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k8epot8e · 10 months ago

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Train in Vain: Chapter 1

Notes: Never done this before, I've only ever written academic essays for grad school etc. I got the idea for this story on the train the other day. Wanted to play around with Kid's characterization and his relationship with Kil. The amount of space Kid and Killer are occupying in my brain lately is unhealthy and I especially loved the HC I'd seen of them being in a punk band together. I'd originally thought of this as a one-shot, but I enjoyed writing it so much that I will keep going! My plan atm is to upload another chapter by next week. Please let me know what you think! Going to try to improve my dialogue and action sequences. The general idea is that it'll all happen over the course of one night, like an After Hours, or American Graffiti situation. TWs: Reader is a woman. Sexual harassment of reader. Brief mention of an imaginary sex scene. Light violence. Implied drinking and drugs. Implied familial pressure and sexism. Cursing. Minors dni.

On AO3 I gave it an M but it's a lighter M. Here's that link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/53565769

Summary:

You're headed out on a Saturday night when some cute punks help you out of a sticky situation. Next thing you know, you're tagging along to their concert. This isn't something you'd normally do, but they're nice to look at and you need a little more spontaneity in your life. Let's see where the night takes you.

The man was slumped against the faux wood-paneled wall of the train car. You only noticed him because of his massive, muscular frame. He was your age, late 20s, but he had a boyish charm about his face that made you grin. A mischievousness that was noticeable even with his eyes closed as he was currently. His hair stood up in a dark red shock like he'd stuck his finger in an electrical socket. He was pale and riddled with piercings, metal spikes jutting out from his nose and ears giving his angular face an even sharper appearance. He wore goggles loosely at the top of his forehead. A punk aesthetic that seemed simultaneously meticulous and nonchalant. You noticed his massive left arm was metallic from the elbow down. An equally large man sat beside him on the seat to his left. The man was blonde with long hair that layered itself in sharp locks down his shoulders. He had an old-school soul patch that softened his sharp jawline and drew attention to the blue paper mask he wore courteously over his mouth. He seemed tired in a way that betrayed his rough exterior. His traps were huge and strained against the collar of his worn blue t-shirt. Seeing their muscular physiques made you hold your breath albeit briefly as you boarded the train and quickly slid into a newly available seat.

It was mid-Saturday evening and you were making your way to a bar in south Brooklyn to meet up with a friend from college. She'd recently had a baby and her husband had been begging you to take her out. She was always so responsible; you'd historically been one of her very few bad influences and her husband loved you for it. Despite what she would say when pressed, she enjoyed the thrilling sense of ease you coaxed out of her typically rigid demeanor. Your relationship was easy. She didn't need to text or call you to make sure you still felt involved in her life. You could pick up right where you left off, be it months or years since you'd seen each other.

This was how you lived most of your life. Your family and upbringing were so exhausting that you felt an aversion to friction of any sort. That didn't mean you weren't responsible, of course you were. You always did what was expected of you or what you thought needed to be done. You were the oldest girl, rebelliousness was a luxury reserved for other people. Despite this, you carved out ways to satisfy your inner hellion as you could. Little rebellions that you could control but still scratched the itch you had to break everything down. You drank too much, but not enough to be a real issue. You smoked too much weed, only once it became legalized. You had a serious problem with authority figures or anyone for that matter who had the gall to tell you what to do. You would never cause an actual scene, but you'd fume for weeks after the encounter, thinking of clever ways to handle the situation in retrospect. You had a smart mouth, and while you rarely used it on high, your colorful vocabulary and quick temper had gotten you in serious trouble a couple of times before. You secretly loved using your words to cut someone down to their core, but only if they deserved it. When that side of you showed, the really mean one, no one could keep up with you. People would stare at you, eyes wide and mouth agape at your ability to so quickly discern what they truly hated about themselves and launch it back in their faces.

Aside from its ever-looming presence, this side of yourself was far away from you tonight. You were excited to see your friend, and shockingly the sun had been out today after nine days of straight rain. You had your AirPods in and were listening to one of your throwback playlists on Shuffle. The Clash rang in your ears, barraging your poor eardrums with excessive volume as the train hitched and swayed down the tunnel.

You let your gaze travel back up to the two large men at the other end of the train car. It struck you that it’d been a while since any man had touched you, let alone one as cute as the guys you were ogling shamelessly. You leered at the veiny forearms of the blonde, thickly folded into a taught cross over his chest. Your libido, ever your betrayer, flashed an imaginary scene in your mind’s eye. A vision of the man's vascular forearms tensed in a wrought-iron grip around the edge of a table in front of you, while he fucked you mercilessly from behind. You imagined what his strong body would feel like pressed against your back. A warmth bathed over your skin, your imagination tricking your synapses ever so gently. The warm sensation quickly shot upwards to your cheeks as you realized that the man was watching you stare at him. His expression wasn't judgemental or surprised, just thoughtful with the faintest hint of a smirk behind his mask. Your face flushed beet red and you quickly shook your head back and forth, attempting to convey to the man that you were not, in fact, ogling him but rather staring into the distance and were abruptly brought back to reality. This pathetic coverup attempt made you feel even more guilty since you knew your lustful gaze had been obvious. You averted your eyes down and to the right, tracing the lines made by an errant shoelace discarded on the floor.

The movement of the train broke you out of your shameful reverie. The driver pulled the break surprisingly hard into the next stop and your body lurched forward with the car. You steadied yourself on the wall to your left and watched as most of the people in your car streamed out of the train car doors. The older woman who had been sitting next to you disembarked and in her stead, a lanky brunette man with a buzzcut flopped down next to you dramatically. He gave you a shit-eating grin as your eyes met his and you quickly looked away.

You thought you felt a gaze from further down the train watching you closely but you didn't move or look up in an attempt to discourage your newly arrived neighbor from talking to you. This evasion failed miserably as he tapped you on your right thigh a little too high for your liking.

“Nice weather today, right?”

“Yep.” You said as you took out your right earbud.

“Where you headed?”

“To see a friend. What about you?” You mentally kicked yourself for engaging with him. Why were you so deferential?

“Me and my buddies are going out. Keeping the party going.” He nodded to a man to his right sitting across the aisle. His buddy was cute, like him, but something about him unsettled you. Something about both of them.

“Cool,” you said as you tried to put your earbud back in.

You noticed how empty the train car was. You and these two guys were the only ones on your end of the car. Why did this guy have to sit right next to you?

“What bar are you going to?” He asked quickly before you had the chance to put your earbud back in, so you stopped, holding it aloft.

“Baratie. It's nautical-themed.”

“Sounds cool. What's your friend's name?” He asked, staring you in the eye.

“Um, Amanda.” You said slowly.

“Hah. Good. I thought you were gonna say a guy's name.” He said and chuckled to himself.

“What?” You asked instinctively.

“I thought you were gonna say you had a date.” He explained. You were still confused.

“What do you mean?” You asked dumbly knowing full well his implication.

“I mean a pretty girl like you should come out with us tonight,” he said, his smile turning more nefarious by the second.

You'd never thought of yourself as pretty, and being called a girl made you feel infantile.

“Excuse me?” You asked not very aggressively

You knew that men generally found you attractive. You didn't know to what extent, but you knew on some level that you were cute. You never felt beautiful, that was a word reserved for tall, model-like women who were pretty in an ethereal sort of way. The women you found yourself watching in restaurants and clothing stores who made your heart skip a beat. They always seemed so effortless.

You were the opposite. You were small and round and angry and everything you did was full of effort. You weren't tiny but you were short. Despite your size, you always felt enormous and awkward. You were always moving out of people's way because you felt so brazenly wide. This feeling came from being muscular. You weren't ripped but you'd always played sports growing up and took every opportunity to carry things so that your mother didn't have to. You were a force of sheer mass and will. Femininity felt out of reach for someone who took up space.

Despite this, men found your willingness coupled with your small stature endearing. Your muscles and general meatiness meant that you had a curvy body which betrayed how seriously you took yourself. Your boobs were objectively huge which made you feel fat. Your large bust in tandem with your wide shoulders and back made you feel like you were going to hulk out of lithely cut women’s clothes. You didn't shop frequently, opting instead to wear t-shirts that swamped you in their width. You had a bit of a belly from your enjoyment of craft beer but generally, you were in good shape and attractive. You'd never admit this to anyone, but you saw the way people looked you up and down in bars.

Self-consciousness flooded your brain as you stared at the man sitting next to you. What did he mean?

“Oh, haha, no thanks.” You replied tentatively.

“Don't be shy,” he said, wrapping his long arm around your shoulders. You could smell minty alcohol radiating from the back of his throat.

“Haha. No, I'm good. Gotta meet my friend.” You said attempting to shrink from his grip.

His hand tightened and tensed on your left shoulder. He leaned his face into your right ear.

“Come on, don't be a bitch.” He cooed, his hot breath making you shiver in his arms.

All the color drained from your face and your heart sank. “Fuck,” you thought to yourself as your brain scrambled for ideas on how to escape.

His friend across the aisle laughed as he pulled you in closer to his body. He discreetly placed a soft kiss on the base of your neck.

“I know you want it.” He whispered. “My buddy and I will show you a good time.” You felt his fingers drift to your inner thigh as he squeezed lightly.

You froze from shock. Your brain descended into a panic as fear wracked your body. You couldn’t move.

Suddenly, the man next to you was yanked into the air and thrown to the floor of the train, his body making a loud thud as he skidded to a stop across the linoleum. The train bounced as your gaze trailed up the strong legs of the man now standing in front of you. It was the masked blonde man from your earlier fantasy. Your shocked expression caught his gaze. There was a silent rage behind his eyes. You didn't know how he crossed the train so quickly to launch your harasser out of his seat, especially in steel-toed boots, but you were grateful for it. The redheaded punk was still asleep, head resting on the wall.

The harasser’s friend, the man sitting across the aisle from you started to yell. He tried to get up in the face of the masked man but was violently shot backward with a swift roundhouse kick. The harasser got up off the floor while the masked man used his inertia to quickly pivot his feet and turn to face the incoming attack. He caught the harasser’s fist with his large left hand and parried with a swift punch straight to the guy’s jaw. You heard the crack of bone when his fist hit the man’s face. The harasser was once again, propelled to the ground, blood spraying from the side of his mouth. You gasped and covered your mouth with your hand in shock. You’d never seen a real fight before.

At that moment, the train car doors opened, and, seeing the chaotic scene, the people on the platform yelled in horror and diverted to other cars. You noticed the redheaded punk was now awake and smirking at his friend’s handiwork, his large arms crossed over his chest. The masked man paused, breathed out calmly, and turned to face you. You held your breath. His right fist was covered in blood, so after a thoughtful pause, he extended his left hand out towards you.

