musings Of A Bahamian Son (Corbett Vs. Dempsey)

Joe McPhee’s been toting folders full of poems and brief musings to gigs for years, but in recent years they’ve assumed an increasingly prominent place in his performances. Now, he’s finally put 28 of them on record, punctuated with nine short soprano sax/clarinet interludes that he improvised with Ken Vandermark. Oppression gets defied, history acknowledged, but most of all, love gets its due. McPhee muses about folks from the neighborhood, jazz heroes that inspired him, old friends now gone, and the balm and galvanization imparted by music itself. Abstract but tender, the interludes amplify this sentiment, showing by example how much appreciation for life and fellowship can be invested in a few tones.

Bill Meyer

Kate Nash — 9 Sad Symphonies (Kill Rock Stars)

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On 9 Sad Symphonies, Kate Nash leans into her musical theater background, with skillfully crafted arrangements that incorporate classical orchestrations reminiscent of the film musicals from the 1930s-1950s. As on most of her albums, she tweaks her sound and musical partners, here working with producer Frederik Thaae. There is a sauciness to her lyrics, which even go so far as describing lunch breaks in toilets. All is not a lark. Nash seeks to exorcize personal demons on “Vampyre” and “My Bile '' is a bracing assessment of a broken relationship. 9 Sad Symphonies may have a bucolic surface, but the singer-songwriter ventures down dark pathways where stars of the Silver Screen would have likely feared to go.

Christian Carey

Occulta Veritas — Irreducible Fear of the Sublime (I, Voidhanger)

Occulta Veritas plays an avant-garde variety of black metal, long on complexity and idiosyncratic compositional sensibilities. It’s abrasive and disorienting, and not especially fun to listen to — which yes, that’s the point, but there’s a huge amount of this sort of thing circulating through the metal underground at any given point, and deliberately distancing music from listeners’ parameters for pleasure can be a tough prospect in that oversaturated context. For this reviewer, the record’s engagement with the theoretical concepts of Jacques Lacan (big-deal psychoanalyst, post-structural Daddy and important player in France’s academic politics of the mid-20th century) helps Irreducible Fear of the Sublime stand out. It’s pretty great that one of the songs is called “Metonimia,” since Lacan’s projection of metonymy along a diachronic axis of spatio-temporal relations fits the music’s tortured snarls and chaotic, off-kilter arrangements. The utterances want to go somewhere, but the structures those utterances are trapped in make meaningful progress a near impossibility. It would be even better to have a lyric sheet, to get more than just the tantalizing engagements with Lacan provided in song titles (“The Mirror Stage,” “Bound to Incompleteness” and so on). There’s an overheated quality to the record that’s additionally compelling: This is your brain; this is your brain on Lacan. But it would be useful to know what specific ideas accompany specific sounds and turns in the music’s syntax. Or is it all just sound and fury, signifying nothing?

Jonathan Shaw

J. Pavone String Ensemble

Reverse Bloom by Jessica Pavone

The current edition of Jessia Pavone’s String Ensemble is reduced to essentials. There are just three players including Pavone, who plays viola, Aimée Niemann on violin, and Abby Swidler switching between those two instruments. The language is likewise paired down on Reverse Bloom. The first two pieces (of four) emphasize long tones that hiss and sigh at a deliberate pace, evoking an uneasy state. “Obstructed Current” pushes against the prevailing vibe with jolting, energetic phrases that move joltingly out of synch. The closing piece, “Embers Slumber,” likewise explores contrasting elements, which resolve by settling into a deliberate, belly-breathing rhythm. The album charts a course towards a grounded state that’s not so much a happy ending as a sonic enactment of the honest word that gets you through.

Bill Meyer

Keith Rowe / Gerard Lebik — Dry Mountain (Inexhaustible Editions)

Dry Mountain by Keith Rowe / Gerard Lebik

Despite having his name on the spine, Keith Rowe did not play on this record. However, he did originate the process of sound (re)imagining that it presents, and his cover image of a wiggling digit raises the question — how deep does a fingerprint go? The score of Dry Mountain originated from the imprint Rowe’s gear left on a sheet of paper. Rowe and Gerard Lebik interpreted that score and then handed a recording of their performance to three visual artists, who created their own scores based on what they heard. These scores were then played by the group of electronics, string, and percussion players heard on this album while listeners drew responses to the music, which they then handed to the musicians, who played them on the spot. The further you get from the first piece heard, the further the music gets from Rowe’s sound world; in a reversal of Alvin Lucier’s I Am Sitting In A Room, the music gets segmented and defined.

