tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5342981149295384022024-03-17T20:01:12.738-07:00Visual / Sonic Art Events: A Promulgation of Adventures in Sight / SoundJefferson Petreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16247636099853517835noreply@blogger.comBlogger649125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-534298114929538402.post-42494429504137660632024-03-07T11:08:00.000-08:002024-03-10T12:14:31.084-07:00Pham Thien An's “Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell” at Northwest Film Forum: Mar 6 - 10<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="440" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IqdAUaqbhmk?rel=0" width="680"></iframe><br /><br />Winner of the <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/awards/&source=gmail&ust=1710178824613000&usg=AOvVaw0kka-FKYbD06rsgtT2v-GC" href="https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/awards/" target="_blank">Camera d’Or</a> at last year's Cannes <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.quinzaine-cineastes.fr/&source=gmail&ust=1710178824613000&usg=AOvVaw0H1XxYFEHcjBphnvE4px3y" href="https://www.quinzaine-cineastes.fr/" target="_blank">Quinzaine des Cinéastes</a>, Pham Thien An's “<a href="https://kinolorber.com/film/inside-the-yellow-cocoon-shell">Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell</a>” is first and foremost a gorgeous film, thanks to the measured cinematography of Dinh Duy Hung. Taking in the natural beauty of rural Vietnam with exquisite detail, from mountains shrouded in fog, to nighttime visions of hallucinogenic phosphorescence, the ligerings passages of unperturbed nature create an ethereal quality to the film's narrative. Through extended passages of long shots, one of the pleasures of this "<a href="https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/film/inside-the-yellow-cocoon-shell-review-meditative-mourning-in-vietnam-airdigital-1e14b15c">Meditative Mourning in Vietnam</a>" is that it demands, and then rewards the viewer giving themselves over to the lingering attention and precise pacing of the film's structure. After a motorbike accident results in the death of his sister-in-law, the film's protagonist, Thien, takes on the responsibility of his young nephew Dao, returning to their rural hometown for funeral services, and to deliver Dao to his relatives in the countryside. Playing this month at <a href="https://nwfilmforum.org/films/inside-yellow-cocoon-shell-in-person-only/">Northwest Film Forum</a>, An's first feature-length film follows its protagonist at <a href="https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/inside-the-yellow-cocoon-shell-film-review-2024">an unhurried pace</a> through the numerous detours along the course of his expedition. This becomes a journey of a multifaceted nature, moving through stages of grief, bonding with his young nephew, as "<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/18/movies/review-inside-the-yellow-cocoon-shell.html">A Wanderer on a Spiritual Quest</a>" Thien revisits his personal questions of faith, the community, and religion that he left behind in pursuing an independent life in the city. Having returned to his rural origins, Thien begins a pilgrimage through memory, past friendships and lost loves, engaging in conversations on death and faith along the way. Punctuating his journey, Thien's dreams increase in vibrancy and frequency, increasingly blurring the border between the real and the imagined, resulting in, "<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/mar/05/inside-the-yellow-cocoon-shell-review-jewel-of-slow-cinema-is-a-wondrous-meditation-on-faith-and-death">Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell: A Jewel of Slow Cinema is a Wondrous Meditation on Faith and Death</a>". The film Justin Yang called, "<a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2024-01-25/inside-the-yellow-cocoon-shell-review-cannes-pham-thien-an">One of the Best Movies of this Year</a>" in the pages of the Los Angeles Times, starts as a search for the protagonist's brother, but then shifts its focus to the complexities of assimilating the presence of death in life, and the value of faith in this process. The film's spiritual sojourn establishes a contrast with Thien's urban life, presenting solitary travel as the essential zone in which to discover the time, and self, in which to begin the process towards the absorption, and acceptance, of life's unknowable mysteries.<br><br>Jefferson Petreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16247636099853517835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-534298114929538402.post-19510680716028578482024-03-03T11:10:00.000-08:002024-03-03T13:03:57.502-08:00Wim Wenders’ "Perfect Days" and "Anselm" at SIFF Cinema: Feb 16 - Mar 21<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="440" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QzZBbX5A1FA?rel=0" width="680"></iframe><br /><br />As the director of "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo-Ga&source=gmail&ust=1709574648471000&usg=AOvVaw0K6VmkjM32cXDiEgoT3XxV" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo-Ga" target="_blank">Tokyo Ga</a>", few western directors are more qualified or capable to present an account of the daily pleasures and travails of modern Japanese life than <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wim_Wenders&source=gmail&ust=1709574648471000&usg=AOvVaw0_GgusiKtrbv51btBdWZ_I" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wim_Wenders" target="_blank">Wim Wenders</a>. For what The Guardian called, "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/feb/25/perfect-days-review-wim-wenders-koji-yakusho-tokyo-toilet-cleaner&source=gmail&ust=1709574648471000&usg=AOvVaw1YO8iZ2eO-q2Ianvyv0k4x" href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/feb/25/perfect-days-review-wim-wenders-koji-yakusho-tokyo-toilet-cleaner" target="_blank">Wim Wenders’s Zen Japanese Drama is His Best Feature Film in Years</a>", he has teamed with the incomparable talent of <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koji_Yakusho&source=gmail&ust=1709574648471000&usg=AOvVaw2HhGal5VxcP3WSvhpP1Z4X" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koji_Yakusho" target="_blank">Kōji Yakusho</a>, this year's winner of <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/may/27/a-curious-choice-for-the-palme-but-what-an-extraordinary-cannes&source=gmail&ust=1709574648471000&usg=AOvVaw2Hykzze_XKsCJbT5jpxfwZ" href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/may/27/a-curious-choice-for-the-palme-but-what-an-extraordinary-cannes" target="_blank">Best Actor at Cannes</a>, to "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/may/25/perfect-days-review-wim-wenders-tokyo-toilet-cleaner&source=gmail&ust=1709574648471000&usg=AOvVaw1WKEnwO6Zrf68aub3dRtkP" href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/may/25/perfect-days-review-wim-wenders-tokyo-toilet-cleaner" target="_blank">Explore a Quiet Life in Tokyo</a>". Through the ambient urban charm of their film, "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.perfectdays-movie.jp/en/&source=gmail&ust=1709574648471000&usg=AOvVaw0pwi6W-EtBEaDT-Gp2hTt5" href="https://www.perfectdays-movie.jp/en/" target="_blank">Perfect Days</a>", Wenders and Yakusho follow the daily rituals and unexpected encounters of Hirayama, a middle-age staff member of <a href="https://tokyotoilet.jp/en/">The Tokyo Toilet</a> project, in the Shibuya district of the city. As he motors from location to location, listening to predominantly American classic rock on cassette, each of his 17 destinations present new daily alterations and quiet moments of urban situations and social contact. The minimalism of the role, and the focus drawn away from revealing narrative background in relation to the character's personal history were some of the more attractive aspects to its lead, “<a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/awards/story/2023-11-30/koji-yakusho-wim-wenders-perfect-days">Limited Lines and Background? Kōji Yakusho Saw the Potential of ‘Perfect Days</a>”. For the spareness and ascetic minimalism of the role, “<a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2023/05/28/films/koji-yakusho-cannes-best-actor/">Japan's Versatile Veteran Kōji Yakusho Won Best Actor at Cannes</a>”. In the place of a biographic tale of Hirayama, we instead observe the continuance of the character's daily rituals and repetition, and the unexpected variables that develop along the course of the days and weeks involved. It is in this way that the film is clearly another of <a href="https://www.fnn.jp/articles/-/434873">the director's</a> <a href="https://www.fnn.jp/articles/-/435576">explorations</a> of, "<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/feb/11/wim-wenders-perfect-days-tokyo-toilet-cleaner-paris-texas-werner-herzog">‘All My Films Deal with How to Live’: Wim Wenders on Herzog, Spirituality and Shooting a Movie in 16 Days</a>". In addition to the role, and the fulfilling personal and spiritual components found in exploring it, the film's lead also reflects on the public works project and the world class architects and designers behind it, “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/feb/15/oscar-tipped-god-everything-toilets-koji-yakusho-wim-wenders-perfect-days">‘If God is in Everything, that Includes Toilets’: Kōji Yakusho on Cleaning High-art Restrooms in Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days</a>”.<br><br>The city of Tokyo and Shibuya district enlisted such notable names as Fumihiko Maki, Junko Kobayashi, Kashiwa Sato, Kazoo Sato, Kengo Kuma, Marc Newson, Masamichi Katayama, Miles Pennington, Nao Tamura, NIGO®, Shigeru Ban, Sou Fujimoto, Tadao Ando, Takenosuke Sakakura, Tomohito Ushiro and Toyo Ito, to design and realize the accessibility, utility, and pleasure of this public space work. The conception of The Tokyo Toilet project expressed in a statement from <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nippon-foundation.or.jp/en/what/projects/thetokyotoilet&source=gmail&ust=1709574648471000&usg=AOvVaw3hIgZ-GZFjfnXQCJiZv-uK" href="https://www.nippon-foundation.or.jp/en/what/projects/thetokyotoilet" target="_blank">The Nippon Foundation</a>; "Japan is known as one of the cleanest countries in the world, and even public toilets have a higher standard of hygiene than in much of the rest of the world. However, the use of public toilets in Japan is limited because of stereotypes that they are dark, dirty, smelly, and uninviting. In cooperation with the Shibuya City government, The Tokyo Toilet project has renovated 17 public toilets in Shibuya to make them accessible for everyone regardless of gender, age, or disability. The toilets were designed by <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nippon-foundation.or.jp/en/what/projects/thetokyotoilet/creators-comments&source=gmail&ust=1709574648471000&usg=AOvVaw1bNf9njGSIBZNIkBun5Fzg" href="https://www.nippon-foundation.or.jp/en/what/projects/thetokyotoilet/creators-comments" target="_blank">16 globally recognized architects and designers</a>, who are using their design and creative skills to address social issues". A very different large-scale work of a private, rather than public, work will be explored the following month at <a href="https://www.siff.net/cinema/in-theaters/perfect-days">SIFF Cinema</a>. The singular unearthly landscape of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anselm_Kiefer">Anselm Kiefer</a>'s 200 acre <a href="https://eschaton-foundation.com/visit-la-ribaute/">La Ribaute</a> located in Barjac southern France, home to, "<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/sep/12/anselm-kiefer-royal-academy-retrospective-german-painter-sculptor">Some of the Most Extraordinary Artworks of the Last Century</a>" is the subject of "<a href="https://www.siff.net/cinema/in-theaters/anselm">Anselm</a>", Wender's second film of last year. As we journey "<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/12/magazine/anselm-kiefer-art.html">Into the Black Forest with the Greatest Living Artist</a>", in the highest technological rendering available 6K, 3D, and Atmos Sound, Wender's presents these works, and some of their construction, in his "<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/may/17/anselm-review-wim-wenders-reverent-3d-portrait-of-artist-anselm-kiefer">Reverent 3D Portrait of Artist Anselm Kiefer</a>". This is framed alongside philosophical musings and the artist's observation's on the century that birthed them, and the resulting, "<a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/anselm-kiefer-artwork-30-years-200-acres-180980994/">Artwork that Took 30 Years and 200 Acres to Create</a>".<br><br>Jefferson Petreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16247636099853517835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-534298114929538402.post-23360797716075847032024-02-18T11:16:00.000-08:002024-02-18T11:16:47.009-08:00Chelsea Wolfe's "She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She" & North American Tour: Feb 27 - Mar 30<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJDotYA0DvYei7qLHLtYSfFjABgdOZzMOz_RfztkAqqVD7fN2aP7l0UTjZp2tKszMaNaoOaY06sAromS3DHxSKy3uxuFQZB07DhZNXNBLcp89Xf6ZIgLVgTDpbD2LSZ20CzB8hVEwSXEE8tOgEeMN1SphCMiKYYo7T7ux9Iv76TPjk9IH09AvmTPzELNo/s900/wolfe_she_reaches_out_to_she1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="900" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJDotYA0DvYei7qLHLtYSfFjABgdOZzMOz_RfztkAqqVD7fN2aP7l0UTjZp2tKszMaNaoOaY06sAromS3DHxSKy3uxuFQZB07DhZNXNBLcp89Xf6ZIgLVgTDpbD2LSZ20CzB8hVEwSXEE8tOgEeMN1SphCMiKYYo7T7ux9Iv76TPjk9IH09AvmTPzELNo/s16000/wolfe_she_reaches_out_to_she1.jpg" width="560" /></a></div><br />A true genre hybrid for the times, the music of Chelsea Wolfe has absorbed, distorted and recontextualized post-goth, electro-industrial, doom metal, modern neo-folk and indie singer songwriter forms into her own maximal sound. Her contemporaries more closely reside within the doom and hardcore scenes of the last two decades chronicled in <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://thequietus.com/articles/30859-converge-chelsea-wolfe-review&source=gmail&ust=1708366109122000&usg=AOvVaw35BbgKgj2l8fkNk1jeHGTH" href="https://thequietus.com/articles/30859-converge-chelsea-wolfe-review" target="_blank">The Quietus' Columnus Metalicus</a>. This cultural association was further affirmed by contributions to her recent string of albums from members of the post-shoegaze outfit <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.relapse.com/collections/true-widow&source=gmail&ust=1708366109122000&usg=AOvVaw0k1dr7PajKvi1AUmuqhzXF" href="https://www.relapse.com/collections/true-widow" target="_blank">True Widow</a>, labelmates <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://sargenthouse.com/russian-circles&source=gmail&ust=1708366109122000&usg=AOvVaw1N3rnrhb-jwOsFqaZYo7Ti" href="https://sargenthouse.com/russian-circles" target="_blank">Russian Circles</a>, and the collaborative album,"<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.deathwishdirect.com/new-releases/converge-bloodmoon-i&source=gmail&ust=1708366109122000&usg=AOvVaw2s0Axp7AZCRz8AlTB8Hx7p" href="https://www.deathwishdirect.com/new-releases/converge-bloodmoon-i" target="_blank">Bloodmoon: I</a>" with <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://deathwishinc.com/collections/converge&source=gmail&ust=1708366109122000&usg=AOvVaw0j_IkkKsBt3eWX8ig__4sD" href="https://deathwishinc.com/collections/converge" target="_blank">Converge</a>. As The Guardian review suggests, "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/nov/19/converge-chelsea-wolfe-bloodmoon-i-review-an-explosive-combination&source=gmail&ust=1708366109122000&usg=AOvVaw0Ymtz486nVaLf3WQYhqnWl" href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/nov/19/converge-chelsea-wolfe-bloodmoon-i-review-an-explosive-combination" target="_blank">Converge & Chelsea Wolfe: An Explosive Combination</a>", it is an album in which Converge's rampaging post-hardcore has been brought to a deadening crawl, sacrificing speed for a slower, more melodic, and often weightier battering of sound and song. It is in this dynamic between this lumbering crawl, and the brief blistering explosions of hardcore bombast that the album defines itself as something singular. As a foretaste of this album, her most recent quartet of releases run a gamut that suggests the hybrid of the sounds and genres touched upon throughout the releases that precede them. Beginning with the most coherent fusion of all of her previous work with the new addition of electro-industrial sounds heard on 2013's "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pain_Is_Beauty">Pain is Beauty</a>", the string of following albums for the <a href=" https://sargenthouse.com/">Sargent House</a> label would disassemble this hybrid into their particular genre components. Beginning with 2015's "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abyss_(Chelsea_Wolfe_album)">Abyss</a>", which again focused on the electro-industrial, post-punk and gothic rock aesthetics, the following "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiss_Spun">Hiss Spun</a>" shifted its weight toward a doom metal sound, enlisting members of Converge and the post-metal band <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isis_(band)">Isis</a> to lend additional weight. With 2019's "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birth_of_Violence">Birth of Violence</a>", the sound had again found a new genre focus in neo-pagan and dark folk bands shared by the likes of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heilung">Heilung</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lankum">Lankum</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardruna">Wardruna</a>. On the new label home of <a href="https://www.lomavistarecordings.com/#chelsea-wolfe">Loma Vista</a>, this year's "<a href="https://chelseawolfe.bandcamp.com/album/she-reaches-out-to-she-reaches-out-to-she">She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She</a>" again looks to reassemble all of the constituent genre forms into a cohesive whole. Where the last decade of releases for Sargent House stressed individual genres, shifting their focus from album to album. This new work, heard <a href="https://chelseawolfe.com/shows/">on tour this month</a> with a date at Seattle's <a href="https://www.stgpresents.org/calendar/14769/chelsea-wolfe">Neptune Theatre</a>, aims to be an amalgamation of all of these forms into a singular style. It's also an album of exploring a familial heritage of touching on "<a href="https://chelseawolfe.com/2016/10/interview-with-nero-journal/">different realms</a>", as The New Yorker suggests in their "<a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/listening-booth/chelsea-wolfes-eclectic-hauntings">Chelsea Wolfe’s Eclectic Hauntings</a>", through Wolfe's time spent with her elders, as a journey in which "<a href="https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/chelsea-wolfe/chelsea-wolfe-embraces-her-inner-wisdom-interview">Chelsea Wolfe Embraces Her Inner Wisdom</a>". This lengthy peregrination has brought her to a point wherein, "<a href="https://apnews.com/video/classical-music-soundtracks-music-chelsea-wolfe-7bce5ca2e915486f90cd6974a7702570">Chelsea Wolfe says Witchcraft and Sobriety Informed Her Latest Album</a>". With the fruitful harbor she has found in a new state of being populated by the subjects of her Favorite Sh*t, for Revolver, "<a href="https://www.revolvermag.com/music/favorite-st-chelsea-wolfe-archery-oracle-cards-cape-dresses-and-more">On Archery, Oracle Cards, Cape Dresses and More</a>". <br /><br /></p>Jefferson Petreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16247636099853517835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-534298114929538402.post-79864108210114072612024-02-10T10:58:00.000-08:002024-02-11T10:43:43.435-08:00Kristin Michael Hayter's "SAVED!" & North American Tour: Jan 25 - Mar 2<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="440" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mpfxWktjEKA?rel=0" width="680"></iframe><br /><br />Over the course of its five year span, power electronics composer, pianist, and classically trained singer Kristin Hayter's devotional music inspired <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristin_Hayter">Lingua Ignota</a> remained an outlier within the post-black metal and industrial noise music cultures with which she shared much musical geography. In The Quietus' "<a href="https://thequietus.com/articles/23861-lingua-ignota-kristin-hayter-interviewed">Fire, Prayer & Curses: Lingua Ignota Interviewed</a>", she plumbs its <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingua_Ignota">12th Century</a> sources of ecstatic inspiration where they meet in <a href="https://thequietus.com/articles/26824-lingua-ignota-caligula-review">an urgent and ferocious record on the subject of the unsayable</a>, the unspeakable, and the traumatic repression of abuse. Yet more than just a "<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/jul/19/lingua-ignota-caligula-review-profound-lore-kristin-hayter">Extreme Music Reckoning with Misogyny</a>", on her third album "<a href="https://www.profoundlorerecords.com/products-page/plr-items/lingua-ignota-caligula/">Caligula</a>" for Profound Lore, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/apr/18/this-has-been-fantastic-revenge-metal-musician-lingua-ignota-on-surviving-abuse">Hayter adds that Lingua Ignota is not just about catharsis</a>, but also transformation and retribution. Last year the transformative journey of Lingua Ignota's particular vein of cathartic ritual concluded, as Hayter announced that her "<a href="https://thequietus.com/articles/32322-kristin-hayer-to-retire-lingua-ignota-project">Lingua Ignota Project is Coming to an End</a>". This was owing to the considerations the artist describes in <a href="https://pitchfork.com/news/lingua-ignota-project-coming-to-an-end/">her statement to Pitchfork</a>; "I have been making a lot of changes in my life, and my music needs to change in tandem. I will be retiring all music I’ve made up till now after my upcoming tour and a few unannounced special performances in spring of 2023. I am proud of what I have accomplished so far and I look forward to what the future holds, I am in no way leaving music behind and will continue to build this world, but this world will look different." After a span of personal and creative tumult, heightened by the complexities of the pandemic, Rolling Stone maps how, "<a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/lingua-ignota-music-in-crisis-interview-covid-19-997228/">Canceled Gigs, Postponed Surgery: How COVID-19 Upended </a><a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/lingua-ignota-music-in-crisis-interview-covid-19-997228/">Kristin Hayter's Year</a>". Hayter’s final album as Lingua Ignota, "<a href="https://sargenthouse.com/lingua-ignota">Sinner Get Ready</a>" for the Sargent House label, featured Appalachian instruments and televangelist sermons, and <a href="https://thequietus.com/articles/30329-lingua-ignota-sinner-get-ready-review">a shift into more explicit tackling of religious fundamentalism</a> and revelation. The following series of tours and distinct performances concluded in 2023, and coincided with the founding of the <a href="https://www.perpetualflameministries.com/">Perpetual Flame Ministries</a> label, along with KW Campol of the band <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vile_Creature">Vile Creature</a>. Continuing along the spiritualist thematic trajectory of the final Lingua Ignota album, the label released "<a href="https://linguaignota.bandcamp.com/album/saved">SAVED!</a>" under Hayter’s own name. The review for The Quietus establishes that this is an album of death-like release and majestic rebirth, "<a href="https://thequietus.com/articles/33508-reverend-kristin-michael-hayter-saved-review">Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter: Would You Be Free from the Burden of Sin?</a>". Driven by a sense of leaving everything behind, "SAVED!" thematically burns the fuel of the grand secessionist spirit, aspiring towards a state of revelation, passing through death into a state of being refashioned and remade in grace. Through a mix of gospel standards and new original music, <a href="https://www.perpetualflameministries.com/news/second-la-show-added">this month Hayter invites us</a> to join in her baptism of purifying devastation, with a date at Seattle's <a href="https://www.stgpresents.org/calendar/14897/rev-kristin-michael-hayter">The Neptune Theatre</a>.<br /><br />Jefferson Petreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16247636099853517835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-534298114929538402.post-78507795204849683452024-02-04T12:24:00.000-08:002024-02-25T10:59:48.464-08:00André 3000, Carlos Niño and Nate Mercereau's "New Blue Sun" released Mar: 22 | Cord Jefferson's "American Fiction" at SIFF Cinema: Jan 4 - Feb 22<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkS8ne0a8fjGVq53vq25dhb3YlZgyTIkcUX58JNAzqsn3ICZngZKx3nT_F3Ct8X5Rr-6-z8fp4PttrEdP8QrvkC10RBGDS6tdhGpMfWf_3EqmUf9L0SuZ-5mNEfCY65JrRgqXcmSa1QH3-MJaVMEEaSO6KKZSbtQnlZ4O__p6rXV7C0_1Sz7Ap-t8wbJU/s1200/andre_3000_new_blue_sun1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkS8ne0a8fjGVq53vq25dhb3YlZgyTIkcUX58JNAzqsn3ICZngZKx3nT_F3Ct8X5Rr-6-z8fp4PttrEdP8QrvkC10RBGDS6tdhGpMfWf_3EqmUf9L0SuZ-5mNEfCY65JrRgqXcmSa1QH3-MJaVMEEaSO6KKZSbtQnlZ4O__p6rXV7C0_1Sz7Ap-t8wbJU/s16000/andre_3000_new_blue_sun1.jpg" width="560" /></a></div><br />Approaching the subject of the new album by André 3000, Carlos Niño and Nate Mercereau, actor <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/13/movies/jeffrey-wright-american-fiction.html" target="_blank">Jeffrey Wright</a> spoke on the related themes explored in his and Cord Jefferson's film, "<a href="https://www.mgm.com/movies/american-fiction">American Fiction</a>", the adaptation of "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erasure_(novel)">Erasure</a>" by Percival Everett currently playing at <a href="https://www.siff.net/cinema/in-theaters/american-fiction">SIFF Cinema</a>. Wright talks on the subject of audience expectation and suppositions about black artists in popular culture, particularly when working within genre and artistic subcultures, "<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/jan/25/jeffrey-wright-on-finally-being-up-for-the-best-actor-oscar-i-was-frustrated-but-im-not-frustrated-now">Jeffrey Wright Speaks on Finally Being up for the Best Actor Oscar: ‘I was Frustrated, but I’m Not Frustrated Now’</a>". Considering the example set with André 3000's "<a href="https://epicrecords.shop.musictoday.com/product/Y4LPER12/andre-3000-new-blue-sun-3lp">New Blue Sun</a>", the collaborative album with <a href="https://www.intlanthem.com/artist-bios/carlos-nino">Carlos Niño</a>, <a href="https://natemercereau.bandcamp.com/">Nate Mercereau</a>, <a href="https://suryabotofasina.bandcamp.com/">Surya Botofasina</a>, and <a href="https://matthewdavidmcq.bandcamp.com/">Matthewdavid</a>, the album itself expressing a sense of being, "<a href="https://www.intlanthem.com/tracing-the-lines/part-of-a-conversation-between-carlos-nio-andr-3000-and-nate-mercereau-from-friday-august-18-2023">A Conversation Between Carlos Niño, André 3000, and Nate Mercereau</a>". Wright highlights this work as a prime representation of the freedom of an artist to work outside of preconceived alignments with genre and form; “What I’m suggesting is there’s a level of toxicity that exists now that I don’t think existed then … just the nature of the tone: there’s violence, there’s misogyny, there’s self-orientation, there’s a materialism that is so intense now. Maybe that’s reflective of the times but there’s also an absence of originality. It seems so conformist to me. There was a lot of weird backlash when André 3000 put out that flute record. Weird commentary, like, ‘What is he doing?’ But God, you know, how beautiful for him. He got to play and put out what he felt within. That’s what it’s all about". In this bold turn down a new stylistic avenue, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_3000">André 3000</a> adorned his exploration of a new music and instrument with his jazz contemporaries gathered from the 21st century body of musicians who are currently "<a href="https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/label-guide-international-anthem-rewriting-the-rules-of-jazz/" target="_blank">Rewriting the Rules of Jazz</a>". This specific set of contributors for "New Blue Sun" were sourced largely from the <a href="https://www.intlanthem.com/">International Anthem</a> label, and the sound heard on a series of collaborations by <a href="https://www.intlanthem.com/artist-bios/carlos-nino">Carlos Niño & Friends</a>. Most recently represented by his albums "<a href="https://www.intlanthem.com/releases-3/carlos-nino-friends-more-energy-fields-current">More Energy Fields, Current</a>", and last year's "<a href="https://www.intlanthem.com/releases-3/carlos-nino-and-friends-im-just-chillin-on-fire">(I’m Just) Chillin’, On Fire</a>" to which The Guardian responded, "<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/jul/10/miguel-atwood-ferguson-and-carlos-nino-chicago-waves-review">What is this? A full orchestra? A small string ensemble? An Indo-jazz fusion band?</a>". Expressed on a variety of drums and cymbals, triggering real-time effects and electronic tones and textures, Los Angeles multi-instrumentalist and producer Carlos Niño has created <a href="https://www.npr.org/2016/04/14/473946673/first-listen-carlos-ni-o-friends-flutes-echoes-its-all-happening">a chameleonic electro-fusion voyage with jazz rigor</a>. On the eve of their current US tour, "<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/02/arts/music/andre-3000-new-blue-sun-flute-live.html">André 3000 Brings His Solo Album 'New Blue Sun' to the Stage, and There Are No Words</a>", the artist speaks with NPR on the liberating effect of the music and the sources of its inspiration, "<a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/11/14/1212661071/andre-3000-album">André 3000 Opens Up About 'New Blue Sun,' his Daring New Solo Album</a>". The trajectory to this destination further mapped in conversation with The Guardian, "<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/nov/17/andre-3000-on-his-surprise-flute-album-its-pure-excitement-like-a-child-seeing-bubbles-for-the-first-time">André 3000 on His Surprise Flute Album: ‘It’s Pure Excitement’</a>".<br /><br />Jefferson Petreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16247636099853517835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-534298114929538402.post-38863956616277487562024-02-01T10:14:00.000-08:002024-02-01T10:14:04.262-08:00Noir City Festival: Darkness Has No Borders at SIFF Cinema: Feb 16 - 22<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDAgevCFs2OFpiJVXGxa1ezt7cGaX3WHnWhKOYB0kyJh3OuETWUeDGM2KF51tLWABNgYCLs_P6F9bPHvHiVW9C92ldTp29mHSbIb_qTN_9VcdCYaX9hH-TWFxjwK23wqtJoygesvbvTvKB8Vi35N8l7cZKboF7xsl-1D-Lnr2brDwCFvEsTtWZehZ3BM0/s1200/malle_elevator_to_the_gallows1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="796" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDAgevCFs2OFpiJVXGxa1ezt7cGaX3WHnWhKOYB0kyJh3OuETWUeDGM2KF51tLWABNgYCLs_P6F9bPHvHiVW9C92ldTp29mHSbIb_qTN_9VcdCYaX9hH-TWFxjwK23wqtJoygesvbvTvKB8Vi35N8l7cZKboF7xsl-1D-Lnr2brDwCFvEsTtWZehZ3BM0/s16000/malle_elevator_to_the_gallows1.jpg" width="650" /></a></div><br />This year's edition of the annual festival titled, <a href="https://www.siff.net/programs-and-events/noir-city">Noir City: Darkness Has No Borders</a>, finds <a href="https://screencomment.com/2020/03/filmnoir-eddiemuller/" target="_blank">Eddie Muller</a> and the <a href="http://www.noircity.com/foundation.html" target="_blank">Film Noir Foundation</a> returning once again to Seattle's historic Egyptian Theatre. This marks the third installment since returning from a pandemic hiatus with the <a href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/02/noir-city-festival-15th-anniversary.html">Noir City: 15th Anniversary Edition</a>, and <a href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2022/02/noir-city-festival-dark-city-edition-at.html">Noir City: Dark City</a> in 2022, the latter inspired by Muller's bestselling book "<a href="https://www.runningpress.com/titles/eddie-muller/dark-city/9780762498963/" target="_blank">Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir</a>". At the time of the newly expanded publishing of the book, Muller spoke with NPR's Terry Gross, plumbing the genre's "<a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/10/04/1043036861/noir-alley-host-celebrates-cinemas-double-crosses-and-doomed-characters" target="_blank">Celebration of Cinema's Double Crosses and Doomed Characters</a>" that populate "<a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/10/04/1043072366/the-lost-world-of-film-noir" target="_blank">The Lost World of Film Noir</a>". Previous to the hiatus, the festival presented <a href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2020/01/noir-city-festival-international.html" target="_blank">Noir City: International Edition II</a>, which continued the programming last seen in the first of the <a href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2014/02/noir-city-festival-international.html" target="_blank">Noir City: International Editions</a>, with geographically framed sets and quartets of films originating from far flung corners of the world. Earlier editions such as the <a href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2019/02/noir-city-film-noir-in-1950s-at-siff.html" target="_blank">Noir City: Film Noir in The 1950s</a> program which tracked the beginning of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studio_system#The_end_of_the_system_and_the_death_of_RKO" target="_blank">the decline of the American studio system</a>, and into a fresh cinematic landscape where <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_noir#Neo-noir_and_echoes_of_the_classic_mode" target="_blank">the genre was to be refashioned</a>, both subtly and radically, for a new generation. Other iterations have been formatted in a <a href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2018/02/noir-city-film-noir-from-to-b-at-siff.html" target="_blank">Film Noir from A to B</a> presentation involving <a href="http://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2016/07/noir-city-festival-noir-from-to-b-at.html" target="_blank">"A" and "B" film double bills</a>, in both low budget and high production value features. On other occasions, the program has been focused thematically, such as the year that featured <a href="http://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2017/02/noir-city-festival-big-knockover-at.html" target="_blank">Noir City: The Big Knockover - Heists, Holdups and Schemes Gone Awry</a>. Outside of the annual festival, in 2017 <a href="https://www.criminalelement.com/new-noir-themed-programming-franchise-from-tmc-announced/" target="_blank">Muller took up permanent residence on TCM</a> with the launch of his Saturday night <a href="https://www.tcm.com/articles/Programming%20Article/021846/noir-alley" target="_blank">Noir Alley</a> showcase. Now in its fifth year, his show has become a central component of how "<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/01/arts/television/turner-classic-movies.html" target="_blank">Turner Classic Movies Is Changing. And Trying to Stay the Same</a>", yet the venerable platform has been under fire from its larger corporate umbrella. Last year, Warner Brothers Discovery <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/06/28/1184544944/tcm-turner-classic-movies-david-zaslav" target="_blank">gutted the leadership team of Turner Classic Movies</a>, following which, a group of famed directors then came together to "<a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2023/06/spielberg-scorsese-tcm-zazlav" target="_blank">Fight to Save Turner Classic Movies</a>". This resulted in a surprising reversal, in which, "<a href="https://deadline.com/2023/06/tcm-structure-steven-spielberg-martin-scorsese-paul-thomas-anderson-roles-1235426296/" target="_blank">TCM to Include Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese and Paul Thomas Anderson Taking Active Role</a>". Muller's weekly selections and introductions on Noir Alley act as more than just a showcase for the Film Noir Foundation and their partners at <a href="https://www.cinema.ucla.edu/restoration/about-restoration" target="_blank">The UCLA Film & Television Archive,</a> but instead a global overview of the social concerns, look, sound, aesthetic, and feel that define the <a href="https://www.criterion.com/current/series/dark-passages" target="_blank">Dark Passages</a> of film noir. This year's touring festival presents a lineup of <a href="https://www.siff.net/programs-and-events/noir-city#noirschedule">18 films in Seattle</a>, thematically framed in a statement from the Film Noir Foundation; "In a move taken in opposition to the nation's current wave of anti-immigrant sentiment, the venerable <a href="https://www.siff.net/programs-and-events/noir-city">Noir City film festival has declared "Darkness Has No Borders</a>". The weeklong festival will feature a dozen thematically linked double bills, pairing foreign language films with movies made in the United States and United Kingdom". <br /><br />Jefferson Petreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16247636099853517835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-534298114929538402.post-75189858581032080762024-01-20T12:16:00.000-08:002024-02-04T13:31:19.077-08:00Jonathan Glazer's "The Zone of Interest" at SIFF Cinema: Jan 19 - Feb 15<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="440" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/r-vfg3KkV54?rel=0" width="680"></iframe><br /><br />After receiving a six-minute standing ovation at its premiere at <a href="https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/the-zone-of-interest/" target="_blank">Cannes</a>, wherein the film won the Grand Prix, and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20230520-the-zone-of-interest-review-from-cannes-five-stars-for-jonathan-glazers-holocaust-masterpiece" target="_blank">garnering</a> <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-zone-of-interest-review-holocaust-film-masterfully-reinvents-martin-amiss-novel-xg8d58p2q" target="_blank">numerous</a> <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2023-12-14/the-zone-of-interest-review-jonathan-glazer-drama-auschwitz-holocaust-wwii" target="_blank">five-star</a> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2024/feb/04/the-zone-of-interest-jonathan-glazer-brutal-auschwitz-drama-sandra-huller-christian-friedel-martin-amis" target="_blank">reviews</a>, Jonathan Glazer's newest vision arrives at <a href="https://www.siff.net/cinema/in-theaters/the-zone-of-interest" target="_blank">SIFF Cinema</a>. Based on Martin Amis' novel of the same title, "<a href="https://a24films.com/films/the-zone-of-interest" target="_blank">The Zone Of Interest</a>" is in a sense a chronicle of <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-real-history-behind-the-zone-of-interest-and-rudolf-hoss-180983531/" target="_blank">the family life of Rudolf Höss</a>, the commandant at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz_concentration_camp" target="_blank">Auschwitz</a>, and one of the engineers of Hitler's attempt to exterminate all Jews in Europe. The Höss family live in close proximity to the ongoing genocide and the workmanlike efficiency of the industrial machine which Rudolph oversees. The sounds of this machinery of mass extermination are ever-present, with only occasional intrusions of morbid clouds of smoke, and material from this industrial eradication factory washing downstream through idyllic rivers of the Polish countryside. As a product, there is a profound lack of sentimentality to the setting and the film's representation of its larger historical context. The film's two stars have spoken on the dichotomy of its experience, "<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/jan/19/this-is-a-film-to-make-us-unsafe-in-the-cinema-as-we-should-be-sandra-huller-and-christian-friedel-on-the-zone-of-interest" target="_blank">‘This is a Film to Make us Unsafe in the Cinema. As We Should Be’: Sandra Hüller and Christian Friedel on The Zone of Interest</a>". The depiction of the close correlation of domestic life and mass-murder speaks to the intimate relationship the Höss family have with the destruction of a people and European culture. They profit off of the eradication in chilling and unspeakable ways, as stated by Robert Daniels for RogerEbert.com, "<a href="https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-zone-of-interest-film-review-2023" target="_blank">It is the sanitation the film performs, which speaks to the now, in a way few Holocaust films have done before</a>". There have been many films on this most horrifying of chapters in human history. From "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Son_of_Saul" target="_blank">The Son of Saul</a>", to "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Painted_Bird_(film)" target="_blank">The Painted Bird</a>", to "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_and_Fog_(1956_film)" target="_blank">Night and Fog</a>", all asking to some extent for the viewer to bear witness to unfathomable humiliation and suffering of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Solution">National Socialist's regime</a> of dehumanizing brutality. Where Jonathan Glazer, and to a similar extent Amis' novel differs from these, is that it does more than simply ask viewers to witness. As addressed in The Guardian's interview, "<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/dec/10/jonathan-glazer-the-zone-of-interest-auschwitz-under-the-skin-interview" target="_blank">Jonathan Glazer on his Holocaust Film The Zone of Interest: ‘This is Not About the Past, it’s About Now’</a>". This discomfiting work, expressed through an immaculate sense of visual aesthetics delivers the viewer into an antiseptic, even pastoral at times, visual environment which stands in stark contrast to the debasement and horrors happening off-screen. It is between these two points which the film's cast found the space, and frame of mind necessary to depict, "<a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/01/13/1224585616/zone-of-interest-follows-the-family-life-of-the-nazi-commander-at-auschwitz">The Family Life of the Nazi Commander at Auschwitz</a>", and specifically, in the pages of The New Yorker, the plumbing of "<a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/12/04/how-to-play-a-nazi">How Sandra Hüller Approached Playing a Nazi</a>". Peter Bradshaw's review from Cannes places the film in a tradition of representing the horror of these events indirectly, like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoah_(film)">Claude Lanzmann</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_White_Ribbon">Michael Haneke</a> before him, and in a striking coda sequence presents a vision from our present-day future, delivering the most powerful blow in, "<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/may/19/the-zone-of-interest-review-jonathan-glazer-adapts-martin-amiss-chilling-holocaust-drama">Jonathan Glazer's Chilling Holocaust Drama</a>".<br /><br />Jefferson Petreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16247636099853517835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-534298114929538402.post-52397876794105170652024-01-13T13:34:00.000-08:002024-01-14T11:38:24.513-08:00"The Music of Twin Peaks and Angelo Badalamenti'' at Seattle Symphony: Jan 17 | "How the Twin Peaks Soundtrack Came to Haunt Music for 30 Years" | The Guardian<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX5FlTgFWeYwRXG0mrqwuQm7u-2eXiOtREdCRZN8zmEdPwOtXwNgS6jJtwXnQgOHZ_7iVHOxXCPMgHAdD_qYsKMpp4Th3t6n3iwkXVUukNf8tMylB63ZvdLL1PUQT8H8lDX6_WLTjbGyZNRuySNEP7XPtmZTnD9GzoYXF-OUh2rNmUORuYxUnbzSZqf9A/s1200/seattle_symphony_badalamenti_music_twin_peaks1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX5FlTgFWeYwRXG0mrqwuQm7u-2eXiOtREdCRZN8zmEdPwOtXwNgS6jJtwXnQgOHZ_7iVHOxXCPMgHAdD_qYsKMpp4Th3t6n3iwkXVUukNf8tMylB63ZvdLL1PUQT8H8lDX6_WLTjbGyZNRuySNEP7XPtmZTnD9GzoYXF-OUh2rNmUORuYxUnbzSZqf9A/s16000/seattle_symphony_badalamenti_music_twin_peaks1.jpg" width="680" /></a></div><br />This month <a href="https://www.seattlesymphony.org/en/concerttickets/calendar/2023-2024/23twinpeaks">Seattle Symphony and host Kyle MacLachlan</a> invite listeners to join them in entering into what James Poniewozik posited for the New York Times as being more than a musical experience, "<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/13/arts/television/angelo-badalamenti-twin-peaks.html">The ‘Twin Peaks’ Theme Isn’t Just a Song. It’s a Portal</a>". The music for one of the most notable television and film series of all time, is explored by The Atlantic in "<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/01/david-lynch-influence/425094/">Twin Peaks and the Remarkeable Influence of David Lynch</a>". This convergence of director and composer came about during the production of one of Lynch's films, and was born of the inability to secure a licensing deal to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4AD">4AD</a> label maven Ivo Watts-Russell's cover of Tim Buckley's "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_to_the_Siren#This_Mortal_Coil_version">Song to the Siren</a>". Outside of auteurs like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Carpenter">John Carpenter</a>, the films of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Mann">Michael Mann</a>, and the meeting of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Cronenberg">David Cronenberg</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Shore">Howard Shore</a>, the 1980s seemed to yearn for new confluence of the big screen's coalescence of moving picture and soundtrack. The meeting of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Lynch">David Lynch</a> and composer and musician Angelo Badalamenti can be seen as a consequence of the director's first entry into into commercial studio distributed film with Universal and Paramount, thanks largely to the production funding of one Mel Brooks. Based on the Victorian era documents of Sir Frederick Treves and his patient Joseph Merrick, "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elephant_Man_(film)">The Elephant </a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elephant_Man_(film)">Man</a>" met with both box office and critical success, including eight Academy Award nominations and multiple BAFTA awards. As a product, what followed was one of the stranger turns in the whole of the director's fortunes. The then most popular film franchise in the world, helmed by George Lucus, turned the spotlight on Lynch for him to direct the third installment in the Star Wars trilogy. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Lynch#The_Elephant_Man_and_mainstream_success:_1980.E2.80.931982" target="_blank">He declined, citing Lucas' comprehensive vision</a> of the fictional universe would allow for very little in the way of space to express his own. Following this, and the distribution deal with Dino De Laurentiis that came directly from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_(1984_film)" target="_blank">Lynch's own science fiction epic</a>. By the time of his fourth feature, the dominant facets of sound, and its influential role in the prevailing character of Lynch's film work had been established. It was with "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Velvet_%28film%29">Blue Velvet'</a>', that the disparate components of massed strings inspired by the minor symphonies of Prokofiev, Stravinsky and Mahler, met with the, pulsing, churning drone of the underlying industrial sound design and the director's other great musical love. This third component was to be found in the dreamy, melancholic lament to be heard on the fringes of the popular radio-play of Lynch's childhood. A slow swinging rock n' roll defined by the plaintive, longing sound of Roy Orbison's crooning pop, the spacious productions of Phil Spector, and twang of Duane Eddy's guitar. These share a unifying element in their immersion of instrument and voice in echo and reverb, with its capacity to create the impression of vast horizons and spacious chambers of sound resonant with a lush, textured romanticism.<br /><br />The meeting of Lynch and Badalamenti would happen overcoming the challenge of having the film's lead sing her own parts in a series of central scenes. One of the primary producers on "Blue Velvet", Fred Caruso brought in stage and theater composer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelo_Badalamenti">Angelo Badalamenti</a> to coach the lead actress on the performance of the film's titular song. Nearing the end of central filming, the club scene being the last of a series of shoots for the film, Rossellini's performance came together notably under the guidance of the Sicilian composer and pianist. Lynch then made efforts to secure rights to pieces of music he had in mind for the soundtrack. Foremost among them was the 4AD label in-house band, This Mortal Coil and their cover of Tim Buckly's "Song for the Siren". Badalamenti reports that while complete creative control and the important "final cut" were conditions of the contract with De Laurentiis, the film was on a strict budget, and the $50,000 rights to securing the Ivo Watts-Russell cover was unattainable. With the success had with Rossellini, Lynch approached Badalamenti about writing an original song to replace it. Supplied with a title, and a few short lines, <a href="http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/daily/article.cfm?articleID=3498">Badalamenti recounts how their collaboration began for Film Score Monthly</a>, "Isabella handed me a piece of yellow paper that had David's lyrics on it. On the top of it was the title "<a href="http://www.lynchnet.com/movies90.html">Mysteries of Love</a>" I read it through. There was no rhyme scheme or hook to latch on to like songs were supposed to have." Approaching the director for insight into this minimalist coda, Lynch is quoted as offering; "Oh, just make it like the wind, Angelo. It should be a song that floats on the sea of time. Make it cosmic!". <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julee_Cruise">Julee Cruise</a>, who had performed in a musical that Badalamenti had written in New York, was brought in to provide the vocals for the resulting track which replicated much of the atmospheric dreamscapes of the then "4AD sound". <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Mortal_Coil">This Mortal Coil</a> was an in-house collective of artists around Blackwing Studios, its producer John Fryer and Ivo Watts-Russell, co-founder at London-based record label. By the time of "Blue Velvet"'s production 4AD had cultivated a roster of artists who specialized in angular indie introspection, atmospheric dreamscapes, downtrodden post-punk, and gothically tinged chamber music. The collective's first release "It'll End in Tears" included Howard Devoto of Breathless, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cindytalk">Cindytalk</a>'s spectral vocalist, Gordon Sharp, members of neoclassical ensemble, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Can_Dance">Dead Can Dance</a>, and singing on the influential "Song to the Siren", Elizabeth Fraser from the Scottish band, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocteau_Twins">Cocteau Twins</a>. Progenitors of what would later be called dream pop, Cocteau Twins' sound was a swirling canopy of Robin Guthrie’s reverb-enveloped guitar, sharp drum machine and bass geometries, and Fraser's vocal gymnastics and interpretation-resistant lyrical glossolalia navigating the instrumental tide. <br /><br />With the successes had in Rossellini's singing part and the "love at first sound" as Lynch described their first collaboration with Cruise, Badalamenti was recruited to try his hand at the score. <a href="http://spiritandfleshmag.com/interviews/interview-with-angelo-badalamenti/">As for Lynch’s working methods, in interview Badalamenti recalled</a> how the director would further test working relationships of sound and sequence while shooting. “He would have me on set,” he recalled of the Blue Velvet scoring sessions. “I would actually play music live while they were filming so the actors could feel the mood". Badalamenti relates, "On the plane to Los Angeles I wrote the music and Lynch flipped; “It’s Russian, dark, a little dissonant - beautiful but strange at the same time”, the director is quoted as saying. Badalamenti's creative trajectory after graduating from the Manhattan School of Music had already taken the Brooklyn born Sicilian-American into the world of composing minor film scores and musicals for Broadway. He wrote songs for Nina Simone, and even a brief stint working alongside electronic pioneer Jean-Jacques Perry. Yet it would be this mid-career meeting with Lynch on the set of "Blue Velvet" that would be the defining junction. Even with the successes had in the production of that film, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Velvet_(film)#Reception" target="_blank">it's global reception</a>, could not have prepared the director and composer team for the chapter that was to come next. Their collaboration in sound and image was soon to be <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_Peaks#Response">broadcast into nearly every home in America</a>. In 1989, Badalamenti and Lynch assembled a band of veteran sessions and film musicians, including jazz drummer Grady Tate, and guiatrist Vinnie Bell, in small studio off of Times Square in New York to work on three simultaneous projects. These would be the avant-garde stage musical "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Symphony_No._1">Industrial Symphony No.1</a>", Cruise's album "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floating_into_the_Night">Floating into the Night</a>'', and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Twin_Peaks">Twin Peaks soundtrack</a>, in which Cruise appears as the in-series <a href="https://northbendescapes.com/twin-peaks-roadhouse/">Roadhouse</a> band's chanteuse. From these sessions, Badalamenti's pieces born of chord suspensions and evocative of dissonance, loss and longing, singer and composer express, "<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/may/16/angelo-badalamenti-julee-cruise-music-twin-peaks">‘We Felt Like We Could Do Anything’: Angelo Badalamenti and Julee Cruise on the Music of Twin Peaks</a>". This process recounted in detail for The Guardian, "<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/mar/24/twin-peaks-soundtrack-david-lynch-angelo-badalamenti">'Make it Like the Wind, Angelo': How the Twin Peaks Soundtrack Came to Haunt Music for Nearly 30 Years</a>". Lynch would sit with the composer at the side of his Fender Rhodes piano, quietly verbalising what he envisioned. “I haven’t shot anything, but it’s like you are in a dark woods with an owl in the background and a cloud over the moon and sycamore trees are blowing very gently…” I started to press the keys for the opening chord to “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falling_(Julee_Cruise_song)">Twin Peaks Love Theme</a>,” because it was the sound of that darkness, recounts Badalamenti. Lynch said; “A beautiful troubled girl is coming out of the woods, walking towards the camera… and she comes closer and it reaches a climax and…” I continued with the music as he continued the story. “And from this, we let her go back into the dark woods”. Lynch was ecstatic with the outcome. “Don’t