“You okay?” He asked. His voice was steady and reassuring, his large hand extended towards you, palm facing upwards.

“Um. Yes. I’m alright.” You stuttered, still in shock. You looked the man in the eye. The rage from earlier was gone and all that remained was tentative concern. He seemed worried that you would spook at any moment, like a wild rabbit caught against a fence.

Sensing no malice in his gaze, you gingerly placed your hand in his. It was calloused but warm and reassuring. He clasped your palm and helped you to your feet with surprising gentleness.

“Well I doubt we have much time after that performance” the redheaded punk spat from down the car, standing from his seat. His booming voice filled with deadpan amusement shocked you out of your daze. You looked around, people were whispering and looking at you through the train’s windows. You saw the station cop start to hustle down the platform towards your train car, “Hey! You three!” He yelled as he picked up his pace. “I've got an assault on a train down here” the cop barked into a walkie-talkie on his right shoulder.

The masked man put his hand on your right shoulder and looked at you, “Sorry, about this, but we gotta get moving.” In one swift motion, you were gracefully floated from the ground. The masked man draped your body over his left shoulder like it weighed nothing and held your legs snug to his chest. The redhead laughed raucously as they dashed out of the train car with you in tow. The masked man and the redhead ran side by side as they picked up speed, busting through the emergency exit door and darting up the station’s long walkway to the street. The yells of the station cop echoed into nothing as you emerged up, into the cold night air. The two men didn’t stop running until they reached an alley two blocks away. The masked man lowered you gently to your feet and they both hunched over to catch their breath.

“Kil, I’ve never seen you manhandle a chick like that” the redhead howled.

You tensed.

“Kid, you heard the cop, she was gonna get detained. I had to get her outta there.”

“How fucking gallant of you, asshole. What are we gonna do now? That wasn’t our stop.” The redheaded man finally caught his breath and stood up to his full height. He was huge, even taller than you’d originally thought. The masked man was broad and taller than you but the redhead had to be at least 6’5.

“Um excuse me. I’m here too.” You said looking from one to the other. On hearing this, they both turned and looked at you.

The redhead furrowed his brow at you, “Yeah, we know. You got us into this mess.”

Your jaw fell open. “How is this MY fault you’re the ones who basically kidnapped me!” You said incredulously.

“Yeah, if my buddy hadn’t saved your ass you’d be in a holding cell all night being questioned by Paul Blart.” The redhead shot back, his intense golden eyes boring into yours.

“Kid, knock it off. You know it’s not her fault.” The masked man waved dismissively at the redhead. “My name is Kil. Sorry for escalating things. Just thought you needed a hand.” The masked man reached his hand back out to you.

You took his hand and shook it lightly. “No, I appreciate it. Thank you.”

Kil shot a thumb at the redhead, “This ray of sunshine is Kid.”

Kid crossed his arms over his chest and averted his eyes from yours. “Pleasure.” He mumbled.

“He's not that bad when you get to know him,” Kil added. “We’re in a band and are meeting up with our mates for a show later.”

“Oh that’s cool,” you said, “what kind of band?”

“Punk, genius” Kid tsked and gestured towards his outfit with his metallic forearm.

“I didn’t ask you, ginger” you snapped back. Out of the corner of your eye, you thought you saw Kid’s lips shoot up into a reluctant smirk.

“Like Kid said, we’re a punk band. You’re welcome to come to the show if you’re interested, but I’m not exactly sure how we’re getting to the venue anymore.” Kil answered.

All of the commotion had made you completely forget about your own plans. “Shit!” You yelped and dug for your phone in your purse. The screen lit up and you find a text from your friend. “Hey I’m so so sorry but Lulu is coming down with something from daycare. I don’t think I’m gonna make it out tonight. Rain check?” You frowned at your phone. You’d wanted to see your friend tonight but hoped her daughter would feel better.

“So are you coming or what?”

You looked up. Kid was staring down at you, eyeing the message you’d pulled up on your phone. He had an expression in his piercing, golden eyes that you couldn’t read.

You paused to think. You didn’t know these guys, but despite their gruff exteriors, you felt decently comfortable with them.

Maybe it was because you’d already done your hair and makeup, maybe it was because you were still full of adrenaline, maybe it was because you thought of yourself as more rebellious than you actually were, or maybe it was because looking at either one of the men made your insides twist into knots, but for whatever reason you cracked a wry smile and replied,

“Yeah, let’s do this.”

#eustass kid #eustass kid x reader #killer one piece #massacre soldier killer #killer x reader #eustass kid x killer x reader #one piece x reader #one piece fanfic

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dustedmagazine · 11 months ago

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Music is an Essential Verb: Derek Taylor 2023

Music remains, along with family, friends, and a select few venial vices, my primary daily defense against the mental erosions of spiritual malaise and existential dread. Being a humanist also means being a realist, and little looks to be different on that score in the year ahead as we continue to careen toward a bleak and self-defeating dénouement. The veil of uncertainty around what ultimately feels like inevitability redoubles the need to remain thankful for and supportive of those who devote themselves to art. Summary capsules below describe some of the sounds that kept me going in 2023.

Peter Brötzmann, Wayne Shorter, Kidd Jordan, & Charles Gayle

“The trauma of my generation was what our fathers had done to the rest of the world, and so we said, ‘never again,’ and that was the whole impetus through all my life, and it still is.” ~ Brötzmann (2018)

Musician attrition and demise are dispiriting aspects of every annum, but the departure of four disparate octogenarian reedists exacted an especially steep emotional and cultural toll this year. Shorter and Jordan passed away in March, each of them leaving a rich legacy as indefatigable improviser and altruistic educator that continue influence and inspire. Brötzmann exited in June after the return of a protracted respiratory illness. Few if any can match the magnitude of his mileage and six-decade itinerary as an irrepressible, obstinately adventurous world traveler. Gayle ascended in September, an ardent, uncompromising eremite to the end. All four men left behind discographies and concert/interview footage that will leave the faithful and curious listening and marveling in perpetuity, but their collective absence still aches.

Kirk Knuffke & Joe McPhee Quartet + 1 – Keep the Dream Up (Fundacja Sluchaj)

One of the manifold joys of following the output of Kirk Knuffke is anticipating who he’ll collaborate with next. The cornetist’s ears and imagination are as huge as his heart, a trait he has in common with the equally equanimous Joe McPhee. They’ve known each other for years but Keep the Dream Up is their first released collaboration and it’s an affirming alloy of their complementary creative temperaments. Longtime McPhee comrades Michael Bisio and Jay Rosen complete the quartet with bass clarinetist Christof Knoche comprising the additive on a Brooklyn studio session that captures collective creative lightning in a digital bottle. My album of the year for these reasons and more, although hopefully Joe will bring his brass to a follow-up conclave soon.

Don Byas – Classic Sessions 1944-1946 (Mosaic)

Saxophonist Don Byas recorded prolifically during the 1940s. His porous sound and popular style bridged the schools of swing and bop through prowess and panache aligned with the most esteemed of post-WII tone scientists. That sustained industriousness hasn’t reflected in reliable access to his works, primarily because they’re spread across a plethora of independent labels and competing copyrights. Leave it to Mosaic Records to rectify the longstanding reissue lacuna. This long gestating collection corrals and sequences the bulk of them across ten discs, scrubbing their sound, and adding an expansive cache of rarified verité concert recordings made in a Swedish jazz fan’s residence. Indulging in one’s Byas bias has never been easier or as edifying.

Fred Anderson – The Milwaukee Tapes Vol. 2 (Corbett vs Dempsey)

Patience and long-game aptitude are among music producer/archivist/advocate John Corbett’s virtues. This unexpected, but abundantly welcome sequel to an archival Anderson collection on Corbett’s long defunct Unheard Music Series took 23 years to secure commercial circulation and offers an additional hour-plus from the same gig in improved sound. Fellow AACMers Billy Brimfield and Hamid (nee Hank) Drake join bassist Larry Hayrod in bringing vibrant, detailed life to the Lone Prophet of the Prairie’s (as Anderson was affectionately known) serpentine, cerulean melodies. Corbett’s current label released a plenitude of music in 2023 (see also below) but the uncommon opportunity to hear more Anderson of any vintage makes this release worthy of independent mention.

Jason Adasiewicz

Corbett vs. Dempsey also had a welcome role in Jason Adasiewicz’s return to record with two different projects. On vinyl, Roy’s World documents a 2017 Chicago studio session by the vibraphonist’s quintet originally intended as the soundtrack to a film based on neo-noir novelist Barry Gifford’s short stories. Chicago stalwarts Josh Berman, Joshua Abrams, Hamid Drake, join saxophonist Jonathan Doyle in the ensemble for a program that sounds at once fresh and nostalgic while always vital. On CD, Roscoe’s Village dispenses with band for a solo selective foray through the songbook of Roscoe Mitchell including evocative renderings of “Congliptious” and “A Jackson in Your House” that retain the composer’s essence while striking out in bold new directions.

Natural Information Society

Grounded as it is in core voices of guembri, frame drum and harmonium, codification of Josh Abrams’ NIS as a jazz ensemble immediately feels reductively incomplete. All participating instruments can be active architects in the undulating, melody-laced drones that frequently form the basis of the band’s gradual, granulated improvisations. Performances are more akin to collective expeditions where a galvanizing gestalt effect is afoot; one where earned communal peaks preserve the individual power and agency of the interlocking parts. Since Time is Gravity augments this already catalytic template by incorporating a larger contingent of Chicago colleagues including tenorist Ari Brown to the equation.

Abdul Wadud

A jazz-based improviser on the cello who didn’t double on other stringed instruments, Wadud was also a consummate collaborator and sideman. Magnanimity in lending his substantial talents to the projects of others resulted in a paucity of albums under his own name. By Myself from 1977 on the Bisharra label is a revelatory anomaly on that self-effacing resume. Wadud approaches the instrument as a multifaceted sound factory, plucking, strumming, and bowing, often simultaneously, to create solo tone poems steeped in personal poignancy. Gotta Groove’s vinyl reissue is a beautiful facsimile of the original album object in faithfully reconstructed fidelity.

Marion Brown

Georgia-born altoist Marion Brown had a lengthy, storied career but the body of recorded work that he left behind can present difficulties in terms of ingress to its totality. Scattered across labels, years, and circumstances, much of it is either out of print or commercially unreleased. That collective relative obscurity makes a trio of releases, two on the German Moosicus label, and a third Record Store Day viny reissue of Brown’s 1970 studio duets with Wadada Leo Smith under the shared sobriquet Creative Improvisation Ensemble even more valuable. Of the former two, Mary Ann presents concert material by Brown’s quartet from a 1969 Bremen club gig in soundboard fidelity. Gesprächsfetzen & In Sommerhausen combines two more German concert snapshots, quintet, and sextet, from 1968 & 1969 with Gunter Hampel originally released on the Calig imprint. Steve McCall is a boon on drums in all three contexts.