Bill Meyer

D. Sablu — No True Silence (Yes We Cannibal)

No True Silence by D.SABLU

D. Sablu is a New Orleans punk lifer, late of Casual Burns and Feverish, but forced (or inspired or motivated) by COVID to strike out on his own. No True Silence is Sablu’s first full-length, and it’s a killer, a slaughterhouse frenzy of punk /garage/ hardcore and a little metal, all chopped up with chainsaws and spraying all over the walls. Indeed, you’ll have to stand well back from the player when you first put the record on, because it leads with “Bomber Stomp,” a two-minute assault of lumbering, heavy punk that sways noticeably as it comes down on the ones and twos. Sablu lets off a howl near the end that raises the hairs on my neck, because it’s so sulfurous and tortured. “69 Forever” lights a new wave hook on fire with a blowtorch; it’s catchy as hell but blows you back with sheer volume and aggression. The brief “World Peace” is pure, adrenalized chaos, drums galloping wildly, guitars flaring, bass buzzing and Sablu screaming “World pee-eeea-eace!” like a banshee. Fun stuff. Turn it up.

Jennifer Kelly

Mark Sims — Take Me Faster (Carousel Horse Records, Old 3-C Label Group, Anyway)

Take Me Faster by Mark Sims

Deindustrialization has hollowed out the Midwest’s economy, leaving shuttered factories and empty main streets all across the central American states. Mark Sims, a bricklayer when he’s not performing, sings with the soft, wry melancholy of a man left behind by tectonic shifts, finding solace in well-turned melodies and plain-spoken turns of phrase. It was fashionable half a decade ago to interview Ohioans in diners about their economic circumstances; Take Me Faster provides the same sort of snapshot of dislocation and disappearing opportunity.

For instance, in “Hold On To Me,” the narrator is driving long-distance to a job somewhere, trying to find a song on the radio and thinking about home. “Money comes and goes so quickly/I could work a million hours/and still be broke when I die,” Sims confides, against a radiant lattice of picking. The song is unassuming, and kind of perfect, a distillation of the struggle to stay connected and human in a low-wage high-uncertainty economy.

The songs are simply arranged, a mesh of Sims’ dusky, resonant voice and acoustic guitar, mostly, with a little synth in the background for texture. And yet, this is more than enough, as on the haunting “I’m Always by Your Side,” where Sims’ voice lifts up through the sadness, fluttering soulfully in the upper registers before drifting back to earth. These songs don’t pull any tricks or do any somersaults, but they’re satisfying all the same.

Jennifer Kelly

Jason Stein / Marilyn Crispell / Damon Smith / Adam Shead — Spi-raling Horn (Balance Point Acoustics/Irritable Mystic)

spi-raling horn by Jason Stein, Marilyn Crispell, Damon Smith, Adam Shead

The trio of Shead, Stein, and Smith first convened with the former two’s duo shared a bill with Smith. They recognized in each other a common aesthetic intent, a shared wish to improvise within a particular set of parameters; there’s no predetermined material, but a collective intention not to be confined to jazz. They’ve all listened closely to the great 20th century European free improvisers, and part of what they’ve taken from them is an intent to fashion their own language. There’s no soloing here, although occasionally someone will drop out if that’s what the music requires. And when they invite a fourth musician into the action, they participate as an equal contributor, not a featured guest. Marilyn Crispell’s associations with musicians as disparate as Barry Guy, Anthony Braxton and Joe Lovano reveal her to be an artist similarly concerned with fluent exchange, not ego-boosting display. But she’s also a stern bringer of velocity and complexity on this recording, which is the studio half of a single brief encounter which took place in Chicago in the middle of 2023. Dense assertion, abrasive texture, and bursting co-existence cohere into a seven-part sequence of collaborative invention.

Bill Meyer

SUSS — Birds & Beasts (Northern Spy)

Birds & Beasts by SUSS

Gorgeous hovering tones of pedal steel, guitar (with e bow), keyboards and synths coalesce in these cuts, each a glowing, vibrating meditation on the beauty and fragility of the natural world. SUSS, from New York City, explores many of the same haunted textures as Chuck Johnson and Pan*American, letting sustained notes linger in shimmering layers of slow-moving sound. “Overstory” encases picked acoustic notes in a translucent amber of pedal steel arcs and violin, letting the sound grow as slowly—and as enormously—as old growth forest. “Flight” follows a more pronounced rhythm than other cuts, its steady pulse of strumming beating like wings on a long trip south. The disc is not all sunshine, however. “Prey” lurks in ominous buzzes and hums of feedback, building threat into dark-toned dissonance and animal screeches into wails of guitar. The long closer, “Migration,” pulls taut with anticipation, its beat like a metronome, its melody unfurling in the wheeze of harmonica and the shifting twang of pedal steel. SUSS often gets tagged as cosmic country, but which country? Unearthly, luminous and beautiful.

