#like visually not good. i think its garbage because he's taking from a gay artist who died to aids

[kat-trickz]

ranting to my mom abt art that means nothing bc why even bother making art at that point and she's calling me a purist ???

[deltaengineering]

Summer Anime 2018 Part 1: Nurupo

I feel bad for calling last season weak now, since that turned out okay, what with Megalobox, Hinamatsuri and Rokuhoudou (the best show you didn’t watch). Maybe this is a lesson to not be so negative, but all the positivity in the world can’t make this season look good. To balance it out, I’ll be bringing along some hot opinions from people getting paid to see the bright side this time.

P.S. Part 2 is here.

Island

What: A very Frontwing version of When They Cry, apparently. Awesome McCooldude wakes up on an island full of pliant girls and/or dark secrets.

✅  looks alright

❌ story is tryhard mystery nonsense based on convenient amnesia, very unlikely to deliver

❌❌ an absolutely terrible cast of generic VN characters, enjoy your common route hijinks with them

❌❌ Frontwing being Frontwing, please see picture.

ANN sez: “This episode accomplishes the two things that it absolutely must for the series to have a chance of succeeding: it makes the main trio of girls endearing enough and layers on some intriguing mysteries.”

Hanebad!

What: Some girls take badminton very seriously. Somewhere between genocide and extinction level event seriously.

✅  well animated and directed

✅  there appears to be more to the characters than nothing at all, so the overbearing presence of the drama llama might actually pay off

❌ has a tendency to wallow in ostentatious KyoAni-style presentational kitsch

❌ speaking of which, making the cast of Euphonium look like a bunch of carefree slackers by comparison is not a good thing

ANN sez: “From the lush colors of their school's flowers to the alienating saturation and long shots of their gym hallways, every mood HANEBADO strives for is captured perfectly through its visual storytelling, and solidified through fundamentally sturdy dialogue and plotting.”

Senjuushi

What: Touken Ranbu with firearms.

❌ This is a cute boys doing cute things anime set against a backdrop of global thermonuclear war and combining the ultra seriousness of ufotable TR with the slice of life tone of Doga Kobo TR makes for a very, let’s say, “uneven” experience. 

❌  Unsurprisingly, it has the production values of neither of the above and looks like crap instead.

❌❌ The localized title is “The Thousand Musketeers” and given the reckless pace in which it introduces pointless characters, it might actually hit that number in 12 episodes.

❌❌ Mobile game character designs must be stopped, for fuck’s sake

ANN sez: “The story itself has some promise, especially if you're a fan of antique guns.“

Shichisei no Subaru

What: VRMMO light novel garbage about MMO newtypes.

❌ High tier light novel tropes like “u die in the game u die 4 real”, grade schooler magical girlfriends and demigod abilities

❌ Yes, the characters start as grade schoolers and then there’s a timeskip where they become high schoolers. They don’t change at all, which is either cutting commentary on arrested development or an indication of how good this show’s writing is.

❌ Ideas like permadeath in an MMO and giving good players a stake in the game company are hilariously stupid even by this genre’s standards.

❌ You’ve seen this exact cast of characters before, likely in better shows.

❌❌ There’s really no single egregiously bad aspect, but the stank of mediocrity is so overwhelming as to deserve a double minus all of its own.

ANN sez: “This episode banks heavily on the appeal of its mysteries, but those mysteries actually are pretty appealing, and I ultimately respect this episode's choice to introduce so much of its world and characters before getting to the real conceit.”

Banana Fish

What: A well regarded classic manga about New York’s seedy gang underbelly of drugs and violence. And BL.

✅ ✅   Looks good. Like actually, legitimately good. Animation, character design, directing, this show is quality.

❌ Updating the setting to contemporary times seems like a not so great idea since everything about this is deeply steeped in the mid-80s gang violence and drugs panic, no matter how many smartphones get used.

♎ The pacing is ultra fast. While I will admit that I’ll take that over a snoozefest (especially in a seasonal rundown), if this wants to be a legitimate high tier anime it needs to let the atmosphere breathe more. 24 episodes isn’t much for a 19-volume manga.

❌ I’ve praised MAPPA for promising first episodes before, and then I got the likes of Yuri on Ice and Virgin Soul out of it. This is not an anime original so it will be harder to fuck up, but life finds a way - especially given the need for condensing the story as noted above.

❌ Ultimately, just being a classy production with proven writing isn’t the be-all-end-all; quality aside, I still have to like what it does, and I’m not sure what amounts to a homoerotic 80s crime B-thriller is exactly in my wheelhouse.

✅ What else are you gonna watch this season?

ANN sez: “The one negative I can foresee is that one character is portrayed as a fairly stereotypical gay sexual predator, and this story pitches itself consistently as a seedier exploration of its boys' love subject matter, so it's reasonable to expect these kinds of details going forward.”

Yume Oukoku to Nemureru 100-nin no Ouji-sama

What: Girls get their wish-fulfilment isekai nonsense too, it’s just a pretty pointless definition when you can just say “basic otome harem” instead. But sure, nondescript girl wakes up in fantasy dream universe where she has a magical trait that makes a large number of princes desire her. Call it what you like.