Art Pepper – Complete Maiden Voyage Recordings (Omnivore)

Art Pepper was an inveterate rake for most of his life, magnifying destructive interpersonal tendencies with drugs and frustratingly frequent acts of self-sabotage. That star-crossed propensity makes the fact that he left so much magnificent music even more miraculous. This lavish box is a fascinating compendium of the constantly competing artistic contradictions at his center, collecting a quartet gig across three nights and seven club sets in Pepper’s native Los Angeles, ten months prior to his premature passing at 56. Over half of the music is previously unreleased and the rhythm section, led by the impeccable and implacable pianistics of George Cables, gives Pepper a cumulative confidence boost that keeps him on the rails. None of it has ever sounded better.

Pan Afrikan People’s Arkestra

Los Angeles of the late-1970s was an unforgiving environment for the economic necessities of orchestral jazz. The Pan Afrikan People’s Arkestra, under the nominal leadership of pianist/composer/community organizer Horace Tapscott, was a tenaciously subversive force in the face of that ruinous rule. Adopting the Immanuel United Church of Christ as an informal base of operations, the large ensemble resourcefully engaged in an ambitious series of concerts in 1979. The Nimbus label, long a Tapscott exponent and repository, released the first three entries this year in an archival subscription series collecting the voluminous results. Titles are also available individually and present the pivotal band at a performative peak with star soloists Sabir Mateen, Billy Harris, Jesse Sharps, and Robert Miranda shining just as bright as their fearless foreman.

Alan Skidmore – A Supreme Love

Unexpectedly issued on Mark Wastell’s Confront label, an imprint better known for its fealty to free improvisation, this six-disc archival tribute to Alan Skidmore’s 70+ year career in music launches with the saxophonist’s 1961 radio debut and lands some seven-hours later with his intimate 2019 rendering of John Coltrane’s “Psalm.” The aural expanse between is brimming with bright moments and luminary collaborators the likes of which include Tony Oxley, Kenny Wheeler, Wayne Shorter, Dave Holland, Mike Osborne, Elvin Jones, and another dozen name drops from the top tier of improvised music. It’s a wild, illuminating ride and a sterling example of a musical memorial done right.

The Jazz Doctors – Intensive Care/Prescriptions Filled: The Billy Bang Quartet Sessions 1983/1984 (Cadillac)

Billy Bang and Frank Lowe shared a bottomless fraternal bond forged through parallel traumas internalized in Vietnam and expressed by the subsequent embrace of the restorative power of improvised music. The pair of sessions (one reissued, one archival) collected on this disc epitomize their deep attachment arguably as well as any of their other numerous collaborations. Outside the cardinal duo, the Jazz Doctors never really had a stable lineup, but the quartets here embody two of their best. Both programs are loosely adherent to freebop conventions with violin and tenor saxophone combining over contrabass and drums for a potent front line. Bang and Lowe are long gone now, their shared absence making the availability of this music even more precious.

Attila Zoller & Jimmy Raney

Hungarian guitarist Attila Zoller had selective affinity for other artists on the instrument, so much so that his mid-career period is seeded by fateful encounters with plectrist peers. Most prolific among these partnerships was his prudent pairing with Jimmy Raney. A popular proponent of bop-based jazz, Raney was in a similar exploratory headspace when the two joined forces on a trio of recordings for the German L + R label over a seven-year span. Concert dates from Frankfurt (’80) and Berlin (’86) find the duo spooling out lengthy dialogues that dabble in free improvisation while keeping codified melodies within reach. An earlier New York encounter (’79) explores their rapport in a studio. All three reissues on the Japanese Ultra-Vybe imprint are aces.

Steve Swell’s Fire Into Music

Simultaneously emblematic of NYC free jazz in the early aughts and fiercely dedicated to resisting pitfalls of provincialism by touring generously and rigorously, trombonist Steve Swell’s Fire into Music was one of the finest quartets of its kind. Posthumously dedicated to the late altoist Moondoc, this three CD set collects a trio of small venue concerts by the band from gigs in Texas and Ontario. As with the horns, William Parker and Hamid Drake are ideally suited to the extended, expository freebop safaris that formed the ensemble’s flexible repertoire. Swell’s the leader on paper but sagely embraces musical communalism without fail.

Intakt

Running a physical media imprint in the 21st century is an inherently parlous enterprise, but this steadfast Swiss label continues to evidence how it’s done. This year’s standout catalog entries include Andrew Cyrille’s Music Delivery/Percussion, the octogenarian drummer’s third solo album and first in 45-years; bassist Jöelle Leandré’s solo Zurich Concert; pianist Aruán Ortiz’s Serranías Sketchbook for Piano Trio; Beyond Dragons by the trio of saxophonist Angelika Niescier, cellist Tomeka Reid, and drummer Savannah Harris, and Ohad Talmor’s Back to the Land, a quartet-plus-guests survey that takes its compositional focus an archival workshop date by Ornette Coleman and Lee Konitz.

Ezz-thetics

The appearance of the Swiss Ezz-thetics imprint four years ago raised both eyebrows and ire. Lacking access to master tapes, veteran free jazz and new music producer Werner Uehlinger sourced commercially released editions instead, employing ace audio engineer Peter Pfister succeeded by Michael Brandli to rejuvenate and refurbish the recordings, stateside copyright considerations be damned. Reaction was expeditious and polemical, but proof is in the hearing as most of the label’s dozens of releases sound better than their original incarnations. Catalog highlights this year include another round of Albert Ayler airshots including his pivotal meeting with the Cecil Tayor Trio in 1962 on More Lost Performances, Charles Mingus’ At Antibes 1960, and Ornette Coleman’s At the Golden Circle.

Fresh Sound

Jordi Pujol is akin to Uehlinger in that he refuses to let his vision and ambitions as a producer be abbreviated by external opinion. In Pujol’s case it’s yielded a bountiful inventory of antiquarian titles that rights holders have shown little to zero interest in restoring to begin with. Cases in point for this year include a definitive collection of obscurando saxophonist Boots Mussulli’s works; concert and studio collections by the Count Basie alumni tandem of Al Grey and Billy Mitchell; hens’ teeth rare leader sessions by Arthur Lyman vibraphonist Julius Wechter; and a two-fer of Julliard-trained Ellingtonian Cass Harrison piano trio albums. Exciting guilty pleasures all around.

Playing for the Man at the Door

As complex as he was controversial, Robert “Mack” McCormick deserves consideration in the esteemed company of other maverick cultural archivists like Alan Lomax, George Mitchell, and Harry Smith. With a preservationist purview mostly comprising Texas and bordering states, McCormick spent much of his adult life obsessively documenting and disentangling the cultural capital of the region through recordings, photography, interviews, essays, and research. Smithsonian Folkways became repository for the massive reservoir after his passing and this box is the first in what will hopefully be multiple dispatches from the same. Unreleased field recordings of Mance Lipscomb and Lightnin’ Hopkins represent the big names, but works by the likes of Hop Wilson, Cedell Davis, Robert Shaw, and a handful of others are just as persuasive. Bongo Joe Coleman’s impassioned presidential pitch closing the set will have listeners pining for a time when third party Executive Branch candidacy didn’t seem so fraught.

Joni Mitchell Archives - Vol. 3, The Asylum Years 1972 to 1975

Mitchell’s continuing project corollary to her old friend Neil Young’s analogously exhaustive retrospective enterprise, this third entry in the series finds her 30-something-self further broadening the lens of her art beyond the solo concert music that dominated the first two boxes. There are stirring solitary shows here, too, but it’s the band offerings that prove most revealing, particularly in the company of reedist Tom Scott’s fusion group L.A. Express. James Taylor, Graham Nash, and David Crosby lend contributory hands, and there’s a brief but intriguing collaboration with Young alongside a trove of demos and workshop versions of songs from her first three albums for Asylum.

Martin Davidson

In closing, another memorial. Martin Davidson wasn’t a musician, but European free improvisation as an art and archive would be a fraction of what it is without his copious and enduring work. As steadfast proprietor of the Emanem label he put his resources into musicians whose efforts frequently fell outside the probability of consistent commercial remuneration. Under his aegis, influential improvisers like Steve Lacy, Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, and Paul Rutherford gained robust catalogs alongside other aspiring artists who never garnered even niche cachet. Davidson was a curmudgeon and an anachronism, trusting his ears implicitly, suffering the indignities of inquiries from strangers seeking audience with the hip hop icon who shared the phonetics of his imprint’s name, and advancing the pleasures of physical media well past their purported expiration date. He was also a talented writer, adding invaluable context to his releases through first-person testimony and critique. Martin will be missed.

And as is tradition in this 20th iteration of this year-end exercise, 25 more titles in stochastic order. Thanks to all for reading, and gratitude to Jennifer Kelly for providing the forum and formatting.

Rodrigo Amado’s The Bridge – Beyond the Margins (Trost)

James Brandon Lewis – For Mahalia with Love (Tao Forms)

Henry Threadgill – The Other One (Pi)

Guillermo Gregorio – Two Trios (ESP)

Rob Brown – Oceanic (RogueArt)

Rich Halley Quintet – Fire Within (Pine Eagle)

Milford Graves w/ Arthur Doyle & Hugh Glover – Children of the Forest (Black Editions)

Mike Osborne – Starting Fires: Live at the 100 Club 1970 (British Progressive Jazz)

Jim Hall – Uniquities Vol 1 + 2 (ArtistShare)

Madhuvanti Pal – The Holy Mother (Sublime Frequencies)

V/A – On the Honky Tonk Highway with Augie Meyers & the Texas Re-Cord Company (Bear Family)

Mal Waldron & Terumasa Hino – Reminiscent Suite (Victor/BBE)

Oum Kalsoum – L’Astre D’Orient 1926-1937 (Fremeaux & Associates)

Sonny Rollins w/ the Heikki Sarmanto Trio – Live at Finlandia Hall Helsinki 1972 (Svart)

V/A – Equatoriana: El Universo Paralelo de Polibio Mayorga (Analog Africa)

Evan Parker – NYC 1978 (Relative Pitch)

V/A – If There’s a Hell Below (Numero Group)

John Coltrane – Evenings at the Village Gate (Impulse)

Derek Bailey & Paul Motian – Duo in Concert (Frozen Reeds)

Peter Brötzmann/Fred Van Hove/Han Bennink/Albert Mangelsdorff – Outspan 1 & 2 (FMP/Cien Fuegos)

Hasaan Ibn Ali – Reaching for the Stars: Trios/Duos/Solos (Omnivore)

Mark Dresser – Tines of Change (Pyroclastic)

Steve Millhouse – The Unwinding (Steeplechase)

Myra Melford’s Fire and Water Quintet – Hear the Light Singing (RogueArt)

V/A – Destination Desert: 33 Oriental Rock & Roll Treasures (Bear Family)

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highfiveheroes · 6 months ago

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fic ask!! for passage commentary, this bit from "now I breathe flames every time I talk" chapter one (though the entirety of ch1 lives rent free in my mind at all times):

The thing is, she knows them too well. They all follow her to the bathroom—Oisin is with his great something grandmother tonight and Buddy doesn’t stay on weekends, so it’s Ruben, Ivy, and Mary Ann that stand at the end of the hall, watching to see what nefarious plan she’s got under her sleeve.

