#retro raconteur

[girl4music]

Ah... power corruption, addiction and vengeance. Always a compelling story when told together. The very same story I love with the character Willow Rosenberg in 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'. One of my two favourite fictional female characters of all time.

Abuse of magic of any kind is a slippery slope to venture down, but abuse of Dark Magic specifically is the most of all. Well done on the in-depth explanation of Sebastian's tragic tale.

I sent Sebastian to Azkaban. 😆 But don't worry, because in my next play through I won't because I'm going to agree with him entirely and I'm going to cast Crucio on him instead. I'm going to go darker than he ever thought it was possible to go and we'll see how he fairs with it..We'll see how he handles becoming the physical victim to something beyond his control.

It's safe to say that I IMMEDIATELY LOVED THIS CHARACTER.

[danbusler]

A Tale of Two at The Fallout Shelter

Retro Raconteurs A Tale of Two

A Tale of Two at The Extended Play Sessions – Fallout Shelter in Norwood, MA. on May 12, 2023.The group features Stephanie Adlington and Aaron Lessard.This Nashville-based duo, “A Tale Of Two” offers a different kind of Americana – storytelling by a swampy pair of retro raconteurs spinning blues arias with soul, intrigue, and power.

[greensparty]

BEST ALBUMS OF 2019

In 2019 there were countless articles about how the album is dying or is hanging on for its life. “People only like songs and not albums”, “downloading and streaming have made albums obsolete”, yada yada yada! I know I sound like a dinosaur, but I don’t care – I still love albums. In 2019 I bought records and CDs and when I did listen to music online I listened to full albums on Spotify and YouTube. It was actually a strong year for albums too. The top-selling album of 2019 was When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? By Billie Eillish, but here are my Top Albums of the year!

Honorable Mentions:

Jimmie Vaughan  Baby, Please Come Home

Ringo Starr  What’s My Name?

Holy Ghost!  Work

15.  The Raconteurs  Help Us Stranger

14.  L7  Scatter the Rats

13.  Shonen Knife  Sweet Candy Power

12.  Chris Shiflett  Hard Lessons

11.  Neil Young and Crazy Horse  Colorado

10.  The Pixies  Beyond the Eyrie

This is a solid album that is a slow burn that gets better with each listen.

9.  The Claypool Lennon Delirium  South of Reality

What began as a side project is evolving in wild exciting ways!

8.  The Dandy Warhols  Why You So Crazy

If hanging in there for 25 years can make this band do their best album in 19 years, then I can’t wait to see what they do next. 

7.  Leonard Cohen  Thanks for the Dance

This didn’t feel like a posthumous album. It felt more like a follow up to You Want it Darker. Leonard Cohen has always been a storyteller worth listening to and these songs are pretty epic.

6.  Thom Yorke  ANIMA

Yorke’s solo work is highly underrated and this one is among his best non-Radiohead work!

5.  Beck  Hyperspace

A Beck album is always a party, but with the help of Pharrell Williams it was like the House Party to end the decade!

4.  Lana Del Rey  Norman F***ing Rockwell

LDR has put out some amazing albums (notably 2014’s Ultraviolence) but this was her stepping up to the plate and showing what she is capable of as a musician!

3.  Bruce Springsteen  Western Stars

The Boss’s newest album is both retro and timeless at the same time. There definitely is a 70s AM-radio influence, but it really feels like the soundtrack to a western or road movie that never was. 

2.  Wilco  Ode to Joy

Not going to lie - this is a serious return to form for Wilco. There’s a ton of influences here, notably Neil Young and George Harrison, but its undeniably Wilco. Their best album since Yankee Hotel Foxtrot!

1.  Karen O and Danger Mouse  Lux Prima

We are so lucky to be living in the Karen O Era right now! Whether she is leading the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, doing movie soundtracks or this collaboration with Danger Mouse, she has brought her one-of-a-kind style to countless genres on one album (sometimes countless genres on one song even) that was time capsule worthy!