Jennifer Kelly

Their Divine Nerve — Return of the Lamb (Staalplaat)

The Return of the Lamb by Their Divine Nerve

Dmytro Fedorenko and Jeff Surak have been collaborating for about 20 years now, but this first album as Their Divine Nerve appears to be the first time the self-described “Ukrainian-American noise duo” have collaborated on record at length. But right from the churning, thumping 14+ minute opener “The Infinity Book” here it’s clear that their long association has led to a certain sympatico comfort with each other. Whether on the more overtly aggressive shredding (not guitar riffs, actual shredding) of “Glowing Skulls” or the more pensive, droning likes of “Dignityphobia,” here the pair have arranged a rich, expansive (71 minutes on CD, plus about another half hour in bonus material on digital) feast for anyone looking to add some variety to their noise diet. By the time the CD thunders and shudders to a half with “Civilization Was Never Civilized” the listener may not know anything more about the titular lamb, but it’s clear its return is momentous indeed.

Ian Mathers

Various Artists — Congo Funk: Sound Madness From The Shores Of The Mighty Congo River (Kinshasa/Brazzaville 1969-1982) (Analog Africa)

Congo Funk! - Sound Madness From The Shores Of The Mighty Congo River (Kinshasa/Brazzaville 1969-1982) (Analog Africa No. 38) by Analog Africa

Mobutu Sese Seko was a murderous tyrant, but he changed African music forever when he invited James Brown to play Zaire 74, the three-day musical festival put on alongside George Forman and Muhammed Ali’s epic Rumble in the Jungle. American funk transformed an already vibrant musical scene like a chemical catalyst setting off an explosion of electrified, psychedelic soul in Kinshasa and Brazzaville. Congo Funk! collects 14 incendiary cuts from the 1970s and 1980s — culling from an original haul of over 2000 sounds — not a dud in the bunch and more than a couple of revelations. M.B.T’s eponymous “M.B.T.’s Sound” is one of the best on this two-disc set, all brassy swagger and intricate polyrhythmic percussion, as is Orchestre National du Congo’s full-throated celebration “Ah Congo!” with its wild call and response, feral sax play and unhinged drumming. Lolo et L'Orchestre O.K. Jazz’s “Lolo Soulfire,” sets up a Stax-like groove and lives in it, slouching and swaggering like Booker T in a fever. Fire.

Jennifer Kelly

Ricki Weidenhof — Church (We Be Friends)

Church by Ricki Weidenhof

A member of Pittsburgh avant-collagists Sneeze Awfull, Ricki Weidenhof examines a life of religious ambivalence and search for identity on their solo album Church. Working through a range of styles that illustrate and amplify those themes, Weidenhof produces an emotionally rich and sometimes challenging fractal mosaic. The wonderfully titled suite “Raptured in Formal Violence” contrasts liturgical solemnity and a babel of religious voices with jittering house to capture that mixture of dread and ecstasy the Church so often induces. At the other of the scale “Dreary Field” is an Arthur Russell inspired idyll of acoustic guitar and cello as Weidenhof singsof the past “I finished that game of hide and seek long ago/Only it was still at play/I remember the last place I had hidden.” “Extinction Meditation” begins in a similar vein, the religious and personal entwined with vivid imagery, before a chaos of multi-tracked vocals, distorted beats, and razor strings. A powerful, heartfelt record that deserves a wide audience.

Andrew Forell

Wormed — Omegon (Season of Mist)

OMEGON by Wormed

It’s hard to say anything meaningful about Wormed — pretty much everything about the band is absurd, or at least verging on it. To identify some key elements of the absurdity: the “vocals” of Jose Luis Rey Sanchez (appearing on Omegon, as always, under the appropriately throaty appellation Phlegeton — Sanchez is likely referring to the mythic river, but all I can think of is phlegm…), for whom the unappetizing term “throat fart” might have been coined; the sheer nuttiness of the band’s tech death wankery, which the band has actually moderated a wee bit for Omegon; the fact that Wormed have been at it since 1999, mostly developing a continuous narrative of a fictional cosmos, full of conflict among evil extraterrestrial forces, multiple timelines and a protagonist named Krigshu (some song titles from this record are indicative: “Aetheric Transdimensionalization,” “Gravitational Servo Matrix,” “Virtual Teratogensis”). You figure it out. Beyond the music — more tech than slam, but still seeking some sort of apotheosis of that quality death metal freaks name “brutality” — what’s most engaging about Wormed is the band’s ability to sustain the absurdity and to seem absolute serious about it. Maybe that makes the Spanish band especially well-suited to our times. Or maybe we just haven’t gotten the joke yet.