♎ Successfully avoids the most obnoxious otome harem and isekai tropes, but that just makes it even more bland

❌ lots of exposition about an universe that is hardly complicated and transparently an excuse anyway

❌ Main character is agreeable but exceptionally boring

❌ The princes are all generically princely and very little else

❌❌ combine that with sluggish pacing and this might be the most boring show so far, which is not an easy feat

ANN sez: “There were also some neat details here and there that I particularly appreciated, like the fact that our heroine is actually a working adult, as well as the idea that rather than being “trapped in a new world” she's in truth been returned to her home.”

Back Street Girls

What: A trio of yakuza thugs get a forced sex change because their boss wants to be an idol producer. It’s funny, laugh.

❌ This is not the warm, fuzzy trans acceptance anime you’ve been looking for, to put it mildly. I am not easily offended, but it would have to be pretty darn good to outrun this premise. Yeah, about that...

❌❌ runs its one joke (idols are not supposed to be thugs, like, at all!) into the ground before it exceeds a 3-minute short runtime; is actually 24 minutes long anyway. Hope you really like that joke.

❌❌ the execution of said joke is the pits of anime comedy, nothing but reaction faces and shouting

❌❌ production values are basically non-existent, at most you can say that they took the time to color in those manga panels

❌ learning that Chiaki Kon is directing this pile is just sad, put THAT in your auteur pipe and smoke it.

ANN sez: Nothing, since western licensors mysteriously chose to skip this one. Really a shame because I was looking forward to the outrage.

Isekai Maou to Shoukan Shoujo no Dorei Majutsu

What: It has “Isekai” and “Maou” in the title so what do you fucking think. What it doesn’t tell you is that it’s also about an MMO, for the full LN shitter nuclear triad.

❌❌ It’s about a loser otaku who gets trapped in his MMO wherein he has the mostest hax, complete with complementary slave pettan catgirl and slave oppai elf

❌❌ This is meant to be funny because he’s too much of a dweeb to put his penis where his mouth is.

❌ Technically better executed than Death March or Isekai Smartphone, so it gets one single minus for effort.

ANN sez: “The idea that Takuma is so insecure about talking to other people that he can only comfortably speak in the voice of his demon lord character is ingenious in a dramatic sense and endearing in a personal one, while Takuma's clear understanding of his personal failings makes him far more sympathetic than the genre's usual snarky protagonists.”

Satsuriku no Tenshi

What: Early teen girl checks herself into Silent Hill General Hospital for grief counselling.

✅  Atmosphere works reasonably well; it’s creepy where it needs to be, which is everywhere and all the time.

❌ The girl is a nonfactor blob and the tough guy she gets paired up with is an annoying chuuni edgelord (it is called 𝔄𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔩𝔰 𝔬𝔣 𝔇𝔢𝔞𝔱𝔥 after all), which is not promising for the long run

❌ So obviously based on a run-of-the-mill spoopy RPGmaker freeware game you can practically see the floor tiles.

❌❌ 24 solid minutes of Getting Cornered By A Rape Metaphor quickly goes from unsettling to incredibly tedious.

❌❌ There’s really nowhere for this to go, given how unoriginal everything is; at best it’s going to be “it was all a dream”, at worst “everyone was dead all along, please feel sad now”.

ANN sez: “The design of the facility is one of those fanciful every-level-is-a-different-setting worlds, but the artistic effort strongly pushes the creepiness factor with a design aesthetic that suggests age, decay, and neglect.“

Harukana Receive

What: Girls play beach volleyball in scenic Okinawa, some light sports drama seems to be on the horizon.

✅  Looks just good enough

✅  Girls are just cute and likeable enough

❌ the sports aspect is weak; maybe I’m just spoiled on Emiya-san’s incredible beach volleyball scene right now, but even when not compared to a top tier studio ostentatiously flaunting the budget of their fucking cooking short the match here isn’t very compelling.

♎ where Hanebad has a bad case of the cereals, this may have the opposite problem of being too cotton candy to be worth it

✅  “good enough” is not a ringing endorsement, but counts for something when being just okay will net you a third or possibly second place of the season.

ANN sez: “This is, of course, all just conjecture right now. ”

Chio-chan no Tsuugakuro

What: We took Nichijou and replaced the surrealism with video game references and the production values with donkey dung. Let’s see if delta notices!

❌❌ Production values are not optional when you want to be Nichijou; it being astoundingly over the top and imbued with impeccable timing is a (or even the) main part of Nichijou’s appeal. Without them you’re left with basic reactionface manzai over awkward situations, the king of comedy.

❌❌ Suffice it to say, this show is 100% trying to be funny, while also 100% not succeeding at being funny.

❌Asscreed is a more original tentpole to rotate your first episode around than the usual Dragon Quest, but not by much.

♎ neurotic nerd main character that is little more than a bundle of social anxieties will be #relatable to anime professionals, observe:

ANN sez: “Chio's overthinking in this situation is both hilarious and painfully true-to-life, with her furious strategizing coming across as both absurd and very familiar to anyone who's not comfortable in conversation.”

Planet With

Wat: Appears to be a tokusatsu/crypto-mecha show aimed at the younger set, with the gimmick being that our protagonist is (initially?) on the side of the villains(?).

✅  Pretty wacky, actually. It definitely doesn’t neatly fit in your square notions of what an anime is, man (unless you’ve watched FLCL).