[suzylwade]

Henk Schiffmacher Private Collection “This book is so badass, loaded with fantastic sh*t from the history of tattooing that I’ve collected over 40 years. There’s a lot of stuff in it that’s never been seen before. This has been a serious labor of love.” - Henk Schiffmacher, Tattooer and Historian on ‘TATTOO. 1730s-1970s. Henk Schiffmacher’s Private Collection’. Book publisher ‘TASCHEN’s’ latest coffee table tome taps legendary tattooer and historian Henk Schiffmacher for inspiration in ‘TATTOO. 1730s-1970s. Henk Schiffmacher’s Private Collection’. The oversized book takes us on Schiffmacher’s personal journey with tattoos all while evaluating the art form over a period that spans 240 years. It features an array of images taken from Schiffmacher’s personal archive - many of which are extremely rare such as the selection of vintage flash sheets from major names in the early days of Western tattooing - and is accompanied by commentary from Schiffmacher himself. It’s a piece for true lovers of tattooing and no detail has been spared in the production of this book. For example, the front cover looks like a retro flash sheet thanks to its mixture of tattoos and aged yellow-hued finish, while the pages inside are finished in a similar yellow tone. Topics such as Schiffmacher’s ‘Life in Tattoos’ to ‘An Age of Exhibitionism’ and information about traditional Japanese tattooing can be found throughout the 440 pages. 'TATTOO. 1730s-1970s. Henk Schiffmacher’s Private Collection’ Author Henk Schiffmacher, Published by ‘TASCHEN’ is out now. #neonurchin #neonurchinblog #dedicatedtothethingswelove #suzyurchin #ollyurchin #art #music #photography #fashion #film #words #pictures #neon #urchin #tattoo #tattoculture #history #artform #raconteur #philosopher #amsterdam #schiffmachertattooheritage #taschen #henkschiffmachersprivatecollection https://www.instagram.com/p/CJqKM_VF5B0/?igshid=5vvcl8m2vvc4

[trastornadosrevista]

Playlist semana 24/06: Thom Yorke, The Raconteurs, The Hives, Mark Ronson y Tyler The Creator

¿Cuál es la música que tenés que escuchar? ¿Qué es lo que está sonando en todos los auriculares del mundo en este momento? Todo te lo vas a encontrar a cada semana en nuestras playlists: los cinco mejores lanzamientos seleccionados y diseccionados especialmente para vos. 

‘Anima’ – Thom Yorke

Desde el inicio de ‘Anima’, Thom Yorke deja en claro que su atmósfera principal se va a desarrollar de forma progresiva –siguiendo la secuencia del filme homónimo que se acaba de estrenar en Netflix bajo la dirección de Paul Thomas Anderson– con la paranoia y la claustrofobia como elementos centrales. Las texturas que recorren las nueve extensas canciones que conforman el segundo trabajo solista del líder de Radiohead son densas, orquestales y están repletas de arreglos electrónicos más bien clásicos con tintes industriales. Su complejidad es ascendente, permitiendo que exista un claro contraste entre la desesperanza más humana y la calidez más robótica; el clima distópico, lleno de oscuridad y suciedad, se instala en cada momento de aceleración supersónica y tiene siempre a la fantasmal voz de un conflictuado Yorke como única e infalible guía.

‘Help Us Stranger’ – The Raconteurs

Previo a regresar a los escenarios globales –con fecha ya confirmada en el país para el próximo 21 de noviembre en el Teatro Gran Rex– una de las tantas facetas de Jack White vuelve a poner al rock clásico de guitarras en el lugar más elevado posible. La reinstalación de la épica guitarrera en una escena dominada por la llamada “música urbana” (sobre todo el trap, el rap y el hip hop, con las diferencias entre cada uno de ellos) es absoluta: White suena amplificado por completo tanto en las seis cuerdas como en la voz, planteando siempre un juego muy agresivo y cambiante, ágil y pesado a la vez, haciendo siempre honor a sus raíces clásicas. El blues con dejos de rock sesentoso y heavy metal originario se hace presente en ‘Help Us Stranger’, permitiéndose hasta juguetear con el folk y poniéndole la cara al intercambio con variados elementos electrónicos. El tercer disco de The Raconteurs es un potente, seductor y preciso resumen de todas las personalidades artísticas que habitan dentro de uno de los nombres más grandes e interesantes de la música contemporánea.