Jonathan Shaw

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kpopsexstories · 4 months

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Mixed One-shots: Romeo Beckham, Hayes Grier & "The Grey Speedo Boy"

I write mostly k-pop smut on this blog, but in my series Mixed One-shots I also do non-kpop celebrities.

Among my current drafts, three stories are closer to completion than any others. Below you can vote on which I should publish first.

Who are they?

None of these three guys are super famous, and especially if you're mostly into k-pop boy bands you might not even know who they are. So let me introduce you to them 😊

Romeo Beckham

The middle son of David Beckham (the famous footballer) and Victoria Beckham (one of the Spice Girls). He's basically been famous all his life for being the child of a celebrity couple, but in recent years he's made a name for himself as a professional footballer who follows in his father's footsteps, and as the long-term boyfriend of model Mia Regan (though they apparently broke up in February).

Hayes Grier

The younger brother of Nash Grier who was part of the YouTube group Magcon some years ago. Magcon consisted of members like Matthew Espinosa, Carter Reynolds, Jack & Jack (the singers), Taylor Caniff (who has since moved on to OnlyFans), Nash & Hayes Grier, and – most famously – Shawn Mendes (yes, the Shawn Mendes). Hayes did a brief time on OnlyFans last year but is otherwise not active in the public eye.

The Grey Speedo Boy

Here's an odd one for you: Pedro de la Fuente is the name of a guy from Mexico who got super famous globally when he was an exchange student in the US. Years ago, pictures of "the grey speedo boy" spread like wildfire online due to his good looks. I would wager that he's the most famous person on this list, yet hardly anyone knows his name. And yes, as strange as it may be, I've now written a smut story about him.

So, who of these three do you want me to prioritize and publish a story about in June?

#smut #smut writing #romeo beckham #david beckham #hayes grier #magcon #gray speedo #speedo boys #nash grier

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astra-galaxie · 1 year

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what are some of your LGBTQ headcanons for some of the CC characters?

My LGBTQ headcanons for CC characters? Sure, I’ve got some! I’ll also list some characters' canon facts since I support them, but let’s see what non-canon ones I can come up with!

And disclaimer! These are my current LGBTQ headcanons; there is a chance that they could change as my story progresses!

Sexuality-based LGBTQ Headcanons:

Main Characters

Heterosexual/Ally:

Samuel King

Eduardo Ramirez

Frank Knight

Elizabeth Ripley

Angela Douglas

Elliot Clayton

Arthur Wright

Issac Bontemps

Diane Parker

Gloria Hayes

Gabriel Herrera

Penelope Sage

Priya Desai

Felix Reed

Gay:

Nathan Pandit

Amir Devani

Orlando Ordelaffi

Ben Shepard

Lesbians:

Hannah Choi

Carmen Martinez

Michelle Zuria

Evie Holloway

Rose Zhao (She and her husband married for none-romantic reasons)

Bisexuals:

David Jones (Has a preference for women ((and hasn’t realized his attraction to men yet…))

Grace Delaney (She tried to get Jones to realize his sexuality in high school but couldn't get him to understand…)

Alex Turner

Andrea Marquez

Yann Toussaint

Jack Archer (With a preference for women, but unlike Jones, he recognizes his feelings toward men)

Lars Douglas (He likes to call himself and Jack bi-bros and bi-buddies)

Marina Romanova

Jonah Karam

Cathy Turner

Nebet

Christopher Scott

Jacob Arrow

Hugo Mercier

Pansexuals:

Amy Young

Roxie Sparks

Maddie O’Malley

Charlie Dupont

Deigo del Lobo

Martine Meunier

Janis Rivers

Jean-Philippe Delacroix

Gauthier Delacroix

Enzo Traoré

Léa Bonnet

Polyamory:

Zara Tien

Theo Moon

Kai Malano

Nadia Den Yamin

Demisexual:

Russell Crane

Ingrid Bjorn

Rupert Winchester

AroAce:

Dick Wells (This man called science his mistress once, and I have headcanoned him as AroAce ever since!)