❌ It seems very uncertain whether the wackiness is in service of anything. It might be To Be Heroine, or it might just be Heybot with fewer fart jokes.

♎ Furthermore, it wants to be intriguing and sort of is, but merely being intriguing is not that hard - you just make no sense and hope for the best. This has the not making sense part down, do you feel lucky?

❌ tries to build up characters by immediately going for the sad flashbacks, which I never like, especially if the rest of the show is eIDLIVE-level nonsense.

❌ Looks mostly fiiiiiine, but is also full of subpar CG

ANN sez: “So if the heroes are fighting against someone who just wants peace, then what does that make them? And more importantly, if they find out that the bears aren't evil, will they stop?”

Hataraku Saibou

What: A cutesy educational comedy about the workings of a human body.

✅  Well made, characters are cute, topic is interesting.

❌ Educational aspect can get in the way; I’m not suddenly giving heavy exposition a pass just because it’s trying to teach me something, especially if it’s things I basically already know.

♎ Will have to show if it can keep coming up with good scenarios. The lung infection in episode 1 was alright and so will probably be the skin cut in the preview, but beyond that I’m not sure what’s left for red and white blood cells to do. I’m not expecting a show with this tone to tackle things like retroviruses, if you know what I mean.

♎ An actual storyline seems like too much to expect, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but not a positive either.

✅  Doesn’t rock my socks off but is an easily watchable show with a fine idea and high production values, which again is hard to say no to right now.

ANN sez: “But since it culminates in one of my favorite scenes from the manga, visualizing sneezing as shooting a torpedo out your nose, I can forgive the random gendering of cells.”

Ongaku Shoujo

What: DEEN are getting in on the idol mobile game anime biz too.

✅  The main character’s gimmick is that apart from being A Honk, she can’t sing for shit; this is moderately funny.

❌ It might have counted for more if that hadn’t come out seconds before the episode ended. Even if it isn’t a momentous twist, it was more of a point of interest than the incredibly bland leadup to it had.

❌  Yeah, “Ongaku Shoujo” is an entirely indicative name of how generic this show is: Music + girls, indeed. I assume “Idols” was taken.

❌ I’m still not sure what the ideal cast size of a show like this is, but 12 idols is Idolmaster turf and as such too many. They have personalities? I think?

❌ a very small handful of cuts aside, woeful production quality; I know picking on DEEN is 2ez but this is not their finest work. Animation snobs can feel proud that there’s no CG dancing here, for the rest of us it’s an object lesson on why CG is the lesser of two evils.

✅  Tumbling SR cards in the ED (which is probably actually the OP) made me laugh; this show can’t even afford URs.

❌❌ Overall, just another idol show. Large cast plus presence of a P-san marks it as Im@s-type – but if you're in the market for an Idolmaster clone with bad looks, I would recommend Wake Up Girls instead because that’s at least pretty real at points.

ANN sez: They’re out for the weekend, ask again later. I suspect it’s nothing funny.

[the-desolated-quill]

Mel Gibson In Talks To Direct Suicide Squad 2: Shoot Me Now! - Quill’s Scribbles

You may recall that I wasn’t too fond of Suicide Squad (a phrase which here means I thought it was the cinematic equivalent of bowel cancer) and that I was reluctant to see a sequel to it (I believe ‘over my dead body’ were the exact words I used). Well not only are we getting a sequel to this pile of garbage (NOOOOOOOOOOO!), but we’re also getting a new director. Oh great! Anyone would be better than David fucking Ayer! Considering that he’s going to be too busy ruining the Gotham City Sirens movie, it would be good to have some fresh blood for Suicide Squad 2. Someone who was talented, competent and totally uncontroversial. So who do Warner Bros and DC have in mind?

No! Stop laughing! i did not use that GIF in order to create some elaborate visual pun. I’m legitimately shocked and outraged by this and that GIF best demonstrates my reaction upon hearing the news. The fact that it came from the movie Signs is purely coincidental... Honest.

Yes. Mel Gibson is in talks to direct Suicide Squad 2. Actor and filmmaker turned professional arsehole. Now before we go into why his potential appointment is wildly inappropriate, let’s remind ourselves of the many hilarious and wacky hijinks he got up to over the years. (Also I’m going to put a link to a YouTube clip that I encourage you to play while reading what’s below. It’s the theme tune to the British TV series ‘ZZZap!’ and it’s a frankly pathetic attempt to give this a sense of knockabout comedy fun and to alleviate the depressing reality you’re about to dive into. A bottle of alcohol might help as well. Unless you’re a recovering alcoholic like me, in which case you might want to breathe into a paper bag and go to your happy place for a while. Okay? Here we go!)

In the Spanish newspaper El Pais in 1991, when asked what he thinks of homosexuals, he said “They take it up the ass. (laughs, stands up, bends over, points to anus) This is only for taking a shit.” He commented further saying "With this look, who's going to think I'm gay? I don't lend myself to that type of confusion. Do I look like a homosexual? Do I talk like them? Do I move like them?" When asked whether he’d issue an apology to the LGBT community by Playboy magazine in 1995, he said “I’ll apologise when hell freezes over. They can fuck off.”