“Good Samaritan” – The Hives

Los muchachos (malos) de Suecia están de vuelta y han decidido comenzar por lo ya conocido. Sin salirse del carril que los llevó directo al éxito masivo, The Hives busca (re)posicionarse en una industria siempre cambiante a través de su eficaz combinación de indie rock, garage punk, hard rock y rockabilly. Marcando desde la frenética melodía un ritmo que siempre está cientos de pulsaciones por encima de lo normal, su nuevo single consigue su objetivo: enlazar de nuevo con sus fanáticos y abrirle la puerta a quienes todavía no los conocen. La voz de Pelle Almqvist se desliza entre la lucha de riffs a pura elegancia y decadencia, siendo “Good Samaritan” una canción que no se diferencia del resto de su repertorio, pero que alcanza para afirmar que están de vuelta para siempre.

‘Late Night Feelings” – Mark Ronson

Que Mark Ronson es el productor de esta década, es un hecho que muy pocos especialistas (y no tanto) se animarían siquiera a debatir. Que su más reciente disco, ‘Late Night Feelings’, es uno de los mejores de este año, tampoco es una afirmación muy difícil de rebatir en una era en la que pocos saben conjugar calidad artística y sonido comercial/radial que este hombre nacido en Notting Hill hace 43 años. Su quinto disco de estudio, apunta hacia un sentido muy diferente al de su antecesor (‘Uptown Special’ de 2015), buscando sumergirse en las profundidades más oscuras y demenciales del pop post-2000. Mark Ronson entrega un trabajo muy fino en el que su fuego interno está perfectamente complementado por un Dream Team de artistas mujeres (Miley Cyrus, Lykke Li, Camila Cabello, YEBBA, King Princess, Alicia Keys, Angel Olsen, Diana Gordon e Ilsey) que viene hace más de una década marcando a fuego la escena musical contemporánea y que –también como referentes de una lucha tan importante a nivel mundial– merecían de una vez por todas este reconocimiento. Nocturno, lleno de diversos paisajes por completo rítmicos, ‘Late Night Feelings’ es un display de todo lo que se puede hacer cuando se juntan en un mismo cuarto el mejor productor de la actualidad y las voces que han moldeado –y transformado, quedarse quieto no es una opción– a imagen y semejanza la industria pop moderna a lo largo de estos 30 años.

Un álbum de 13 canciones que utiliza la estética disco originaria (suciedad y glamour, liberación sexual y la lucha por los derechos, todo en los barrios bajos de Nueva York) para lanzar a la pista una sucesión de elementos que encajan entre sí como si estuviesen hechos de la misma madera: pop, electrónica tradicional, disco, techno-disco, funk, soul, folk y hasta rock suave, todo guiado por una esencia retro que, al mismo tiempo, también posee mucha conciencia de presente y futuro. Tal vez el mañana no esté tan lejos como creemos, tal vez lo importante en estos momentos de cambio sea bailar con total libertad al seductor y batallador ritmo del presente.

‘IGOR’ – Tyler The Creator

Desde hace más de una década, Tyler The Creator ha utilizado a gusto la escena mainstream norteamericana y global para desarrollar sus diversas facetas artísticas. Detrás de todo el ruido que rodea al personaje y al éxito en términos de reproducciones en plataformas de streaming y ventas físicas, detrás de todo eso a lo que a veces se le presta excesiva atención, hay un verdadero creador listo para mostrarse siempre adelantado a cualquier tendencia sonora. La monotonía nunca ha sido una de sus características, quedando trazado en cada uno de sus discos y singles una sinuosa propuesta en la que la multi-direccionalidad y la multiplicidad son la guía absoluta.

En su nuevo álbum titulado ‘IGOR’, la construcción de su alter ego llega a un punto máximo de literalidad: navegando en un juego de bajos bien pesados e influenciados por el hip hop clásico, el rap, el trap, consigue por momentos combinar su esencia con conceptos mucho más complejos como la épica orquestal de una eminencia como Vangelis y hasta llegando a coquetear –de una forma muy tenebrosa– con la canción tradicional de los ‘50. Sobre cada sample utilizado, Tyler The Creator pinta un cuadro más bien  ecléctico, una descripción muy sentida y honesta de quien es él como artista y como persona. Soul, pop clásico, R&B, techno y psicodelia sesentosa, cuatro vertientes que se conectan con lo anteriormente descripto con muchísima fluidez, consiguiendo un resultado tan ambiental como agresivo.