change a single note, Angelo. I see Twin Peaks".<br /><br />Jefferson Petreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16247636099853517835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-534298114929538402.post-38841698114589772002024-01-07T12:58:00.000-08:002024-02-25T19:19:53.062-08:00:::: Films of 2023 ::::<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip2XHv9ljNETcy0qJVfG2wyaM6THYZwHl4Yfp6XXLEyDKtAsaz3MS-gvHtgsddyIodW47gO4GnfLe2bxJEkJpMKROp_rjDME4UKtFWCN-AcfAKlleEH9NXOU6enJlGpps604jQcyvJx8ZEBaLNu9_0-S5FO_-ufA98azvIAEEF-3-7m3ImnuuJ35kGo8I/s1200/jonathan_glazer_zone_of_interest1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="669" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip2XHv9ljNETcy0qJVfG2wyaM6THYZwHl4Yfp6XXLEyDKtAsaz3MS-gvHtgsddyIodW47gO4GnfLe2bxJEkJpMKROp_rjDME4UKtFWCN-AcfAKlleEH9NXOU6enJlGpps604jQcyvJx8ZEBaLNu9_0-S5FO_-ufA98azvIAEEF-3-7m3ImnuuJ35kGo8I/s16000/jonathan_glazer_zone_of_interest1.jpg" width="680" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMF8d3Sl0OKFAGlZdB2tlWTGHQxguBfZ0wVPGB1WALi3prQCeBfyWu2AyeewYc-v7_ZmSzuKbDIM7P7HIPxef1IT64qwJ0fKj4NEsVBbWHH0HNUO6Wbk0pdqUqghgo3TtqqDuzEk3xwshb4IJiDMUGjyTUG4Z7Qro3wSxk0wwmetpqqbm5ZX5iAcOln1M/s1200/jonathan_glazer_zone_of_interest2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMF8d3Sl0OKFAGlZdB2tlWTGHQxguBfZ0wVPGB1WALi3prQCeBfyWu2AyeewYc-v7_ZmSzuKbDIM7P7HIPxef1IT64qwJ0fKj4NEsVBbWHH0HNUO6Wbk0pdqUqghgo3TtqqDuzEk3xwshb4IJiDMUGjyTUG4Z7Qro3wSxk0wwmetpqqbm5ZX5iAcOln1M/s16000/jonathan_glazer_zone_of_interest2.jpg" width="680" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMirSoETNggWLOOlXTHjAIaIlv2WQAjRd8u0_A_SmBXPMxhB7eDLE4vKVOTocS8qlKatlW5WVM0lqiqvVm5sTci8UKrSKcx2COGU0qUfqaNo2bU5KRNB6iZaDAHV4OcCKwWyfZcQb57fz6-KipIamQucqsg3A2NbfSyqAZT07h4UwCBF4BKuWZl5xeI_8/s1200/jonathan_glazer_zone_of_interest3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMirSoETNggWLOOlXTHjAIaIlv2WQAjRd8u0_A_SmBXPMxhB7eDLE4vKVOTocS8qlKatlW5WVM0lqiqvVm5sTci8UKrSKcx2COGU0qUfqaNo2bU5KRNB6iZaDAHV4OcCKwWyfZcQb57fz6-KipIamQucqsg3A2NbfSyqAZT07h4UwCBF4BKuWZl5xeI_8/s16000/jonathan_glazer_zone_of_interest3.jpg" width="680" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikuLa9Cg78n4QRNKngk3FHjNQpcI34HqMz27k6YjQH5HkryVMKYdltUakj5-xScvSCZT6H19aHuL-vM4cMj7oniDVDqtj7MGKjBRQd6pHtqnln-oAMwRZ3nu_JB6RfRFgdkQnEtJ2ZyLeAF4sqafWVPaljd58uXG8xZDkDlY7pdjZLBdPA9B2410bMUJY/s1200/jonathan_glazer_zone_of_interest4.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikuLa9Cg78n4QRNKngk3FHjNQpcI34HqMz27k6YjQH5HkryVMKYdltUakj5-xScvSCZT6H19aHuL-vM4cMj7oniDVDqtj7MGKjBRQd6pHtqnln-oAMwRZ3nu_JB6RfRFgdkQnEtJ2ZyLeAF4sqafWVPaljd58uXG8xZDkDlY7pdjZLBdPA9B2410bMUJY/s16000/jonathan_glazer_zone_of_interest4.jpg" width="680" /></a></div><br /><b>TOP FILMS OF 2023 IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER</b><br />-----------------------------------------------------------<br />Jonathan Glazer "The Zone of Interest" (United Kingdom)<br />Mstyslav Chernov "20 Days in Mariupol" (Ukraine)<br />Lucien Castaing-Taylor & Véréna Paravel "De Humani Corporis Fabrica" (France)<br />Victor Erice "Close Your Eyes" (Spain)<br />Cyril Schäublin "Unrest" (Switzerland)<br />Ira Sachs "Passages" (France)<br />Jafar Panahi "No Bears" (Iran)<br />Alice Rohrwacher "La Chimera" (Italy)<br />Bertrand Bonello "The Beast" (France)<br />Nuri Bilge Ceylan "About Dry Grasses" (Turkey)<br />Lisandro Alonso "Eureka" (Argentina)<br />Lukas Moodysson "Together 99" (Sweden)<br />Hirokazu Kore-eda "Monster" (Japan)<br />Pedro Costa "Daughters of the Fire" Short (Portugal)<br />Laura Citarella "Trenque Lauquen" (Argentina)<br />György Fehér "Twilight" Restored Rereleased (Hungary)<br />Budd Boetticher "The Ranown Westerns" Restored Rereleased (United States)<br />Juliet Berto & Jean-Henri Roger "Snow" Restored Rereleased (France)<br />David Lynch "Inland Empire" Restored Rereleased (United States)<br />Jean Eustache "The Mother and the Whore" Restored Rereleased (France)<br />Radu Jude "Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World" (Romania)<br />Wim Wenders "Anselm" & "Perfect Days" (Germany/Japan)<br />Kôji Fukada "Love Life" (Japan)<br />Yorgos Lanthimos "Poor Things" (Greece)<br />Wang Bing "Youth (Spring)" (France)<br />Catherine Breillat "Last Summer" (France)<br />Ulrich Seidl "Wicked Games: Rimini Sparta" (Austria)<br />Pham Thien An "Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell" (Vietnam)<br />Pablo Larraín “El Conde” (Chile)<br />Takashi Yamazaki "Godzilla Minus One" (Japan)<br />Hayao Miyazaki "How Do You Live?" (Japan)<br />Makoto Shinkai "Suzume" (Japan)<br /><br />For decades now, this annual overview has acted as a summation of the music, film, dance, theatre, visual art exhibitions and festivals attended and covered. Both domestic and international. As we enter into the post-phase after the global pandemic one would assume that the continuance of such opportunities would be returning in an assertive manner. Yet here in the urban northwest, the effects of the pandemic on cultural and social life are still manifesting themselves in a dynamic manner. Businesses and cultural venues continue to have limited hours, close early on weekday and weekend nights, and program with a reduced scale and truncated durations over what we saw in the years preceding the pandemic. Some of which regionally even reducing hours more than when they had initially after reopening two years ago. The once essential component of urban social life in the Northwest, the espresso cafe, has been particularly hard hit. With many of them no longer offering evening hours of any variety. Regionally, arts venues and cultural institutions returned to in-person programming in the fall of 2021, cautiously opening the doors to <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2021/06/washington-state-phase-4-reopening-jun.html&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw3nqbR26D7lmBRcwzTpCc1P" href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2021/06/washington-state-phase-4-reopening-jun.html" target="_blank">music stages</a>, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2021/07/washington-state-phase-4-reopening-jun.html&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw1UGd-uuR5DYOgCz7vG-uci" href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2021/07/washington-state-phase-4-reopening-jun.html" target="_blank">galleries and movie houses</a>. After a year and a half of navigating the complexities of the pandemic restrictions and closures, programming returned in <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2021/09/seattle-independent-music-venue-cinema.html&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw1ytR5LMW5rEuD3-og8AR2V" href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2021/09/seattle-independent-music-venue-cinema.html" target="_blank">August and September</a> to the majority of these Northwest culture spaces. It is important to consider that the benefits of the <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://variety.com/2020/music/news/senator-amy-klobuchar-15-billion-save-our-stages-act-stimulus-1234867911/&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw1g_p7_yxjOT4va6TizPiSW" href="https://variety.com/2020/music/news/senator-amy-klobuchar-15-billion-save-our-stages-act-stimulus-1234867911/" target="_blank">Save Our Stages Act</a>, alongside the <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/loans/covid-19-relief-options/shuttered-venue-operators-grant&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw2_NecQWFVveS82W-Cz7T4Z" href="https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/loans/covid-19-relief-options/shuttered-venue-operators-grant" target="_blank">Shuttered Venues Grant</a> are a significant component as to the continuance of arts beyond the pandemic. The benefits of the various relief bills, alongside regional infrastructure like the <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.4culture.org/covid-19-response/&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw0VvGl91ypok1qY05QUG7cN" href="https://www.4culture.org/covid-19-response/" target="_blank">4Culture Relief Fund</a>, awareness efforts like the <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://wanma.info/&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw3Q_s6pITCKOs5wSljok6V1" href="https://wanma.info/" target="_blank">Washington Nightlife Music Association</a>, crowdfunding and philanthropy like the <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.artistrelief.org/&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw1DjsIwzy2m-OMPJoLknMVS" href="https://www.artistrelief.org/" target="_blank">ArtistRelief</a>, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.artsfund.org/covid-19-relief-fund/&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw0yievuZ-FOJn0C9eqp--yS" href="https://www.artsfund.org/covid-19-relief-fund/" target="_blank">ArtsFund</a> grant, and <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.givebigwa.org/about&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw0hPp-fRKHGuchGRJMfL08m" href="https://www.givebigwa.org/about" target="_blank">GiveBig</a> Washington, all came in the 11th hour for many of our regional cultural institutions and art venues. Most of which would not have doors open to their cultural community now two years later, without these resources.<br /><br />Unlike last year's convergence of the <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2022/06/the-59th-venice-biennale-cecilia.html&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw02Rv9aRUZSE5Zemm0meMBz" href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2022/06/the-59th-venice-biennale-cecilia.html" target="_blank">Venice Biennale and Document in Germany</a>, the art seen and traveled to this year was all of a domestic nature. The <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/07/seattle-art-fair-at-lumen-field-event.html&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw1qibEn1BH94AbWOg5wbbwW" href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/07/seattle-art-fair-at-lumen-field-event.html" target="_blank">Seattle Art Fair returned</a> at the height of summer, offering works from over 80 galleries from around the globe, and the satellite event <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://crosscut.com/culture/2023/05/artsea-seattle-art-fairs-satellite-shows-are-sprouting-early&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw1Gz8q4KsGJB4LxJI-xjs2G" href="https://crosscut.com/culture/2023/05/artsea-seattle-art-fairs-satellite-shows-are-sprouting-early" target="_blank">Forest for the Trees</a>, concurrently presented a volume of regional work in Pioneer Square. In cinema, after the <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/movies/fate-of-some-sam-film-series-unclear-as-museums-longtime-film-curator-laid-off/&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw2Pb2cCgehADfsydVvYHfzK" href="https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/movies/fate-of-some-sam-film-series-unclear-as-museums-longtime-film-curator-laid-off/" target="_blank">discontinuation of the Seattle Art Museum's film program</a>, and the termination of its programmer, Greg Olson found a new home for his <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/09/dark-dreams-original-film-noir-series.html&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw2ldTg9-2ZwwZiR8xno7jKw" href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/09/dark-dreams-original-film-noir-series.html" target="_blank">long-running film noir</a> and <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/04/life-is-feast-cinema-of-federico.html&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw1Usk4baLCdyOB4OJPffJQs" href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/04/life-is-feast-cinema-of-federico.html" target="_blank">italian cinema series</a> at SIFF Cinema. The most significant filmgoing news of the year came with the unexpected convergence of cultural and civic rehabilitation funds, the legacy of Paul Allen, and the Seattle International Film Festival organization with their <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/movies/siff-buys-cinerama-plans-reopening-of-beloved-seattle-movie-theater/&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw30MM9i88vvct0sYdf1Q7Yx" href="https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/movies/siff-buys-cinerama-plans-reopening-of-beloved-seattle-movie-theater/" target="_blank">acquisition of the Seattle Cinerama Theater</a>. Other notable annual events returned with the array of <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/10/all-monsters-attack-at-grand-illusion.html&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw2AXAk3VZf4gp2bdn7MyAdC" href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/10/all-monsters-attack-at-grand-illusion.html" target="_blank">horror and genre film returned in the fall</a>, significant jazz performances were seen, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/01/earshot-jazz-presents-tord-gustavsen.html&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw3FIoqjWT0Ja8Eq7SGeVj47" href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/01/earshot-jazz-presents-tord-gustavsen.html" target="_blank">both within the</a> <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/10/earshot-jazz-presents-marc-ribots.html&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw1fKUt4vtnqcd9JCCkS_nvn" href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/10/earshot-jazz-presents-marc-ribots.html" target="_blank">Earshot Jazz Festival</a> and <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/08/alabaster-deplume-and-joshua-abrams.html&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw2rKqqaqpUG9Pnv4j84K7SY" href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/08/alabaster-deplume-and-joshua-abrams.html" target="_blank">outside its programming</a>, and SIFF Cinema presneted a near-complete <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/06/dreams-nightmares-films-of-david-lynch.html&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw2vFLisWDyrkZG4JC6UUZJh" href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/06/dreams-nightmares-films-of-david-lynch.html" target="_blank">retrospective of the films of David Lynch</a>. In music events, Seattle's recently launched <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.tremolosea.com/&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw0g4tMI0Er96X5TMah2xltP" href="https://www.tremolosea.com/" target="_blank">Tremolo</a> had a second successful festival of shoegaze, noise-rock and dream pop sounds at the Central Saloon, and the goliath of metal, noise and hardcore that is <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/05/northwest-terror-fest-at-neumos-barboza.html&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw1o0LD32fqk0EC3TCiPi6wS" href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/05/northwest-terror-fest-at-neumos-barboza.html" target="_blank">Northwest Terror Fest</a>, returned to Neumos and Barboza with a sprawling and qualitative fifth iteration. Over the course of the summer, a set of legendary gothic rock and early electro-industrial bands had tours, presenting <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/03/the-cure-songs-of-lost-world-us-tour.html&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw3I0o8zi1TBTKqcXDlULvqE" href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/03/the-cure-songs-of-lost-world-us-tour.html" target="_blank">The Cure's "Songs of a Lost World"</a>, and after nearly 40 years of darkly theatrical music, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/03/skinny-puppy-final-tour-with-lead-into.html&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw1a9NDBRkmSe--l8-sXKr6o" href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/03/skinny-puppy-final-tour-with-lead-into.html" target="_blank">the final tour from Skinny Puppy</a>. The year also saw a series of closures and conclusions within the arts community. Two hard-hitting losses came at the end of the summer, the first of which was the newly launched visual art and community space, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.kuow.org/stories/museum-of-museums-announces-permanent-closure&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw0H7kiCWqenadQSS4FfEcvR" href="https://www.kuow.org/stories/museum-of-museums-announces-permanent-closure" target="_blank">Museum of Museums</a>, and the second not soon after its opening and inception for, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/visual-arts/seattles-downtown-banana-republic-store-to-become-art-space/&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw3J4kt1BVENjBHpo4TuYIJ-" href="https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/visual-arts/seattles-downtown-banana-republic-store-to-become-art-space/" target="_blank">XO Seattle in the space of the historic Coliseum Theater</a>. Even Seattle's longstanding and prestigious literary arts mecca finds
itself in uncharted water, due to a recent turn of events, "<a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/books/future-of-seattles-hugo-house-up-in-the-air/" target="_blank">Seattle's Hugo House Faces an Uncertain Future</a>". The year also saw the announcement of the, "<a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/visual-arts/seattles-linda-hodges-james-harris-galleries-to-close/" target="_blank">Closing of both Linda Hodges and James Harris Galleries</a>". In a lengthy discussion with NPR's Libby Denkmann and Mike Davis, Museum of Museums founder Greg Lundgren addresses the reality of, "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.kuow.org/stories/is-seattle-s-arts-infrastructure-crumbling&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw27iqSMgokv4Sq0-5c69hxo" href="https://www.kuow.org/stories/is-seattle-s-arts-infrastructure-crumbling" target="_blank">Is Seattle's Arts Infrastructure Crumbling?</a>"<div dir="ltr"><br /></div>While there are now opportunities again to engage with film, music and visual art, domestically as a culture we are still relying on online resources more than was necessary pre-pandemic. Yet these deliver only a modicum of the sensations, social engagement, and sensory thrills and satisfactions of in-person cultural happenings. The pragmatic response would be to accept the inherent losses and embrace what vestiges of a cultural life that could be salvaged online. <span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Two major events in the year revealed the fragility and impermanence of our quality online arts platforms. The first of them came with </span></span>a series of corporate buyouts of the online direct-to-artist platform and community that was <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://bandcamp.com/discover&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw3QPQ0F60LVGn3h_AcQGCe5" href="https://bandcamp.com/discover" target="_blank">Bandcamp</a>. First by Epic Games, who quickly dispensed with the platform, "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.wired.com/story/epic-games-sale-bandcamp-music-platform-limbo/&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw0CwzQO86DGgTTiI1upoaBX" href="https://www.wired.com/story/epic-games-sale-bandcamp-music-platform-limbo/" target="_blank">Epic Games’ Sale of Bandcamp Has Left the Artist-Friendly Music Platform in Limbo</a>", and <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/oct/17/bandcamp-lays-off-half-its-staff-after-buyout-by-songtradr%2520-&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw1qTFHOHudPpTgmfwCJaxYG" href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/oct/17/bandcamp-lays-off-half-its-staff-after-buyout-by-songtradr%20-" target="_blank">then by Songtradr</a>, as artists and professionals working in music had a unified response which was shared by The Guardian, "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/27/epic-games-bandcamp-acquired-sondtradr&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw0cMUgkCxGm5975a9IBZXWA" href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/27/epic-games-bandcamp-acquired-sondtradr" target="_blank">The Music site Bandcamp is Beloved and Unique. I Shudder at its Corporate Takeover</a>". The second came with what Wired called, "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.wired.com/story/hbo-max-netflix-disney-plus-day-streaming-died/&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw24GKuavP_Glt8bWQW8n_7-" href="https://www.wired.com/story/hbo-max-netflix-disney-plus-day-streaming-died/" target="_blank">HBO Max, Netflix, Disney+, and the Day Streaming Died</a>", after Warner Brothers Discovery <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.npr.org/2023/06/28/1184544944/tcm-turner-classic-movies-david-zaslav&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw35GBKpnSrtXR2b50lj387D" href="https://www.npr.org/2023/06/28/1184544944/tcm-turner-classic-movies-david-zaslav" target="_blank">gutted the leadership team of Turner Classic Movies</a>, a group of famed directors then came together to "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2023/06/spielberg-scorsese-tcm-zazlav&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw2vcaLrGE7DiwOO_kVkE__H" href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2023/06/spielberg-scorsese-tcm-zazlav" target="_blank">Fight to Save Turner Classic Movies</a>". Which concluded in a positive outcome and <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2023-06-28/tcm-programming-chief-warner-bros-spielberg-zaslav-scorsese&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw0oz7HcIStkFM0brjJrnK2x" href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2023-06-28/tcm-programming-chief-warner-bros-spielberg-zaslav-scorsese" target="_blank">a rare reversal </a>for the network, "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://deadline.com/2023/06/tcm-structure-steven-spielberg-martin-scorsese-paul-thomas-anderson-roles-1235426296/&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw0MBPvI_4HoAvCxx45hzVXt" href="https://deadline.com/2023/06/tcm-structure-steven-spielberg-martin-scorsese-paul-thomas-anderson-roles-1235426296/" target="_blank">TCM to Include Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese and Paul Thomas Anderson Taking Active Role</a>". <span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">So, now at year's end, for those who have not found compelling new sounds, digital retailers like <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://boomkat.com/charts/boomkat-end-of-year-charts-2023-&source=gmail&ust=1704656947542000&usg=AOvVaw0ybqU2ZzT8cO-fosih54WX" href="https://boomkat.com/charts/boomkat-end-of-year-charts-2023-" target="_blank">Boomkat</a>, online institutions like <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://thequietus.com/articles/33662-the-quietus-top-100-albums-of-2023-norman-records&source=gmail&ust=1704656947542000&usg=AOvVaw0AF_gVX26YUIkQKgVjlZSK" href="https://thequietus.com/articles/33662-the-quietus-top-100-albums-of-2023-norman-records" target="_blank">The Quietus</a>, and magazines like <span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.thewire.co.uk/issues/479/480&source=gmail&ust=1704656947542000&usg=AOvVaw0AYxrA7REmilcsq02FwkLI" href="https://www.thewire.co.uk/issues/479/480" target="_blank">The Wire</a></span></span>, represent the kind of expertise you’ll not find brought together online outside the framework of their curatorial legacy. A particular advantage, The Wire offers the opportunity to <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.thewire.co.uk/audio/tracks/the-wire-s-releases-of-the-year-2023&source=gmail&ust=1704656947542000&usg=AOvVaw28cNavgEEEFZDvMDAY1oVZ" href="https://www.thewire.co.uk/audio/tracks/the-wire-s-releases-of-the-year-2023" target="_blank">Listen to The Wire Top 50 Releases of 2023</a>. Similarly, film institutions like those below offer a worldly scope, compiling the life’s work of people who have made watching their enterprise. Year in and year out again, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/polls/50-best-films-2023&source=gmail&ust=1704656947542000&usg=AOvVaw0d-1SkvMaBqaEoVnBRsg88" href="https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/polls/50-best-films-2023" target="_blank">Sight & Sound</a>, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.filmcomment.com/best-films-of-2023/&source=gmail&ust=1704656947542000&usg=AOvVaw3s1jaXilg6k9F5kUwSz0l-" href="https://www.filmcomment.com/best-films-of-2023/" target="_blank">Film Comment</a>, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://cinema-scope.com/cinema-scope-magazine/cinema-scope-table-of-contents-97/&source=gmail&ust=1704656947542000&usg=AOvVaw116xQRJCdNUmMpX_SYcqXH" href="https://cinema-scope.com/cinema-scope-magazine/cinema-scope-table-of-contents-97/" target="_blank">Cinema-Scope</a>, Criterion Collection's <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/8345-2023-pairings-and-favorites&source=gmail&ust=1704656947542000&usg=AOvVaw2leT28h5zh0COy7EnuvlSu" href="https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/8345-2023-pairings-and-favorites" target="_blank">The Current</a>, and <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/dec/05/the-50-best-films-of-2023-in-the-uk&source=gmail&ust=1704656947542000&usg=AOvVaw2InNVdqVnLiRiqVdMTqAK3" href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/dec/05/the-50-best-films-of-2023-in-the-uk" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>'s excellent film coverage have brought focus to the year of moving pictures from around the globe.