She uses her own toothpaste and her own toothbrush, doesn’t touch anyone else’s, and steps out into the hall. Three heads whip behind a corner; she pretends not to notice. There’s four guest rooms; on nights when everyone is staying, either someone pulls an all-nighter or someone ends up napping at their desk. It’s usually Kipperlilly that sacrifices the room. But again, Oisin isn’t here, and they agreed early in sophomore year that they wouldn’t mind letting her borrow his unofficial room when she needed it. It’s been a while, but she thinks the offer still stands. So into his room she goes, and there’s lots of papers regarding bank dealings and Adaine Abernant, but she ignores all of it and shuts the door so she can change.

Shadows pass in front of the door a few times as she gets ready, letting her hair down, avoiding looking in the mirror. When the light goes out, the movement stops, and she can picture them all on the other side. Let them wonder, she thinks. Let them stalk her. They don’t care about her and they never did, so—

She tries to sleep. Honestly, she does. But fifteen minutes later the door creaks open, letting light spill into the room. Kipperlilly doesn’t move. She’s not doing anything wrong, goddamn it, she’s just trying to fucking sleep.

OH I LOVED THIS SECTION <3

no because i'm sort of obsessed with the non rogues of the party trying to tail the actual rogue, especially when she's...not actually doing anything for once? like i wanted it to read like a brooklyn 99 scene for this whole sequence, where ruben&co think they're in the heist of the century trying to figure out what kipperlilly is doing...meanwhile kipperlilly is literally being the most normal she's ever been.

also confession time...i have the line in here about adaine and bank documents which in hindsight is so funny to me that people read it as oisin being the reason adaine is poor, because i actually meant for it to be "oh, oisin has something to do with the KVX bank turning blue, and as a separate fun fact he's been stalking adaine and trying to learn more about her. but i actually prefer the take that he's got something to do with adaine not getting money, because it makes him offering her components and gems and gold so much more sinister in context hahaha

but i also wanted to throw in the oisin and kipperlilly dynamic, because they're so fascinating to me. arguably they're the smartest in the crew—at the very least, they're the two most likely to be involved in the main plot, as shown by the buddy/last stand moment and the scene during rock the vote. (this is also coming into play in ch2 LOL so i'm glad i left the crumbs in ch1)

and then. and then!! kipperlilly just...sweet girl, she wouldn't even recognize if she saw herself in the mirror after the mask has dropped. it's the way she has completely detached herself from any of her actions and who she's become now, and she can't face it, so she just keeps plowing forward instead. like a sunk cost fallacy of "i've come this far, no use in reflecting on how i got here or where i came from or who i used to be" sort of thing. she tries so hard to pretend things are fine, it's just that...they're not. y'know?

thank you!!! for letting me get to analyze this, i fucking love it hehehe

#the box writes #d20 fhjy spoilers #inbox #kipperlilly copperkettle #now i breathe flames each time i talk

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thoughtfulfangirling · 8 months ago

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We cut to the trio exploring. They've found the kitchen but don't understand what things are about and cause shenanigans.

One of the things I find particularly interesting about this sequence is that once again, we have Brooklyn and Lexington on a sort of same page situation. They stick by each other. When brooklyn accidently starts the stove on his hand and jerks back, Lexington is right there to be knocked into the shelves of pans. They're exploring next to each other to just glance over when they hear Broadway call out.

But Broadway is off doing his own thing. He locates the cooler. Arguably, he's clued in on the most important part of the kitchen for them. It certainly catches his interest. It's definitely something worth calling out about ("Hey guys! I think I found the food!"), but he doesn't. I'm going to keep an eye on him to see if this comes from a place of selfishness or obliviousness. My gut is to say that he just doesn't think to call out. His interest is piqued, and he gets consumed by that interest. But also, maybe it's hard for him to feel like he's survived with two people his age who are closer to each other than to him. Maybe if they can have that closeness, he'll take what he can find where he finds it.

Either way, it doesn't stop him from immediately calling out when he finds himself trapped.

I know this whole sequence is a moment to keep kids interested in what's happening, to give them a moment of amusement in between the more serious stuff, but even little filler moments, maybes sometimes especially, have good character moments.

#Gargoyles #G!Brooklyn #G!Lexington #G!Broadway #tfg liveblogs gargoyles #s1 e3 #awakening part 3 #Gs1e3

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andmaybegayer · 1 year ago

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Last Monday of the Week 2023-11-27

Snow

Listening: Someone on IRC linked me to 3Blue1Brown's Hallelujah Parody about the vicissitudes of apparent patterns in sequences.

youtube

Reading: You Want My Password or a Dead Patient:, a paper about information security and the lack thereof in medical contexts. Paper linked here, but I first heard about it in this Choast.

A very good deep dive into the extremes of classic reasons why information security is bypassed: it's just much more important that you have access to resources Right Now in a hospital context than it is that they are secure against hacker, most of the time.

Hospitals process a lot of private information, so they are often beholden to the security standards imposed by regulations agencies. If you've engaged with mandatory security regulations you'll know a lot of them are, uh, bad?

(Famously if you want to meet US FIPS Government Standards you cannot use the Good Elliptic Curve ed25519 and instead you have to use a different, less well secured curve.)

Anyway what this means is that you have a significant conflict between the very high stakes and fast paced world of hospital medicine, and a system that wants you to log back in every time you step away from the x-ray machine.

Watching: Nothing.

Playing: As you may know if you're following me, I started Dark Souls this week. I am having a great time in Dark Souls! It's a lot of fun. I am still where I was yesterday, having just beaten the Belltower Gargoyles.

youtube

There are definitely notes that I have. It is for sure a 12 year old game. Some of the opacity is definitely intentional difficulty, like requiring you to just feel out the parry timing, but I it probably wouldn't make the game any easier if it had reliable indicators of when you're in position to backstab or riposte someone and it would make parrying much more fun. I like parrying but so often you parry someone and then just hit them normally instead of going for the cool finisher riposte.

Making: Like ten minutes ago I reopened Cinnabar and Calcite and did a little hardware swap, moving a new network card into Calcite and Calcite's old network card into Cinnabar. Everyone is settled back in. Wifi card upgrades are not really essential but it is nice to have wifi on a desktop even if you don't use it because a) someday you will and b) it's free bluetooth.

Also: Wrote some very bad bash to use my motherboard RGB as a tally light for recording these Dark Souls clips, since I've lost a few clips to hitting the wrong record button a few times.

Tools and Equipment: Original Tuesdayposter @girlfriendsofthegalaxy had a video on marinara sauce this last Tuesday and I was inspired to try some tomato pasta bakes. I usually make Mornay sauce based pasta bakes because it's what my parents usually made, but you gotta try a really spicy tomato pasta bake.

I got some habaneros and jalapenos from the farmers market and made a big pot of spicy tomato tuna bake and especially with the weather being How It Is that was great, I'm making a mushroom one sometime soon it kicked ass. That recipe was loosely based on this one, although I put in a bunch of extra vegetables.

#last monday of the week #Youtube

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steelbluehome · 5 months ago

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The Hollywood Reporter

A Different Man’ Review: Sebastian Stan Drops the Mask in a Provocative Dark Comedy With a Heart0

Renate Reinsve ('The Worst Person in the World') and Adam Pearson ('Under the Skin') co-star in writer-director Aaron Schimberg’s twisted New York-set fable.

BY JORDAN MINTZER

JANUARY 21, 2024

Looks can be deceiving in A Different Man, writer-director Aaron Schimberg’s endearingly twisted take on actors, playwrights, egos and the plight of the profoundly disfigured.

Like the famous “Eye of the Beholder” episode of The Twilight Zone, in which humans turn out to be society’s freakish outcasts, this dark comedy suggests what happens when an aspiring thespian afflicted with neurofibromatosis manages to find a miracle cure, only to long for the life he had when he was still deformed.

The thesp in question — a nebbishy New York actor named Edward, or Ed — is played with tongue-in-cheek gravitas by Sebastian Stan, who dons several layers of prosthetics (courtesy of ace makeup designer Mike Marino) until peeling them away to reveal his true face. But that hardly gives Ed the life he bargained for, in a film that piquantly questions how others look at us and, more importantly, how we look at ourselves.

The fact that Pearson is stricken with neurofibromatosis, and that Stan wore tons of makeup to mimic that condition, may raise a few eyebrows. And yet A Different Man is very much about art imitating life and vice-versa, contemplating the different masks — whether real or artificial — we put on when going out into the world.

At first, the story plays out like your typical NYC indie dramedy, with Ed living in a grubby one-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn while trying to make it as an actor. He has a nosy super, at least one neighbor who hates him, and there’s a leak in his ceiling that grows so big it risks swallowing him up. The catch is that Ed’s disfigured state makes him completely stand out, at least to the viewer. For those who already know him, he comes across as just another shy and curmudgeonly New Yawka.

Things start looking up when a new neighbor, the radiant Ingrid (Renate Reinsve, The Worst Person in the World), moves in next door. Like Ed, she’s an aspiring artist — a playwright, in fact — and the two soon hit it off, even if Ed is very much inhibited by his looks. Ingrid is more open-minded and curious, and one novel aspect of Schimberg’s script is how, unlike in David Lynch’s The Elephant Man, nearly everyone Ed meets treats him with respect and compassion.

Schimberg explored a similar theme, albeit in a more artsy fashion, in his 2018 behind-the-scenes drama Chained for Life. That film co-starred Adam Pearson, who many may remember from his haunting sequence opposite Scarlett Johansson in Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin, and who winds up stealing the show here as a totally charming and nonchalant threat to Ed’s newfound existence.

The failing actor’s humdrum life takes a major turn when he agrees to participate in an experimental drug program that could cure his condition. After several scenes of Cronenberg-esque body horror, he starts peeling away his tumors like a snake shedding its skin, transforming into a brand new person with Stan’s well-defined face.

You would think this would all be for the better, but as A Different Man goes on to reveal, things actually get worse. Ed soon comes to miss the man he once was, especially when Pearson’s character steps into the picture and very casually hijacks his life, including Ed’s burgeoning love affair with Ingrid.