La reflexión acerca de la escena musical contemporánea es inevitable y su diagnóstico es acertado: las opciones a la hora de lanzar una carrera como músico son muchas, los filtros suelen esconder la calidad en la mayoría de los casos (se privilegia popularidad por sobre arte) y las posibles combinaciones entre géneros y estilos es más amplia que nunca. Claro que hay que saber cómo hacerlo, siendo esta la única manera de superar los filtros de las discográficas y plataformas de streaming; si hay alguien que entiende acerca de esto es Tyler The Creator, alguien capaz de transitar lo mainstream y lo underground con la misma capacidad de convencimiento y que hace largo rato ha superado el binarismo que implican las etiquetas genéricas y estilísticas.

Escuchá la playlist completa acá: https://spoti.fi/2LCqbMu

Por Rodrigo López Vázquez

[spectacleandmirth-blog]

Introducing the Pulp Raconteur wherein I read you amazing and sometimes hilariously silly pulp novels from mid century America. 

If you love Science fiction, audio books, fantasy, retro futurism, or paperback culture COME WITH ME! 

Everyone gets access to audio and video files every week ( 1 chapter, usually about 20 minutes long) and if you LOVE it, consider supporting me on Patreon. Holy Cats! 

www.patreon.com/spectacleandmirth

[esthermeronobaro]

One Train May Hide Another: An Interview With Jim Jarmusch

Originally published as the cover story for the January 2014 issue of SLUG Magazine. Read it online or in print. 

“I love getting lost in a place I don’t really know—it’s something very freeing. Instead of anxiety, like some people have, I feel so free to be lost,” says Jim Jarmusch. “I like to follow instincts, and oddly enough, it’s a kind of discipline. My little game of ‘get lost and don’t know where you are’ is a process for me that is very helpful for my imagination.” 

Most know Jarmusch as an influential writer-director of American independent cinema, boasting an interlacing filmography of artistic, counter-culture films like Dead Man, Ghost Dog and The Limits of Control since the release of his debut full-length, Permanent Vacation, in 1980 as a 27-year-old grad student at NYU. The man is a sub-cultural icon, eschewing the mainstream to create rewarding works of art that long to be close read. 

Raised on Jean-Luc Godard and New Wave cinema, nurtured through adolescence by Kenneth Koch and the New York School poets, and slow diving into the future with the support of ATP Recordings and a handful of relevant musicians, Jarmusch’s intellectual repertoire is expansive and continuing. Much like his films, the man has the ability to lose himself in the present details, while retaining an impressive understanding of the past. Perhaps it was subconscious self-reflection that materialized the filmmaker’s latest character creations: a couple of incisive, decades-old vampires in his upcoming release, Only Lovers Left Alive.  

“My interest was, ‘Wow, if you could be alive that long, imagine what your perceptions would be like and all the experiences you’d have.’ Your knowledge of things would be incredible, if you could remember it all … Just having an overview of history that way was very attractive to me,” says Jarmusch. 

Only Lovers Left Alive is the filmmaker’s addition to a long history of vampire mythology in both literature and film, and he’s versed on the great and obscure. Jarmusch links his characters’ British roots to “The Vampyre,” a poem written by Lord Byron’s physician, John Polidori, in 1819, the first time vampires appear in literature. Film-wise, he cites Carl Dreyer’s Vampyr, first and foremost, claiming it’s more of a poem than a monster movie. “I like the ones that walk outside the margins, that follow the genre in a way, but they’re not just following the Bram Stoker Dracula idea,” he says. “Of course, Nosferatu is an incredibly great film as is the universal Dracula with Bela Lugosi as well, but those are the ones that meet the expectation, and I like the ones that are traveling outside the mainstream.” 