<br /><br /></span></span>Jefferson Petreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16247636099853517835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-534298114929538402.post-87638457367848164322024-01-07T12:56:00.000-08:002024-01-13T19:26:45.698-08:00:::: Albums of 2023 ::::<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggFMT_nBWf5XpdU2vdVBpL7o_LtKAxWshOcG0zA2z3Kz99_62W5KzEKrLOcdtUWqZNhfx0T2oUX6aiVKyupk3Y3PBBO91wOs__Ko41p31DNMQ6Selr0zDFJEvZEr6UaVt22YLQYCdI4kE3cN8eRrx3Hpff-Myaqp9oFoZN4R8NYPKtxM-2_x9vXZIkXfY/s1024/ryuichi_sakamoto_opus_1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="1024" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggFMT_nBWf5XpdU2vdVBpL7o_LtKAxWshOcG0zA2z3Kz99_62W5KzEKrLOcdtUWqZNhfx0T2oUX6aiVKyupk3Y3PBBO91wOs__Ko41p31DNMQ6Selr0zDFJEvZEr6UaVt22YLQYCdI4kE3cN8eRrx3Hpff-Myaqp9oFoZN4R8NYPKtxM-2_x9vXZIkXfY/s16000/ryuichi_sakamoto_opus_1.jpg" width="670" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMSnkwqWejQnxdlbgRvAsmlmKBuOz9iYgryZPlFFuOKYvI6CbY-PytaIo34vgnb-13qWtVorNqg8C-Jhh7froa5zA1TGFvIKEQF-SQSKaXVGkUNmrHyIYOFr3dA3UqFQfjzxv9HOearRnnusho6IF_fICPgU_0i1gP5mWn355OfQsCOqyIFX_ya3C7CHU/s1040/ryuichi_sakamoto_opus_2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="1040" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMSnkwqWejQnxdlbgRvAsmlmKBuOz9iYgryZPlFFuOKYvI6CbY-PytaIo34vgnb-13qWtVorNqg8C-Jhh7froa5zA1TGFvIKEQF-SQSKaXVGkUNmrHyIYOFr3dA3UqFQfjzxv9HOearRnnusho6IF_fICPgU_0i1gP5mWn355OfQsCOqyIFX_ya3C7CHU/s16000/ryuichi_sakamoto_opus_2.jpg" width="670" /></a></div><br /><b>TOP ALBUMS OF 2023 IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER</b><br />-------------------------------------------------------------<br />Violent Magic Orchestra “Supergaze / Martello Mosh Pit” EPs (Never Sleep)<br />Full of Hell & Nothing “When No Birds Sang” (Closed Casket Activities)<br />Bell Witch “Future's Shadow Part 1: The Clandestine Gate” (Profound Lore)<br />Boris & Merzbow “Klatter” Reissue (Relapse)<br />Pharoah Sanders "Karma" Reissue (Impulse!)<br />Natural Information Society & Ari Brown “Since Time Is Gravity” (Eremite)<br />Alabaster DePlume “Come With Fierce Grace” (International Anthem)<br />Tord Gustavsen Trio “Opening” (ECM)<br />Kjetil Mulelid Trio “Who Do You Love The Most” (Rune Grammofon)<br />Ryuichi Sakamoto “12” & "Opus" (Commmons)<br />Philip Jeck & Chris Watson “Oxmardyke” (Touch)<br />Demdike Stare & Jon Collin “Minerals” (DDR)<br />Regis & Ann Margaret Hogan “Hospital For Beasts” (Downwards)<br />Vivid Oblivion “The Graphic Cabinet” (Downwards)<br />Godflesh “Purge” (Avalanche)<br />Swans “The Beggar” (Young God)<br />Ragana “Desolation's Flower” (The Flenser)<br />Khanate “To Be Cruel” (Sacred Bones)<br />Lankum “False Lankum” (Rough Trade)<br />Kristin Michael Hayter "Saved!" (Perpetual Flame Ministries)<br />Tim Hecker "No Highs" & "The Infinity Pool - Soundtrack" (Kranky) (Milan)<br />Teeth Of The Sea “Hive” (Rocket Recordings)<br />La Baracande “La Baracande” (La Nòvia)<br />The Inward Circles “Before We Lie Down In Darknesse” (Corbel Stone Press)<br />Sarah Davachi “Long Gradus : Arrangements” (Late Music)<br />Various Artists “Vanity Records: Vanity Sample” Book + CD (Remodel)<br />Various Artists "Spectra Ex Machina: A Sound Anthology Of Occult Phenomena 1920 - 2017" (Sub Rosa)<br />Various Artists "Ecuatoriana: El Universo Paralelo De Polibio Mayorga 1969 - 1981" (Analog Africa)<br />Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou "Jerusalem" Reissue (Mississippi Records)<br />György Ligeti / Quatuor Diotima "Metamorphosis" (PentaTone)<br />Various Artists “Compositrices: New Light on French Romantic Women Composers” Box Set (Palazzetto Bru Zane)<br /><br />For decades now, this annual overview has acted as a summation of the music, film, dance, theatre, visual art exhibitions and festivals attended and covered. Both domestic and international. As we enter into the post-phase of the global pandemic one would assume that the continuance of such opportunities would be returning in an assertive manner. Yet here in the urban northwest, the effects of the pandemic on cultural and social life are still manifesting themselves in a dynamic manner. Businesses and cultural venues continue to have limited hours, close early on weekday and weekend nights, and program with a reduced scale and truncated durations over what we saw in the years preceding the pandemic. Some of which regionally even reducing hours more than when they had initially after reopening two years ago. The once essential component of urban social life in the Northwest, the espresso cafe, has been particularly hard hit. With many of them no longer offering evening hours of any variety. Regionally, arts venues and cultural institutions returned to in-person programming in the fall of 2021, cautiously opening the doors to <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2021/06/washington-state-phase-4-reopening-jun.html&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw3nqbR26D7lmBRcwzTpCc1P" href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2021/06/washington-state-phase-4-reopening-jun.html" target="_blank">music stages</a>, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2021/07/washington-state-phase-4-reopening-jun.html&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw1UGd-uuR5DYOgCz7vG-uci" href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2021/07/washington-state-phase-4-reopening-jun.html" target="_blank">galleries and movie houses</a>. After a year and a half of navigating the complexities of the pandemic restrictions and closures, programming returned in <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2021/09/seattle-independent-music-venue-cinema.html&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw1ytR5LMW5rEuD3-og8AR2V" href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2021/09/seattle-independent-music-venue-cinema.html" target="_blank">August and September</a> to the majority of these Northwest culture spaces. It is important to consider that the benefits of the <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://variety.com/2020/music/news/senator-amy-klobuchar-15-billion-save-our-stages-act-stimulus-1234867911/&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw1g_p7_yxjOT4va6TizPiSW" href="https://variety.com/2020/music/news/senator-amy-klobuchar-15-billion-save-our-stages-act-stimulus-1234867911/" target="_blank">Save Our Stages Act</a>, alongside the <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/loans/covid-19-relief-options/shuttered-venue-operators-grant&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw2_NecQWFVveS82W-Cz7T4Z" href="https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/loans/covid-19-relief-options/shuttered-venue-operators-grant" target="_blank">Shuttered Venues Grant</a> are a significant component as to the continuance of arts beyond the pandemic. The benefits of the various relief bills, alongside regional infrastructure like the <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.4culture.org/covid-19-response/&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw0VvGl91ypok1qY05QUG7cN" href="https://www.4culture.org/covid-19-response/" target="_blank">4Culture Relief Fund</a>, awareness efforts like the <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://wanma.info/&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw3Q_s6pITCKOs5wSljok6V1" href="https://wanma.info/" target="_blank">Washington Nightlife Music Association</a>, crowdfunding and philanthropy like the <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.artistrelief.org/&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw1DjsIwzy2m-OMPJoLknMVS" href="https://www.artistrelief.org/" target="_blank">ArtistRelief</a>, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.artsfund.org/covid-19-relief-fund/&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw0yievuZ-FOJn0C9eqp--yS" href="https://www.artsfund.org/covid-19-relief-fund/" target="_blank">ArtsFund</a> grant, and <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.givebigwa.org/about&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw0hPp-fRKHGuchGRJMfL08m" href="https://www.givebigwa.org/about" target="_blank">GiveBig</a> Washington, all came in the 11th hour for many of our regional cultural institutions and art venues. Most of which would not have doors open to their cultural community now two years later, without these resources.<div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr">Unlike last year's convergence of the <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2022/06/the-59th-venice-biennale-cecilia.html&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw02Rv9aRUZSE5Zemm0meMBz" href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2022/06/the-59th-venice-biennale-cecilia.html" target="_blank">Venice Biennale and Document in Kassel, Germany</a>, the art seen and traveled to this year was all of a domestic nature. The <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/07/seattle-art-fair-at-lumen-field-event.html&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw1qibEn1BH94AbWOg5wbbwW" href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/07/seattle-art-fair-at-lumen-field-event.html" target="_blank">Seattle Art Fair returned</a> at the height of summer, offering works from over 80 galleries from around the globe, and the satellite event <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://crosscut.com/culture/2023/05/artsea-seattle-art-fairs-satellite-shows-are-sprouting-early&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw1Gz8q4KsGJB4LxJI-xjs2G" href="https://crosscut.com/culture/2023/05/artsea-seattle-art-fairs-satellite-shows-are-sprouting-early" target="_blank">Forest for the Trees</a>, concurrently presented a volume of regional work in Pioneer Square. In cinema, after the <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/movies/fate-of-some-sam-film-series-unclear-as-museums-longtime-film-curator-laid-off/&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw2Pb2cCgehADfsydVvYHfzK" href="https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/movies/fate-of-some-sam-film-series-unclear-as-museums-longtime-film-curator-laid-off/" target="_blank">discontinuation of the Seattle Art Museum's film program</a>, and the termination of its programmer, Greg Olson found a new home for his <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/09/dark-dreams-original-film-noir-series.html&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw2ldTg9-2ZwwZiR8xno7jKw" href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/09/dark-dreams-original-film-noir-series.html" target="_blank">long-running film noir</a> and <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/04/life-is-feast-cinema-of-federico.html&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw1Usk4baLCdyOB4OJPffJQs" href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/04/life-is-feast-cinema-of-federico.html" target="_blank">italian cinema series</a> at SIFF Cinema. The most significant filmgoing news of the year came with the unexpected convergence of cultural and civic rehabilitation funds, the legacy of Paul Allen, and the Seattle International Film Festival organization with their <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/movies/siff-buys-cinerama-plans-reopening-of-beloved-seattle-movie-theater/&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw30MM9i88vvct0sYdf1Q7Yx" href="https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/movies/siff-buys-cinerama-plans-reopening-of-beloved-seattle-movie-theater/" target="_blank">acquisition of the Seattle Cinerama Theater</a>. Other notable annual events returned with the array of <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/10/all-monsters-attack-at-grand-illusion.html&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw2AXAk3VZf4gp2bdn7MyAdC" href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/10/all-monsters-attack-at-grand-illusion.html" target="_blank">horror and genre film returned in the fall</a>, significant jazz performances were seen, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/01/earshot-jazz-presents-tord-gustavsen.html&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw3FIoqjWT0Ja8Eq7SGeVj47" href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/01/earshot-jazz-presents-tord-gustavsen.html" target="_blank">both within the</a> <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/10/earshot-jazz-presents-marc-ribots.html&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw1fKUt4vtnqcd9JCCkS_nvn" href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/10/earshot-jazz-presents-marc-ribots.html" target="_blank">Earshot Jazz Festival</a> and <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/08/alabaster-deplume-and-joshua-abrams.html&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw2rKqqaqpUG9Pnv4j84K7SY" href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/08/alabaster-deplume-and-joshua-abrams.html" target="_blank">outside its programming</a>, and SIFF Cinema presneted a near-complete <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/06/dreams-nightmares-films-of-david-lynch.html&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw2vFLisWDyrkZG4JC6UUZJh" href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/06/dreams-nightmares-films-of-david-lynch.html" target="_blank">retrospective of the films of David Lynch</a>. In music events, Seattle's recently launched <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.tremolosea.com/&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw0g4tMI0Er96X5TMah2xltP" href="https://www.tremolosea.com/" target="_blank">Tremolo</a> had a second successful festival of shoegaze, noise-rock and dream pop sounds at the Central Saloon, and the goliath of metal, noise and hardcore that is <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/05/northwest-terror-fest-at-neumos-barboza.html&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw1o0LD32fqk0EC3TCiPi6wS" href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/05/northwest-terror-fest-at-neumos-barboza.html" target="_blank">Northwest Terror Fest</a>, returned to Neumos and Barboza with a sprawling and qualitative fifth iteration. Over the course of the summer, a set of legendary gothic rock and early electro-industrial bands had tours, presenting <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/03/the-cure-songs-of-lost-world-us-tour.html&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw3I0o8zi1TBTKqcXDlULvqE" href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/03/the-cure-songs-of-lost-world-us-tour.html" target="_blank">The Cure's "Songs of a Lost World"</a>, and after nearly 40 years of darkly theatrical music, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/03/skinny-puppy-final-tour-with-lead-into.html&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw1a9NDBRkmSe--l8-sXKr6o" href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/03/skinny-puppy-final-tour-with-lead-into.html" target="_blank">the final tour from Skinny Puppy</a>. The year also saw a series of closures and conclusions within the arts community. Two hard-hitting losses came at the end of the summer, the first of which was the newly launched visual art and community space, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.kuow.org/stories/museum-of-museums-announces-permanent-closure&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw0H7kiCWqenadQSS4FfEcvR" href="https://www.kuow.org/stories/museum-of-museums-announces-permanent-closure" target="_blank">Museum of Museums</a>, and the second not soon after its opening and inception for, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/visual-arts/seattles-downtown-banana-republic-store-to-become-art-space/&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw3J4kt1BVENjBHpo4TuYIJ-" href="https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/visual-arts/seattles-downtown-banana-republic-store-to-become-art-space/" target="_blank">XO Seattle in the space of the historic Coliseum Theater</a>. Even Seattle's longstanding and prestigious literary arts mecca finds itself in uncharted water, due to a recent turn of events, "<a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/books/future-of-seattles-hugo-house-up-in-the-air/" target="_blank">Seattle's Hugo House Faces an Uncertain Future</a>". The year also saw the announcement of the, "<a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/visual-arts/seattles-linda-hodges-james-harris-galleries-to-close/" target="_blank">Closing of both Linda Hodges and James Harris Galleries</a>". In a lengthy discussion with NPR's Libby Denkmann and Mike Davis, Museum of Museums founder Greg Lundgren addresses the reality of, "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.kuow.org/stories/is-seattle-s-arts-infrastructure-crumbling&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw27iqSMgokv4Sq0-5c69hxo" href="https://www.kuow.org/stories/is-seattle-s-arts-infrastructure-crumbling" target="_blank">Is Seattle's Arts Infrastructure Crumbling?</a>"</div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div>While there are now opportunities again to engage with film, music and visual art, domestically as a culture we are still relying on online resources more than was necessary pre-pandemic. Yet these deliver only a modicum of the sensations, social engagement, and sensory thrills and satisfactions of in-person cultural happenings. The pragmatic response would be to accept the inherent losses and embrace what vestiges of a cultural life that could be salvaged online. <span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Two major events in the year revealed the fragility and impermanence of our quality online arts platforms. The first of them came with </span></span>a series of corporate buyouts of the online direct-to-artist platform and community that was <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://bandcamp.com/discover&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw3QPQ0F60LVGn3h_AcQGCe5" href="https://bandcamp.com/discover" target="_blank">Bandcamp</a>. First by Epic Games, who quickly dispensed with the platform, "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.wired.com/story/epic-games-sale-bandcamp-music-platform-limbo/&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw0CwzQO86DGgTTiI1upoaBX" href="https://www.wired.com/story/epic-games-sale-bandcamp-music-platform-limbo/" target="_blank">Epic Games’ Sale of Bandcamp Has Left the Artist-Friendly Music Platform in Limbo</a>", and <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/oct/17/bandcamp-lays-off-half-its-staff-after-buyout-by-songtradr%2520-&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw1qTFHOHudPpTgmfwCJaxYG" href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/oct/17/bandcamp-lays-off-half-its-staff-after-buyout-by-songtradr%20-" target="_blank">then by Songtradr</a>, as artists and professionals working in music had a unified response which was shared by The Guardian, "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/27/epic-games-bandcamp-acquired-sondtradr&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw0cMUgkCxGm5975a9IBZXWA" href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/27/epic-games-bandcamp-acquired-sondtradr" target="_blank">The Music site Bandcamp is Beloved and Unique. I Shudder at its Corporate Takeover</a>". The second came with what Wired called, "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.wired.com/story/hbo-max-netflix-disney-plus-day-streaming-died/&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw24GKuavP_Glt8bWQW8n_7-" href="https://www.wired.com/story/hbo-max-netflix-disney-plus-day-streaming-died/" target="_blank">HBO Max, Netflix, Disney+, and the Day Streaming Died</a>", after Warner Brothers Discovery <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.npr.org/2023/06/28/1184544944/tcm-turner-classic-movies-david-zaslav&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw35GBKpnSrtXR2b50lj387D" href="https://www.npr.org/2023/06/28/1184544944/tcm-turner-classic-movies-david-zaslav" target="_blank">gutted the leadership team of Turner Classic Movies</a>, a group of famed directors then came together to "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2023/06/spielberg-scorsese-tcm-zazlav&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw2vcaLrGE7DiwOO_kVkE__H" href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2023/06/spielberg-scorsese-tcm-zazlav" target="_blank">Fight to Save Turner Classic Movies</a>". Which concluded in a positive outcome and <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2023-06-28/tcm-programming-chief-warner-bros-spielberg-zaslav-scorsese&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw0oz7HcIStkFM0brjJrnK2x" href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2023-06-28/tcm-programming-chief-warner-bros-spielberg-zaslav-scorsese" target="_blank">a rare reversal </a>for the network, "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://deadline.com/2023/06/tcm-structure-steven-spielberg-martin-scorsese-paul-thomas-anderson-roles-1235426296/&source=gmail&ust=1704656947541000&usg=AOvVaw0MBPvI_4HoAvCxx45hzVXt" href="https://deadline.com/2023/06/tcm-structure-steven-spielberg-martin-scorsese-paul-thomas-anderson-roles-1235426296/" target="_blank">TCM to Include Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese and Paul Thomas Anderson Taking Active Role</a>". <span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">So, now at year's end, for those who have not found compelling new sounds, digital retailers like <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://boomkat.com/charts/boomkat-end-of-year-charts-2023-&source=gmail&ust=1704656947542000&usg=AOvVaw0ybqU2ZzT8cO-fosih54WX" href="https://boomkat.com/charts/boomkat-end-of-year-charts-2023-" target="_blank">Boomkat</a>, online institutions like <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://thequietus.com/articles/33662-the-quietus-top-100-albums-of-2023-norman-records&source=gmail&ust=1704656947542000&usg=AOvVaw0AF_gVX26YUIkQKgVjlZSK" href="https://thequietus.com/articles/33662-the-quietus-top-100-albums-of-2023-norman-records" target="_blank">The Quietus</a>, and magazines like <span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.thewire.co.uk/issues/479/480&source=gmail&ust=1704656947542000&usg=AOvVaw0AYxrA7REmilcsq02FwkLI" href="https://www.thewire.co.uk/issues/479/480" target="_blank">The Wire</a></span></span>, represent the kind of expertise you’ll not find brought together online outside the framework of their curatorial legacy. A particular advantage, The Wire offers the opportunity to <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.thewire.co.uk/audio/tracks/the-wire-s-releases-of-the-year-2023&source=gmail&ust=1704656947542000&usg=AOvVaw28cNavgEEEFZDvMDAY1oVZ" href="https://www.thewire.co.uk/audio/tracks/the-wire-s-releases-of-the-year-2023" target="_blank">Listen to The Wire Top 50 Releases of 2023</a>. Similarly, film institutions like those below offer a worldly scope, compiling the life’s work of people who have made watching their enterprise. Year in and year out again, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/polls/50-best-films-2023&source=gmail&ust=1704656947542000&usg=AOvVaw0d-1SkvMaBqaEoVnBRsg88" href="https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/polls/50-best-films-2023" target="_blank">Sight & Sound</a>, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.filmcomment.com/best-films-of-2023/&source=gmail&ust=1704656947542000&usg=AOvVaw3s1jaXilg6k9F5kUwSz0l-" href="https://www.filmcomment.com/best-films-of-2023/" target="_blank">Film Comment</a>, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://cinema-scope.com/cinema-scope-magazine/cinema-scope-table-of-contents-97/&source=gmail&ust=1704656947542000&usg=AOvVaw116xQRJCdNUmMpX_SYcqXH" href="https://cinema-scope.com/cinema-scope-magazine/cinema-scope-table-of-contents-97/" target="_blank">Cinema-Scope</a>, Criterion Collection's <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/8345-2023-pairings-and-favorites&source=gmail&ust=1704656947542000&usg=AOvVaw2leT28h5zh0COy7EnuvlSu" href="https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/8345-2023-pairings-and-favorites" target="_blank">The Current</a>, and <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/dec/05/the-50-best-films-of-2023-in-the-uk&source=gmail&ust=1704656947542000&usg=AOvVaw2InNVdqVnLiRiqVdMTqAK3" href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/dec/05/the-50-best-films-of-2023-in-the-uk" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>'s excellent film coverage have brought focus to the year of moving pictures from around the globe.<br /><br /></span></span>Jefferson Petreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16247636099853517835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-534298114929538402.post-5450454615345241512023-12-10T11:24:00.000-08:002023-12-23T10:39:19.776-08:00Bell Witch “Future's Shadow Part 1: The Clandestine Gate” & North American Tour: Oct 17 - Dec 16 <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpZkR3AWL4xEMVPVR5Vj2pzLWBy5iIADE3_UxFpKWGveoXT0YVXBJSQvZJvpluBNInXqG-yGKzqKFwHPRxgSjuzvGky1ldT57IVZze1YB1ebodz4HRr-W9Q8Yl5cto13sATDAfme60L8v1G3ZqycSgOppfZYzLDNLOxlGFDHQeawxQROKhcXy1b-HnzS4/s900/bell_witch_clandestine_gate1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="900" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpZkR3AWL4xEMVPVR5Vj2pzLWBy5iIADE3_UxFpKWGveoXT0YVXBJSQvZJvpluBNInXqG-yGKzqKFwHPRxgSjuzvGky1ldT57IVZze1YB1ebodz4HRr-W9Q8Yl5cto13sATDAfme60L8v1G3ZqycSgOppfZYzLDNLOxlGFDHQeawxQROKhcXy1b-HnzS4/s16000/bell_witch_clandestine_gate1.jpg" width="560" /></a></div><br />The lowest descent into abyssal sound within the burgeoning global post-black metal world can be found in the newest strain of what is being called funeral doom. Foremost among them, <a href="https://bellwitch.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank">Bell Witch</a> in their new lineup with <a href="https://aerialruin.