That and other plot mechanics in Schimberg’s screenplay can seem a bit over-the-top, particularly when Ed begins to lose his mind in the third act as everything unravels. Still, the story’s twists and turns maintain our interest throughout, with the narrative taking on a cleverly deconstructed play-within-a-film format reminiscent, at times, of Charlie Kaufman’s Synecdoche, New York.

The antics are captured in grainy naturalistic visuals by Wyatt Garfield (The Kitchen) and backed by a score from Umberto Smerilli that shifts between indie vibes and the classic melodies of Hollywood B-flicks. A Different Man shifts between several genres as well, but Schimberg manages to tie things neatly together by asking the same question, in various ways, until the very last scene: What’s in a face?

#sebastian stan #a different man #renate reinsve #adam pearson #aaron schimberg

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ogradyfilm · 1 year ago

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Recently Viewed: Door

[The following review contains SPOILERS; YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!]

When I first discovered the existence of Banmei Takahashi’s Door earlier this year (via various clips shared by fan accounts on Twitter), it was love at first sight. Luckily, while the movie currently lacks official distribution in the United States, I didn’t need to wait very long at all to see it (compared to Angel’s Egg, A Page of Madness, and Samurai Wolf, anyway) thanks to the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival, which screened it just before midnight on Friday, October 13th—basically the ideal context in which to experience its unique brand of madness.

The premise is as brilliant as it is straightforward: an ordinary housewife—already fed up with cold callers and their seemingly unlimited access to her family’s personal information—aggressively turns away an especially persistent salesman, slamming the door on his fingers after he ignores her repeated protests and attempts to force his way into her apartment. Unfortunately, this moment of instinctive panic has severe repercussions, resulting in an excruciatingly tense game of cat-and-mouse as the slighted pamphlet pusher’s vengeful wrath gradually evolves into perverse sexual obsession.

It’s a captivatingly mundane flavor of terror, twisting a familiar, relatable scenario into an inescapable nightmare. There’s nothing particularly memorable or remarkable about the central villain. He has no elaborate costume or mask, no supernatural abilities or distinguishing features; unlike Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, and Leatherface, he doesn’t even wield a signature weapon (though he is quite handy with the absurdly convenient electric chainsaw that he scavenges from the protagonist’s collection of otherwise run-of-the-mill home appliances). This anonymity is absolutely chilling; he effortlessly blends in with the crowd—average, unassuming, invisible. Indeed, his façade of superficial “normalcy” is far more insidious than any explicit display of insanity; he taunts his prey with idle banter, seamlessly transitioning between casual flirtation and thinly veiled threats.

The director’s visual style perfectly complements the suspenseful tone of the narrative. Early scenes almost resemble a slice-of-life domestic drama, characterized by flat compositions and lighting. As the conflict escalates, however, the warm, inviting interiors slowly warp and distort, becoming cramped, claustrophobic, hostile. Foreground elements (potted plants, sculptures, windows, doorways) isolate our heroine within the frame, emphasizing her vulnerability. Voyeuristic point-of-view shots serve a similar purpose, subliminally insinuating that true “safety” is an illusion: the sinister stalker could be lurking around any shadowy corner. The increasingly maximalist cinematography culminates in the film’s most iconic sequence: a prolonged overhead angle that follows the now totally unhinged maniac as he relentlessly pursues his quarry from room to room, utterly demolishing every obstacle in his path—splintering wood, shattering glass, and reducing drywall to dust.

Yet some of the movie’s most haunting images are significantly less spectacular than this climactic set piece. Takahashi understands the inherent value of patience, frequently locking down the camera and lingering on long, uninterrupted closeups of his lead actress simply reacting to suspicious offscreen noises—the echo of footsteps in the corridor, for example, or the telltale rattle of the deadbolt being tested. Keiko Takahashi’s face is breathtakingly expressive; her turbulent emotions are palpable, a violent maelstrom of anxiety, desperation, and paralyzing fear clearly evident in every twitch of her eye, every crease in her brow, every tear staining her cheek.

How thematically appropriate that Door—a story that explores such everyday horrors as rampant commercialism, predatory marketing, and the erosion of privacy—should be at its scariest when it embraces naturalism, minimalism, and subtlety.

#Door #Banmei Takahashi #Keiko Takahashi #Japanese film #Japanese cinema #Japanese horror #J horror #Brooklyn Horror Film Festival #Arrow Video #Nitehawk Cinema #horror #Halloween 2023 #film #writing #movie review

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finishinglinepress · 6 months ago

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FLP CHAPBOOK OF THE DAY: Everything is a Big Deal for an Ocean by Susan Bruce

On SALE now! Pre-order Price Guarantee: https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/everything-is-a-big-deal-for-an-ocean-by-susan-bruce/

In turbulent 2020, a year of isolation, the author stands on the shoreline of the #Atlantic Ocean in Montauk, LI and determines each of the waves to be unique, and selves of herself. Everything Is a Big Deal for an Ocean is the imagined poetic exchange between a vast #ocean and a tender writer, as they contend with intrinsic restlessness and connectedness. #poetry #poems #chapbook

Susan Bruce received an MA from NYU Tisch School of the Arts and a BA from the University of Michigan. She lives with her husband and their two sons in Brooklyn, where she grew up and in Montauk, NY where she surfs.

PRAISE FOR Everything is a Big Deal for an Ocean by Susan Bruce

Susan Bruce has written a contemporary voice for the voice of waves: humorous, besieged, beseeching. One wave is known as “the comedian of icy coldness”; one lets off steam “and ejaculates more waves”; another aspires “to be a skyscraper”; Everything Is a Big Deal for an Ocean is an elliptical dadaist re-invention of the life and times of waves, here perceived as individual entities with fears, wit, and desires of their own. Bruce has given waves both individual and multiple consciousness, inviting us to reconsider our love and fear of this force of nature. I couldn’t help but think of JMW Turner’s magisterial paintings: what if those waves could talk! Here we overhear the absolutely unpredictable, wholly original conversation between a writer in the sands and the insouciant waves.

–Catherine Barnett, author of Human Hours

Everything is a big deal, especially when you are an ocean full of waves. Bruce’s collection of poems in Everything is a Big Deal for an Ocean inhabits the spirit of being a wave, and a person and a waveperson. The poet is wave, and the wave is a poet who crashes and softens in the spirit of As a wave artist I sprinkle cells of splash. These poems are the power of splash, the sweetness of splash, the inside of a wave and the outside of a wave, a singular vision of the sea in all of its humanity. Everything is a huge deal, a monumental occasion that Bruce has written about through the lens of a wave that is never ending, the embattled and beautiful energy of everyday existence.

–Matthew Lippman, author of We Are All Sleeping with Our Sneakers On

What a surprising, witty, sensual, playful and compelling sequence of poems Susan Bruce has made. What a mind this ocean is—fluid, hypnotic—with its deeply improvisatory logic, its incessant questions, confessions, repetitions; its waves of thought and sinking feelings, its blues and cluttered ribcage. With a light touch and rhythmic beauty, a Yes, and process of investigation, Bruce explores our contradictions and compulsions, our fears and psychic undertows, in a moving lyric meditation on order and disorder.

–Donna Masini, author of 4:30 Movie

Everything Is a Big Deal for An Ocean is like standing on the shore, eavesdropping on an incredibly personal conversation between the narrator and the ocean. We’re lulled, then tossed by the sway of the waves, feel the grit of the sand between our toes, and hear the “growl and burst” resonating our ears. Who is speaking and whether the questions posed will ever be answered mirror the fluid, enigmatic nature of the water itself. In this dialogue, Bruce illuminates both the vast expanse of the ocean as well as the depths of our own internal worlds.

–Heather Aimee O’Neill, author of Memory Future and Obliterations

In Everything is a Big Deal for an Ocean, Susan Bruce connects the world of the writer, and the role of the writer, to that of the natural world. “We could be blissful together.” “I’m left to sing when the sun rises and sing when the sun sets.” That’s the call of the artist, isn’t it? To sing! The beauty of poetry is how we use it to be resilient. These poems make us think and help us to carry on, naturally, as a wave.

–Leah Umansky, author of Of Tyrant (2024)

Please share/please repost

#flpauthor #preorder #AwesomeCoverArt #poetry #chapbook #read #poems

#poetry #flp authors #preorder #flp #poets on tumblr #american poets #finishing line press #small press

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heloflor · 2 years ago

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Finally saw the Mario movie last Thursday (I like to wait a week so that the theatre is emptier) and here are my 2 cents on it (very long post + spoilers ahead) :

- First of all note that I’ve seen many spoilers before going in because I didn’t know what to expect so I wanted to know what people thought of it, but it’s one of those movies where knowing things in advance doesn’t ruin the enjoyment for me. Hell I intended to go with no expectations whatsoever and reading spoilers actually got me a bit more excited about it.

- Overall, it was fun. Like many people here already said, the movie really could’ve used more time in order to be more character-focused, and I’ll admit I got a bit bored by the time the third act rolled in. But if you just want to have a good time, it’s a good movie for that. Nothing groundbreaking, but fun enough.

- As an adaptation as in “bringing the world into the big screen regardless of the story”, I do think that it does a fantastic job at it ! Absolutely everything feels like it comes straight out of the games. And while some references are a bit in your face, most of them flow very naturally with the world they created. It’s especially impressive how they managed to make a small Toad Town work while mixing it with platforming elements.

- The story is simple like you’d expect but sometimes simple is effective, and I do think this is one of those times. Only issue is that simple stories are meant to be carried by the characters, and there was a heavy lack of character-focused moments. On top of this you have the weird pacing, in particular the promise of a great adventure only to have a 15 seconds montage and boom, Kong Kingdom.

- The action was honestly very good all around ! They knew how to idolize both the power-ups and the environments, and it looked really cool !

- At first I thought people were exaggerating when saying there was too much slow-mo but after the 6th time or so…yeah, there was too much of it.

- Loved when the music used were remixes from the games or songs like the Mario Cartoon theme/DK rap ! Not so much when it was random pop music…

- Usually when I see people gush over characters I tend to view it as exaggeration but OH MY GOD I CANNOT OVERSTATE HOW MUCH I LOVE BOWSER IN THIS !!! As someone who grew up with Super Paper Mario I can assure you he is 100% in character and he is literally the best thing about the movie ! They managed to bounce off of both his menacing and goofy sides in an amazing way and I cannot get enough of him ! Kinda wish we saw his kids tho : /

- As someone who doesn’t ship it, I wasn’t expecting to enjoy the sexual tension scene between Bowser and Luigi as much as I did but damn that scene is gay ! Love it !

- The humor was something I was really afraid going in and I was honestly surprised by how medium-good it was actually ! Can’t say I laughed every time but the bros shenanigans definitely was fun.