Only Lovers Left Alive, before anything else, is a love story between Adam (Tom Hiddleton) and Eve (Tilda Swinton). “Ours isn’t a horror movie … they just happen to be vampires. The thing I love about vampires, too, is that they’re not monsters, they’re humans that have been transformed,” says Jarmusch.  “Even Nosferatu is not purely a monster—there’s a sophistication to him.” Adam and Eve are such altruistic vampires, in fact, that acquiring blood the more traditional and fatally seductive way is considered retro and obscene. He describes his characters eloquently, calling them both wild, but saying, “ … [Adam’s] the guiding sunlight of the film, [Eve] the golden light of reason and intelligence … She’s very happy to have the gift of her consciousness—it’s something very fragile and beautiful to her—and he is too, but he’s a little more romantic in a way, tortured a little, somehow.”  

The filmmaker is known for being somewhat incestuous in his use of cast and crew members, and Swinton is quite obviously a favorite actor, and a good friend. According to Jarmusch, Only Lovers Left Alive might have remained in the shadows had she not kept the project going despite the film’s languid start and precarious financing. The part of Eve was written with her in mind from the beginning. “It’s good to work with people you know, but you’ve always gotta remember there’s people you don’t know who are amazing that you might get a chance to meet and work with, too,” says Jarmusch, who also gushed over French cinematographer Yorick Le Saux, production designer Marco Bittner Rosser and editor Affonso Gonçalves, all of whom he worked with for the first time on this film.  

Other than using children’s digital cameras from Toys “R” Us for The Raconteurs’ “Steady, As She Goes” music video in 2006, Only Lovers Left Alive also marks Jarmusch’s introduction to shooting digitally. “I’m a film person. I love the magical thing of film, which is, first of all, light affecting chemistry on the surface of the film material, and then light passing through the print when you project it that creates this magical world of light and shadow,” says Jarmusch. 

“Now, digital is a different kind of magic: It’s numbers being translated. So, my first thing is that I don’t like digital, and I don’t like MP3 sound, and I like analogue sound and vinyl and cassettes … but at the same time, I believe in these things as tools, and I love technology—I just love the old stuff, too.”

However, all of his qualms about digital, including the neverending depth of field and unnatural skin tones in daylight, didn’t end up applying when shooting Only Lovers because it was mostly shot at night. Shooting digital ended up being more efficient, as the desired effect in a scene could be achieved with very minimal lighting, among other benefits. “I found great strength in [digital] even against my own prejudice,” says Jarmusch. “So it turned out to be quite a magical tool for what we were doing and very helpful. It changed my preset dinosaur obsession with film, and now I’m more open.” 

Jarmusch’s creative process is incredibly free-flowing, reflective of his self-proclaimed motto: “It’s hard to get lost if you don’t know where you’re going”—which is one of the many reasons why his films stand out. When beginning production for 2009’s The Limits of Control, for example, he didn’t even have a script—just a lot of ideas that were collected along the way. Only Lovers Left Alive started with a full script, but veered from it often. “I have this one chance in my life to be in this place, shooting this thing, with these people, so I’m going to shoot as much as I can think up,” says Jarmusch.  “I have to do that because I don’t know what I’m doing—I know that I will figure it out in the editing room … You have to listen to the film, and that’s just my way to capture everything I can … ” 

He describes a scene in the film where Adam and Eve have a sort of quarrel, saying that in preparation, he asked Hiddleston and Swinton to write out their own lengthy speeches, venting to the other character. Though Jarmusch cut out most of the dialogue, he was able to capture the feeling needed for the scene. “I’m always playing like that, trying to think of another angle for something. If we’re standing outside to do a shot and it starts to rain, most films will say, ‘OK, shut down, it’s raining, it’s not in the script,’” says Jarmusch. “Well, my first reaction is, ‘Mmm, what would this scene be like in the rain?’ … 

“I don’t like to follow the map too closely, because in life, when you take the detour, that might be where you meet your lover! Or that might be the place you learned something you never expected.” 

Of course, no Jarmusch film is complete without an exceptional, personally curated score and soundtrack. Only Lovers’ composer is Dutch lutist Jozef van Wissem, with whom Jarmusch released two albums in 2012, supplemented by Jarmusch’s latest musical project, SQÜRL, a trio including Carter Logan and Shane Stoneback. SQÜRL released two EPs in 2013, consequently with vampiric squirrel cover art and track names that undoubtedly relate to the new film. SLUG music writer Ryan Hall describes them as “no wave destruction paired with the lethargic and caustic wail of major-chord stoner riffs and a warped, warbled approximation of the music of the American West.” With a rich and varied musical background himself, Jarmusch’s track selections are always a special gift for music aficionados. 