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank">Aerial Ruin</a>'s Erik Moggridge, have descended deeper, and for longer, than most. Born of the death of drummer <a href="https://amalgammusic.net/2016/05/18/rip-adrian-guerra-bell-witchlethesod-hauler/" target="_blank">Adrian Guerra</a>, their previous sprawling work, 2017's magisterial "<a href="https://profoundlorerecords.com/10736-2/">Mirror Reaper</a>" encompassed an auditory journey through the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As_above,_so_below">Hermetic axiom "As Above, So Below</a>", as a conceptual traversing of the dichotomy of life and death. Bridging recordings from their previous incarnation, and unused vocal tracks from that period with work of the new lineup, this "<a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/9k3xea/bell-witchs-new-lp-is-a-loving-tribute-to-former-drummer-adrien-guerra">Loving Tribute to Former Drummer Adrian Guerra</a>", acts as a looming, Brobdingnagian titan spanning the two. As a pathway of entry into this musical world, Brad Sanders' essential overview, "<a href="http://thequietus.com/articles/08463-post-black-metal-liturgy-leviathan-alcest" target="_blank">Untrue And International: Living in a Post-Black Metal World</a>", compliments the curation from this sphere that can be found in the past decade of excellent selections in <a href="http://thequietus.com/features/columnus-metallicus" target="_blank">The Quietus' Columnus Metallicus</a>. The above resources sound the expanse of releases dominantly sourced from labels like, <a href="http://hydrahead.com/" target="_blank">Hydrahead</a>, <a href="https://www.neurotrecordings.com/" target="_blank">Neurot</a>, <a href="http://ipecac.com/home.php" target="_blank">Ipecac</a>, <a href="http://www.deathwishinc.com/" target="_blank">Deathwish</a>, <a href="https://www.20buckspin.com/" target="_blank">20 Buck Spin</a>, <a href="https://www.darkdescentrecords.com/" target="_blank">Dark Descent</a>, <a href="http://www.sargenthouse.com/" target="_blank">Sargent House</a>, <a href="https://www.profoundlorerecords.com/" target="_blank">Profound Lore</a>, <a href="http://www.season-of-mist.com/home" target="_blank">Season of Mist</a>, <a href="http://www.roadburnrecords.com/" target="_blank">Roadburn</a>, <a href="http://theflenser.com/" target="_blank">The Flenser</a>, and <a href="http://www.relapse.com/" target="_blank">Relapse</a>. Since the release of Guerra's final work with the band, Bell Witch have undertaken an even more tectonic series of works for the Profound Lore label. The first of these was a collaborative album with Aerial Ruin in 2020's, "<a href="https://profoundlorerecords.com/products-page/plr-items/bell-witch-aerial-ruin-stygian-bough-volume-i/">Stygian Bough Volume 1</a>", and earlier this year issuing the first of an epic trilogy, titled, “<a href=" https://profoundlorerecords.com/products-page/plr-items/bell-witch-futures-shadow-part-1-the-clandestine-gate-2xcd/ ">Future's Shadow Part 1: The Clandestine Gate</a>”. Their lengthy trajectory <a href="https://www.bellwitchdoom.net/live">touring North America</a> with the album comes to a terminus in mid-December, with the final of their west coast dates at <a href="https://www.neumos.com/events/detail/bell-witch-tickets-502790">Neumos</a> in their Northwest hometown. The Quietus spoke with the band on the eve of Clandestine Gate's release, bridging such concepts as about the cyclical nature of existence and taking their time with process and creation, such as the first entry in their new triptych of albums, "<a href="https://thequietus.com/articles/32840-bell-witch-interview">Same as it Ever Was: Bell Witch Interviewed</a>". It is this premise, that of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_return#Friedrich_Nietzsche">Eternal Return</a>, which informs the themes of Future's Shadow, as stated by bassist and vocalist, Dylan Desmond; "This of course is perhaps the most horrifying aspect to the eternal return - even if you were living a happy, fulfilled and productive life that you’d be proud to experience again, would living it over and over again eternally rob it of any meaning or purpose you may have found in it? There’s a recurring theme of ghosts in Bell Witch’s work, and in this light, it’s easy to see how the eternal return fits into this theme: being stuck in an endless loop with no definitive end in sight would surely make ghosts of us all."<br /><br />Jefferson Petreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16247636099853517835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-534298114929538402.post-65291778667306190752023-12-03T11:28:00.000-08:002023-12-09T16:16:13.712-08:00Codeine's lost album "Dessau" & West Coast Tour: Dec 4 - Dec 9<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjnZTUTCGQCUbYy7D3CQ6OpuAZ29nVFUMQvjMyaIYisc-hU0i5TpIZkJGH58juD71bbozGVhyphenhyphenKYAYwZPoVGOqzlYFTqsxMWbyPSBgSj4LsZfCCpAs8c_bvORnveJjtz9-AzZrrXCIv6tk-H1nED7DAz_keIG3qqCE6BiKUGR4s5nlhfFuWbe_3WGFnqN4/s1200/codeine_dessau_a.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjnZTUTCGQCUbYy7D3CQ6OpuAZ29nVFUMQvjMyaIYisc-hU0i5TpIZkJGH58juD71bbozGVhyphenhyphenKYAYwZPoVGOqzlYFTqsxMWbyPSBgSj4LsZfCCpAs8c_bvORnveJjtz9-AzZrrXCIv6tk-H1nED7DAz_keIG3qqCE6BiKUGR4s5nlhfFuWbe_3WGFnqN4/s16000/codeine_dessau_a.jpg" width="560" /></a></div><br />From the early to mid-1990s a distinct subset of bands formed a continuance of related sounds which were branded as <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slowcore&source=gmail&ust=1702243324533000&usg=AOvVaw1NLn_zUeFejRutmgfDVbSY" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slowcore" target="_blank">slowcore</a> by the independent music press. Where their approach and instrumentation differed in some cases, their unifying qualities all shared a focus on a minimalist compositional density, hushed vocals, and an anticlimactic progression of build and release through an attuned attention to dynamics. This music of subtraction that would define the genre could be most clearly identified in the earliest releases by <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_(band)&source=gmail&ust=1702243324533000&usg=AOvVaw3_fPlauQR5zgB4DUZOQMKo" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_(band)" target="_blank">Low</a>, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedhead_(band)&source=gmail&ust=1702243324533000&usg=AOvVaw2gKsS3UnsDPrUTb1hyi8Ud" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedhead_(band)" target="_blank">Bedhead</a>, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codeine_(band)&source=gmail&ust=1702243324533000&usg=AOvVaw3nGHp74MU7a2Y7q9PVYEiR" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codeine_(band)" target="_blank">Codeine</a>, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idaho_(band)&source=gmail&ust=1702243324533000&usg=AOvVaw1bnV99u3gSFDbR2EzIVA49" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idaho_(band)" target="_blank">Idaho</a>, and the highest profile of these outfits, the Mark Kozelek-led band from Atlanta Georgia, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_House_Painters&source=gmail&ust=1702243324533000&usg=AOvVaw2zRAwBJtkp-WbqTzT2K969" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_House_Painters" target="_blank">Red House Painters</a>. The latter would be signed to <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.fedge.net/ftww/interviews-ivo_03.html&source=gmail&ust=1702243324533000&usg=AOvVaw1kUEnV5rK0VwesX590Un1r" href="http://www.fedge.net/ftww/interviews-ivo_03.html" target="_blank">Ivo Watts-Russell's highly influential underground label, 4AD</a>, and release four singularly spare albums spanning 1992 to 1995. It was these albums, alongside the eminence of Low and their signing to Chicago's then tastemaking label <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kranky_(record_label)&source=gmail&ust=1702243324533000&usg=AOvVaw21JHtTTgG__l68dosysPWy" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kranky_(record_label)" target="_blank">Kranky</a>, which brought the sound of slowcore to a growing audience within the wildly expansive flurry of mid-1990s independent rock. The sound of this cloistered subgenre did not originate from a void, the groundwork of their inspiration can be undeniably traced back to the decade before, with stylistic threads clearly connecting to <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Music_Club&source=gmail&ust=1702243324533000&usg=AOvVaw1nAp9ZfEI4a7sNdKW7S5gS" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Music_Club" target="_blank">American Music Club</a>, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxie_500&source=gmail&ust=1702243324533000&usg=AOvVaw2s-JgXvgn2jX9g72jL6YZA" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxie_500" target="_blank">Galaxie 500</a>, and <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opal_(band)&source=gmail&ust=1702243324533000&usg=AOvVaw0Xy4KNQH0aDs77eekyXbWt" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opal_(band)" target="_blank">Opal</a>'s follow-up band, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazzy_Star&source=gmail&ust=1702243324533000&usg=AOvVaw1v8yjDT_eUXjxpfI7LM_WL" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazzy_Star" target="_blank">Mazzy Star</a>. While the genre subset itself remained a narrow set of bands, their influence could be heard in other independent and <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-rock&source=gmail&ust=1702243324533000&usg=AOvVaw1atbzCfwuPVV4YnVCu1_Ct" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-rock" target="_blank">post-rock</a> contemporaries of the 1990s which ranged as widely as <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slint&source=gmail&ust=1702243324533000&usg=AOvVaw3YP6FkhlklBFoZUc4Nkig5" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slint" target="_blank">Slint</a>, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tortoise_(band)&source=gmail&ust=1702243324533000&usg=AOvVaw3JXd3-OeHPT5wsgGrD8ubA" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tortoise_(band)" target="_blank">Tortoise</a>, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duster_(band)&source=gmail&ust=1702243324533000&usg=AOvVaw1s5iHX4GWEAzGBAaBYWt8s" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duster_(band)" target="_blank">Duster</a>, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spain_(band)&source=gmail&ust=1702243324533000&usg=AOvVaw2FXAancMS5Lkzc1AtlyuVo" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spain_(band)" target="_blank">Spain</a>, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sofa_(Canadian_band)&source=gmail&ust=1702243324533000&usg=AOvVaw3A3QFruuZUb6kKl1ezS71C" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sofa_(Canadian_band)" target="_blank">Sofa</a>, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Strap&source=gmail&ust=1702243324533000&usg=AOvVaw0QhL0r9pTG8OZlNhQjeqpz" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Strap" target="_blank">Arab Strap</a>, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rex_(band)&source=gmail&ust=1702243324533000&usg=AOvVaw2yQjNaJo0x0f56R8z3CERL" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rex_(band)" target="_blank">Rex</a>, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windsor_for_the_Derby&source=gmail&ust=1702243324533000&usg=AOvVaw2jbsiEJ_EsMbaOyOA22evW" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windsor_for_the_Derby" target="_blank">Windsor for the Derby</a>, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowery_Electric&source=gmail&ust=1702243324533000&usg=AOvVaw0KzBMbhvw6Uabw69qW1hVK" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowery_Electric" target="_blank">Bowery Electric</a>, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labradford&source=gmail&ust=1702243324533000&usg=AOvVaw3bWvsrmtiNdNPU2dRGahHa" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labradford" target="_blank">Labradford</a>, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ida_(band)&source=gmail&ust=1702243324533000&usg=AOvVaw1xwlmONcJ5X42KmY9rZ0ot" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ida_(band)" target="_blank">Ida</a>, Jason Molina's <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Molina%23Songs:_Ohia:_1995%25E2%2580%25932003&source=gmail&ust=1702243324533000&usg=AOvVaw3zlEEbLmetGRG1U5UZhMre" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Molina#Songs:_Ohia:_1995%E2%80%932003" target="_blank">Songs:Ohia</a>, and <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetone_(band)&source=gmail&ust=1702243324533000&usg=AOvVaw3xcVJWhe53DEvYHXWMFjuP" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetone_(band)" target="_blank">Acetone</a>.<br /><br />Of the central body of artists that comprised the slowcore sound, there was probably no band that did so as comprehensively and precisely, as singer and bassist Stephen Immerwahr, percussionist Chris Brokaw, and guitarist John Engle. <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.codeine.nyc/&source=gmail&ust=1702243324533000&usg=AOvVaw2QLL_GkJ735pYBxSY_mOcX" href="https://www.codeine.nyc/" target="_blank">Codeine</a>'s original tone, characterized by an extreme asceticism, which would often erupt into post-rock percussion passages or ascendant noise eruptions that often were truncated, or unpredictably cut short by dynamic breakdowns was singular within the subgenre, and marked them as more experimental than their contemporaries. Immerwahr's subdued and introverted vocals, the traversing of expanses ranging from absolute silence to explosive impacts by Brokaw, and Engle's ringing Telecaster, a sound characterized by The Quietus as, "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://thequietus.com/articles/09835-codeine-interview&source=gmail&ust=1702243324533000&usg=AOvVaw1i6eL2JmGVpvNzfKgMQEUq" href="https://thequietus.com/articles/09835-codeine-interview" target="_blank">Codeine: A New Kind of Stillness</a>", remained solidly consistent during their career. Codeine seemingly arrived fully-formed and cemented on their 1990 release, "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frigid_Stars_LP&source=gmail&ust=1702243324533000&usg=AOvVaw3lZMO2BEMdN8yVwZIt-bTg" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frigid_Stars_LP" target="_blank">Frigid Stars</a>", nominally fine-tuned through 1992's "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barely_Real&source=gmail&ust=1702243324533000&usg=AOvVaw3RXaudQBmDgN8Qy2OaO3y9" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barely_Real" target="_blank">Barely Real</a>" EP, and further refined on the culminative 1994 album, "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_White_Birch_(album)&source=gmail&ust=1702243324533000&usg=AOvVaw1sT7lvn9Sq9qX8ebMhzzvq" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_White_Birch_(album)" target="_blank">The White Birch</a>". This five year trajectory would describe the totality of the band's initial incarnation, with Codeine only <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codeine_(band)%23Reunion&source=gmail&ust=1702243324533000&usg=AOvVaw1mQ1_2tD6EHGXIKFrzAgWB" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codeine_(band)#Reunion" target="_blank">reforming as recently as 2012</a> at the request of British post-rock band <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mogwai&source=gmail&ust=1702243324533000&usg=AOvVaw03lEONPPkT1koBZFRu1LYy" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mogwai" target="_blank">Mogwai</a>, through curating that year's edition of <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Tomorrow%2527s_Parties_(festival)&source=gmail&ust=1702243324533000&usg=AOvVaw1I6uDodxBPF0UtatUdhmZt" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Tomorrow%27s_Parties_(festival)" target="_blank">All Tomorrow's Parties</a>. A domestic tour followed the UK festival date of what the New York Times called, "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/02/arts/music/codeine-with-stephen-immerwahr-at-bell-house.html&source=gmail&ust=1702243324533000&usg=AOvVaw1p0NdxgjN6ZAH5g2ZH6B2a" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/02/arts/music/codeine-with-stephen-immerwahr-at-bell-house.html" target="_blank">Grunge’s Estranged, Desolate Cousins</a>". Now a decade later, they embark on <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://linktr.ee/codeinenyc&source=gmail&ust=1702243324533000&usg=AOvVaw0uw-78zJiFLlNp6AscWkfE" href="https://linktr.ee/codeinenyc" target="_blank">a second US tour</a> with a night at Seattle's <a href="https://www.thebarboza.com/events/detail/codeine-tickets-490235">Barboza</a>, in support of the comprehensive discography reissue series and box set "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://numerogroup.com/products/codeine-when-i-see-the-sun&source=gmail&ust=1702243324533000&usg=AOvVaw1xOYphLT43HG4RCKAB3onQ" href="https://numerogroup.com/products/codeine-when-i-see-the-sun" target="_blank">When I See the Sun</a>", from <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://numerogroup.com/&source=gmail&ust=1702243324533000&usg=AOvVaw2xpmbSLdeF264LGfTjypSQ" href="https://numerogroup.com/" target="_blank">Numero Group</a>. This series of releases is most notable for its further inclusion of "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://numerogroup.com/products/dessau&source=gmail&ust=1702243324533000&usg=AOvVaw0tNxu0bvH9L64y4BeM_1Op" href="https://numerogroup.com/products/dessau" target="_blank">Dessau</a>", an eight song mini-LP originally recorded in 1992, which was intended to become their second album, and withheld at the time due to conflicts over its production. As NPR suggests, hearing this album now decades after the era of its intended release, "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.npr.org/2022/09/20/1123797311/review-codeine-dessau-slowcore&source=gmail&ust=1702243324533000&usg=AOvVaw0eodIF6I6o1PiS80WGhE4x" href="https://www.npr.org/2022/09/20/1123797311/review-codeine-dessau-slowcore" target="_blank">Codeine's Lost Album 'Dessau' Feels Like a Ghost</a>".<br /><br />Jefferson Petreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16247636099853517835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-534298114929538402.post-11400034917011344932023-12-02T12:50:00.000-08:002023-12-03T09:49:24.224-08:00Hania Rani "Ghosts" & North American Tour: Nov 22 - Dec 10<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3AmvoLa_GCgtmeHeFMCaaCIFdo81BgjnaWQM4O4Z5gQSenqc6NWS8qcpsmS5o4kkdPS58IRl1qWdHPxUObHZAHDvtowx0PnxdeExbEpOnAmM3TH9vu2hrTqNElIdvURP-JCHccUSvzFjoVlzP7G8R30DY53c8BPSjZIwIvedWHiW68asR8Xjglo5NkyM/s1200/hania_rani_ghosts1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3AmvoLa_GCgtmeHeFMCaaCIFdo81BgjnaWQM4O4Z5gQSenqc6NWS8qcpsmS5o4kkdPS58IRl1qWdHPxUObHZAHDvtowx0PnxdeExbEpOnAmM3TH9vu2hrTqNElIdvURP-JCHccUSvzFjoVlzP7G8R30DY53c8BPSjZIwIvedWHiW68asR8Xjglo5NkyM/s16000/hania_rani_ghosts1.jpg" width="560" /></a></div><br />While sharing company with modern neo-jazz chamber ensembles like <a href="https://www.porticoquartet.com/" target="_blank">Portico Quartet</a> and <a href="http://gogopenguin.co.uk/">GoGo Penguin</a>, trumpeter and bandleader, <a href="https://www.gondwanarecords.com/artists/matthew-halsall">Matthew Halsall</a>, and other <a href="https://www.gondwanarecords.com/">Gondwana Records</a> modern classical, jazz and electronics artists, Polish composer <a href="https://haniarani.com/">Hania Rani</a> has built up a considerable audience for her solo piano miniatures. Her latest for the label, "<a href="https://haniarani.bandcamp.com/album/ghosts">Ghosts</a>", moves into an adjacent, aqueous abstract pop territory, with a few select tracks exploring muted vocals and diffuse song structures. The album itself mirrors the two concurrent courses of the progression of her career; she has released an album of duets for the seminal German classical label <a href="https://www.deutschegrammophon.com/en/catalogue/products/inner-symphonies-hania-dobrawa-12404">Deutsche Grammophon</a>, composed a spare <a href="https://haniarani.bandcamp.com/album/on-giacometti">score for a documentary</a> about Swiss sculptor, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberto_Giacometti">Alberto Giacometti</a>, and issued <a href="https://www.gondwanarecords.com/artists/hania-rani">a series of releases</a> exploring her own brand of hush electronic chamber music. This dynamic interplay is explored in her <a href=" https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000gt2l">BBC Radio 4 Profile</a>, and while Rani has a singular fluid sound, she considers her work very much an ongoing progression, “I think I am still looking for my own voice." She says; "I started to learn from the masters, to mix what I know from classical music, from other things I listened to, and from one of my first inspirations <a href="https://www.nilsfrahm.com/">Nils Frahm</a>". It is this later, <a href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2018/03/nils-frahms-new-album-all-melody-us.html">current neoclassical world</a> to which her albums belong, which is cemented by the participation on her most recent recordings of <a href="https://www.erasedtapes.com/about">Erased Tapes</a> staples like <a href="https://www.erasedtapes.com/artist/olafur-arnalds">Ólafur Arnalds</a>, Portico Quartet's <a href="https://www.duncanbellamy.com/">Duncan Bellamy</a>, and indie rock artist, <a href="https://patrickwatson.net/">Patrick Watson</a>. For all of these associations with an inward-looking brand of neoclassical chamber music, her current North American tour alongside bassist Ziemowit Klimek will be hosted in rock clubs and venues. "Just because of my classical background, I am fascinated with these a little bit more rock venues." Rani continues; "Also, there is something about a standing show that I admire. Sometimes I feel a little bit of embarrassment if people are just sitting and watching me from this very relaxed position. I know that some listeners would rather sit comfortably, but as a performer, it gives me so much energy and gives me more focus.” And while the instrumental soundscapes and tangential ballads on "Ghosts" are delicate, Rani says that's not true of <a href="https://haniarani.com/live/" target="_blank">her live sets</a>; “The show is quite loud,” she notes. “We start with these extremely intense synthesizer sounds. And then I can go play the piano solo, really quietly. I need these kinds of extremes.”. Indeed, as posited by The Washington Post for her east coast dates, "<a href=" https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/11/22/hania-rani-concert-dc/">Polish Musician Hania Rani’s Album is Delicate. Her Live Show Won’t Be</a>", and the following Chicago show, "<a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/ct-ent-hania-rani-chicago-concert-review-20231201-x2ilpb6nyncthlo5vnwoyd7rqa-story.html">The Atmosphere was Just Right for Hania Rani’s Mesmerizing, Sold-Out Concert</a>", we can expect more of the same from Seattle's performance next week at <a href="https://www.stgpresents.org/calendar/14324/hania-rani">The Neptune Theatre</a>.<br /><br />Jefferson Petreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16247636099853517835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-534298114929538402.post-32025463445657272322023-11-12T11:58:00.000-08:002023-12-24T14:30:04.360-08:00Yorgos Lanthimos' "Poor Things" and Ira Sachs' "Passages" Streaming on Mubi and at SIFF Cinema: Dec 14 - Jan 4 | "The Pleasure Principle" | Sight & Sound <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="440" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RlbR5N6veqw?rel=0" width="680"></iframe><br /><br />As a follow-up to Catherine Shoard's 2019 editorial for The Guardian, "<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/apr/12/cut-is-this-the-death-of-sex-in-cinema">Cut! Is This the Death of Sex in Cinema?</a>", Christina Newland's "<a href="https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/features/pleasure-principle">The Pleasure Principle</a>", for Sight & Sound tackles the newest Ira Sachs film, "<a href="https://mubi.com/en/us/films/passages-2022">Passages</a>", which received an NC-17 rating in the United States due to its honest and frank depictions of sex. Such is the cultural moment that a prohibitive MPAA rating, <a href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2017/03/trigger-warnings-and-coddling-of.html">trigger warning</a> supplied by the exhibitor, or outright retraction and editing of material in response to poor audience reception of on-screen sex is not unheard of. Shoard's piece for The Guardian illustrates over numerous observations and citations, the reasons for this being concurrently made complicated and narrow-minded by the two sides of a polarized political landscape. Wherein sex has become that much more weaponized in its entanglement with identity and representation, and the discomfort experienced by audiences who feel their identity politics not complimentarily represented defines no small part of their enjoyment, or even acceptance, of thematic and psychological content in fiction. In the eyes of <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/10/new-puritans-mob-justice-canceled/619818/">a currently influential constituency</a>, for whom artistic merit must be allied to a certain branch of moral and political virtue, there are vast realms of the erotic, suggestive, and sexual material on screen that will not pass such demands. Regardless of said material's truth or honesty in representing the complexity of these matters in relation to life. In the case of the Ira Sachs film, what followed was an outcry in response from the domestic distributor, Mubi, and the film's director, "<a href="https://variety.com/2023/film/news/passages-nc-17-rating-director-slams-mpa-film-unrated-1235674235/">Director Slams MPAA Decision as ‘Cultural Censorship that’s Quite Dangerous’</a>". Sachs speaks with Newland for the British Film Institute on the rating and the cultural and political moment that his film has navigated; "It’s really about a form of cultural censorship that is quite dangerous, particularly in a culture which is already battling, in such extreme ways, the possibility of LGBT imagery to exist”. NC-17 movies have gotten lots of attention in recent months thanks to the release of Andrew Dominik's "<a href=" https://www.netflix.com/title/80174263">Blonde</a>" a Marilyn Monroe biopic that scored Ana de Armas an Oscar nomination for best actress, and "<a href="https://neonrated.com/films/infinity-pool ">Infinity Pool</a>" which director <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/27/movies/infinity-pool-nc17-r-rating.html">Branden Cronenberg re-cut so that it could be released with an R rating</a>. Sachs did no such thing with "Passages"."