Hope Newman

Acesexual:

Armand Dupont

Viola Pemberton

Questioning:

Rita Estevez: Thought she was straight but started having feelings towards a certain woman…

Luke Fernandez: He thought he was straight, but after everything with Fabien de la Mort, he started questioning

Carrie James: Unsure of her sexuality

Émile Bardot: Unsure of her sexuality

Other Characters

Olivia Hall: Lesbian

James Savage: Demisexual

Edward Dante: Pansexual

Karen Knight: Bisexual

Nigel Adakue: Gay

Asal Hawaa: Bisexual

Katherine Woolf: Lesbian

Jasper Everett: Gay

Mia Loukas: Bisexual

Arthur Darkwood: Gay

Geroge Mathison: Gay

Cody James: Pansexual

Gender-based LGBTQ Headcanons:

Nathan Pandit: Transgender (female to male)

Alex Turner: Demiboy

Hannah Choi: Demigirl

Jean-Philippe Delacroix: Genderqueer

(I don’t have many gender-based headcanons yet…)

That’s everything I could come up with! And like always, I am open to hearing about your opinions, headcanons and suggestions on this topic!

#criminal case #criminal case grimsborough #criminal case pacific bay #criminal case save the world #criminal case mysteries of the past #criminal case the conspiracy #criminal case travel in time #criminal case supernatural investigations #criminal case city of romance #headcanons #ask

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wrestlefesthq · 23 days

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ayoo admins & members which males would you like to see in the group?

hello !

we would love to see -- la knight, swerve strickland, david finlay, alex coughlin, malakai black, brody king, wheeler yuta, kenny omega, juice robinson, joe hendry , carmelo hayes, trick williams, solo sikoa, jacob fatu, jimmy uso, zilla fatu, danhausen, randy orton, john cena, kevin owens, sami zayn, drew mcintrye, sheamus, uncle howdy, joe gacy, dexter lumis.

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carbone14 · 1 year

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"Full victory - nothing else"

Le Général Eisenhower en discussion avec le Lieutenant Wallace C. Strobel du 502nd PIR de la 101st Airborne Division avant le décollage pour la Normandie – Opération Albany – Opération Overlord – base aérienne de la RAF de Greenham common – Angleterre – 20 h 30 – 5 juin 1944

La photo montre le général Eisenhower discutant avec des parachutistes de la Compagnie E (easy Company) du 502e Régiment d'infanterie parachutiste de la 101e Division aéroportée sur la base aérienne de la RAF de Greenham Common.

Les personnages identifiés sont les suivants :

Le Sergent Fred Lindsey tenant un carnet de croquis, derrière et à gauche du dos d'Eisenhower (Source : Chad Lindsey, 2014)

Russell Wilmarth, derrière le menton d'Eisenhower (Source : Alan Offen, 2009)

Le lieutenant Wallace C. Strobel avec une étiquette '23' (Source : Dwight David Eisenhower - The Centennial, CMH Pub 71-40)

Ralph 'Bud' Thomas ou Arthur L. Wegener, à gauche de Strobel (Source : Eileen Thomas Hayes, 2012 et Sandra Edwards, 2021)

Probablement le caporal Donald E. Kruger, au premier rang, à l'extrême droite, portant un sac musette sur la poitrine (Source : Alice Kruger Bruns et Jason Bezis, 2013)

Joseph Burdette May Jr. (1920-1995), au-dessus du pouce d'Eisenhower (Source : Ashley Barnes, 2018)

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justapillowpetpanda · 5 months

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Fantasia Announces First Wave of Titles for Its 28th Edition

The Fantasia International Film Festival will celebrate its upcoming 28th edition with an electrifying program of screenings, workshops, and launch events running from July 18 through August 4, 2024, returning yet again at the Concordia Hall and J.A. de Sève cinemas, with additional screens and events at Montreal’s Cinémathèque québécoise and Cinéma du Musée.

Poster art by Donald Caron The festival’s full lineup will be announced on July 3, but in the meantime, Fantasia has revealed a select first wave of premiere titles, along with a first look at its 2024 poster art. The festival’s 2024 poster art, created by Montreal visual artist Donald Caron, brings back two of the festival’s most beloved characters from earlier editions, returning by popular demand. The cinema-loving cat and pug, barreling into the future on a sidecar motorcycle, embody the excitement, playfulness, and absurdity that Fantasia has championed since its inception in 1996.