“There’s a kind of cowardly nature in the corporate film world where the suits want everyone to get what they expect, and what a drag. What kind of life is that where you just get what you expect? So I find it so disappointing when there are these incredible genres of music around the world, and then it always sounds like the same thing.” 

Musical cameos in Only Lovers include Lebanese singer Yasmine Hamdan, who wrote the song she’s seen performing specifically for the film, New York psychedelic space rockers White Hills in a quick scene, and the soundtrack features Zola Jesus, ’60s soul singer Denise LaSalle and rockabilly musician Charlie Feathers.  Like everything else, the music in the film is a carefully selected detail with a touch of meaning beyond its surface appeal—especially with one of the main characters (Adam) being a musician. “[Adam and Eve] have been alive a long time, so they appreciate things from all of human history, and they’re also not hierarchical about high culture/low culture—they appreciate it all,” says Jarmusch. “So having lute music, which is particularly associated with Baroque and Renaissance periods, mixed with sludgy, molten drone rock, is a kind of nice way to reflect that mixture of their interests as well … They like good stuff—they don’t care if it’s Franz Schubert or Charlie Feathers’ rockabilly—if it’s good, it’s good, and they don’t differentiate that way.” 

It’s very Jarmuschian to write a love story about vampires free of the lustful violence usually associated with the genre. Jarmusch’s style has been criticized in the past as dull and contrived, but to appreciate his films, one must lose all expectations of Hollywood allure and watch them in the same way one would read a poem, or look at a painting: making connections, finding pleasure in the weighted details and minute brush strokes, and accepting the incomprehensible. 

“These poetic structures are much more inspiring to me in the form of my films, in a way, than prosaic structure because poetry leaves spaces around things. Poetry doesn’t have to connect everything syntactically or even logically,” says Jarmusch. “Someone said—I think it was e e cummings—that you can understand a poem without knowing what it means—which I love so much … A lot of people don’t get it or they may not like it, but the hell with ‘em.” 

It can be important to have waited at least a moment to see what was already there.  Only Lovers Left Alive has been screening at film festivals around the world, including the New York Film Festival and Cannes, and will make an appearance at Sundance in the Spotlight category. If you don’t catch it there, it’s set for theatrical release in April of this year.

[gottaloveghana]

SIMPLER I have a wonderful older sister who died in an accident when she was 18. She was a real intellectual genius, funny as all get out, a movie lover, a teasing, brilliant raconteur and a maker. I remember her spending hours making a retro style suede jacket with beaded fringe, inspired by this one worn by Jimi Hendrix. It was hard to keep sane with your loss. Yet I've made it, K., I made it through. Finally doing what you told me: to be brilliant and beautiful and use my gifts well. Think I could be doing better, but you would probably think I'm fine just the way I am. Love you and miss you. Happy Birthday. #love #happybirthday

[girl4music]

Actually? I think it’s a great idea. Look… I know I say that I never wanted a Xena reboot or a Charmed reboot or a Buffy reboot. … but that’s different. They weren’t based on books originally. Harry Potter was. And yes, I would absolutely love for them to at least fix Ron. Because Ron is my favourite Harry Potter character but his whole characterisation in the movies was all wrong. They made him out to be not just the idiot comic relief but also cruel to Hermione when that was actually Harry in the books. Sure, Harry was brave but he was nowhere near that civil and likeable in the books. But Ron was. In fact Ron was very much like Hermione which is why I always say I couldn’t ship him and Hermione as a couple in the movies. They were just too toxic and condescending to each other but in the books - they had something beautiful. And yeah, I would really like a visual improvement on that.

I think we should give other actors the chance to portray our favourite characters all over again and see if they actually get it right this time. No disrespect to Radcliffe, Grint and Watson. They just followed a script. I know that. But yeah - the movies do not match up anywhere near to the greatness that is J.K. Rowling’s vision from the books. I watched the movies and I did enjoy them but I wasn’t obsessed with them.

I was with the books. And I think a TV show format retelling of the vision of the books is a great idea.