- On that note I could’ve watched an hour long movie of just the two bros doing Brooklyn stuff. This whole sequence was adorable.

- Speaking of Brooklyn, the ending was…weird on that front. First of all I’m surprised Mario didn’t expect the Bullet Bill to arrive in Brooklyn and literally kill everyone (like dude, do you realize how dangerous that thing is ???) and second of all those people are surprisingly calm to see the invasion of a whole other species. Seriously, why are these people so chill about it ?

- I guess I could also mention the fact that there’s no dialogue related to Mario and Luigi deciding to settle into the Mushroom Kingdom but considering the lack of development in everything else, I’m not surprised they went so fast on that.

- I’d also add that the ending of the Rainbow Road scene felt a bit jarring in how dramatic it was, though I don’t know how to explain it other than saying it felt like the movie didn’t “deserve” to have such a dramatic moment ? Really not sure how to explain it better… And on that note, the whole “fake death/everyone think they’re dead” moment with Mario and DK felt very unnecessary, but at least they didn’t drag it out.

- Last negative comment on the story itself because it is so true : I saw the review of a French youtuber (Mayo-Lek) and he pointed out how the whole story is about Mario and Peach going to the Kong Kingdom for help, only for the Kongs to get kidnapped a few minutes later. So…what was the point in asking for their help if they ultimately don’t do anything ?

- Going back to the characters, Luigi was great ! And like everyone else here, I do wish he would’ve had more screen time. But other than that, love his character for what we saw of him.

- The Luma that is apparently divisive amongst people was very funny in my opinion. Also at some point they literally get out of their cell for a second there ! Tells you all you need to know about their character (low-key surprised they didn’t jump into the lava by themselves but then again it’s a kids movie).

- That blue-shelled koopa dude clearly loves his job. Good for him. Weirdly enough, his enthusiasm in trying to kill Mario makes him very fun and a pretty compelling character for the small screen time he had.

- Toad was…there. At least he was entertaining instead of annoying. So that’s a plus.

- Btw the fact that they didn’t have Toadsworth was already a bit sad but THEY HAD ANOTHER TOAD WHO HAD THE EXACT SAME ROLE AS HE DID WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL NINTENDO ??!!! WHY DO YOU HATE ORIGINAL DESIGNS SO MUCH ???

- Kinda random but I don’t know the reference for that Kong who drove Mario and co to Cranky Kong, so my only thought was “it should’ve been Funky Kong”. I mean he had the glasses ! And yes I know Funky is in the movie in the background.

- I cannot fucking stand Donkey Kong. Not exactly sure what kind of personality I expected them to give him since he doesn’t really have one in the games, but I absolutely hate what they did with him. “Boastful douchebag with nothing in their brain who tries to be the center of attention constantly and annoy the hell of everyone around him” is a type of character, and on that note a type of person, that I can’t fucking stand. That being said giving him a power up for a minute was really cool and made for a great action scene ! Same for his fight with Mario in the arena, but again the action in general was really good.

- Peach. Oh Peach. Peaches. Peachounette as he calls her in French. Look how they massacred my girl !

- More seriously, my biggest issue by far with Peach is just how much she was willing to throw hands all the goddam time. I’m sorry but to me that’s just not Peach ! While she can absolutely spring into action, her constantly wishing to fight as a first solution is just not something she does. Hell why do you think her people are so weak and pacifist in the games ! Peach is a diplomat who only fights herself if there’s no other option.

- On that note, I have no issues with her knowing how to parkour, how to use power-ups or how to drive. It makes sense she would given she was raised in this world. Her being athletic isn’t an issue, she’s always been athletic (just look at any sports game). Plus in the games where she’s playable she’s capable of keeping up with the others.

- My second biggest issue with her is her body language. Again, most of it didn’t feel like Peach. She had none of the delicateness and elegance of the games. Literally the only moment her body language felt like her was during the fight between Mario and Dk, and even then it was only when the movie wasn’t focusing on her (aka when she wasn’t talking to Mario but just reacting). Her face was also unsettling to look at sometimes, I think it has to do with her eyes. Idk, sometimes some of her facial expressions made her look old and I can’t explain why. 🤷‍♂️

- (Also it’s incredibly funny how some youtube thumbnails have edits of Peach moments but as Daisy and that body language fits Daisy perfectly. That being said, I wouldn’t call Movie Peach a clone of Daisy, as Daisy is a very spunky tomboyish character who gives a “I don’t care all that much about ruling my kingdom” vibe. So while movie Peach has a body language that fits Daisy, their personalities are still completely different.)

- A good example of my issues with her behavior and body language has to be the way she addresses Cranky and the rest of the Kongs. Peach in the games would have a completely different behavior when asking for their help, regardless of how dire the situation is.

- And on that, the only scene where she felt in character personality-wise was when she confronted Bowser and he threatened to hurt her people if she doesn’t marry him. This scene was absolutely *chief kiss* for both of them (then again every scene with Bowser is amazing; I can’t get enough of this guy !). But then she started becoming a martial-artist and suddenly we were back to her being OOC (you can have her use the power-up and manage to stall the cages + trap Bowser without having her look like a professional fighter, Smash Bros apparently already does it).

- I guess I could also mention how overly sassy she is, which again doesn’t feel like Peach as, while she does have some sassiness in the games, it’s not to this extent. The fact that the Toads made her their princess doesn’t make much sense either, like why electing some random person who comes from another world ? What about the government before her ? (note that I’m a big fan of the “she’s a toad wearing a super crown, in this case her blue gem” headcanon so I might be biased) But yeah those two issues are kinda minor for me compared to her behavior and body language.

- All this to say if they wanted Peach to have a more action-oriented role, they should’ve taken inspiration from Super Paper Mario in which she’s incredibly sweet to pretty much everyone but can still easily get angry and has no issues throwing hands when needed (thinking of her confrontation with Mimi in 8-2, and even then, like I’ve seen people point out, the first thing she does after the fight is trying to save/befriend Mimi).

- I guess there’s also that one comic people keep bringing up but the fun thing about Peach in it is that she’s all bark and no bite. She keeps getting angry like she can actually do anything but then gets captured very easily, spends most of the fight scenes running around, only gets away from Wendy’s tower by sheer luck (finding the cape) and does nothing when Wendy calls her bluff with the bombs. The most she does in this comic to defend herself, outside of when she outsmarts the Koopalings (which I’ll admit was pretty badass) is throw furniture around. In a way, it’s pretty reminiscent of the 1986 anime/movie in which she gets angry on several occasions, defends herself by throwing shit around and manages to outsmart Bowser at some point, but ultimately doesn’t stand a chance against him.

- (Btw if you haven’t read this comic you need to ! Everyone is an absolute dumbass in it but in a funny way and it’s great ! Can’t say I know much about them but reading it low-key feels like watching an absurd play. Nothing and nobody take itself seriously in this comic and I love it !)

- On an unrelated note since I mentioned the wedding, I really liked the pink tones on her wedding dress ! The ice dress did look a bit weird tho in the sense that it makes me think too much of Frozen, though I’m not sure what they could have done about it since ice = blue and white colors so I can’t blame the movie for this one 🤔 (also fireflower Peach didn’t have her ponytail, 0/10 /j)

- And since I’m talking about clothes, not much to say for the most part as it’s all stuff the characters wear in the games but still I really liked the look of DK using the fire flower, plus the Koopas wearing helmets was a nice touch.

- Last thing about Peach and then we move on to the others, apparently Miyamoto said this version of Peach is what he’s always imagined the character to be and honestly, I’m having a hard time believing him. Like, I can definitely see it when it comes to the old comic and the 86 anime, since in both Peach is very temperamental (the comic especially). Paper Peach is also not one to sit idly and tends to have a lot more agency, at least in the first trilogy. But if you look at more modern depictions of her…Luigi Mansion 3 ? Mario Odyssey ? The online ads and shit ? Mario and Luigi ? The second Paper Mario trilogy ? The Rabbids games ? Hell in the first Rabbids game she had a gun but in the second they went back to her parasol.

- What I’m trying to say is that if Miyamoto had always wanted Peach to be written this way, why didn’t he write her this way ? Isn’t he one of the most higher-ups at Nintendo, at least when it comes to Mario games ? How come her older depictions are closer to her movie self in terms of temper than her modern depictions, to the point where people need to dig up some old comic to “prove” that Peach had always been this way instead of using modern material ?

- And for those who might say it’s because the goal of the games is almost always to save her, it’s not like she can’t both get angry easily and be the damsel in distress. In the first two Paper Mario games and the comic/86 anime, she was the one in need of saving but still had some agency. The two aren’t mutually exclusive (and like I said the humor with her in the comic is the difference between how much she wants to throw hands and how weak she actually is). Hell, on the opposite end Super Paper Mario had her as an active hero but portrayed her as sweet and kind + a diplomat. So yeah, I’m having trouble believing that this whole “this is how I always imagined her” is anything other than a publicity stunt.

- And on the other end of the body language, Mario was absolutely fantastic as a character, especially when it comes to his reactions to things ! Best example I can give because it amused me a lot was when Luigi mic-dropped his phone and Mario hid his face behind his hat in embarrassment, made even cuter due to him jumping to Luigi’s defense a second later. But yeah, overall, I really liked Mario’s character, not just his body language but his personality as a whole.

- They kinda tried to give a few hints that Peach and Mario like each other but honestly I found it to be very clumsy. Basically you could tell they were planting the seeds for a possible romance but were using moments that you’re used to see in a movie where the characters end up together. And since they never truly commit to them ending up together, while it does make perfect sense as they just met, it still makes the whole thing feel weird. Also the scene with DK teasing Mario about it and Toad jumping in was cringe af.

- Not really any opinions about Mario’s family. They were there. It’s nice to acknowledge them being Italian-americans and how they feel about the bros’ new job in regard to their upbringing, but other than that, I don’t really have anything to say about them.

- I watched the movie in French and the voices were pretty good ! Different from the game voices, but fitting enough for the characters. Only issues were Peach sounding too deep but then again that’s not my biggest issue with her character, and the second issue is the song “Peaches” where the French voice just…doesn’t sound all that good in some parts ? Though I think it might have been on purpose to accentuate the comedy of that scene ? Idk, I need to listen to the English version. Maybe the fact that people kept hyping up this song led me to believe it sounded genuinely good instead of people liking it for the comedy and how out of left field it was (on that note, I was surprised by how short this scene was due to how much people talked about it; this song is actually the one thing I regret being spoiled about).

- (also you have no idea how much I hope someone will make an edit/animation of Bowser playing the piano but with “You’re the Greatest” from Wander Over Yonder)

- And since we’re talking about voice actors, obviously Charles Martinet was 100% robbed and the only valid reason that I can accept is “Martinet himself said he didn’t think he had it in him to voice Mario and possibly Luigi as well for over an hour, given he’s getting rather old; especially if he does it in several languages”. If that’s not why he wasn’t casted, then he was robbed ! He’s literally the main reason why Mario and Luigi have the personalities that they have in modern games ! (at least I think that’s the case ?)

