#will oldham

[cinematicjourney]

Old Joy (2006) | dir. Kelly Reichardt

[strathshepard]

Old Joy (Kelly Reichardt, 2006) poster via Posteritati

[nofatclips]

When we are Dogs by Jaye Jayle featuring Bonnie Prince Billy and Patrick Shiroishi

[guerrilla-operator]

SLINT, 1990. PHOTOGRAPHED BY WILL OLDHAM.

[theoscarsproject]

Matewan (1987). A labor union organizer comes to an embattled mining community brutally and violently dominated and harassed by the mining company.

Movies about American unions, particularly American unions in coal country, are remarkably common, but few manage the level of grit, honesty and hope that Matewan does. What a great film! Really drums home the resilience of this community and the challenges of unifying workers when those at the top are all too willing to exploit differences of race, gender and class in order to divide. Just a great, well-made film. 8/10.

[waterflowing-under-ground]

This song reminds me of Geralt and Dandelion's relationship.

I See A Darkness by Will Oldham (aka Bonnie "Prince" Billy)

Well, you're my friend

And can you see

Many times we've been out drinking

Many times we've shared our thoughts

But did you ever, ever notice

The kind of thoughts I got?

Well, you know I have a love

A love for everyone I know

And you know I have a drive

To live, I won't let go

But can you see this opposition

Comes rising up sometimes?

That it's dreadful imposition

Comes blacking in my mind

And then I see a darkness

And then I see a darkness

And then I see a darkness

And then I see a darkness

Did you know how much I love you?

Is a hope that somehow you

Can save me from this darkness?

Well, I hope that someday, buddy

We have peace in our lives

Together or apart

Alone or with our wives

And we can stop our whoring

And pull the smiles inside

And light it up forever

And never go to sleep

My best unbeaten brother

This isn't all I see

Oh no, I see a darkness

Oh no, I see a darkness

Oh no, I see a darkness

Oh no, I see a darkness

Did you know how much I love you?

Is a hope that somehow you

Can save me from this darkness?

Geralt sees the darkness by nature of his profession, by nature of his history, and by nature of his fate. Dandelion saves him from the darkness, he does this many times over, until of course he can't. :(

But then again, in a way he does, even after Geralt is gone, because Half a Century of Poetry is the only historical text that gives so much detail about Geralt and the rest of the hansa. So even after he dies, Dandelion shines a light on his existence. Okay I need to lie down now.

[abs0luteb4stard]

W A T C H I N G

This is the Goodfellas of Biker movies. A period drama in the 1960s-1970s. The Golden Age of Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs. The fictional Club "The Vandals" is based on Outlaws MC and the Photobook of the same name as the film by Danny Lyon in 1968. It's got a really top notch fucking cast that are all future movie legends.

It's gotta be watched if you like historical period films or crime dramas or the actors involved.

Really one of the best modern movies I've seen in very long time.

[doomandgloomfromthetomb]

Ned Collette - Ground Brewery, Red Hook, New York, August 19, 2024

Did I just send you over to Aquarium Drunkard to check out a ton of recommended records from 2024? Yes I did. Am I now recommending another record from 2024 that somehow was not included on the AD list? Yes I am. But hey — Ned Collette's Our Other History is one of my favorite LPs of the last 12 months. The Australian-born/Berlin-based singer-songwriter has a knack for circular, Leonard Cohen-esque melodies, slightly surreal imagery and narratives that are funny, haunting and sad, often all at once. The tune "Athens" is the one I keep coming back to, a beautiful and dusky shaggy dog story that speaks to the wonder, weirdness and absurdity of music-making better than anything I can think of. That song is inspired.

Our Other History is bolstered by sensitive arrangements, with Aussie undergrounders Jim White, Mick Turner (two of the Dirty Three), Chris Abrahams (Necks), Joe Talia (Oren Ambarchi, Jim O'Rourke), Leah Senior and Elizabeth Fuchsia all adding their skills to the mix. Will Oldham even wrote the liner notes, saying that this "is one of those increasingly rare beasts: a full-length record to experience and behold and live in for a while as a whole thing." What more do you need?!