<br /><br />Newland continues in the pages of <a href="https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/features/pleasure-principle">Sight & Sound</a>; "It’s possible that a combination of factors, both culture-wide and industry-specific, have contributed to this odd moment of both the avoidance of and a fixation on sex acts on screen. Initial hesitation around on-set safety post-MeToo, and a sense of discomfort around sensitive topics, has perhaps been fueled by social media pearl-clutching and a Gen Z backlash against the idea of ‘sex-positive’ feminism." The latter is supported by recent statistics, like those highlighted in NPR's coverage "<a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/10/25/1208435267/sex-teens-tv-movies">Gen Z Wants Less Sex in Their TV and Movies</a>" of the <a href="https://www.scholarsandstorytellers.com/css-teens-and-screens-2023">UCLA study</a>, which featured such descriptors as the content being found, "<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/nov/07/icky-pointless-invasive-is-this-the-death-of-sex-on-tv">Icky, Pointless, and Invasive</a>", wherein half of those polled were, "<a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2023-10-26/gen-z-wants-less-sex-onscreen-more-platonic-relationships">Turned Off by Onscreen Sex</a>". Nonetheless, two high profile sex-positive arthouse films are endeavoring to contradict these trends. They arrived this year in the form of the previously mentioned "<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/jan/24/passages-movie-review-ira-sachs-sundance">Ira Sachs Thorny Love Triangle Drama</a>", and "<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/sep/01/poor-things-review-yorgos-lanthimos-emma-stone">Emma Stone's Sexual Adventure in Yorgos Lanthimos’s Virtuoso Comic </a><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/sep/01/poor-things-review-yorgos-lanthimos-emma-stone">Epic</a>". Winning major awards at <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/sep/09/feminist-drama-poor-things-wins-golden-lion-at-venice-film-festival">Venice</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/sundance-2023">Sundance</a>, and garnered notable praise in the cinephile press, the artists involved have made their stance in relation to on-screen sex very clear, with "<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/aug/20/adele-exarchopoulos-actor-passages-interview-whishaw-blue-warmest-colour">Adèle Exarchopoulos: ‘Film Shoots are Like Little Summer Love Stories’</a>, and "<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/sep/01/yorgos-lanthimos-poor-things-fuels-speculation-of-sex-scene-return-to-cinema">Lanthimos’s Poor Things Fuels Speculation of Sex Scene’s Return to Cinema</a>". At the press conference in Venice before the film's premiere, Yorgos Lanthimos posed the question; “Why is there no sex in movies? It was a very intrinsic part of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poor_Things">Alasdair Gray novel</a> itself, her freedom in everything, including sexuality”, Lanthimos said of the film’s sex scenes. He added: “It was very important for me to <a href=" https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/29/movies/emma-stone-yorgos-lanthimos-poor-things.html" target="_blank">not make a film that was going to be prudish</a> because that would be completely betraying the main character. We had to be confident Emma had to have no shame about her body, nudity, engaging in those scenes, and she understood that right away". In this tale of Emma Stone's recently reawakened Bella Baxter, Lanthimos draws on traditions from classic European cinema like Georges Franju’s "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyes_Without_a_Face_(film)">Eyes Without a Face</a>", obvious references from gothic literature in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenstein">Mary Shelley</a>'s legendary monster, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elephant_Man_(film)">David Lynch</a>'s depiction of Joseph Merrick, and Werner Herzog’s gloriously naive explorations of life via <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Enigma_of_Kaspar_Hauser">Kaspar Hauser</a>, and along the way, "<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/01/movies/emma-stone-poor-things-venice-film-festival.html">Interrogating Gender Dynamics and Sexuality from Nearly Every Angle</a>". Our chance will come next month at <a href="https://www.siff.net/cinema/in-theaters/poor-things" target="_blank">SIFF Cinema</a>, when "<a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2023-09-01/poor-things-review-emma-stone-yorgos-lanthimos-venice-telluride-2023-film-festivals">'Poor Things' Brings Hot Sex and Stone-cold Brilliance to the Screen</a>" After an awkward MeToo hiatus, films are showing intimacy in messy, complicated ways again and in a late addition, The Guardian's Adrian Horton argues, "<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2023/dec/22/hollywood-sex-on-screen-2023-poor-things-passages" target="_blank">Why it Was a Good Year for Sex On Screen</a>". As well as the question posed, "<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/12/magazine/sex-movies-may-december.html">Provocative Sex is Back at the Movies. But are We Ready for It?</a>", by Alexandra Kleeman, Guggenheim Fellow and author in the pages of The New York Times.<br /><br />Jefferson Petreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16247636099853517835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-534298114929538402.post-41124561542519146312023-10-14T11:38:00.019-07:002023-10-24T00:24:29.456-07:00Earshot Jazz presents Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog and The Bad Plus at Town Hall: Oct 14<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYcHWR1tJTZIGffUHiL84Kkx-4xIqZ-Un99I9R30vG5FcKa2aEzKhl_eHELCWr4K85DKahQHd8Hjkxw2XGG60bBfNp6TtvQlDfVIwmfqzRIhIIRts4P-Kq6E2bOM8_zkzOKE1QQVoeqi6eJlLVf4E7wRvCx0Xf8aRc8ZAYEsWXNC-R37h7sEVrxUe8T0E/s1000/marc_ribot_ceramic_dog_live1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYcHWR1tJTZIGffUHiL84Kkx-4xIqZ-Un99I9R30vG5FcKa2aEzKhl_eHELCWr4K85DKahQHd8Hjkxw2XGG60bBfNp6TtvQlDfVIwmfqzRIhIIRts4P-Kq6E2bOM8_zkzOKE1QQVoeqi6eJlLVf4E7wRvCx0Xf8aRc8ZAYEsWXNC-R37h7sEVrxUe8T0E/s16000/marc_ribot_ceramic_dog_live1.jpg" width="680" /></a></div><br />Marc Ribot has spent nearly four decades as a guitarist on the margins of other songwriter's albums, yet central to their composition and characteristics. The music of <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Waits&source=gmail&ust=1698212517732000&usg=AOvVaw3Ta3W4zrg6xT7LsSm-yskK" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Waits" target="_blank">Tom Waits</a>, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Zorn&source=gmail&ust=1698212517732000&usg=AOvVaw38cxR7fhT3ti4dsAhqhcIM" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Zorn" target="_blank">John Zorn</a>, and <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Sylvian&source=gmail&ust=1698212517732000&usg=AOvVaw36DWIzj0k2ZVu1nfMhLW90" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Sylvian" target="_blank">David Sylvian</a>, have all been enhanced by Ribot's contributions. <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.marcribot.com/marc-ribots-ceramic-dog&source=gmail&ust=1698212517732000&usg=AOvVaw0-MLFWMHPoIJvEvRfnJtoC" href="https://www.marcribot.com/marc-ribots-ceramic-dog" target="_blank">Ribot's own outfit, Ceramic Dog</a>, has gone some way to bring him into the spotlight. Where Ceramic Dog's first album was what you might expect from a Marc Ribot power-jazz trio; long on vibrant experiment and short on predictable melodic tunes. What came next in the trio of albums , "Your Turn", "YRU Still Here?", and "What I Did On My Long Vacation", released on <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2010/10/20/130707348/esp-fracas&source=gmail&ust=1698212517732000&usg=AOvVaw3AQxZRCqKLFt0WaJLoWvbe" href="https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2010/10/20/130707348/esp-fracas" target="_blank">Northern Spy</a>, an offshoot of the legendary New York label <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESP-Disk&source=gmail&ust=1698212517732000&usg=AOvVaw3pSeesm6mP0E6XmRZf6jqJ" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESP-Disk" target="_blank">ESP-Disk</a>, described a trajectory toward his own brand of noise rock and more traditional songwriting. Yet as Robert Christgau explains for NPR, "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.npr.org/2013/04/30/180044176/marc-ribot-isnt-trying-to-comfort-anyone&source=gmail&ust=1698212517732000&usg=AOvVaw1CwGRwVzurHmxi_QdjGj2d" href="https://www.npr.org/2013/04/30/180044176/marc-ribot-isnt-trying-to-comfort-anyone" target="_blank">Marc Ribot Isn't Trying to Comfort Anyone</a>", and his mid-2000s albums with Ceramic Dog rank among his most daring pieces of music. Ribot has always been a political artist, this was even in evidence in his earliest outspoken interviews as part of the bridging sounds of the New York jazz and <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_wave&source=gmail&ust=1698212517732000&usg=AOvVaw3Py-TOqGnNf0l3pjkgQVuI" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_wave" target="_blank">No Wave</a> scenes of the early 1980s, and his time as a member of John Lurie's <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lounge_Lizards&source=gmail&ust=1698212517732000&usg=AOvVaw1_F7v-_MSwDLa5EJIMWjdL" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lounge_Lizards" target="_blank">The Lounge Lizards</a>. He's long been a union activist on behalf of independent musicians, found himself appalled by the Trump presidenc right from the start, and stayed stupefied through the ongoing years of the pandemic. This can all be heard, sometimes in refrained song title references, or at times in explicit lyrics on the odd non-instrumental tracks that comprise "Hope" and "Connection", his two newest albums for Germany's <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.yellowbird-records.com/&source=gmail&ust=1698212517732000&usg=AOvVaw17b4RjN0azVzz7VGvfytEM" href="http://www.yellowbird-records.com/" target="_blank">Yellowbird</a>. On all of these works, Ribot has enlisted the percussion flurry of <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.chessmith.com/&source=gmail&ust=1698212517732000&usg=AOvVaw2zeDb4rmEoWoJAHntYHOKa" href="https://www.chessmith.com/" target="_blank">Ches Smith</a> formerly of indie outsiders <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiu_Xiu&source=gmail&ust=1698212517732000&usg=AOvVaw3LPUdrvNtyzvo-BsV23aIJ" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiu_Xiu" target="_blank">Xiu Xiu</a>, and Shahzad Ismaily fresh from his recent album "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.loveinexile.net/&source=gmail&ust=1698212517732000&usg=AOvVaw0Xf9M1NueA7bJwBxfXDEau" href="https://www.loveinexile.net/" target="_blank">Love in Exile</a>", a recording for the vaunted Verve imprint of glacial pacing and micro-incremental composition. Joining Ceramic Dog for their <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.earshot.org/2023-festival/&source=gmail&ust=1698212517732000&usg=AOvVaw04G76zE-YxcSI8Ajr6JR08" href="https://www.earshot.org/2023-festival/" target="_blank">Earshot Jazz Festival</a> performance in <a href="https://www.earshot.org/event/the-bad-plus-marc-ribots-ceramic-dog/">a double-headlining bill</a>, are the bold quartet who are known for a series of <a href="https://www.npr.org/2011/03/20/134666157/the-bad-plus-tackle-stravinskys-spring">wild jazz remodifications</a> of everything from Aphex Twin and David Bowie, to the Pixies, and even "<a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-xpm-2014-mar-31-la-et-ms-review-bad-plus-rite-of-spring-20140401-story.html">The Bad Plus’ ‘Rite of Spring’ Captured Stravinsky’s Vision</a>". But <a href="https://www.thebadplus.com/">The Bad Plus</a> aren't just a avant-leaning covers outfit, their original tunes are the most significant quantity of their repertoire. For many years, the outfit was focused around being a piano trio or quartet, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/03/arts/music/the-bad-plus-orrin-evans.html">initially led by Ethan Iverson</a>, and then later Orrin Evans. With the announcement in 2021 of Evans departure, their new mode features guitarist Ben Monder and tenor saxophonist Chris Speed. The three most recent albums for the Editions label, "<a href="https://editionrecords.com/releases/never-stop-ii/">Never Stop II</a>", "<a href="https://editionrecords.com/releases/activity-infinity/">Activate Infinity</a>", and their 2022 <a href="https://editionrecords.com/releases/the-bad-plus-the-bad-plus/">self titled release</a> bridge both of these lineups, and effectively capture the post-Iverson outfit in all their multi-sectioned, often technical puissance.<br><br />Jefferson Petreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16247636099853517835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-534298114929538402.post-4805122900021176942023-10-12T11:08:00.003-07:002023-10-15T12:29:48.501-07:00Orcas Island Film Festival: Oct 11 - 15<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="440" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HTgWYojq-z8?rel=0" width="680"></iframe><br /><br />North of Seattle, one of the region's most compelling cinephile events returns to the pastoral setting of the San Juan Islands. As an example of festival programming featuring diverse and qualitative content, the current body of the Seattle International Film Festival could take a page or two from the <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.oifilmfest.org/&source=gmail&ust=1697481516575000&usg=AOvVaw0YCO5NC6gS6UIM1Xy8v5Ct" href="https://www.oifilmfest.org/" target="_blank">Orcas Island Film Festival</a>. While running only five days, and featuring less than one tenth of the films on offer during the three weeks of SIFF, the regional micro-festival is an exemplar representation of contemporary programming. In the unlikely setting of the rural beauty of the <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Juan_Islands&source=gmail&ust=1697481516575000&usg=AOvVaw2KOjmpWxeLsjpzSQ5P3OV4" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Juan_Islands" target="_blank">San Juan islands</a>, chief programmer <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/movies/seattle-international-film-festival-director-carl-spence-stepping-down/&source=gmail&ust=1697481516575000&usg=AOvVaw3AP_BcCEvaXE1esE3wNPeQ" href="https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/movies/seattle-international-film-festival-director-carl-spence-stepping-down/" target="_blank">Carl Spence</a>, has produced a small <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://oifilmfest2023.eventive.org/films&source=gmail&ust=1697481516575000&usg=AOvVaw1MU0u6uiP3RXWf8kZSOUsk" href="https://oifilmfest2023.eventive.org/films" target="_blank">35 film program</a> to rival that of its Seattle goliath. One might marvel "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/movies/orcas-island-film-festival-how-this-remote-spot-in-puget-sound-attracts-such-high-caliber-fare/&source=gmail&ust=1697481516575000&usg=AOvVaw2RH_AC_OOmLoJSD1s6LO1J" href="https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/movies/orcas-island-film-festival-how-this-remote-spot-in-puget-sound-attracts-such-high-caliber-fare/" target="_blank">How this Remote Spot in Puget Sound Attracts Such High-caliber Fare</a>", yet it is all the work of co-founders,Jared Lovejoy and Donna Laslo, producer Marc Turtletaub, and of course the curatorial work of Spence. This year, the lineup has garnered the attention of the mainstream media and rated one of the <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://10best.usatoday.com/awards/travel/best-film-festival-2023/&source=gmail&ust=1697481516575000&usg=AOvVaw3wa-BMoJVIXup6nuYW4XIu" href="https://10best.usatoday.com/awards/travel/best-film-festival-2023/" target="_blank">10 Best Film Festivals in the US</a>, and local press have dubbed it as, "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.thestranger.com/fall-arts-2022/2022/09/20/78450147/orcas-island-film-festival-is-our-cannes&source=gmail&ust=1697481516575000&usg=AOvVaw2qGVeVV2n_QqzEDrrzocob" href="https://www.thestranger.com/fall-arts-2022/2022/09/20/78450147/orcas-island-film-festival-is-our-cannes" target="_blank">Orcas Island Film Festival is Our Cannes"</a>. As the Seattle Times states, this "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/movies/orcas-island-film-festival-small-fest-big-movies/&source=gmail&ust=1697481516575000&usg=AOvVaw3U2JqWcmv-apcYi3i9a1VF" href="https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/movies/orcas-island-film-festival-small-fest-big-movies/" target="_blank">Orcas Island Film Festival: Small Fest, Big Movies</a>" draws largely from this year's <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.theguardian.com/film/cannes-2023&source=gmail&ust=1697481516575000&usg=AOvVaw06V7msY3baTy9mZa0bnaAX" href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/cannes-2023" target="_blank">Cannes Film Festival</a>, alongside a number of the notable films from this year's <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.theguardian.com/film/venice-film-festival-2023&source=gmail&ust=1697481516575000&usg=AOvVaw28-XfuFyWMk9FQAj1BcPOX" href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/venice-film-festival-2023" target="_blank">Venice</a>, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.theguardian.com/film/sundance-2023&source=gmail&ust=1697481516575000&usg=AOvVaw2FZ_cBY9mtvR5Vb8pG8pAx" href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/sundance-2023" target="_blank">Sundance,</a> and <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.theguardian.com/film/toronto-film-festival-2023&source=gmail&ust=1697481516575000&usg=AOvVaw2c-TCQqcuUeLu46a_WKP6V" href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/toronto-film-festival-2023" target="_blank">Toronto</a> festivals, and re-presents them in a smaller, more intimate setting. In another standout installment with a remarkable lineup, this year three of the major films from Japan appear in the festival, which include the endearing and soulful goodbye from veteran animation director and head of <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studio_Ghibli&source=gmail&ust=1697481516575000&usg=AOvVaw3z6jPtevAb_uLoYJX1qG-7" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studio_Ghibli" target="_blank">Studio Ghibli</a>, <b>Hayao Miyazaki</b>. As reported in The Guardian, "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/sep/08/the-boy-and-the-heron-movie-review-hayao-miyazaki&source=gmail&ust=1697481516575000&usg=AOvVaw3L5UZ7JBEJMiyOJ62G5Hlw" href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/sep/08/the-boy-and-the-heron-movie-review-hayao-miyazaki" target="_blank">Miyazaki’s Last Movie is a Fitting Swan Song</a>", and thanks to Carl Spence, "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://oifilmfest2023.eventive.org/films/the-boy-and-the-heron-6509ea05fe7e3f007c51a26f&source=gmail&ust=1697481516575000&usg=AOvVaw11qQJ94YmOXUBSqI2fCqen" href="https://oifilmfest2023.eventive.org/films/the-boy-and-the-heron-6509ea05fe7e3f007c51a26f" target="_blank">How Do You Live?</a>", receives a very early west coast screening within the festival. <br /><div><br /></div><div>After the <a href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2021/12/ryusuke-hamaguchis-drive-my-car-at-siff.html">brilliant set</a> <a href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2021/11/ryusuke-hamaguchis-wheel-of-fortune-and.html">of films</a> from <b>Ryûsuke Hamaguchi</b> in 2021, he returns this year with a "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/sep/04/evil-does-not-exist-review-ryu-hamaguchis-enigmatic-eco-parable-eschews-easy-explanation&source=gmail&ust=1697481516575000&usg=AOvVaw1lzr1xpifyirp9mW1a_aPP" href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/sep/04/evil-does-not-exist-review-ryu-hamaguchis-enigmatic-eco-parable-eschews-easy-explanation" target="_blank">Enigmatic Eco-Parable that Eschews Easy Explanation</a>", in "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://oifilmfest2023.eventive.org/films/evil-does-not-exist-6509ea05fe7e3f007c51a278&source=gmail&ust=1697481516575000&usg=AOvVaw31e7hNs0izvN-onkgM7iVw" href="https://oifilmfest2023.eventive.org/films/evil-does-not-exist-6509ea05fe7e3f007c51a278" target="_blank">Evil Does Not Exist</a>", and Japan's master of the quiet melodrama switches up tone and genre once again, <b>Hirokazu Kore-eda</b>'s "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://oifilmfest2023.eventive.org/films/monster-6509ea05fe7e3f007c51a286&source=gmail&ust=1697481516575000&usg=AOvVaw0l1GnPxCtE2JxoHgPCDx26" href="https://oifilmfest2023.eventive.org/films/monster-6509ea05fe7e3f007c51a286" target="_blank">Monster</a>", is a "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/may/17/monster-review-hydra-of-modern-morals-and-manners&source=gmail&ust=1697481516575000&usg=AOvVaw1WDElrro3vMG9hlDOSVaVf" href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/may/17/monster-review-hydra-of-modern-morals-and-manners" target="_blank">Hydra of Modern Morals and Manners</a>". As the director of "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo-Ga&source=gmail&ust=1697481516575000&usg=AOvVaw0I-wICr_10OO25dAEg330z" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo-Ga" target="_blank">Tokyo Ga</a>", few western directors are more qualified or capable to present a tale of the daily pleasures and travails of Japanese life than <b>Wim Wenders</b>. Wenders here teams with the incomparable talent of Koji Yakusho, this year's winner of <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/may/27/a-curious-choice-for-the-palme-but-what-an-extraordinary-cannes&source=gmail&ust=1697481516575000&usg=AOvVaw1lwW4RNjSUJFRfbaYBjNeS" href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/may/27/a-curious-choice-for-the-palme-but-what-an-extraordinary-cannes" target="_blank">Best Actor at Cannes</a>, to "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/may/25/perfect-days-review-wim-wenders-tokyo-toilet-cleaner&source=gmail&ust=1697481516575000&usg=AOvVaw0xDXxRQp4YMFP8-p3Mli4X" href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/may/25/perfect-days-review-wim-wenders-tokyo-toilet-cleaner" target="_blank">Explore a Quiet Life in Tokyo</a>" through the ambient urban charm of "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://oifilmfest2023.eventive.org/films/perfect-days-6509ea05fe7e3f007c51a28f&source=gmail&ust=1697481516575000&usg=AOvVaw0PMikvxg_8ICapSkRAwH8H" href="https://oifilmfest2023.eventive.org/films/perfect-days-6509ea05fe7e3f007c51a28f" target="_blank">Perfect Days</a>". After a string of masterful, philosophical films, including a <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_Sleep_(film)&source=gmail&ust=1697481516575000&usg=AOvVaw1iVXZkB80bm4ty6nk6kPuX" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_Sleep_(film)" target="_blank">Palme d'Or</a> winner, <b>Nuri Bilge Ceylan</b>'s newest "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://oifilmfest2023.eventive.org/films/about-dry-grasses-6509ea05fe7e3f007c51a263&source=gmail&ust=1697481516575000&usg=AOvVaw097UCj5RGZXbikwRKhUqUL" href="https://oifilmfest2023.eventive.org/films/about-dry-grasses-6509ea05fe7e3f007c51a263" target="_blank">About Dry Grasses</a>", is "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/may/20/about-dry-grasses-nuri-bilge-ceylans-absorbing-chekhovian-drama-of-a-teacher-pupil-crisis&source=gmail&ust=1697481516575000&usg=AOvVaw0SkxJv42WWM2UVVqy0rXiT" href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/may/20/about-dry-grasses-nuri-bilge-ceylans-absorbing-chekhovian-drama-of-a-teacher-pupil-crisis" target="_blank">An Absorbing Drama of a Teacher-Pupil Crisis</a>". On the subject of <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/may/27/justine-triets-anatomy-of-a-fall-wins-palme-dor-at-cannes-film-festival&source=gmail&ust=1697481516575000&usg=AOvVaw368CirJMJS3RvsqDcN4EaL" href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/may/27/justine-triets-anatomy-of-a-fall-wins-palme-dor-at-cannes-film-festival" target="_blank">Cannes most notable award</a>, this year's winner "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://oifilmfest2023.eventive.org/films/anatomy-of-a-fall-6509ea05fe7e3f007c51a268&source=gmail&ust=1697481516575000&usg=AOvVaw11ERnko97W09BRHwyStHqB" href="https://oifilmfest2023.eventive.org/films/anatomy-of-a-fall-6509ea05fe7e3f007c51a268" target="_blank">Anatomy of a Fall</a>", from <b>Justine Triet</b>, "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/may/21/anatomy-of-a-fall-review-sandra-huller-compels-as-an-author-accused-of-her-husbands&source=gmail&ust=1697481516575000&usg=AOvVaw3oQ_AT9ppZAKqliuVJeglT" href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/may/21/anatomy-of-a-fall-review-sandra-huller-compels-as-an-author-accused-of-her-husbands" target="_blank">Compels as an Author Accused of Her husband’s Murder</a>". Pivoting away from his depiction of the life of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, <b>François Ozon</b> has apparently delivered one of the great comedies of the year with, "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://oifilmfest2023.eventive.org/films/the-crime-is-mine-6509ea05fe7e3f007c51a274&source=gmail&ust=1697481516575000&usg=AOvVaw37_IebutUx4of02Zt_V3Db" href="https://oifilmfest2023.eventive.org/films/the-crime-is-mine-6509ea05fe7e3f007c51a274" target="_blank">The Crime is Mine</a>", and a different register can be found in "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://oifilmfest2023.eventive.org/films/fallen-leaves-6509ea05fe7e3f007c51a279&source=gmail&ust=1697481516575000&usg=AOvVaw06ZFoPtmsr1sZiAb3vDXbZ" href="https://oifilmfest2023.eventive.org/films/fallen-leaves-6509ea05fe7e3f007c51a279" target="_blank">Fallen Leaves</a>", and the gentle tide of <b>Aki Kaurismäki</b>'s "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/may/22/fallen-leaves-review-deadpan-aki-kaurismaki-comedy-with-springtime-in-its-heart&source=gmail&ust=1697481516575000&usg=AOvVaw2tsiAdU-KHbHWR5AepqH02" href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/may/22/fallen-leaves-review-deadpan-aki-kaurismaki-comedy-with-springtime-in-its-heart" target="_blank">Deadpan Comedy with Springtime in its Heart</a>". In an unexpected turn of genre and setting, after his <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_Wood_(film)&source=gmail&ust=1697481516575000&usg=AOvVaw3Kcfhkf9xOiLqusXBKJuWc" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_Wood_(film)" target="_blank">Haruki Murakami adaptation</a>, Vietnamese-born French director <b>Tran Anh Hung</b> serves "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://oifilmfest2023.eventive.org/films/the-taste-of-things-6509ea05fe7e3f007c51a29b&source=gmail&ust=1697481516575000&usg=AOvVaw16SVEW0ebpuY5wWIy_0bO5" href="https://oifilmfest2023.eventive.org/films/the-taste-of-things-6509ea05fe7e3f007c51a29b" target="_blank">The Taste of Things</a>", in "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/may/24/the-pot-au-feu-review-juliette-binoche-foodie-romance-is-an-invitation-to-drool&source=gmail&ust=1697481516575000&usg=AOvVaw3aj9Z7MHORszqBuToUUqEZ" href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/may/24/the-pot-au-feu-review-juliette-binoche-foodie-romance-is-an-invitation-to-drool" target="_blank">A Belle Époque Tale of Meaningful Meals</a>". One of the most anticipated films from Cannes, <b>Alice Rohrwacher</b>'s "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://oifilmfest2023.eventive.org/films/la-chimera-6509ea05fe7e3f007c51a271&source=gmail&ust=1697481516575000&usg=AOvVaw2kfZJTG2lXJstwKrci58LA" href="https://oifilmfest2023.eventive.org/films/la-chimera-6509ea05fe7e3f007c51a271" target="_blank">La Chimera</a>", follows an Englishman's plundering of Italy’s historical artefacts alongside a bizarre gang of followers in an, "<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/may/26/la-chimera-review-alice-rohrwacher-cannes">Uproarious Period Adventure that Teems with Life</a>".