[danbusler]

Retro Raconteurs Rock on a Suitcase Drumset

Fusion slideshow video from the Fallout Shelter with A Tale of Two

Fusion Slideshow Video from “A Tale of Two” at The Extended Play Sessions – Fallout Shelter in Norwood MA on May 13, 2022.The Nashville-based group features Stephanie Adlington and Aaron Lessard who gave the Fallout Shelter an evening of a different kind of Americana with some cool storytelling by this pair of retro raconteurs who spun blues arias with soul, intrigue, and…

[upintheear]

Nashville Phil - Forty-Two Shoe

Keep an eye out for this guy!

Straight outta the mean streets of Mayes County Oklahoma, I present a retro-classic songwriter and raconteur, Phil. G aka Nashville Phil! If you love stories to sing along to with tongue in cheek lyrics that tap dance on the strums of an upcycled, antique retro-classic guitar, purchased from a stall on Deptford’s flea market, Forty-two Shoe is the one for you. There’s no official releases to your…

[themusicenthusiast]

The Whistles & The Bells to Release Modern Plagues April 28, 2017 Via New West Records; Announcing U.S. East Coast Tour to Kick-Off In Nashville On April 30

The Whistles & the Bells, alt-rock moniker of acclaimed singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Bryan Simpson, will release his sophomore LP Modern Plagues via New West Records on April 28, 2017. Co-produced by Simpson and engineer Eddie Spear (Judah & the Lion, Lake Street Dive, Rival Sons), Modern Plagues’ 11 expansive tracks find Simpson delivering eye-opening lyrical insights and audacious verbal imagery, while displaying a freewheeling sonic sensibility that draws inspiration from a bottomless well of genres and textures. Collaborations on the album include co-writes with The Raconteurs’ Brendan Benson that resulted in such out-of-the-box tunes as the album’s first track "Harry Potter," which is premiered yesterday at American Songwriter. Of the song, American Songwriter comments, “A retro pop tune with strong ’80s influences, the video for this track feels like something you would see a teenage Molly Ringwald starring in. Sung from the perspective of a teenage girl, ‘Harry Potter’ highlights what many young adults long for but unfortunately cannot find as they grow older: childhood innocence and simplicity.”

Throughout Modern Plagues, Simpson's revealing lyrics and richly compelling soundscapes mix to create a singular, personally-charged vision of organized chaos. His thought provoking social commentary bleeds through the additional Benson co-writes “Small Time Criminals” and “Zombie Heartz.” It continues in remarkably candid tracks like “Year of the Freakout” and “Playing God” when Simpson’s satirical observations call into question how we all cope with the turbulent times in which we live; and, more introspectively, in songs such as "Good Drugs" and "Highlight Reel" that sonically grasp, and for that matter, celebrate the fragility and ferocity of man. As the album culminates with the funky, almost playful, apocalyptic closer “40 Years,” Modern Plagues leaves no deadly sin untouched, no false idol unexposed.

“I wanted to make a record that sounded like some great cosmic dinner party,” Simpson reveals. “Not a gross, homogenized one where people bludgeon their intellect with one-sided conversation but more of a ‘if you could invite four people from history over for dinner who would it be?’ kind of shindig. Where some strange collection of human heavyweights sit around discussing the odd pilgrimage that is life. I wanted to sonically interpret what a cosmic intersection of such varied DNA might sound like. Except fast forward the evening past the pretense and the niceties of the appetizer course and push record as the party polishes off the last drop of an encore bottle of wine.”

Modern Plagues follows The Whistles & the Bells’ 2014 self-titled debut, which gained an impressive amount of acclaim as an indie release and led to a larger re-release and record deal with New West Records. Prior to launching The Whistles & the Bells, Simpson had already won substantial success as a bluegrass mandolinist, serving a seven-year, three-album stint with the acclaimed progressive-bluegrass quartet Cadillac Sky. The band’s broad-minded collaborations with both bluegrass legend Ricky Skaggs and the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach eventually led to an in-demand spot on Mumford and Sons’ 2010 North American Tour. Meanwhile, Simpson also carved out a lucrative sideline as a mainstream country songwriter, composing hit tracks for icons such as Tim McGraw, Blake Shelton and George Strait.