28th Fantasia International Film Festival

CHUCK RUSSELL RETURNS TO HORROR WITH WITCHBOARD, A WILD RE-IMAGINING OF THE CLASSIC 80'S FRANCHISE! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qr0d00hy1h8 From A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3: DREAM WARRIORS and the beloved1988 remake of THE BLOB to THE MASK, ERASER, and THE SCORPION KING, director Chuck Russell has no shortage of imaginative fantasy/horror classics under his belt. Now he returns to the genre he’s marked so brilliantly with a radical reinvention of Kevin S. Tenney’s 1986 Canadian cult favorite WITCHBOARD. Emily (Madison Iseman, ANNABELLE COMES HOME) and her fiancé Christian (Aaron Dominguez, Hulu's Only Murderers in the Building) discover an ancient Wiccan artifact, a pendulum board, as they prepare to open a bistro in New Orleans' French Quarter. Emily becomes obsessed with the board's powers, exposing her to the ancient spirit of the Queen of Witches. Desperate to help his fiancé, Christian seeks the advice of occult expert Alexander Babtiste (Jamie Campbell Bower, Netflix's Stranger Things, the TWILIGHT saga), but Babtiste has dark secrets of his own. Shot in Montreal by cinematographer Yaron Levy (UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING). Also starring David La Haye (TRUE NORTH), Charlie Tahan (Netflix's Ozark), Antonia Desplat (AppleTV+'s Shantaram), and Mel Jarnson (MORTAL KOMBAT).

PRESENTED BY MIKE FLANAGAN, CHRIS STUCKMANN’S SHELBY OAKS IS HERE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4u3Z72KhN8 A woman's desperate search for her long-lost sister, a famous YouTuber who investigated paranormal happenings, falls into obsession upon realizing that the imaginary demon from their childhood may have been real. After a successful Kickstarter campaign that broke records across the platform, the highly anticipated feature debut feature from YouTube creator Chris Stuckmann is finally here and ready to scare the pants off the world. SHELBY OAKS delivers in all departments. Starring Camille Sullivan (HUNTER HUNTER), Brendan Sexton III (DON’T BREATHE 2), Sarah Durn (RENFIELD), Keith David (THE THING, NOPE), and Michael Beach (AQUAMAN). Produced by Aaron B. Koontz, Cameron Burns, and Ashleigh Snead, and Executive Produced by Mike Flanagan and Trevor Macy, among others.

MIGUEL LLANSÓ’S INFINITE SUMMER IS A TRIPPY, TRANSHUMANIST FEAT OF FILMMAKING Estonia-based Miguel Llansó (CRUMBS, JESUS SHOWS YOU THE WAY TO THE HIGHWAY) is a singular gift to cinema. Fantasia is proud to be bringing the visionary iconoclast back to Montreal for the World Premiere of what may be his most compelling creation yet: INFINITE SUMMER, a trippy transhumanist sci-fi exploration vibrant with humor, poignancy, and gonzo invention. On a summer break, Mia and her friends try a meditation app that that’s somehow related to the operating system of the Tallinn Zoo, changing in the body chemistry of its users into something between pollen and cosmic dust. Mia will need to choose between saving her friends or joining them. An astonishing film, produced by legendary US producing partners Allison Rose Carter and Jon Read (EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE, AMERICAN HONEY), Rain Rannu (CHASING UNICORNS, THE INVISIBLE FIGHT), and Tõnu Hiielaid (KRATT), and Llansó himself, starring Hannah Gross (Netflix’s Mindhunter), Johanna Rosin, and Teele Kaljuvee-O'Brock.

TRUTH BE TOLD, CONFESSION IS A MASTERFULLY CRAFTED SINGLE-LOCATION THRILLER Every Winter since Sayuri’s tragic disappearance sixteen years ago, Asai and Jiyong climb the mountain where it happened to honor her memory. However, an intense blizzard and a catastrophic injury convince Jiyong he’s done for and, before forcing Asai to leave him to die, he shares a devastating revelation. Asai returns, however, after finding a nearby cabin and now, isolated for the night, the two have to deal with Jiyong’s not-so-last words... the hard way. Two award-winning Fantasia legends, director Nobuhiro Yamashita (LA LA LA AT ROCK BOTTOM) and actor/writer/director Yang Ik-june (BREATHLESS), along with superstar Toma Ikuta (THE MOLE SONG trilogy), team up to adapt a beloved manga into a narrative and technical achievement, one of the best single-location thrillers ever created. With stellar performances and masterful direction using every inch of his set to generate maximum tension, CONFESSION flirts with perfection at every level - and must be experienced in a theatre.

JAYRO BUSTAMANTE’S RITA WILL HAUNT YOUR MEMORY AND BREAK YOUR HEART Following up on the international success of his brilliant LA LLORONA (2019), director Jayro Bustamante’s RITA fuses mythical fantasy and whimsical imagery with themes of childhood innocence and the potent emotional register of a story based on a harrowing real-life event, wherein 41 young women needlessly burned to death inside a Guatemalan orphanage in the midst of a protest about inhumane conditions. At its core is the powerful performance of Guiliana Santa Cruz, who speaks for all the young women who suffered. As a result, the story speaks much to the power of female anger, and yet, not once does the director lose sense of the fact that at its heart, Rita’s tale is one of girlhood, of dreams, of an innocence lost, and regained within the bosom of female solidarity.