His film Braveheart received controversy for its offensive depiction of Edward II, Prince of Wales as an effeminate homosexual who was both weak and ineffectual. Gibson defended his depiction, saying he was “just trying to respond to history.”

He has made a number of anti-semitic comments over the years. The most infamous being in 2006 when he was arrested on a DUI charge, he went into an angry tirade, uttering the words “Fucking Jews. The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world.”

The controversial The Passion of The Christ has been heavily criticised for its negative depictions of Jews and for its perceived attempts to blame the Hebrew people for the death of Jesus. Reviewer Katha Pollitt wrote in The Nation that Gibson had violated “just about every precept of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops own 1988 'Criteria' for the portrayal of Jews in dramatizations of the Passion (no bloodthirsty Jews, no rabble, no use of Scripture that reinforces negative stereotypes of Jews, etc.) [...] The priests have big noses and gnarly faces, lumpish bodies, yellow teeth; Herod Antipas and his court are a bizarre collection of oily-haired, epicene perverts. The 'good Jews' look like Italian movie stars (Italian sex symbol Monica Bellucci is Mary Magdalene); Mary, who would have been around 50 and appeared 70, could pass for a ripe 35."

An earlier version of The Passion of The Christ script was scrutinised by the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Inter-religious Affairs of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Department of Inter-religious Affairs of the Anti-Defamation League. They released a statement calling it “one of the most troublesome texts, relative to anti-Semitic potential, that any of us had seen in twenty-five years. It must be emphasized that the main storyline presented Jesus as having been relentlessly pursued by an evil cabal of Jews, headed by the high priest Caiaphas, who finally blackmailed a weak-kneed Pilate into putting Jesus to death. This is precisely the storyline that fueled centuries of anti-Semitism within Christian societies. This is also a storyline rejected by the Roman Catholic Church at Vatican II in its document Nostra aetate, and by nearly all mainline Protestant churches in parallel documents. ... Unless this basic storyline has been altered by Mr. Gibson, a fringe Catholic who is building his own church in the Los Angeles area and who apparently accepts neither the teachings of Vatican II nor modern biblical scholarship, The Passion of the Christ retains a real potential for undermining the repudiation of classical Christian anti-Semitism by the churches in the last forty years.” The Anti-Defamation League made a further statement saying that “for filmmakers to do justice to the biblical accounts of the passion, they must complement their artistic vision with sound scholarship, which includes knowledge of how the passion accounts have been used historically to disparage and attack Jews and Judaism. Absent such scholarly and theological understanding, productions such as The Passion could likely falsify history and fuel the animus of those who hate Jews.”

His father’s comments regarding the number of Jews that died in the Holocaust (claiming that it was significantly less than 6 million) was met with fierce criticism by writer Frank Rich in The New York Times. In response to Rich, Gibson said "I want to kill him…I want his intestines on a stick… I want to kill his dog."

In 2010, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Police Department launched in investigation into Mel Gibson after his romantic partner at the time Oksana Grigorieva claimed that she had been the victim of domestic violence. This was further supported by a recorded phone conversation between Gibson and Grigorieva. When she asked him "what kind of man is that who would hit a woman when she is holding a child in her hands, hitting her twice in the face?", he responded by saying "you know what, you fucking deserved it."  He also said to her "you look like a fucking pig in heat, and if you get raped by a pack of n*****s, it will be your fault." Gibson later pleaded no contest to a misdemeanour battery charge.

LOL! Isn’t that just hilarious?... Oh wait. No it’s not. It’s fucking disgusting. WHAT THE FUCK ARE WB AND DC THINKING?!

Now I must stress at this point that nothing has been confirmed yet. The film itself is still in early development and talks have only just begun. There’s a chance that Mel Gibson might not be chosen and if enough people kick up enough of a stink, maybe that will speed the decision making process up a bit. But the fact that WB and DC would even consider this in the first place speaks volumes. The potential backlash alone should have made some alarm bells ring, surely.

The question arises whether or not it’s possible to separate the controversy from the man. If he does direct Suicide Squad 2 and does a good job, can we overlook his past mistakes. Honestly... no. I don’t think so. There’s a moral principle here. We have to demonstrate that that kind of behaviour will not be tolerated. Some say people are starting to bully and demonise Gibson for his past mistakes, but that’s not really true because the fact of the matter is Gibson has never at any point acknowledged what he’s done is wrong nor made attempts to correct his behaviour. Oh sure he’s ‘apologised’, but they clearly don’t actually mean anything. In fact he seems to show zero remorse for some of the things he’s done and has at time made excuses, such as with regards to his homophobic comments, in 1999 he said "I shouldn't have said it, but I was tickling a bit of vodka during that interview, and the quote came back to bite me on the ass." To me he seems more concerned about the backlash he received for his comments rather than admitting he said something demeaning to homosexuals and vowing to make amends.

And then of course there’s this statement he made in an exclusive interview with Deadline.com regarding the leaked tapes of the abusive phone calls:

“I've never treated anyone badly or in a discriminatory way based on their gender, race, religion or sexuality – period. I don't blame some people for thinking that though, from the garbage they heard on those leaked tapes, which have been edited. You have to put it all in the proper context of being in an irrationally, heated discussion at the height of a breakdown, trying to get out of a really unhealthy relationship. It's one terribly awful moment in time, said to one person, in the span of one day and doesn't represent what I truly believe or how I've treated people my entire life.”