- Overall, favorite character has to be Bowser, with Mario and Luigi not too far away. Least favorite character is DK. It could’ve been Peach but my issues with her stem from how different she is from her games counterpart. If you take her movie character as a brand-new character rather than a game adaptation, she’s actually pretty great as a guide and strong mentor. But DK, regardless of whether or not he’s faithful to his game counterpart, is just a character I can’t stand.

- Favorite scene is either the beginning at Brooklyn with the bros being bros because it’s adorable (granted the whole dog thing wasn’t very funny. I have no issue with them doing slapsticks but the fact that they used some random dog just doesn’t do it for me), or the scene where Bowser proposes to/blackmails Peach because finally Peach is in character and that whole interaction is really great ! Least favorite scene is by far the insides of the eel with Mario and DK. I just don’t give enough of a shit about DK to feel invested in an emotional moment focused on him.

- And lastly because I realized I forgot : the movie was really pretty, with the decors and animation being absolutely fantastic. Only issue is that it’s not the type of stuff that sways me into liking a movie. I’m the type of person who finds retro games to look great so yeah… Same for the references btw. Like if you ask me about a detail in the movie I liked, instead of mentioning a reference, I will mention something like that confrontation/confession between Bowser and Peach and how, when Peach threatens Bowser with her weapon, the koopas around her immediately raise their spears, ready to protect their king. Like I said, this has literally nothing to do with references, it’s just a random detail I really like. I still really enjoyed all the references but it’s just not the type of stuff that makes me like a movie. I’m here for the story, the characters and the emotions first and foremost.

Final verdict : either 5.5/10 or 6.5/10 The simple plot makes it seem like a character driven story but outside of the bros’ adorable relationship and Bowser being Bowser, there wasn’t much character here. Also Peach and DK were pretty bad, the former due to being OOC most of the time and the latter because he’s just annoying as all hell.

I’d also add that, in my opinion, the biggest mistake Nintendo made with this movie was trusting Illumination with it. While I’m very much aware that Nintendo likely had a very strong grip on the team working on it and that Nintendo also isn’t known for liking deep Mario stories (*cough* modern Paper Mario *cough*), I still think that the lack of character development and interesting dialogue interactions (+ pacing issues) are due to Illuminations, given their track record.

Weirdly enough since I’ve only seen a few of their movies, I feel like Dreamworks would have been the best at handling this property. Like we’re all quick to jump on the Disney/Pixar bandwagon (and tbf Disney does know how to write female characters that are considered princesses) but in that case I can’t help but think that Dreamworks would have been the better choice. Maybe it’s due to Disney and Pixar being not so great recently. 🤷‍♂️

In any case, I do think that making it an animated movie was 100% the right call. Mario is a bright and colorful world filled with imaginary creatures, something animation excels at. Also Nintendo already tried Live-action once and failed miserably so maybe that’s why they took the animation direction.

#Mario Movie #Super Mario Bros Movie #mario movie spoilers #Video Games #I need a Mario tag eventually #Flor talks #long post #fun fact : I actually started writing this last week as soon as I came back from watching it #but everyday would add something new to it; hence why it took so long to post #also I love how 1/3 of this post is a rant about Peach because of course it is #kinda sad how Peach as a character has TONS of potential in regards to her role as a monarch; her relationships;#and the magic she supposedly has according to the RPGs; but Nintendo doesn't do shit with that potential #and that movie doesn't tap in this potential either #Super Mario

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agent-bumblebee · 2 years ago

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The Super Mario Bros. Movie Review (SOME SPOILERS I guess):

It’s hard to believe that when the news dropped that Illumination Animation was gonna produce a Mario Movie I was skeptical and also scared, not only that but when they revealed the casting for the movie during the Nintendo Direct 2 years ago, I was shocked and surprised at who’s gonna be who in the movie.

And of course, it’s not just me, it’s everyone, EVERYONE was surprised and shocked at the cast, especially Chris Pratt as Mario, like that shocked me.

But now here we are, after seeing 3 trailers, a shit load of TV Spots, and even the Super Bowl commercial, that the Mario Movie looked better than I had expected.

So now, was the movie exactly what I hoped it would be based on the trailers and other promotional material?….

Yes. Yes it was.

But it was even better than what I expected, like I thought it was just gonna be good, but holy shit, I didn’t expect it to be REALLY good.

First of all, they really went all out with the references, like there were a lot, not only from the previous games, but also surprisingly from the modern games as well, I mean sure, it’s to be expected, but it still kinda surprised me.

Second of all, the performances were good as well, tho I will admit, I still had to get used to Chris Pratt being Mario, like I’m not saying he did a bad job, I think he did it decently, but it still feels weird to hear Chris Pratt as Mario, especially since I could still hear his regular voice, tho it has that Italian-American accent to it, so I’ll give him that.

But other than that, each of the Actors were pretty good in this, like Charlie Day as Luigi, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Keegan Michael Key as Toad, as well as Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong.

I also wanna appreciate them using professional voice actors as well, I feel like it was a good choice, like you have Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek, ( which btw, he did a good job with the character) you also got otherr voice actors like Eric Bauza, Khary Payton, Scott Menvile, Jessica DiCicco, and John DiMaggio.

Plus I can’t really forget about Charles Martinet’s surprise cameos, and they weren’t lying about him having surprise cameos, because they were really…well…surprising.

Him being both Mario and Luigi’s dad, and the old man playing the arcade game in the restaurant who sounds and looks like the OG Mario, was just surprising to see.

But of course the standout star of the movie has to be Jack Black as Bowser, cuz HOLY SHIT he was REALLY good. He gave a KILLER performance, and he just seemed like he was giving it his all, and overall just having fun with role, even when he’s performing his music number, he’s still good as Bowser.

The third thing has to be the music, GOOD LORD was the music SOOOO CATCHY and epic, like just hearing a couple of Mario themes from previous games being incorporated into the score was just *mwah* so good.

Tho it is weird how they incorporated some pop songs into this, like they just popped out of nowhere, tho I’ll give credit, at least they didn’t use any modern pop songs, and instead just used, 80s pop songs which I appreciate.

And lastly, is of course the animation, and boy oh boy was it PERFECT, I really love how it’s this combination of realism and this sort of 2D esque style of animation, i.e. the movements.

And the way they incorporate it into the action sequences, made it even better, mixed in with the epic score, and it was a goddamn beauty to watch.

Especially during the final battle between Bowser in both the Mushroom Kingdom and also in Brooklyn, and the Rainbow Road chase, those sequences were really good, thanks to both the animation and the music.

However there is only one thing I had to criticize the movie for….

And that is the pacing, being 93 minutes or an 1 hour and 33 minutes long, it felt more shorter than it is, I do wished that I was a little longer, so we can explore more worlds and also flesh out the world, especially with both Mario and Donkey Kong, because their chemistry felt a little bit rushed, and I would have loved to see a scene of them interacting a bit more, and that they would eventually reconcile with each other, so they can work together.

However despite that, I could kinda overlook that, because of how simple the story was, if they were to make it a little longer, it can kinda make it feel dragged out, and almost boring so I can kinda see why it was the pacing was fast.

But overall, this movie was pretty good, and I enjoyed it very much, and I hope this does well because I am so ready to see a sequel to this.

8/10

Also what the fuck were the critics on that they gave the Mario Movie a 56%?

Yea, this is why I don’t trust Rotten Tomatoes anymore.

#super mario #mario movie #super mario bros #nintendo #illumination #movie review

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sinceileftyoublog · 1 month ago

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Aaron Parks Interview: Allow the Record to Show Up

Photo by Anna Yatskevich

BY JORDAN MAINZER

Describing a record as a band's "loosest" yet is too often either a lazy euphemism for saying that it sounds incoherent or an effort to obscure the fact that it sounds the same, desperate to find a differentiator. Of course, you now know that I'm going to say that for jazz pianist Aaron Parks, the third record from his band Little Big is, for real, their loosest album. But in speaking to Parks last month over Zoom from his home in Lisbon, what I found was that there were material reasons for the album's sense of untethered security. For one, Parks and his quartet--guitarist Greg Tuohey, bassist David Ginyard Jr., and, for the first time on a studio album, drummer Jongkuk Kim--decided that though they would release Little Big III (Blue Note) under Parks' name, it was everyone's band, each member's songs and visions equally welcome, fostering a proper creative environment. Moreover, before recording, the quartet was able to rehearse the songs all day and perform them for an audience at night for five days, seeing for themselves the songs take shape just as audience members did.

Little Big III is a free-sounding record not because it's ramshackle but in that the twists and turns it takes are cohesive, yet natural. It starts with the exploratory "Flyways", Kim's skittering, syncopating drums and Tuohey's spritely, hazy lead guitar line breaking up Parks' and Ginyard Jr.'s tandem lines; the band breaks from the pattern but always returns to the main theme, like a pet checking out a new person. From there, "Locked Down" goes from creaky to cosmic: Its lurching beat and warm guitars carry the song to an end where Kim's drum rolls sound like a black hole. But for every song layered with expressive themes, there are (in hindsight) necessary breathers, like the stark, emotive "Heart Stories", or the Western guitar-addled "Willamina". And many songs feature a push and pull within themselves, like "The Machines Say No", whose subdued guitar line is subsumed by mighty, hip-hop style drums. Little Big III is the type of album that bends time with its paradoxes. Just as you were getting into a groove, it surprises you around every corner, but when you look back, you realize there's nowhere else you'd rather be.

Parks spoke with me about the making of Little Big III, working with big-name producers with varying styles, storytelling, record sequencing, and Invisible Cinema, his only other record for Blue Note as bandleader. Read our conversation below, edited for length and clarity.

Since I Left You: You've said Little Big III feels raw and honest. Did you feel like less of a bandleader and more of a band guider making this record?

Aaron Parks: A couple of things were very concrete. Greg and I clearly made a decision that it wasn't going to be just my band anymore. It would be my name, because we weren't going to change the metadata, how we built our audience. [But] it's a group thing. It's especially Greg and I. That's my co-pilot, right there. Knowing that very clearly and having that discussed, that [Little Big] was a band that I was in, started to change my approach where it didn't feel like this thing I was trying to lift off the ground. "We gotta get it right! Let's get to my ideal." We had already created a sound for ourselves with the first two records. Now, the band itself starts to tell us what to do.