THIS MAN BLENDS WESTERN INSPIRATIONS WITH J-HORROR TROPES IN A PERFECT MELTING POT OF TERROR An inexplicable wave of tragic deaths plunges two investigators into the heart of a fateful whirlwind, where logic and facts have no value as a far-fetched urban legend seems to come true. A mother plagued by terrifying dreams, seeing her friends and colleagues disappear one after the other, and her family witness the horror unfold. Director and screenwriter Tomojiro Amano (TRAPPED IN MAKYO) skillfully fuses the styles of Eastern and Western classics, referencing RINGU, IT FOLLOWS, and A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET among others, to create an intimate, oppressive work that constantly keeps viewers on the edge of their seats as it slowly and subtly unveils the pandemic-like slaughter outside. At the crest of the international horror-film harvest of 2024, already a banner year, THIS MAN is sure to lodge itself in viewers' memories. With such potential, a Hollywood remake wouldn’t be surprising.

LOWELL DEAN’S DARK MATCH CONJURES SIX-TIME CHAMP CHRIS JERICHO AS A CULT LEADER! After his success with the WOLF COP films, Canadian filmmaker Lowell Dean switches it up and takes horror to the ring! When small-time wrestlers get a big payday for a private gig, they jump at the chance for fame and fortune, but the event, run by a mysterious leader who calls himself “The Prophet,” demands plenty of blood on the mats and involves a sinister, demonic deal! Set in the wrestling heyday of the 80s, DARK MATCH is an action-packed rumble on the ropes shot by acclaimed cinematographer Karim Hussain (INFINITY POOL, POSSESSOR). Starring wrestling legend Chris Jericho as the charismatic leader of its bloodthirsty cult, Ayisha Issa (TRANSPLANT), and Steven Ogg (AMC’s The Walking Dead), you’ll get more than your share of intrigue, action, and gore inside this ring! Septentrion Shadows section.

A SAMURAI IN TIME IS WORTH THE TIME AND TRAVEL TO SEE An Edo-period swordsman is flung into the future, arriving in modern Kyoto to confront utter confusion—and an acting career. The medieval warrior transported to modern times is a variant of the time-travel subgenre that has been explored many times around the world. Award-winning writer/director Junichi Yasuda (GOHAN), however, offers a take on the theme that’s not only clever, funny, and distinctly Japanese, but remarkably poignant. Shot on location at Toei Studios Kyoto, A SAMURAI IN TIME is held together by the subtle and convincing performance of lead actor Makiya Yamaguchi. More than just a fun fish-out-of-water fantasy, it’s an homage to samurai cinema as it wanes as surely as the shogunate once did.

SWIPE RIGHT ON ELRIC KANE’S DATING APP CHILLER THE DEAD THING A young woman, lost in a series of meaningless connections through dating apps, falls in love with a charismatic man who is hiding a dark secret that turns her affair into a dangerous obsession. Smart, tragic and unsettling, Pure Cinema host Elric Kane’s first solo-directed feature is a character-driven supernatural nightmare that explores the demons of modern dating in ways that are both horrific and disturbingly relatable. Swipe right on this profound piece of genre cinema that is destined to become a horror classic. Staring Blu Hunt (Netflix’s Another Life), Ben Smith-Petersen (MAD MAX: FURY ROAD), Katherine Hughes (ECHO 3), and John Karna (SCREAM). Co-Written by Webb Wilcoxen (The Frontier). Produced by Monte Yazzie, Matt Mercer (BLISS), and Rebekah McKendry (GLORIOUS).

MASHING UP GENRES, MASH VILLE IS A KOREAN CULT CLASSIC IN THE MAKING Someone has died after drinking the bootleg liquor brewed by Se-jong and his two younger brothers. While on a mission to retrieve their deadly booze before another person perishes from it, they come across two homicidal cultists who are terrorizing the villagers. The love that director Hwang Wook (LIVE HARD, DOG EAT DOG) harbors for the Western, action, and comedy genres shines through from start to finish with stylish cinematography, quirky characters, and an incredibly entertaining screenplay. Most importantly, pitch-black humor abounds. Hwang and company commit to their absurdity, and it’s an absolute blast, a genre-mashing crowd-pleaser sure to be a Korean cult classic as time goes on.