I believe this is known in the trade as a big fat lie. The fact is he has demonstrated time and again to being racist, homophobic, violent and just an all round depraved individual. This has been shown not only through his comments but also through his work. And yes I am aware he has a drink problem and mental health issues, and I can empathise with that to a certain degree, but that does not in any way excuse or justify his behaviour. It’s hard to forgive and forget when Gibson has made precisely zero attempt to change his behaviour. The frequency and ferocity of his comments and outbursts suggests to me that he has a problem beyond alcohol and mental health problems, and therefore should not be indulged. And so I find it a bit offensive when the media suggests we should let bygones be bygones now that Gibson has made an Oscar worthy movie and that we should give him a congratulatory pat on the head every time he shows restraint or common courtesy (something that should come naturally to any decent human being), treating him less like a xenophobic bigot and more like your barmy conservative uncle.

So it’s disheartening that WB and DC, two companies who have been making great strides to make the DC Extended Universe as diverse as possible, would consider hiring a filmmaker who practically stands against that very ideal. (All the things Mel Gibson has said and done over the years sound like the kind of things Richard Spencer probably thinks about while he’s masturbating). Why Mel Gibson? I can think of one reason...

Hawksaw Ridge seems to have partially restored Gibson’s shattered reputation and both Gibson and WB presumably seem to think they could both stand to gain something from this. The DCEU would have an Oscar nominated director under their belt for added ‘prestige’ and Gibson could use a big budget movie, in a genre that’s become immensely popular and lucrative among the mainstream audience, to fully restore public confidence. Confidence that isn’t really deserved bearing mind that in an interview with the Daily Telegraph in 2010 he said "I am one tough motherfucker and you can't bother me anymore. You ask anybody what their number one fear is and it's public humiliation. Multiply that on a global scale and that's what I've been through. It changes you and makes you one tough motherfucker. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." Yeah. Sounds truly remorseful for his past mistakes, doesn’t he?

It both angers and saddens me that WB and DC would consider someone as reprehensible as Mel Gibson for one of their films. But at the same time, I can’t say I’m surprised. Initially I was truly excited for the DCEU, seeing it as an opportunity to build off of the foundations the Marvel Cinematic Universe laid down and to improve upon it. It was to be a diverse, creator controlled franchise that would respect both the source material and the fans. Nowadays it’s hard not to see it as a potential failure in the making. While its diversity is to be commended, its creator controlled vision has been officially thrown out the window with numerous instances of studio interference after the underperformance and negative response to Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice. The most notable example being Suicide Squad, which was utterly butchered in an attempt to make it lighter in tone and more palatable to an audience, and now we wait with nervous tension as to whether a similar fate will befall Wonder Woman and the Justice League movies. We also seem to be moving dangerously close to the assembly line production that Marvel Studios run with their shared universe, where they just churn out movie after movie without care or attention to detail. And there’s the casting of big name stars as opposed to people who are actually right for the role in an attempt to get more bums in the seats (Will Smith as Deadshot anyone?). Mel Gibson potentially directing Suicide Squad 2 seems to be the epitome of that. Overlooking his bigotry and cashing in on a potential renewal in public interest and sympathy for him.

The tragic irony is that critics have wanted DC to follow the ‘Marvel Method’ and now they may finally be getting their wish. A bloated, nonsensical franchise whose studio cares more for money than quality. And even if WB do the smart thing and reject Mel Gibson, the fact that they even considered him a worthy candidate will forever colour my view of them.

[joneswilliam72]

Meet Sub Pop's new signing Orville Peck, the masked cowboy making Outlaw Country with a cinematic scope

When Sub Pop announced the signing of outlaw country crooner Orville Peck along with the unveiling of his arcane first single ‘Big Sky’ in early December, I was immediately hooked. It is easy to gravitate to the obvious—a cowboy image and identity veiled by an obscure, fringed eye mask. But there is far more behind Peck’s mystifying essence. In fact, before signing with an immensely influential label like Sub Pop, Peck had never released an album nor an EP, and of course—there’s the seductive allure of the music itself—both of which are substantial enough reasons to keep an eye on this rising talent.

When listening to the mysterious nomad’s recently announced debut album Pony (out March 22nd), it is clear the dusty roots of country music flows heavily through Peck’s bloodstream. Adopting and expanding upon an outlaw demeanor best illustrated by the likes of Willie Nelson, Loretta Lynn and Waylon Jennings decades ago and more recently, Sturgill Simpson, Peck renders the timeless genre with otherness.





Though the masked singer-songwriter pays homage to the greats, Peck distinguishes himself by imbuing the deeply-rooted sound with emotional dissonance, shadowy flares of shoegaze-y guitars, cinematic crescendos and vocals that combine the love-sickness of Roy Orbison with the menacing gravel of Johnny Cash. Although desolate badlands are a mere mirage of yesteryear and continue to give way to concrete jungles, the wild west throbs within the shrouded nomad’s heart, and his art—music, outfit, live performances and all—is an earnest reflection of this sentiment.





In an attempt to get beneath the mask and inside his fascinating headspace, I spoke to the 10-gallon hat-wearing cowboy to discuss his debut album, where he places his identity and what it means to be a cowboy in the 21st century.