Well, maybe after you get into Our Other History, you need to check out a stellar Kliked / NYC Taper recording of a recent Collette gig in Red Hook, during Raven Sings The Blues' Deep In The Valley fest (which always looks like an amazing time). Accompanied by Fuchsia on violin, Ned sounds fantastic as he serenades the upstate congnoscenti.

[milliondollarbaby87]

The Bikeriders (2023) Review

When Kathy is drawn to Benny a member of the Midwestern motorcycle club named the Vandals everything about her life is abotu to change, a dangerous underworld of violence. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Continue reading The Bikeriders (2023) Review

[dustedmagazine]

Bonnie “Prince” Billy — Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You (Drag City)

Photo by Urban Wyatt

Will Oldham’s latest album as Bonnie “Prince” Billy has a deceptive simplicity. It is mostly framed in casual, campfire strumming and homespun stringed accents. Its lyrics scan in a predictable, folk-infused manner, following steady rhythms in waltz-time and four-four; they are delivered with wry, unflappable confidentiality, however surreal or fanciful they turn. Keeping Secrets feels like, itself, a bit of a hidden gem, murmured at you rather than shouted, a quiet one but a grower. You might imagine a family gathering, after dinner, playing for the joy of it, a vibe that Oldham captures in his understated single, “Crazy Blue Bells,” when he croons, “Someday when there’s time to sing, a few of us will gather, and raise a voice to anything because everything matters.”

This is not to say that there is anything austere about Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You. On the contrary, these songs bloom like an old-fashioned garden, outwardly modest but wafting heady perfume and color in your direction. “Bananas” is a gentle knock-out, as it buzzes with glorious, dizzying harmonies (Dane Waters sings back-up) and ends with an operatic high note, hushed but also astonishing. “Blood of the Wine” drapes lush folds of string sound over its minor key jitter, skittering jewel-like mandolin trills over Appalachian lament. Oldham benefits from some real skill in his backing band, which includes Sara Louise Callaway on violin, Kendall Carter on keys, Elisabeth Fuchsia on viola and violin, Dave Howard on mandolin, Drew Miller on saxophone and Dane Waters singing.

Of course, Bonnie “Prince” Billy’s casual music get together is better than yours will ever be, because of who he is, a master of whimsy and existential dread and a consummate constructor of metaphor. That’s on the verbal side; he is also quite good at melody. His songs curve and flower in pleasing ways that are not quite unexpected, but not a cliché either. They sound familiar when you hear them first and burn in slowly over multiple hearings.

On the verbal side, I’d give the nod to “Willow, Pine, and Oak,” a gently coruscating examination of human failure, cast in the form of an extended meditation on trees. Here are willows, sucking up all the water, and pines, showy but prickly and oozing resin, and oaks, the best by far, on the basis of strength and constancy. It’s the sort of extended metaphor that is simultaneously exact about its subject and its larger poetical applications, and instead of quoting the words, I urge you to just listen to it once or twice and here how well it does what it does. The melody of this song is lovely, too, with swooning lashes of string sound and the most subliminal kind of harmonies. It is sort of perfect despite the degree of difficulty. If I were a diving judge I’d give it a 10.

For sheer sonic beauty, however, the prize is harder to award, so let’s split it between haunting “Bananas” and more ebullient “Behold! Beheld!,” both quiet and unassuming but full of grace. It’s a gift to be simple. Keeping Secrets is that sort of present.

Jennifer Kelly

[innovacancy]

Bonnie "Prince" Billy 3S Artspace, Portsmouth, NH 2 October 2023

[aquariumdrunkard]

Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy ::  Once Again In The World (Selected Songs, 1998-2020)

Spanning 1998-2020, Once Again In The World is a collection of rare and unreleased tracks from Will Oldham as Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy. Released last year, via the Portland, OR based Antiquated Future Records, the set acts as a companion the label’s other Oldham offering, Time From Work To Go (Selected Songs, 1992-1998), gathering fifteen curios from the previous Palace era.

[dare-g]

Tripping With Caveh (2004)

[thequietabsolute]