LUCÍA PUENZO’S ELECTROPHILIA CASTS A SUBVERSIVE NEW VISION A woman wakes up from a coma six weeks after being struck by lightning and finds herself compulsively drawn to electric currents as her body’s workings begin to change. She soon joins an underground support group of strike survivors led by a dangerously charismatic doctor, opening a doorway into unexpected new explorations. A gripping, sensorial experience with a visceral emotional core, ELECTROPHILIA is the latest creation from Cannes-award-winning Argentinian filmmaker and novelist Lucía Puenzo (THE FISH CHILD, XXY). Reminiscent of CRASH-era Cronenberg, it is a subversive and beautiful genre work, a different kind of self-discovery tale, and a new breed of dramatic thriller. Starring Mariana Di Girolamo (Pablo Larrain’s EMA), German Palacios (EL RAPTO), and Guillermo Pfening (THE GERMAN DOCTOR).

A MORALLY CHALLENGING TALE OF REVENGE, PENALTY LOOP TAKES A FAMILIAR THEME ON A DEVILISHLY TWISTED PATH https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-uwF0-__uY Left bereft by the wanton and inexplicable murder of his girlfriend, Jun chooses his own justice, carefully planning the perfect murder of the man who led him to become what he wants to eliminate. Once the vengeance is consummated, he wakes up with a confirmed sense of déjà-vu and his target alive and well, repeating the same routine as the day before. Offering a breathless, dark, and innovative variation on the time-loop concept, writer/director Shinji Araki (THE TOWN OF HEADCOUNTS) establishes himself as a sure thing in contemporary Japanese genre cinema with this unpredictable, shocking narrative that constantly twists and turns toward a conclusion that’s as satisfying as it is devastating. Carried by a convincing duo of actors in perfect sync, PENALTY LOOP is an accomplishment condemning Araki to return to the forefront with each of his future projects.

THE ADAMS FAMILY BIRTH CREATURES AT A SERBIAN FRACKING SITE IN HELL HOLE A road trip through Canadian oil fields conjured up fantasies of secrets deep in the dirt for the Adams family, and inspired them to create HELL HOLE, an indie rock-n-roll monster movie set at a far-away fracking site. Known for their DIY ethos, John and Lulu Adams and Toby Poser, partnering with Shudder, have joined the team behind The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs and FX legend Todd Masters to shoot their latest in Serbia with a local cast and crew. Absurd, mutinous, and transgressively comical, Hell Hole is old-school sci-fi horror, yet in typical family fashion, they subvert the genre with textures of biological and environmental horror in tandem with questions of gender and bodily autonomy. This will be the fourth time that Fantasia World Premieres work from the gifted filmmaking family, following launches of THE DEEPER YOU DIG, HELLBENDER, and WHERE THE DEVIL ROAMS.

DEAD DEAD FULL DEAD MUTATES THE WHODUNIT GENRE Junior police officers Balraam and Zubeida make a cute couple, but not the most diligent detectives. Called to a posh apartment tower to investigate a reported murder, the seemingly straightforward case quickly becomes a conundrum that would confuse even Sherlock Holmes. When the victim herself returns from the afterlife, matters become even more muddled, and soon enough the question isn’t who killed her... but who didn’t?! With the deadpan delirium of his debut feature, Mumbai-based editor and filmmaker Pratul Gaikwad offers a very odd, otherworldly mutation on the much-loved mystery-comedy genre. Featuring paranormal powers and multiple manias, cosmic wonders and covert class warfare, celestial bureaucracy and dysfunctional love, and even a supernaturally transformed goat, Gaikwad’s surreal whodunit offers a bit of everything... except perhaps proper law-enforcement procedure.

VOIVOD: WE ARE CONNECTED OFFERS A THUNDERING TRIBUTE TO LEGENDARY PROG METAL PIONEERS From the moment they exploded out of Jonquière in the early ‘80s, Voivod have been widely hailed as one of the most original and influential metal bands in the world. Years in the making and produced with full access to the band’s archives, Felipe Belalcazar’s illuminating VOIVOD: WE ARE CONNECTED brings the story of a groundbreaking 40+ year career to the screen with energy, insight, and a palpable sense of love. The long-awaited doc will be launched in the very province that birthed the band and Fantasia couldn’t be prouder. With appearances by Tobias Forge (Ghost), Mikael Akerfeldt (Opeth), Jason Newsted (Metallica – and brief Voivod member), Zach Blair (Rise Against, GWAR), Tom G Warrior (Celtic Frost, Triptykon), and Ivan Doroschuk (Men Without Hats), among many others. Docs from the Edge section.

A FANTASTICAL JAPAN RETURNS IN FLY ME TO THE SAITAMA: FROM BIWA LAKE WITH LOVE After stealing hearts at Fantasia 2019, where FLY ME TO THE SAITAMA won the Audience Award for Best Asian Feature, director Hideki Takeuchi returns to a fantastical version of Japan—“definitely not a portrayal of any actual place”—with a completely original story independent from the ’80s manga from which it takes its name. Read the full article

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