-----------

In other interviews you revealed yourself to be like the sort of like mysterious nomad. You stated that you hail from many places, including five different countries and that you really don't like to settle anywhere for too long. So what is it about settling in one place that unnerves you?




I moved around a lot when I was young and I've been traveling a lot since, and then throughout my young adult years, I played in bands and was always constantly on tour. So I think overall, I live with a pretty healthy amount of anxiety and sitting in one place makes me feel nervous. I think it's a compulsion at this point—sometimes I battle with myself—wondering if I am just trying avoid settling down. But for the most part, I think of this as a positive thing because I've been to so many places, lived in so many places and met so many different people. It has really enriched my life as an artist and as a person.




Has moving around your entire life made you readily adaptable to any setting you immerse yourself into?




I think the older I've become, something I've noticed about myself that's a pretty strong quality is being able to kind of navigate different kinds of people, and that just comes from the numerous places I've been and lived. Exposure is an interesting tool that helps you open up, learn a lot about other people and in turn, allows you to learn a lot about yourself.




Aside from the music that you have consumed in your lifetime, are there any pieces of literature, movies, fashion designers or anything of that nature that have influenced the way that you express yourself through your own art?




A lot of what has built Orville is definitely drawn from more than just the music in my life. I grew up in a household where we learned about various art forms—cinema and all different types of music. I'm a huge fan of film. I really like David Lynch, [Alejandro] Jodorowsky and Gus Van Sant. At the same time, I also love old movie musicals from the ‘40s, ‘50s and ‘60s. I don't read as much now as I would like to, but I come from a family that read a lot, so I've read many, many books when I was young. I'm a fan of fashion as in style, I just don't really care about the fashion world per se. I was in it for a moment when I was younger, but I think especially in this day and age, a lot of it's complete bullshit.




I'm glad you mentioned David Lynch as an influence because not only does the album portend a noir-like atmosphere, but the two music videos you've released thus far for ‘Big Sky’ and ‘Dead of Night’ are pretty surreal. I can't really place my finger on what either video means, but the Lynchian influence is evident.




The kind of aesthetic I like for cinema, and I suppose art overall, tends to lean more surreal. But as much as I love something like Lynch or anything considered "Art House Cinema," I also really enjoy garbage Hollywood shit [Laughs]. While there are obvious reference points that people can pick up on in my music videos that are Lynchian and so forth, there are a lot of pedestrian references scattered throughout my record too. They just aren't as current and people might not catch them. I'm also a huge fan of John Waters. What I love about him is that he's a perfect example of someone who's inspired by the funny, the mundane and the things in life that aren't necessarily weird, but become weird and obscure in the end.




If there was a film that reflected your music or vice versa, a western would not do your music justice, however, some weird John Waters or Lynch film certainly would. What is so appealing to you about country music and what albums or artists initially drew you to the genre?




I've been listening to all kinds of music since I was very little. I know people like to say that, but I come from a very eclectic music background. Country music has always really stuck to my heart. I do like contemporary country from the '90s, but not so much these days. The kind of country I've always been really drawn to is "outlaw country," like Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, and then of course the female equivalent— Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn.




Country music has this very theatrical element it and I love how it can be very robust with storytelling. It is essentially just folk music if we consider "folk" in its truest sense, which is all about telling a story. Even though some of the tracks on the album stray a bit from the country sound and have other influences, I wanted each track to capture real situations from my past and from my current life by emphasizing the traditional country music way of telling a story. I think that's why country music really resonates with people, because even if the story is slightly different, I think it'll eventually connect with a lot of people.

I like how you used the word theatrical to describe some country music. I feel like your song ‘Hope To Die’ really captures that as it gradually crescendos into this very cinematic explosion.




When I'm in the studio, I feel like I'm a very visual person. So when I'm trying to get a mood across, I want that song to be exactly like you said— "cinematic." [The track] ‘Hope To Die’ is a perfect example of this, where I envisioned this scene where everything is in slow motion. I find it more helpful to look at music through this visual lens first and foremost, because I can assess the mood and what emotions a song is going to evoke in other people. I'm glad you picked up on that because I definitely try approach music with that mindset.




Let's dive into the album's content a bit more, what is the significance behind the record's title, Pony?




Well for me, Pony has a lot of different connotations regarding country music. To me, it has a gay connotation. It has a sad, lonely connotation. It has a has a connection to something that like a 16-year-old girl wants for her birthday, but it also has a connection to something a cowboy has a take out back and put down [Laughs]. It has a lot of different layers and just made sense for the album.




Can you take us behind the decision of releasing a ‘Big Sky’ as the "Introduction" of Orville Peck to the world?




I got asked a question awhile back; if there was biography being made about me, what would I want it to be called? I said ‘Big Sky’ because I think that song and maybe ‘Dead of Night’ probably sum up who Orville is and the big themes within Pony. I think ‘Big Sky’ speaks a lot about regret and the inability to sit still, not really understanding why we react to things the way we do. It even speaks to the absence of feeling something we think we should be feeling.

Yeah, it seems as if ‘Big Sky’ serves as some sort of a launching pad into who you are without completely revealing who you are.