For The Whistles & the Bells’ next chapter, Simpson enlisted a crew of like-minded players that include his longtime cohort and former Cadillac Sky member Matt Menefee. In addition to co-writing the album’s seventh track “Year of the Freakout,” Menefee plays banjo, electric guitar, synthesizer, piano and mandocello on the album. Also contributing to the sessions are rising singer/songwriters Brooke Waggoner and Phoebe Cryar, who trade co-lead vocals with Simpson on "Supadope.” Many of the album's players will join Simpson when he takes Modern Plagues on the road for The Whistles & the Bells’ upcoming East Coast tour, which will kick-off on April 30 with a hometown show at 3rd & Lindsley for WRLT’s Nashville Sunday Night and also includes stops in Cleveland, Pittsburgh, New York City, and Philadelphia. The Whistles & the Bells will also make an appearance at SXSW on March 17 before playing Simpson’s native city, Fort Worth, TX, on March 18.

[girl4music]

Well, I loved ‘Breath Of The Wild’. Not my favourite Zelda game but very close to it. But there was absolutely room for improvement and I feel ‘Tears Of The Kingdom’ stepped it up notches that I never noticed were even necessary until playing this game and noticing both the major and subtle differences between both games. I still feel they made a miss step with the temples and dungeons and didn’t quite understand what we Zelda veterans were asking for but otherwise, I definitely prefer ‘Tears Of The Kingdom’ to ‘Breath Of The Wild’. The Zonai abilities are 10x more useful and intuitive and versatile than the Sheikah rune abilities. The Sages’ travelling around with you as avatars and you’re able to call on them for aid at any point in the game is so much better than just getting the Champions abilities.

There’s so many quality of life improvements and many throwback and tributes to classic Zelda games. And the main story this time around is absolutely thrilling and keeps you on the edge whereas in the last game, it felt as if the main story was just a side story since the majority of it happened in the past. It didn’t feel as urgent to get through as it does with this game. It’s just an enjoyable experience all around. So yes, even though I haven’t completed the game yet, I would definitely say that it is better than ‘Breath Of The Wild’ because it’s taken that as it’s template and then incorporated new ideas and mechanics as well as revived old ones. So I do absolutely believe the hype.

[girl4music]

Found this the other day when trying to look for all the field guide pages in Hogwarts castle. Revelio pages are the hardest to find because there’s no obvious marker to them being there.

I would have never thought there was a hidden door in this tapestry if I didn’t look it up. So many secrets and easter eggs in this game. The devs really did such a good job and I’m glad that I’m supporting them even if it means it’s supporting a transphobe.

What’s clever about it is the use of lumos to highlight the darker side of the story rather than revelio. It’s as if it’s saying the light is what the character is cowering away from now that she is a creature of the night. At least that how I interpret it.

So on each tapestry that you cast lumos on, you see the character hiding from the light of your wand while the other characters are thriving in it. Using it to track her down.

Lumos is what represents the moon rather than the sun. So the character turned is fearing the light of the moon. So what makes this clever is the highlighting of the story is what tells you all of the story. And so the story isn’t necessarily about her turning into a werewolf. It’s about her anxiety of it.

Which then gives you the easter egg for the character of Remus Lupin who feared his condition rather than revelled in it.

[girl4music]

Of course I love Sebastian.

But I love him in such a way that I love all my favourite evil/villainous or morally grey characters. Because you’re able to learn from them for WHAT NOT TO DO. It’s very much just a case of loving fictional characters for being representations of the human condition and how easily and quickly humanity can be corrupted.

If I knew Sebastian in real life.

Yeah, I’d hate his guts. 😂

[girl4music]

Well, actually you were supposed to use recall on the gear wheels but your ascend method worked too and was a lot quicker. I love watching your trial and error gameplay because every once in awhile you discover something that most people haven’t noticed yet just by doing what is considered the “wrong” thing to do. Even though in a Zelda game like this, there is no wrong thing to do. All ways are viable. They may kill you but they are viable 😂 I mean I completed a shrine by making a huge tall ass tower and ignored the actual process. It still worked. That’s what I really love about the new Zelda games. The insane versatility. There’s 101 ways to do something successfully and only 1 unsuccessfully. So if you think you’re stuck or you’re failing… you’re not. It will work too. No matter how absurd and convoluted it may seem.

My favourite game of all time for me is ‘The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess’.