Right before hitting the studio, we worked with ShapeShifter Plus, part of ShapeShifter Lab, a wonderful space in Brooklyn run by Matt Garrison, son of Jimmy Garrison. He and his business partner Fortuna [Sung] opened up the space to us to be able to do three days of all-day rehearsals and three nights of performances. We had a chance to really get under the hood and try things from different angles. In the "jazz" world, way too often, [you get] one or maybe two rehearsals, and if you're lucky, there's a gig before the record. But more often than not, you make the record, you tour the record. For us, we wanted to go into the laboratory a little bit first to start to get the chemistry going, play a few shows in front of a live audience with these new songs, just to sort of start being a little less self-conscious on them. Then, immediately go into the studio. Those five days at ShapeShifter Lab were essential to set us up to hit the studio and allow the record to show up.

SILY: The record that wants to be made will be made. It's like it's a living, breathing thing. Have you had that recording experience with any other records, where you get the opportunity to road test before recording?

AP: I've had the opportunity to do something on the road. It's funny, though, because it doesn't work in the same way as you would think. There's a trio record from [2017], Find The Way with Ben Street and Billy Hart on ECM. We had 6 dates with the band in the UK, three days to record in the South of France. For a variety of reasons, we were playing one way on the road and had built up our chemistry and figured out what we were doing, but the moment we hit the studio, Billy played completely differently because [label founder] Manfred Eicher was there in the room. He knows what Manfred likes out of the drums. It was very interesting. I actually really love that record, and it doesn't sound anything like what we were playing on that tour.

It always does help to have that basis of trust and communication and feeling like things are flowing already. You're not starting from zero, even if you do take it in a different direction, ultimately. This record, for me, all the way through, it felt really special to be making it. As we were making it, in addition to how we prepared for it, we went to the studio itself and hunkered down as a band there, in Dreamland Recording studios up near Woodstock. [Blue Note president] Don Was was also there. [His] presence was valuable in so many ways and shows you the power of attunement and attention and how that transcends and bypasses the need for words some of the time. Don's just fully checked in being present as he was listening. He did something as a producer that I hadn't seen before, which was to set up a headphone station for himself in the big room with the band while we were tracking. He wasn't behind the glass listening and taking notes. He was in the room with us, vibrating. Having someone with good, warm, encouraging vibes and who is listening, and you're playing for them and each other, it gave a different focus. It was very special for us all to be in our own little world we were making there in the studio. It made for a really memorable experience.

SILY: Like Manfred Eicher, he's a big name, the president of the label, but it sounds like something completely different. It was almost like he was a part of the band rather than the boss.

AP: To be clear, I like them both. I really loved working with Manfred as well. I went into the experience working with Manfred with full surrender, willing to be manhandled. "Make your record with me." In that regard, I decided for that record to be a sideman in my own band, to let Manfred make the record he thought we should make. Working with Don, there's such a transparency there, and sometimes, when needed, the occasional incisive, "Hey, let's get things back on track." A handful of small words here, encouragement there, making sure we don't get bogged down in the micro and lose sight of the macro. Having the ability to be in a place where we were all completely free from the outside world. We made our own little bubble for the four days we were there and lived in the world of the record. Whenever that's possible, especially for music like this that is as much about world-building as it is about anything else, I feel it's essential, holing up.

SILY: Are there any concrete ways holing up affected the mood of individual songs?

AP: In some ways, it feels a lot more of a piece, somehow, than the previous [Little Big records]. I still have a lot of love for those records, but as a listener, they can feel a little more herky-jerky, like I'm being pulled around in a bunch of different worlds. This one, we build a mood and sustain it. As we were recording the record, it became apparent we already had the sound. Most of the records I made in the past, you get something as good as you can in the studio, and you know you'll have to reimagine it later on. "We'll fix it in post." We really got the record sounding very close to how it sounds on the final album as we were tracking. Staying in that space as we were listening to the playback, being able to go right back to the control room if you wanted to [do so] in the middle of the night. The entire record, I was wearing slippers, because I was treating it like I was in the bedroom. We did a big round of shopping for everyone so we would all have breakfast together in the morning. Having conversations with Don over coffee and matcha about Big Thief or Thomas Morgan or whatever came to our minds. It felt less like going to work and more like the whole day was the process. It was all creation, all part of it.

Photo by Anna Yatskevich

SILY: I take it you had most of the songs written and just added in improvisational elements during the recording.

AP: Exactly. By the time we hit the studio, we knew what we were doing, but there were a lot of things we hadn't decided upon at the beginning of the rehearsal week. A lot of my pieces, even in the studio, we went back and forth with compositional ideas, details of phrasing, or slight things in the form that only revealed themselves when we found it in the moment. I really love how the improvisation works on this record. On the earlier Little Big records, sometimes, it had a feeling of something I was trying to build or achieve, these songs of mine I was trying to bring out into the world. "Here's what I'm hearing, let's try to make it as close as we can to the ideal of it." There was a certain element of striving inside of [those records] that when it came to the improvisation, it could still be really cool, but there was something that felt at times like it was playing safe. We were so much focused on being able to build this thing that I wasn't allowing enough of the chaos energy to enter into it, for my own sake. Now that it feels much more alive, now that it feels like it's not mine, it feels a bit more thorny and dangerous when it needs and wants to be, and we're not getting in the way of that anymore. We're not forcing it to be exciting if it doesn't want to. It has less of a feeling of striving in any way. The songs are whatever they are.

SILY: There are moments where Greg's guitars are really scraggly, more so than usual, or there's a starkness to Jongkuk's drums. It doesn't really sound like you're trying to make a grand statement in the moment, you're just letting it be.

AP: On a tune like "Locked Down": That's a way I never would have allowed myself to play in the past, more angular, blurry, almost drunk-sounding. It's funny because this is the first Little Big record I was totally straight edge leading up to it and the recording. It was an interesting experience for me, because the previous two Little Big records were done on pretty heroic doses of mushrooms. This was definitely a cleaner vibe that actually sounded a little more intoxicated, in its own way.

SILY: This is your second Blue Note record as a band leader after Invisible Cinema, which is one of my favorite contemporary jazz records. Does this album have any sort of connection to that record?

AP: They're deeply connected. This band, Little Big, is taking some of those ideas I was looking after with Invisible Cinema and seeing whether I could boil [them] down a little bit more, in terms of feeling less stylistically grafted onto one another. Not jazz guys using rock ideas, but, "Can we have the improvisation and composition and mood and storytelling all start from the same center?" I still stand by [Invisible Cinema]. My playing on it sounds so youthful, scampering, in a way that sometimes, I'm like, "Oh boy, young man, chill out." [But it's faithful to the] idea of [allowing] so-called genres to really fuse with each other. That's one of the things I've been after with this band, allowing it to reduce to what is most essential. I've found that in some ways, the harmonic world of these songs has gotten much simpler and starker. How can I make the music that I'm playing sound to feel more like the music I most like to listen to?

SILY: And doing so in a way where parts of the process are out of your control.

AP: Exactly. It makes sense for this one to be coming back to Blue Note after all these years, the spiritual successor to the things I was after with Invisible Cinema years ago. It's looking at the same questions and finding different answers.

SILY: How do you approach storytelling with your music? Are there stories behind the songs, and what do you mean by "stories?"

AP: It's a funny thing, because I use that word a lot, and [the songs are] not necessarily concretely grounded. It's not a specific, actual story. They're not biographical--not most of them, anyways. There's another record that will come out next year [whose songs are based off] people, images, and dedications--not so much stories.

It's such a good question, and it's one I'm not sure I know how to answer, except for a feeling of narrative and folktale. I find myself drawn to myth and things that have been reduced into something that becomes totemic, in one way or another, and has a storytelling aspect that in some ways, is a specific story, and in other ways, is archetypical. I find myself drawn towards and often writing music that requires a sense of storytelling logic. What are the principles of the world of the song? How does gravity work in this environment? How do these different characters of the different leitmotifs relate to each other? Where might they culminate in surprising ways? As a composer, how can you withhold a part of the composition and have it emerge later on? A song like "Heart Stories" comes to mind. It's a lullaby. The first half of the song has a pathos.

SILY: There's a melancholy to it.

AP: That's the right word. There's a melancholy to it, especially the first half of it, that's a bit working with primary colors. It's simultaneously a lullaby and highly structured. It's mostly in various shades of blue at the beginning, you might say. Halfway through that song, the bottom falls out. It takes this narrative turn of leaving the question unanswered that it proposed, cutting you off in the middle, and putting you in a realm of more kaleidoscopic, more shifting emotions, more possibility. For me, it feels a little like you went from a sepia-toned thing to technicolor in the course of that song. That's a little bit on the simple side, but that's the kind of thing that comes to mind. It creates a feeling, that possibility of an emotional response in that moment--not an emotional response, hopefully, in a manipulative way, as that's not the goal either--allowing that story to unfold. That's as best as I can say it.

Photo by Anna Yatskevich

SILY: What went into the sequencing of the record? Was the process at all different from previous records?

AP: The process was just as obsessive and trying to create story with a sequence, as well, and simultaneously doing math because of vinyl. I was working on different sequences for a long time. This is the first Little Big record I don't wish we had done the sequence differently. The previous two records, I have strong feelings that I screwed up the sequence of it. I feel pretty strongly that this sequence is right. "Flyways" is the only way that the record can start. We tried a version that started with "Delusions", and it felt like a beatdown. To be perfectly frank, if I had a do-over, I wouldn't have picked "Delusions" as the lead single. Instead, it would be something even less representative of the record as a whole but very colorful and at the heart of the record, [like] "Little Beginnings".

[Though] "Flyways" for me works at the very beginning, there was something about it that felt a little bit too in common with the [opening song of the] second Little Big record, ["Attention, Earthlings"]. It felt a little bit like we were retreading familiar ground. The tunes are similar and different. They are both odd meter songs with tonal centers separated by a minor third. That's a lot. From there on, though, once [you] get into the heart of the record, each song as it comes along, you didn't see it coming but also feel that it was inevitable.

SILY: That's a common quality among my favorite records. Once I listen to it through all the way once, anything else wouldn't fit.

AP: Exactly. It was a puzzle putting this thing together and making it fit. The record is 42 minutes long, and we got it to 21 minutes each side, single vinyl. I was really happy we got it as short as we did, especially because the first two records were a bit on the bloated side. Single vinyl felt like the distillation. [David]'s tune "Little Beginnings" [is] right in the center of the record, I had asked him to write something for the band, and he wrote it right before we went into rehearsals. I can't imagine the record without it. It really does an important thing harmonically that adds a wider palate than the rest of the record has and showcases the chemistry of the band in real time, in a really special way.

Sequence is really interesting, and I'm glad you asked about it. It's something I put almost too much thought into. When the time is right, I will probably remix Little Big II and put it out again, because we did it in a hurry just before the pandemic. I'd like to put it out again with some bonus material, a different mix, and a different sequence. We didn't quite nail it.

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