’Big Sky’ is a very, very personal song to me because it discusses tumultuous, failed relationships of mine, and then me moving on from those relationships. It doesn't seem like a typical first single because it's obviously very much a ballad and is very stripped down. But I think that track is kind of a good 101 to what Orville Peck is about.




Now, I’d like talk a little more about Outlaw Country. You don't really hear it anymore and It's no secret that its rebellious nature of has been kind of compromised for pop leaning radio hits, especially within the last decade. That being said, what would you say is missing in today's popular realm of country music?




Definitely. However, as much of a fan of Merle Haggard, I can also get behind listening to [Carrie Underwood's] ‘Before He Cheats’ [Laughs]. I do enjoy a lot of pop country, like I'm a big fan of Kacey Musgraves who's obviously very popular right now, winning CMA's and stuff. But it is very interesting with someone like her, because she is bringing this new rebellion to mainstream, huge label country radio. This whole idea of her singing about smoking weed or like getting her nose pierced is pretty rebellious for mainstream country [Laughs].

Artists like Musgraves are starting to kind of open up something new, even though she seems to be this all-American white girl. But I think for me, what I find missing in country music today, is that it just doesn't feel very country anymore. It just feels like people singing pop music with a Texan accent [Laughs]. Don't get me wrong, I do love pop music and I have a lot of respect for pop music. I just think a lot of today's popular country music doesn't feel very—country.

People frequently ask me the whole "why do I make this kind of country music?" question, and I just don't know why someone wouldn't want to. I love the sound of banjos, slide guitar and I think those sounds complete the fantasy of what country music is, without them the story is incomplete. Because those elements are often missing, I'm left to make up for it.




You mention elements like banjo and slide guitar, which were elements made synonymous with outlaw country. Would you say that your music is reviving or reliving that country outlaw attitude from long ago?




Probably both. I'm not the only person doing it. People like telling me that it's something very new and has never been done before. But I’ve simply taken elements of different genres and specific musicians that have inspired me and put them into one big cattle [Laughs].

Again, there's something about old country music that's really ultra-personal. Whether that be of my past, things I've done and things I've experienced, I would hope my music is just as exposing. I think that vulnerability and rawness is also missing from a lot of country music these days. If you look at older singers like Loretta Lynn and Patsy Cline, those women were singing about pretty crazy shit, especially for the time—referencing things like mental illness and alcoholism. I think the content used to be a lot more significant, which is why I really tried to make this album personal—so that it resonates with other people. I think the more personal a story is, the more it will resonate.




You mention how very personal and revealing country music should be, yet there's seems to be a darker flare to Pony that even surpasses the essence like outlaw country. That being said, would you, to an extent say there's a bit of goth-country to this collection of songs?




That’s a fair assessment. I'm a big fan of like ‘80s, goth-y synth bands. I grew up playing in a lot of punk bands, which brings in a tongue-in-cheek element to the album, but underneath it all, my music comes from somewhere pretty damaged. I really love artists like Nick Cave and Patti Smith, who both probably influenced Pony and pushed it over the edge of just g-rated country.




I would like to dive into the story and significance—if any—behind your leather-and-fringe eye-mask without revealing too much of your true identity.




There's not a huge amount of significance and symbolism. Hmm, maybe that's not quite true, because it's not that I don't want people to know, I just think the fringed references are obvious enough for people to kind of piece it together themselves and understand, which may be more rewarding than just reading it. So I think I'll probably pass on revealing too much [Laughs], because I just don't want to take that away from someone who wants to know.




I think I may have any idea behind the imagery of the mask, but I think I enjoy not really knowing for sure, myself.




I will say, the look of it is based off two or three obvious references that I think people could figure it out.




I know you don't want to necessarily discuss into the significance of the look of the mask itself, but I did notice that each of the two videos that have been released for ‘Big Sky’ and ‘Dead of Night’, you're wearing two variations of the same mask—one of black and one white. Was it intentional to include both variations?




I just like to include different ones. There are about 14 different masks now. In fact, I just made one with all chains. When I perform live I usually try to rotate them in and out to keep it interesting. There are a few I haven't worn yet because I can't really play the guitar with while wearing them [Laughs]. There's even one that's hangs almost down to my feet.




Will you ever reveal your true identity or is it essential to like the mystique of your sound?




It's funny, because the mask seems to be this weird, mysterious phenomenon and people think I'm like dead set on holding something back. I see the mask as part of me... people always ask me what I'm trying to hide, but I'm not necessarily trying to construct any type of mystery or allure—it just goes with the story of who Orville Peck is.




It's interesting, because after my live shows, people bring up the mask and I'm like "Oh yeah, the mask!" I really do forget that I'm wearing [the mask] sometimes. I guess it's not a real point of interest to me. I think when people first see me performing with it, they tend to think it's maybe some shtick or costume piece. Of course, in some ways it is, but as the show goes on, people eventually forget about the mask and that I'm wearing these quote, unquote "crazy outfits."




I'm a firm believer that masks don't actually hide anything at all. Masks actually expose a lot—and in this case—allows people to connect way more with me than If I wasn't wearing the mask. Wearing it lets me stay honest and not hold anything back, if that makes sense. If anything my masks are actually way more exposing than anything.




I guess I never really considered the concept of masks in that way. So, when you're covering yourself like that, you can be who you are, who you want to be without any fear of judgment almost.




