Interview w/ Alfred Howard
In shorthand, Alfred Howard has a great mind. In wanting to bother one of my favorite people, I decided to ask him about the carnival of terror that was 2016, the social relevance of Myspace, and the greatness of The Redwoods.
Manchester by the Sea
There’s distinct danger in the bluing of an Essex County sky, a spectral rumble more gossamer than soapy dishwater. Director Kenneth Lonergan doesn’t rack the shotgun when it comes to weather as motif, but in his latest film, “Manchester by the Sea”, you know its there in both indifference and might.
Top 11 Music Videos of ’16
Here are eleven electric picks that perforated the discord of 2016, and provided creative clarity and astute madness.
Tower
Director Keith Maitland’s “Tower” recreates the chilling 1966 shootings at the University of Texas at Austin. Using animation that warbles, juts, and vibrates like Richard Linklater’s “Waking Life”, the documentary marries reenactments and live footage to create a kaleidoscope of uncanny valleys.
Y Control: The Most Unlikely Song of 2003
“Are you,” I stammer, incredulously, “are you seeing this video?” My mouth peels into a question mark. My eyebrows become so furrowed that they turn into a cat’s cradle. I’m watching MTV2. The receiver of my cell phone pressed up against my cheek like a hot iron against a dress shirt.
Interview w/ Violet Lucca
Film Comment Magazine is a well-respected and essential institution for impassioned research, comprehensive criticism, and pressing interviews. The venerable publication not only covers topics of note with enthusiasm and knowledge, but they are unpretentiously affectionate toward people, culture, and art.
Recordlection: It Still Moves
My Morning Jacket represented a salt of the earth, Kentucky distilled migration of unpretentious 1970s southern rock through a contemporary aughts filter. I felt it bubble in my veins.
Miss Hokusai
Hara’s film is an existential woodcarving of ideology and métier, and yet there is nothing really at stake. Nothing truly said. When something of note does transpire, the tonal shifts are more confused than confident.
Video Spotlight: “Ceremonies” by Strange Relations
Ever since our favorite blog, The Grey Estates, introduced us to the Minneapolis-based band Strange Relations, we’ve been stuck in a wormhole of Siouxsie Sioux-like shadows and the ethereal, fluttering ashes of long evenings and neon tinged bars.
Soft Lions: XOXO
The band – Megan Liscomb, vocals and guitar; Ana Ramundo, keys and vocals; Jon Bonser, drums – get lost in a parallel universe of broken pastels, syrupy lamentations, tonal juxtapositions, and visceral expressions of rage.