</div><br />Jefferson Petreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16247636099853517835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-534298114929538402.post-9916314110944798032023-10-06T09:28:00.007-07:002023-10-12T11:53:11.871-07:00All Monsters Attack at The Grand Illusion Cinema: Oct 1 - 31 | The Month of Scarecrowber at SIFF Cinema: Oct 2 - 30<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcWi47OCfsYYtHc8qu471SXGvGQDmwJyNFXcAiy_2LiTBDc9UrzL0JWLn3bxLhYxRFLXjJZdBckfMzTXiu4kkhPgEj737L2R9hXxITQ3jxhH33gOtzCU2DsKwp0jdCHUbdLZpeA-gdJSODAoI_MjDIA9ugActMWwRHO1Ld2dHeDcAbEiwIt_VyYvVbx3A/s1268/kobayashi_kwaidan_poster2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1268" data-original-width="900" height="676" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcWi47OCfsYYtHc8qu471SXGvGQDmwJyNFXcAiy_2LiTBDc9UrzL0JWLn3bxLhYxRFLXjJZdBckfMzTXiu4kkhPgEj737L2R9hXxITQ3jxhH33gOtzCU2DsKwp0jdCHUbdLZpeA-gdJSODAoI_MjDIA9ugActMWwRHO1Ld2dHeDcAbEiwIt_VyYvVbx3A/w478-h676/kobayashi_kwaidan_poster2.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br />To my mind, the months of October and November could always do with more in the way of programming around Halloween season genre film and its disorienting frights, crepuscular surrealism, and discomfiting atmospheres. Thankfully, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://scarecrowvideo.org/&source=gmail&ust=1696653710317000&usg=AOvVaw0JxwicBlWCUWh7sbaqS8iD" href="https://scarecrowvideo.org/" target="_blank">Scarecrow Video</a> annually steps up with their curated Halloween section of domestic and international horror, sci-fi, fantasy, and psychotronic selections. The <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://scarecrowvideo.org/posts/the-2023-scarecrow-psychotronic-challenge&source=gmail&ust=1696653710317000&usg=AOvVaw0pX4LomOgqpMUFOlZ8E9m7" href="https://scarecrowvideo.org/posts/the-2023-scarecrow-psychotronic-challenge" target="_blank">Psychotronic Challenge</a> also returns in its eighth installment, challenging viewers to select a new theme category for every day in October from the deep trivia of the cues on offer. While we're here, let's talk the incomparable one-of-a-kind resource that is Scarecrow. Essentially it's this simple; if you live in the Northwest and are a fan of cinema, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.geekwire.com/2018/seattles-iconic-scarecrow-video-turns-30-uses-vast-catalog-stay-fight-streaming/&source=gmail&ust=1696653710317000&usg=AOvVaw2hfY64jAPCjTQ7xXhOLTiO" href="https://www.geekwire.com/2018/seattles-iconic-scarecrow-video-turns-30-uses-vast-catalog-stay-fight-streaming/" target="_blank">it's your personal obligation to ensure their doors stay open for business</a>. For horror and genre aficionados, <a href="https://www.polygon.com/23870135/scarecrow-rare-movie-rental-mail-united-states-netflix">there is no other resource in North America like that offered by Scarecrow</a> and their abundant catalog of <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.thestranger.com/film/feature/2015/06/10/22342408/scarecrow-video-2015-stranger-genius-award-nominee-in-film&source=gmail&ust=1696653710317000&usg=AOvVaw38XWQX4sGyrWMV6rkHcweD" href="https://www.thestranger.com/film/feature/2015/06/10/22342408/scarecrow-video-2015-stranger-genius-award-nominee-in-film" target="_blank">obscure, foreign releases, out of print, and ultra-rare editions</a>, and with <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://blog.washingtonfilmworks.org/2014/04/03/scarecrow-video-national-treasure/&source=gmail&ust=1696653710317000&usg=AOvVaw3TZ6AywJi8sNaj2bYmVbin" href="http://blog.washingtonfilmworks.org/2014/04/03/scarecrow-video-national-treasure/" target="_blank">150,000+ films on offer</a>, no singular online streaming resource can compare. Scarecrow Video themselves have programmed a series of films at <a href="https://www.siff.net/cinema/in-theaters" target="_blank">SIFF Cinema</a> spanning the month, which they have designated as "<a href="https://www.siff.net/programs-and-events/scarecrowber" target="_blank">Scarecrowber</a>". The twelve films on offer span classic Hollywood studio era classics like <b>Jacques Tourneur</b>'s "<a href="https://www.siff.net/programs-and-events/scarecrowber/cat-people" target="_blank">Cat People</a>", early American independents represented by <b>Herk Harvey</b>'s "<a href="https://www.siff.net/programs-and-events/scarecrowber/carnival-of-souls" target="_blank">Carnival of Souls</a>", <b>Kathryn Bigelow</b>'s genre subversion found in "<a href="https://www.siff.net/programs-and-events/scarecrowber/near-dark" target="_blank">Near Dark</a>", <b>Stuart Gordon</b>'s psychedelic H.P. Lovecraft adaptation, "<a href="https://www.siff.net/programs-and-events/scarecrowber/from-beyond" target="_blank">From Beyond</a>", and the unforgettable international arthouse horror of <b>Andrej Zulawski</b>'s "<a href="https://www.siff.net/programs-and-events/scarecrowber/possession" target="_blank">Possession</a>". In previous years, the annual citywide cinematic offerings for the months of October and November have seen a great set of films exploring <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2016/09/all-monsters-attack-at-grand-illusion.html&source=gmail&ust=1696653710317000&usg=AOvVaw28cdiQ0YBuloVn4wY71Qjf" href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2016/09/all-monsters-attack-at-grand-illusion.html" target="_blank">desolate worlds, classic Japanese horror, a vampiric romaticism double feature</a> and a <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2016/10/fabio-frizzi-frizzi-2-fulci-west-coast.html&source=gmail&ust=1696653710317000&usg=AOvVaw0DxVrXPYyqNNqtpikzoIwW" href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2016/10/fabio-frizzi-frizzi-2-fulci-west-coast.html" target="_blank">night of music from a maestro of Italian horror</a>. Also in the way of recent Halloween seasons of note, the local arthouse cinemas presented <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2015/10/guillermo-del-toros-new-film-crimson.html&source=gmail&ust=1696653710317000&usg=AOvVaw3m2EyRmnACNfnFcY03V3IO" href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2015/10/guillermo-del-toros-new-film-crimson.html" target="_blank">an abundance on the theme of the haunted house</a> in 2015, and 2013 saw <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2013/10/david-lynchs-lost-highway-at-harvard.html&source=gmail&ust=1696653710317000&usg=AOvVaw2WpG2fErEyyA3Iurdx_xyp" href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2013/10/david-lynchs-lost-highway-at-harvard.html" target="_blank">no small number of invaders from beyond</a>. 2017 was heavy on <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2017/10/all-monsters-attack-at-grand-illusion.html&source=gmail&ust=1696653710317000&usg=AOvVaw3mowrN0rt30Kr_ITITJu1z" href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2017/10/all-monsters-attack-at-grand-illusion.html" target="_blank">1970s psychedelic and psychological horror</a> from Europe, particularly from the era of abundance seen in the subgenres of <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantastique&source=gmail&ust=1696653710317000&usg=AOvVaw0yvkKKNPB5p_f3j2t2mgLl" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantastique" target="_blank">French Fantastique</a> and <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giallo&source=gmail&ust=1696653710317000&usg=AOvVaw2XS2wg3I3PHqinFpfW582d" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giallo" target="_blank">Italian Giallo</a>. <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2018/10/all-monsters-attack-at-grand-illusion.html&source=gmail&ust=1696653710317000&usg=AOvVaw3WYFh0Eu2GHR3KoEUl6p9w" href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2018/10/all-monsters-attack-at-grand-illusion.html" target="_blank">2018's programming</a> was highly attuned to American 1980s horror, as was the case with the 2019 installment, alongside <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2019/10/all-monsters-attack-at-grand-illusion.html&source=gmail&ust=1696653710317000&usg=AOvVaw16nWjMhwaMOmI2XtyYgH6f" href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2019/10/all-monsters-attack-at-grand-illusion.html" target="_blank">a bold mix of decades of classic European, Asian, and Italian genre material</a>. Making a return after the long pandemic hiatus, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2021/10/all-monsters-attack-at-grand-illusion.html&source=gmail&ust=1696653710317000&usg=AOvVaw01sYhcrNGQj2O0kfgQz2E5" href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2021/10/all-monsters-attack-at-grand-illusion.html" target="_blank">2021 also diversified</a> with a strong set of films that never saw a theatrical release during the 2020 season. <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2022/10/all-monsters-attack-at-grand-illusion.html&source=gmail&ust=1696653710317000&usg=AOvVaw2ORAFj7kPh3PwYhGNnvYB6" href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2022/10/all-monsters-attack-at-grand-illusion.html" target="_blank">Back again in 2022</a>, with a diverse set of films running the gamut from silent era horror, 1970s and 80s psychotronic wonders, and 1990s big budget gothic spectacles.<div><br /></div><div>One of the longest running, and most consistently satisfying of the local Halloween series has been <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://grandillusioncinema.org/&source=gmail&ust=1696653710317000&usg=AOvVaw2iSxqsS_6nO_UgDZU03dSl" href="http://grandillusioncinema.org/" target="_blank">The Grand Illusion Cinema</a>'s month-long <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://grandillusioncinema.org/series/all-monsters-attack-2023/&source=gmail&ust=1696653710317000&usg=AOvVaw2fOPtaMRX6ihtpBzfOxcZR" href="https://grandillusioncinema.org/series/all-monsters-attack-2023/" target="_blank">All Monsters Attack</a> calendar of horror, creature features, classic thrillers, sci-fi, and cult cinema. This year's slate includes new and returning genre classics and recent releases, among them is a set of invasion films from <b>William Cameron Menzies</b> and his 1953 "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://grandillusioncinema.org/film/invaders-from-mars-4k-restoration/&source=gmail&ust=1696653710317000&usg=AOvVaw2YXfFnkVfS1wLoYUZ_NZpS" href="https://grandillusioncinema.org/film/invaders-from-mars-4k-restoration/" target="_blank">Invaders from Mars</a>", and <b>Rob Lieberman</b>'s "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://grandillusioncinema.org/film/fire-in-the-sky-in-35mm/&source=gmail&ust=1696653710317000&usg=AOvVaw3LZ5b-gS8QSBdqSNgt4Q8U" href="https://grandillusioncinema.org/film/fire-in-the-sky-in-35mm/" target="_blank">Fire in the Sky</a>" from four decades later. In the convoluted franchise with William Friedkin's <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Exorcist&source=gmail&ust=1696653710317000&usg=AOvVaw1Jg8EaDrsSqAKgTxmIV22q" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Exorcist" target="_blank">legendary original</a>, and the <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominion:_Prequel_to_the_Exorcist&source=gmail&ust=1696653710317000&usg=AOvVaw0yYeOMvO8mFR703nEh0Lsb" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominion:_Prequel_to_the_Exorcist" target="_blank">troubled notoriety</a> of Paul Schrader's remake, <b>William Peter Blatty</b> delivered a sequel to his own novel with "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://grandillusioncinema.org/film/the-exorcist-iii/&source=gmail&ust=1696653710317000&usg=AOvVaw27IdDvXa6qhfneBoeH4mth" href="https://grandillusioncinema.org/film/the-exorcist-iii/" target="_blank">Exorcist III</a>". With <b>William Friedkin</b>'s passing earlier this year, Peter Bradshaw wrote in the pages of The Guardian, "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/aug/07/william-friedkin-director-exorcist-french-connection-dies&source=gmail&ust=1696653710317000&usg=AOvVaw2q5YCiPS2XMnIoAbQLuWlW" href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/aug/07/william-friedkin-director-exorcist-french-connection-dies" target="_blank">William Friedkin Created Unforgettable Horror and Pleasure with Equal Brilliance</a>", and The Grand Illusion presents two of his later, overlooked works with 1990's "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://grandillusioncinema.org/film/the-guardian/&source=gmail&ust=1696653710317000&usg=AOvVaw1wcncnROU7XGDBkYrkEDOm" href="https://grandillusioncinema.org/film/the-guardian/" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>", and "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://grandillusioncinema.org/film/bug/&source=gmail&ust=1696653710317000&usg=AOvVaw2uuwVvruLFAtNehLgRYLbA" href="https://grandillusioncinema.org/film/bug/" target="_blank">Bug</a>" from 2006. A highlight from previous year's programming returns with a memorial night for <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://nwfilmforum.org/news/rest-peace-bill-kennedy-forums-frequent-joyous-devoted-member/&source=gmail&ust=1696653710317000&usg=AOvVaw01KeS9gOPbi6tLEI7Dv6L8" href="https://nwfilmforum.org/news/rest-peace-bill-kennedy-forums-frequent-joyous-devoted-member/" target="_blank">Seattle's most dedicated cinephile</a>, music lover, and man-about-town, William Kennedy. <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2021/06/14/58229742/seattle-loses-bill-kennedy-the-best-friend-a-movie-lover-could-ever-have&source=gmail&ust=1696653710317000&usg=AOvVaw0SpKGSCs_vLQcM_ocy5afP" href="https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2021/06/14/58229742/seattle-loses-bill-kennedy-the-best-friend-a-movie-lover-could-ever-have" target="_blank">Before his passing in 2021</a>, Bill wished for nothing more than his friends and cultural compatriots to join together for a screening of the director's cut of <span><b>David Cronenberg</b>'s classic body-horror techno thriller, “<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://grandillusioncinema.org/film/videodrome-the-directors-cut/&source=gmail&ust=1696653710317000&usg=AOvVaw2g5rgthFbCCUh2EaJTSYC0" href="https://grandillusioncinema.org/film/videodrome-the-directors-cut/" target="_blank">Videodrome</a>”. A second earlier Cronenberg is also on offer, with the director's "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://grandillusioncinema.org/film/rabid/&source=gmail&ust=1696653710317000&usg=AOvVaw1cJglmqsZ1cpjGeEMIRQtS" href="https://grandillusioncinema.org/film/rabid/" target="_blank">Rabid</a>", which followed his breakout <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shivers_(1975_film)&source=gmail&ust=1696653710317000&usg=AOvVaw0hXXwCybhxWwF2zli6kBsB" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shivers_(1975_film)" target="_blank">infestation classic</a> of </span>two years before, and supplied <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_Chambers%23Mainstream_crossover&source=gmail&ust=1696653710317000&usg=AOvVaw1HjjukZ6K2mAzLeCukDMeM" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_Chambers#Mainstream_crossover" target="_blank">Marilyn Chambers</a> a potent vehicle for some of her first mainstream film work. The two films from the early 1960s on offer each epitomize the best of their respective genres. As Maitland McDonagh writes in "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/3302-the-innocents-forbidden-games&source=gmail&ust=1696653710317000&usg=AOvVaw2Q_9817sIdAj0I684mRrch" href="https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/3302-the-innocents-forbidden-games" target="_blank">The Innocents: Forbidden Games</a>", Henry James' <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Turn_of_the_Screw&source=gmail&ust=1696653710317000&usg=AOvVaw1JMscsFI3_61nq1DJ__h-Z" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Turn_of_the_Screw" target="_blank">tale of the sinister things</a> hiding behind Victorian decorum, in <b>Jack Clayton</b>’s hands, "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://grandillusioncinema.org/film/the-innocents/&source=gmail&ust=1696653710317000&usg=AOvVaw3180KZxKjRAHSTIigF_63O" href="https://grandillusioncinema.org/film/the-innocents/" target="_blank">The Innocents</a>" becomes one of the screen’s most refined works of psychological horror. Adapting <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lafcadio_Hearn&source=gmail&ust=1696653710317000&usg=AOvVaw1fVut1Z1Zv2Z9SRYvulIZN" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lafcadio_Hearn" target="_blank">Lafcadio Hearn</a>'s Japanese traditional supernatural and folk tales, with "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://grandillusioncinema.org/film/kwaidan/&source=gmail&ust=1696653710318000&usg=AOvVaw3sHr8lBWjSbH6El35pi7GK" href="https://grandillusioncinema.org/film/kwaidan/" target="_blank">Kwaidan</a>", <b>Masaki Kobayashi</b> assembled one of the most meticulously crafted supernatural fantasy films ever made. A rulebook on style and atmosphere, Geoffrey O’Brien's "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/3756-kwaidan-no-way-out&source=gmail&ust=1696653710318000&usg=AOvVaw3XVKdm0BAHPLTn6XBodLOJ" href="https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/3756-kwaidan-no-way-out" target="_blank">Kwaidan: No Way Out</a>" details its creation for The Criterion Collection.<span> On offer in this year's series, a set of newly minted contemporary horror is also represented by <b>Stephen Vanderpool</b>, <b>Michelle Garza Cervera</b>, and <b>Joe Lynch</b>'s "<a href="https://grandillusioncinema.org/film/tearsucker/" target="_blank">Tearsucker</a>", "<a href="https://grandillusioncinema.org/film/huesera-the-bone-woman/" target="_blank">Huesera</a>", and "<a href="https://grandillusioncinema.org/film/suitable-flesh/" target="_blank">Suitable Flesh</a>", respectively. The latter having the pedigree of beginning as another of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Re-Animator" target="_blank">Stuart Gordon and Dennis Paoli</a> projects based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft. <br /></span></div><div><span><br /></span></div><div><span>From the early 1980s and late 1990s, we get two very different takes on <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_William_Polidori&source=gmail&ust=1696653710318000&usg=AOvVaw3_Uxqlud97Z0cKosbGutAW" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_William_Polidori" target="_blank">John William Polidori</a> and <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bram_Stoker&source=gmail&ust=1696653710318000&usg=AOvVaw2kz03dipROR0DPqE5sGzX9" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bram_Stoker" target="_blank">Bram Stoker</a>'s favorite immortal entity. The first, <b>Tony Scott</b>'s 1983 adaptation of the novel of the same name by <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitley_Strieber&source=gmail&ust=1696653710318000&usg=AOvVaw3yPzfODI1oODdtaYAyoFkQ" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitley_Strieber" target="_blank">Whitley Strieber</a>, starring Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie, and Susan Sarandon, was a rare genre film which exhibited an earnest and refined style, and contained a notable arthouse cast. While "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://grandillusioncinema.org/film/the-hunger/&source=gmail&ust=1696653710318000&usg=AOvVaw1t9IFvo7XAsaZNxiyHgRRU" href="https://grandillusioncinema.org/film/the-hunger/" target="_blank">The Hunger</a>" was <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-hunger-1983&source=gmail&ust=1696653710318000&usg=AOvVaw3WFGqIJNiNGtVhBrV0l8Ok" href="http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-hunger-1983" target="_blank">poorly received</a> at the time of its release, it has since garnered a cult following within the nascent goth and glam rock cultures. The two vampire films on offer couldn't be more unlike; as a marriage of martial arts, dark fantasy, comedy and a sendup of <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaxploitation&source=gmail&ust=1696653710318000&usg=AOvVaw0k1GcyVw5xZFmRxpRDRf_X" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaxploitation" target="_blank">exploitation films of the 1970s</a>, through the lens of a <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade_(character)&source=gmail&ust=1696653710318000&usg=AOvVaw236iIL5rv7ztqVDUl5YNYv" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade_(character)" target="_blank">Marvel comics anti-hero</a>, <b>Stephen Norrington</b>'s </span>"<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://grandillusioncinema.org/film/blade-in-35mm/&source=gmail&ust=1696653710318000&usg=AOvVaw1bxkJ-m2pxmKd97vTZe-KO" href="https://grandillusioncinema.org/film/blade-in-35mm/" target="_blank">Blade</a>", gave Wesley Snipes one of his great roles. As part of the Grand Illusion's <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://grandillusioncinema.org/series/16mm-centennial/&source=gmail&ust=1696653710318000&usg=AOvVaw0b74IpmOA1i26s5BTd-Moj" href="https://grandillusioncinema.org/series/16mm-centennial/" target="_blank">16mm Centennial Celebration Series</a>, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://sprocketsociety.org/&source=gmail&ust=1696653710318000&usg=AOvVaw26Rn2ORoDKaCRHi9lHluzQ" href="https://sprocketsociety.org/" target="_blank">Sprocket Society</a> will host two nights of <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://grandillusioncinema.org/film/danger-scare-films-on-16mm/&source=gmail&ust=1696653710318000&usg=AOvVaw1ACTcrE1W2i2QMWpdaZkad" href="https://grandillusioncinema.org/film/danger-scare-films-on-16mm/" target="_blank">Danger!! Scare Films on 16mm</a>, and a <b>Bert Gordon</b> double feature, presenting "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://grandillusioncinema.org/film/bert-gordon-double-bill-earth-vs-the-spider/&source=gmail&ust=1696653710318000&usg=AOvVaw2y1UQmvtHd25IWyHWHJGGS" href="https://grandillusioncinema.org/film/bert-gordon-double-bill-earth-vs-the-spider/" target="_blank">Earth vs. the Spider</a>" and a secret second film and shorts, all presented on celluloid, of course. A one-man trash cinema powerhouse, no horror genre series would be complete without a <b>Joe Dante</b> film or two. In this case we get the late 1970s nature unbound creature flick of "<a href="https://grandillusioncinema.org/film/piranha/" target="_blank">Piranha</a>", and one of Dante's few commercial breakouts, which effectively signaled the end of the 1980s, "<a href="https://grandillusioncinema.org/film/gremlins-2-the-new-batch-in-35mm/" target="_blank">Gremlins 2: The New Batch</a>". Sharing more than a little of the sensibility of the latter Dante, <b>Bob Balaban</b>'s 1980s materialism satire, "<a href="https://grandillusioncinema.org/film/parents/" target="_blank">Parents</a>", also fittingly describes the tail end of the Reaganite zeitgeist. Going out swinging, All Monsters Attack then concludes with a bi-polar pendulum arc between what is rightly considered the most terrifying film of the 20th Century, <b>Tobe Hooper</b>'s 1974 "<a href="https://grandillusioncinema.org/film/the-texas-chain-saw-massacre/" target="_blank">The Texas Chainsaw Massacre</a>", and <b>Nobuhiko Obayashi</b>'s 1977 unhinged kaleidoscope of absurd haunting nonsequiturs, "<a href="https://grandillusioncinema.org/film/house-hausu-in-35mm/" target="_blank">Hausu</a>". Referred to by Chuck Stephens in his essay for Criterion as; "eye-poppingly demented, jaw-droppingly inventive, <a href="https://mubi.com/en/notebook/posts/working-for-tomorrow-an-interview-with-nobuhiko-obayashi">Japanese pop culture at its most delightfully unhinged extreme</a>", this is more than just the story of "<a href="https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/1634-house-the-housemaidens">The Housemaidens</a>" in an unwelcoming home. Peter Bradshaw's 2017 eulogy in The Guardian for, "<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/aug/27/tobe-hooper-appreciation-texas-chainsaw-massacre-american-family">Tobe Hooper: The Director Who Took a Chainsaw to Wholesome Family Life</a>", acts as an effective summation of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/aug/27/tobe-hooper-texas-chainsaw-massacre-poltergeist-director-dies-aged-74">his life and art</a>. Yet, none of the rest of that body of work quite ascended to the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/28/movies/texas-chain-saw-massacre-tobe-hooper-appraisal.html">dizzyingly unconstrained heights, and unmerciful perfection</a>, of his first feature length film.<br /><br /></div>Jefferson Petreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16247636099853517835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-534298114929538402.post-61654217625993545322023-09-10T12:00:00.003-07:002023-09-23T10:42:17.790-07:00Slowdive "Everything is Alive" & US Tour: Sept 25 - Oct 15<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirKE4tmF9D6I9QmHUfNXNaTVkpawH00ssoqyBHflD6hUGaYWP_i-3Q9OHMoqEsbZ38YPQCKUng7pGkUU3Ru21xFiAjvhwC4Wn18HzfsfWX5zrHum8JsAjTxNL5Qpgp28P8V56AWofXqfkHtDz3xuQM_qax41GG3PYnJCBr5FEiy0PL9FOOPidhSCCZXW4/s900/slowdive_everything_is_alive2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="900" height="560" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirKE4tmF9D6I9QmHUfNXNaTVkpawH00ssoqyBHflD6hUGaYWP_i-3Q9OHMoqEsbZ38YPQCKUng7pGkUU3Ru21xFiAjvhwC4Wn18HzfsfWX5zrHum8JsAjTxNL5Qpgp28P8V56AWofXqfkHtDz3xuQM_qax41GG3PYnJCBr5FEiy0PL9FOOPidhSCCZXW4/w562-h560/slowdive_everything_is_alive2.jpg" width="540" /></a></div><br />This past decade has curiously become the locus of the nascent 1990s spacerock and shoegaze sound, with not only new albums, and tours, but improbable bands reforming and reactivating after decades of silence. We were not only witness to the third domestic tour since their reformation by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Bloody_Valentine_(band)" target="_blank">My Bloody Valentine</a> but the first new album in 22 years, "<a href="http://www.mybloodyvalentine.org/Catalogue.aspx" target="_blank">MBV</a>" which finally manifested after <a href="http://thequietus.com/articles/08745-kevin-shields-interview-mbv-my-bloody-valentine" target="_blank">years of legend and rumor</a>. Equally unexpected, the return of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loop_(band)" target="_blank">LOOP</a> after decades of its founder <a href="http://thequietus.com/articles/00737-robert-hampson-loop-main-holding-title" target="_blank">Robert Hampson</a> claiming if you weren't there to witness their staggering volume and endurance-testing live performances in the 1990's, then you'll never quite know what the band was about. 