Exactly!




When you aren't wearing the mask, does anyone ever recognize you as Orville Peck?




Nope.




Are there any plans of maybe selling variations of your mask as merchandise so people can wear them to your shows?




Hmm, nope [Laughs].




Has there ever been any worry that maybe your image will overshadow or distract listeners from the music itself?




I don't necessarily think that everything has to be theatrical or always has to be over the top and that people have to be wearing these crazy costumes. But there have been many times where I'll go out to see a band and I'm let down because I just don't see a fully realized effort or show a lot of times. Sometimes I'll go see a show and I'll be like, "oh, you know, the music is right and I see your references," but then I just want people to go a step further from whatever it is they are doing.




I guess if your aesthetic is like wearing jeans and a tee shirt and you play in like Oasis or whatever, then that's great, that's fine. I don't think everyone has to be wearing an Orville Peck mask, but if you look at a band like Oasis—who I'm actually a big fan of—they created an entire cult-like following solely based on their shitty personalities [Laughs]. However, it does go without saying that I'm glad my music holds up on its own, regardless of the outfit.




I think if someone listened to an Orville Peck song before they even saw the mask, the cowboy hat or any of that stuff—I feel that my music could stand alone. To me, the outfit and the show is an added bonus. If I'm [performing] a song and then look out to the crowd, there should be some vibe where you can really sink your teeth into.




Even with a lot of great bands, their performances can be underwhelming. The music could sound great, but then it just stops there—the experience often leaves out that "show" element.




I'm seriously considering adding a scent to my performance [Laughs]. I think shows need to be a full experience, however that may look. I'm someone who appreciates going out to a show and being left to pick my jaw up off the floor because of something that was fully performed. I'm not interested in... doing something halfway—it's 100 percent or nothing. No matter the genre of music or whatever it is you do, it's clear when something hasn't been given 100 percent.




When you come do a show in L.A., I'm expecting some incense burned during your performance.




[Laughs] We're going to get some horses in there too.




Considering that country's music identity has been traditionally and culturally monolithic with its stereotypical pieces of Americana, like the pickup truck, the high school sweetheart, the bottle and the gun, etc; what does it mean to create country music as an LGBTQ artist?




I still think my music has everything to do with the things you mentioned and maybe even more. My aesthetic in general involves the pickup truck, the high school sweetheart and those type of things, but the exciting part is taking all those elements and not necessarily reinventing them or trying to turn them on their head. Actually respecting and admiring those things allows us then to just do it our way.

Sometimes people expect that when they're going to talk to me about country music that I'm not going to be into like mainstream country or I'm not going to be into this or that. I have such a huge love for country music and so I don't see myself as someone from the outside coming in and stirring it up. I feel in my heart, I am already a part of that and I'm just doing it my way. I love everything stereotypical about Americana, country, all that stuff. So to me—however I identify—country music is just a part of who I am—they aren't separate to me.




What does it mean to be a cowboy in the 21st century?




[Sigh] Well, It's a lot of anxiety [laughs]. I think I've been one all my life, so being a cowboy doesn't necessarily mean having a hat or horse. I'd say a lot of us are cowboys, especially in this moment. Being a cowboy in the 21st century has a lot to do with remembering yourself and also forgiving yourself.

As someone who has always felt a bit like an outsider to everything, I feel like cowboys are kind of like the reluctant hero to a story, which is something I definitely relate to because I have a very dichotomous personality. On one end, I love freedom, the adventure that comes with being able to travel a lot and not needing to conform to sitting at a desk. At the exact same time, I struggle with finding normalcy and never really feeling security—it's a constant battle in my head and is actually what the song ‘Turn To Hate’ is about.

With being a cowboy or having the spirit of a cowboy, it's becoming harder and harder in this day and age to find things to believe in and anchor ourselves to. At least for me, I find myself easily getting jaded, which is why I sing in the song "Don't let my sorrow turn to hate." As I navigate other people and navigate my own emotions, I have to make sure that resentment doesn't build within me. So in that sense, I know a lot of cowboys. I think in all of us, there is a spirit of solitude and just packing up and running off into the sunset, which seems like an easier option than having to deal with the shit that's going on around us right now.




Who would you say is the model cowboy?




Hmm, I have a couple in mind. It sounds so cliché, but I feel like James Dean was very much a cowboy-spirit figure. Aside from the characters he played in film, I think in real life he exemplified the dilemma of having this drifter spirit and trying to kind of make that fit in the world around him, especially in the industry that Hollywood was and is.

With a lot of people I really respect in popular culture, a lot of them are not typical cowboys with a hat and horse. Someone like Nina Simone was pretty incredible. She was like a really crazy cowboy who even had a gun, so she fits the mold perfectly [Laughs]. But she was also somebody who by nature, was forced to live as an outsider. Given the day and age she lived, she was such an incredibly poignant woman who wasn't afraid to sing and speak her mind. I think she definitely lived her life as a cowboy.




Even with the little background information regarding who Orville Peck is, what do you hope listeners are able to take away from your music?




My focus with this album was telling stories about me. So, I just really hope people will listen and relate to some of them.

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Orville Peck’s debut album Pony comes out via Sub Pop on March 22nd.

from The 405 http://bit.ly/2UcEeK7