4AD label dreampop confection, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lush_(band)">Lush</a> also joined their ranks. Spring 2016 saw the band's <a href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2016/04/lush-retrospective-box-sets-chorus.html" target="_blank">first live shows in 20 years</a> since the unexpected death of friend and drummer, Chris Acland, Miki Berenyi, Emma Anderson and Phil King spoke with The Quietus for their "<a href="http://thequietus.com/articles/19345-lush-interview" target="_blank">Mad Love: An Interview with Lush</a>". An era for the band that <a href="http://pitchfork.com/news/69843-lush-breaking-up-again-announce-final-show/" target="_blank">both initiated and concluded</a> within the course of the single tour cycle. To only be reborn in-part, as <a href="https://www.bellaunion.com/artist-page/piroshka">Piroshka</a> the following year. Marking a similar path, these ranks were also bolstered by the immensely influential <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ride_%28band%29" target="_blank">Ride</a>, who themselves have <a href="https://www.wichita-recordings.com/posts/ride">multiple new records</a> and tours this past half-decade. All of which pursuing courses forged down precluding pathways by Scottish dream-pop progenitors <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocteau_Twins" target="_blank">Cocteau Twins</a>, and the later British bands following in the druggy astronomical haze of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacemen_3" target="_blank">Spacemen 3</a>. This set of compatriots in shared sound fast became <a href="http://pitchfork.com/thepitch/945-rides-nowhere-at-25-and-the-evolution-of-shoegaze/" target="_blank">a who's who of the best of UK underground rock</a> of the early 1990's. The most improbable of them all, was the announcement that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slowdive" target="_blank">Slowdive</a> would be performing a one-off at the <a href="http://thequietus.com/articles/14357-slowdive-reunion-primavera-new-material" target="_blank">Primavera Sound Festival</a> in 2014. Following in the wake of the massively received event, the band recognized the ongoing dedication of their fanbase in interview with The Quietus, "<a href="http://thequietus.com/articles/14361-slowdive-interview" target="_blank">There Seems To Be A Lot Of Love Out There: A Slowdive Interview</a>". Finding an enthusiasm for performing and writing again, suggesting the very real possibility of a reformation as the "<a href="http://pitchfork.com/news/53724-slowdive-reunion-expands-with-more-shows-possibility-of-new-music/" target="_blank">Slowdive Reunion Expands with More Shows, Possibility of New Music</a>" and following in rapid succession, "<a href="http://www.pitchfork.com/news/55870-slowdive-announce-tour/" target="_blank">Slowdive Announce North American Tour, Reunion</a>".<br /><br />For followers of the band, after the breakdown of the mid-1990's, the last thing one would expect to hear is that it's their overlooked final album created in mid-rift, "<a href="http://www.cherryred.co.uk/shopexd.asp?id=134" target="_blank">Pygmalion</a>", which stands out as an obvious point of stylistic reference <a href="http://thequietus.com/articles/15303-slowdive-live-review" target="_blank">amidst the sonic concoction of this new live incarnation</a>. This was made all that much more surprising for <a href="http://www.4ad.com/artists/neilhalstead/" target="_blank">Neil Halstead</a>'s often-expressed sentiment that that era of his music was definitively closed and it was his 4AD released project <a href="http://www.4ad.com/artists/mojave3" target="_blank">Mojave 3</a> and solo work that would be his larger legacy. Halstead is not the only member with a vital and prolific post-breakup creative arch away from the path carved by Slowdive. The work of drummer and sound designer, <a href="http://www.simonscott.org/" target="_blank">Simon Scott</a> is equal to the group's sonic summits. One only need hear the atmospheric, jazz-informed ambient tonescapes of his excellent "<a href="http://www.miasmah.com/recordings/miacd017.html" target="_blank">Bunny</a>" for the Miasmah label for it to be made clear that the adventurous pop Scott created with Halstead, Rachel Goswell, Nick Chaplin and Christian Savill, decades before was a point of entry, rather than a final destination. In 2017, all members of the band reassembled for the first new recordings in 22 years on the magisterial and surprising "<a href="https://deadoceans.com/records/slowdive/" target="_blank">Slowdive</a>", for Bloomington Indiana label, <a href="http://deadoceans.com/" target="_blank">Dead Oceans</a>. This album singularly giving momentum to, "<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/mar/30/the-unlikely-renaissance-of-slowdive-shoegaze-became-the-genre-of-ridicule">The Unlikely Renaissance of Slowdive</a>", ascending to heights of popularity never previously seen by the band, riding the wave of the "<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/may/04/slowdive-slowdive-review-jewel-like-spacious-return-by-shoegaze-originals">Jewel-like, Spacious Return</a>" of their sound. The development of this new work <a href="http://www.stereogum.com/1874561/qa-minor-victories-rachel-goswell-on-hearing-loss-mark-kozelek-and-the-future-of-slowdive/franchises/interview/">detailed for Stereogum by guitarist</a>, Rachel Goswell "<a href="https://thequietus.com/articles/33300-slowdive-rachel-goswell-interview-favourite-music">The Only Goth in the Village</a>", who along with Halstead, was the primary architect of 1995's "Pygmalion", stating that his time out the group dynamic was all important, offering; "It's poppier than I thought it was going to be,". "When you're in a band and you do three records, there's a continuous flow and a development. For us, that flow re-started with us playing live again and that has continued into the record". After multiple Us tours, and five years, they return to this process for "<a href="https://deadoceans.com/records/everything-is-alive/">Everything is Alive</a>", which <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/09/09/1198625743/slowdives-neil-halstead-on-their-new-album-everything-is-alive">Neil Halstead speaks with NPR</a> on the subject of their new album, and the <a href="http://www.slowdiveofficial.com/uncategorized/2023-tour-uk-ireland-usa-canada/">coming tour</a> of "<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/sep/01/slowdive-everything-is-alive-review-shoegaze-dead-oceans">Exquisite Songs from the Comeback Kids of Shoegaze</a>".<br><br>Jefferson Petreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16247636099853517835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-534298114929538402.post-44198855998314642022023-09-03T17:40:00.014-07:002023-09-04T18:26:11.255-07:00"Dark Dreams: The Original Film Noir Series" at SIFF Cinema: Sept 27 - Nov 30<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNxkZjFlK06WCdDw15byc4_a8VPF0rYrQt2Q-ag6c3bYkt4xtpuiqVVIq6AKfc5-Yw-x9hNJSya-RjLimh3UcYwPkTpEc883jrtgkVQK5fL5bQoRjWYLpSblAA_Bova-NO-SryIpU3koqo_yhY8eKhproXU1Gv-yXv1xTbdcWyLi0TsBRfM71M2v7kyuc/s1200/nicholas_ray_in_a_lonely_place3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNxkZjFlK06WCdDw15byc4_a8VPF0rYrQt2Q-ag6c3bYkt4xtpuiqVVIq6AKfc5-Yw-x9hNJSya-RjLimh3UcYwPkTpEc883jrtgkVQK5fL5bQoRjWYLpSblAA_Bova-NO-SryIpU3koqo_yhY8eKhproXU1Gv-yXv1xTbdcWyLi0TsBRfM71M2v7kyuc/s16000/nicholas_ray_in_a_lonely_place3.jpg" width="680" /></a></div><br />A major setback to repertory cinema in Seattle came in early 2021, with the elimination of the position that Greg Olson held as film programmer at Seattle Art Museum for half a century. By removing Olson as the programmer of <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://magazine.washington.edu/feature/welcome-to-noir-town/&source=gmail&ust=1693866786806000&usg=AOvVaw0TuHJsC3L_S9IwZcjBisjP" href="https://magazine.washington.edu/feature/welcome-to-noir-town/" target="_blank">the longest running film noir series in the United States</a>, and author of definitive books <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3233887-david-lynch&source=gmail&ust=1693866786806000&usg=AOvVaw0nFe8uTM42ZqV1_fAWzED8" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3233887-david-lynch" target="_blank">on the subject of David Lynch</a>, Seattle found that the "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/movies/fate-of-some-sam-film-series-unclear-as-museums-longtime-film-curator-laid-off/&source=gmail&ust=1693866786806000&usg=AOvVaw39eSQ9p0ngtVUzxNFcf5bU" href="https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/movies/fate-of-some-sam-film-series-unclear-as-museums-longtime-film-curator-laid-off/" target="_blank">Fate of SAM Film Series Unclear as Museum’s Longtime Film Curator Laid Off</a>". It should also be noted, that in addition to the loss of Olson specifically as one of the most influential programmers of his generation, the position has remained unfilled at Seattle Art Museum. Now almost three years later, the programmer and author brings the <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/movies/sams-film-noir-series-launches-its-40th-year-with-the-big-sleep/" target="_blank">longest continuously running series</a> of its kind to SIFF Cinema. Following on the heels of the successful relocation of his relaunched Fellini retrospective, “<a href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2023/04/life-is-feast-cinema-of-federico.html" target="_blank">Life is a Feast: The Cinema of Federico Fellini</a>" earlier this year, <a href="https://www.siff.net/cinema/in-theaters/dark-dreams-the-original-film-noir-series" target="_blank">SIFF Cinema Egyptian</a> will play home to, "<a href="https://www.strangertickets.com/events/141301928/dark-dreams-the-original-film-noir-series" target="_blank">Dark Dreams: The Original Film Noir Series</a>". Now in its 44th installment, the series opens with two all-time classics from Billy Wilder. The first of which features Gloria Swanson in a career great in "<a href="https://thestranger.boldtypetickets.com/add/141301951" target="_blank">Sunset Boulevard</a>", and Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray star in Raymond Chandler's brilliantly <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hays_Code" target="_blank">subversive adaptation</a> of "<a href="https://thestranger.boldtypetickets.com/add/141301940," target="_blank">Double Indemnity</a>", from the novel of the same name by James M. Cain. The series continues with two solidly constructed noirs from the classic studio era by Robert Siodmak and Roy William Neill in "<a href="https://thestranger.boldtypetickets.com/add/141301945">Criss Cross</a>", and "<a href="https://thestranger.boldtypetickets.com/add/141301948">Black Angel</a>". From this same period, Nicholas Ray delivered one of the most darkly hued and nuanced of noirs, "<a href="https://thestranger.boldtypetickets.com/add/141301955">In A Lonely Place"</a>, featuring career-defining heights for both of its stars, Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame. A more conspirational and paranoid brand of 1970s color neo-noir infuses the world of Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, and John Huston in Roman Polanski's "<a href=" https://thestranger.boldtypetickets.com/add/141301957">Chinatown</a>". Swinging to the other end of the spectrum, if there ever was a comedy neo-noir, it would be Joel and Ethan Coen's "<a href="https://thestranger.boldtypetickets.com/add/141308028">The Big </a><a href="https://thestranger.boldtypetickets.com/add/141308028">Lebowski</a>", and diametrically opposite, the brother-director team adapted the terse pragmatism of Cormac McCarthy's "<a href="https://thestranger.boldtypetickets.com/add/141308067">No Country for Old </a><a href="https://thestranger.boldtypetickets.com/add/141308067">Men</a>", starring Tommy Lee Jones in one of his most memorable roles. Ending in solidly psychological thriller territory, the series concludes with "<a href="https://thestranger.boldtypetickets.com/add/141308088">Eyes Wide Shut</a>", the final film by Stanley Kubrick. One which takes its inspirations as much from Arthur Schnitzler's "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_Story" target="_blank">Rhapsody: A Dream Novel</a>", as it does the great cinematic dreamer of the late 20th century, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Lynch" target="_blank">David Lynch</a>. On this subject, early in the new year we can anticipate the second major book from Greg Olson on Lynch, with the publishing of his, "<a href="https://www.tuckerdspress.com/product-page/black-coffee-lightning-david-lynch-returns-to-twin-peaks" target="_blank">Black Coffee Lightning: David Lynch Returns to Twin Peaks"</a>, focusing on the expansion of <a href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2017/07/david-lynchs-twin-peaks-fire-walk-with.html" target="_blank">the world of Twin Peaks</a> since the release of the 2017 miniseries.<br /><br />Jefferson Petreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16247636099853517835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-534298114929538402.post-38472324123649991172023-09-01T10:48:00.048-07:002023-09-21T16:31:13.510-07:00"Dust of the Material Universe: Piotr Szulkin's Apocalypse Quartet" at The Beacon Cinema: Sept 1 - 22 | "The Last Years of Soviet Cinema" | The Guardian<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHcTyI7WhdFm6nBe4uW7dJfNRmJ6qyco-IhcKJMpuCOE116DUIFXtfxxrkz8FtsLK_84GEd7tJk04ACG4eXwxMjP9J7NEdNIXO8QSFu87ON71ewCQX6ThTBiRLqxT-2xc5Tw2SXi259osmERix294RTip6QthIVv0nehEJ8aQkkO9kb_fOnqczOPujyZM/s990/szulkin_o-bi-o-ba-the-end-of-civilization_poster2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="990" data-original-width="698" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHcTyI7WhdFm6nBe4uW7dJfNRmJ6qyco-IhcKJMpuCOE116DUIFXtfxxrkz8FtsLK_84GEd7tJk04ACG4eXwxMjP9J7NEdNIXO8QSFu87ON71ewCQX6ThTBiRLqxT-2xc5Tw2SXi259osmERix294RTip6QthIVv0nehEJ8aQkkO9kb_fOnqczOPujyZM/s16000/szulkin_o-bi-o-ba-the-end-of-civilization_poster2.jpg" width="450" /></a></div><br />The Leonid Brezhnev era of the Soviet Union was, in Mikhail Gorbachev’s words, “the period of stagnation”. However, the new emphasis on stability gave a paradoxical prominence to youth uprising as a symptom and cause of personal and social unrest, and the generational expression of alienation. Social deviance was far more prominent in 1970s Soviet cinema than during the decades before; look no further than the <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czechoslovak_New_Wave&source=gmail&ust=1695418383154000&usg=AOvVaw1wbmO4ltZj7HWsavheh6_L" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czechoslovak_New_Wave" target="_blank">Czech New Wave</a> for reference. In the following decade, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasnost&source=gmail&ust=1695418383154000&usg=AOvVaw3gMDuwAWKnWC7TSxYGFFXF" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasnost" target="_blank">Glasnost</a> under Gorbachev accelerated this preexisting predilection, rather than initiated, a stark view of Soviet reality and its expression in the arts. Until recently, the films of the USSR’s last decade were mainly a specialist cinephile interest. But this has begun to change, starting with retrospectives like "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2018/series/generations-russian-cinema-of-change&source=gmail&ust=1695418383154000&usg=AOvVaw31WgeqZerVUCpS2R9XaPo3" href="https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2018/series/generations-russian-cinema-of-change" target="_blank">Generations: Russian Cinema of Change</a>" at the Barbican, London in 2019. This gave an exhilarating introduction to nine major films by young late-Soviet directors, as covered in The Guardian's, "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/sep/25/no-different-truths-last-years-soviet-film&source=gmail&ust=1695418383154000&usg=AOvVaw1CtMkvK5Tgm0G-npFBVKr6" href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/sep/25/no-different-truths-last-years-soviet-film" target="_blank">'There are No Different Truths': The Last Years of Soviet Cinema</a>". The retrospective made clean that Polish cinema of the decade had its own aesthetic, political, and thematic detractors. These followed on the groundbreaking generation of films that came in the late 1960s and 70s, as represented in the extensive restoration undertaking by the Polish Film Institute of, "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2014/07/martin-scorsese-presents-masterpieces.html&source=gmail&ust=1695418383154000&usg=AOvVaw1dtdsUrUtZ2bWYkkTOhLD3" href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2014/07/martin-scorsese-presents-masterpieces.html" target="_blank">Martin Scorsese Presents</a>: <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2014/09/martin-scorsese-presents-masterpieces.html&source=gmail&ust=1695418383154000&usg=AOvVaw1oaYnhrZolEM3g-7U-a-3x" href="https://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2014/09/martin-scorsese-presents-masterpieces.html" target="_blank">Masterpieces of Polish Cinema</a>". This era Scorsese spoke further on with The Guardian at the time of the restoration project, "<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/apr/16/martin-scorsese-passion-polish-cinema">My Passion for the Humor and Panic of Polish Cinema</a>". In the ensuing decade, Polish cinema went through a brief period of creative oppression, following the <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Poland_(1945%25E2%2580%25931989)%231968_events&source=gmail&ust=1695418383154000&usg=AOvVaw0894yQp4fKg4w7ksvwmO_r" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Poland_(1945%E2%80%931989)#1968_events" target="_blank">Polish political crisis of 1968</a>, which had strong parallels with the concurrent movement of the <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_Spring&source=gmail&ust=1695418383154000&usg=AOvVaw1-oNSlZXnL0eOzXZqIkdY3" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_Spring" target="_blank">Prague Spring</a>.<br /><br />Writer, director, screenwriter, novelist, theatrical director and painter, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piotr_Szulkin">Piotr Szulkin</a> was born of this time, before the waves of <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perestroika&source=gmail&ust=1695418383154000&usg=AOvVaw3-Wog7kKErVXLgv6MvLw-5" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perestroika" target="_blank">Perestroika</a> would come and sweep away all the restrictions and socio-political prejudices of the Soviet era in the mid-to-late 1980s. His body of work filtered 20th century philosophy and Polish medieval literature through speculative fiction, neo-noir, and grotesque, sometimes comically absurd allegories. Best known for his tetralogy of wildly iconoclastic science fiction films, "<a href="https://thebeacon.film/calendar/movie/golem">Golem</a>", "<a href="https://thebeacon.film/calendar/movie/the-war-of-the-worlds-next-century">The War of the Worlds: Next </a><a href="https://thebeacon.film/calendar/movie/the-war-of-the-worlds-next-century">Century</a>", "<a href="https://thebeacon.film/calendar/movie/o-bi-o-ba-the-end-of-civilization">O-Bi, O-Ba: The End of </a><a href="https://thebeacon.film/calendar/movie/o-bi-o-ba-the-end-of-civilization">Civilization</a>", and "<a href="https://thebeacon.film/calendar/movie/ga-ga-glory-to-the-heroes">Ga-ga: Glory to Heroes</a>'', Szulkin regularly faced censorship from the Communist regime of the late 1970s and early 80s for his unabashedly political works. Whether viewed as existential tales, absurdist parables, or premonitions about society’s hostility and inclination towards totalitarianism, Szulkin's films continue to resonate with truth about our modern-day world. The Lincoln Center overview of his work in 2015, "<a href="https://www.filmlinc.org/series/sci-fi-visionary-piotr-szulkin/#films">Sci-Fi Visionary: Piotr Szulkin</a>" offered a selection of new digital restorations and imported film prints, as well as the rare, "<a href="https://www.filmcomment.com/blog/interview-piotr-szulkin/">Interview: Piotr Szulkin</a>" for Film Comment. From this, and the new restorations offered by both Vinegar Syndrome and Radiance Films in the form of <a href="https://vinegarsyndrome.com/products/piotr-szulkins-apocalypse-tetralogy">Piotr Szulkin's Apocalypse Tetralogy</a>, and <a href="https://www.radiancefilms.co.uk/products/the-end-of-civilization-three-films-by-piotr-szulkin-le">The End of Civilization: Three Films by Piotr Szulkin</a> respectively, this month The Beacon Cinema has programmed, "<a href="https://thebeacon.film/programs/entry/the-dust-of-the-material-universe-piotr-szulkins-apocalypse-quartet">Dust of the Material Universe: Piotr Szulkin's Apocalypse Quartet</a>". Eschewing critics of the time referring to him as a science fiction filmmaker, Szulkin himself called his genre, "asocial fiction", revealing his dismay at modern society's destruction of community. Which by no means was limited to the communist era. In as much as what came before it, Szulkin's work can be read as a criticism of media-driven consumerism as well. And as Michał Oleszczyk writes from RogerEbert.com, "<a href="https://www.rogerebert.com/far-flung-correspondents/piotr-szulkins-homespun-apocalypse">Things to Come: Piotr Szulkin’s Homespun Apocalypse</a>", is not far removed from the worlds depicted by his western contemporaries of the 1980s, such as those seen in the films of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Videodrome">David Cronenberg</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil_(1985_film)">Terry Gilliam</a>.<br /><br />Jefferson Petreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16247636099853517835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-534298114929538402.post-47089113625245561912023-08-31T12:12:00.001-07:002023-09-11T14:10:48.374-07:00SWANS “The Beggar" & US Tour: Sept 2 - Oct 1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiggNCtTxaLJyy4LTPr80TuxJXDm17WReMSdaUEaPgtBkWsIV5EiLbh8CUsYOOvjB1DWaE7QUv4CBJVB40qzv-GxHBYzMigHc99tu1iU1NdDVR2G5SZ17UxdvJM2ZCRsVnYwv4Wt0LDPc2zygy1TjNEt2FsY1guYpbc0hT9CkK0Mwdd4L5yDfbc70hSICU/s720/swans_live_2023_2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="351" data-original-width="720" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiggNCtTxaLJyy4LTPr80TuxJXDm17WReMSdaUEaPgtBkWsIV5EiLbh8CUsYOOvjB1DWaE7QUv4CBJVB40qzv-GxHBYzMigHc99tu1iU1NdDVR2G5SZ17UxdvJM2ZCRsVnYwv4Wt0LDPc2zygy1TjNEt2FsY1guYpbc0hT9CkK0Mwdd4L5yDfbc70hSICU/s16000/swans_live_2023_2.jpg" width="660" /></a></div><br />After two rescheduled tours due to the extenuated factors of the global pandemic, Michael Gira returns in <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://younggodrecords.com/pages/tour-dates&source=gmail&ust=1693246036444000&usg=AOvVaw30lqdZEzgLYrfGHKDJQS-_" href="https://younggodrecords.com/pages/tour-dates" target="_blank">September</a> with another new iteration of his towering rock band, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swans_%2528band%2529&source=gmail&ust=1693246036444000&usg=AOvVaw1Kihw3IC_867A799hDIjhz" href="https://younggodrecords.com/pages/swans" target="_blank">SWANS</a>. Having led the outfit through numerous manifestations over the decades since its inception, including a brief phase as the folk ensemble <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://younggodrecords.com/pages/angels-of-light-michael-gira&source=gmail&ust=1693246036444000&usg=AOvVaw0k4qFVoPAcN-piU44mQpf1" href="http://younggodrecords.com/pages/angels-of-light-michael-gira" target="_blank">The Angels of Light</a>, change and transfiguration have been one of their great constants of Michael Gira's lifelong music endeavor. The cartography of this four decades-spanning terrain was mapped for Exclaim in Dimitri Nasrallah's "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://exclaim.ca/music/article/michael_gira-from_uncompromising_swans_to_ethereal_angels_of_light&source=gmail&ust=1693246036444000&usg=AOvVaw1Jds_Jq1Bb_kq66FeeIQ5o" href="http://exclaim.ca/music/article/michael_gira-from_uncompromising_swans_to_ethereal_angels_of_light" target="_blank">Michael Gira: from SWANS Uncompromising Sound to Ethereal Angels of Light</a>", and in greater detail and intimacy by friends, fellow musicians and peers in Nick Soulsby's recently published oral history of the band, "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://jawbonepress.com/swans-sacrifice-and-transcendence/&source=gmail&ust=1693246036444000&usg=AOvVaw0OhIJzRfv3CEv0glHrgmzo" href="http://jawbonepress.com/swans-sacrifice-and-transcendence/" target="_blank">SWANS: Sacrifice and Transcendence</a>". At <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1997/01/27/arts/15-baleful-years-then-goodbye-cruel-world.html" target="_blank">the end of their previous incarnation</a>, with the grandiose heights scaled in "<a href="http://younggodrecords.com/collections/swans/products/soundtracks-for-the-blind" target="_blank">Soundtracks for the Blind</a>" and "<a href="http://younggodrecords.com/collections/swans/products/swans-are-dead-live-95-97" target="_blank">Swans are Dead</a>", they took celestial ascension and physical bombast to literally epic durations and dynamic magnitude. The post-reform precision and (relative) brevity of 2010's "<a href="http://younggodrecords.com/collections/swans/products/my-father-will-guide-me-up-a-rope-to-the-sky" target="_blank">My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope in the Sky</a>", the more variegated and nuanced "<a href="http://younggodrecords.com/home/658457004524-the-seer-cd" target="_blank">The Seer</a>", the extended forays heard on "<a href="http://younggodrecords.com/collections/swans/products/to-be-kind" target="_blank">To Be Kind</a>", and rapturous hypnoticism of 2016's "<a href="http://younggodrecords.com/collections/swans/products/the-glowing-man" target="_blank">The Glowing Man</a>" ascend to, and even expand upon similarly Homeric heights. "<a href="http://observer.com/2016/07/michael-gira-on-dangling-off-the-edge-of-a-cliff-for-swans-epic-final-album/" target="_blank">Michael Gira on ‘Dangling Off the Edge of a Cliff’ for SWANS Epic Final Album</a>" for The Observer maps the musical trajectory's Oroborous-like path back to itself, as SWANS of the 21st Century has birthed a supreme amalgam from its own DNA. One that encapsulates the totality of their 40-plus year trajectory. From brutalist no wave minimalism, to musique concrete and extended tonal and drone compositions, to electric rock, psychedelia, blues, folk and Americana. The Guardian's John Doran postulates how it came to pass that SWANS produced the best work of their career so far. Where so many other bands of a similar vintage have retread familiar ground, revisiting the formula of past successes, Gira and company chose to instead stake everything on a fresh roll of the dice. They took a genuine gamble on creating new art rather than trying to recapture past glories and in doing so, they conjured an, "<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/dec/04/enduring-love-why-swans-are-more-vital-now-than-ever" target="_blank">Enduring Love: Why SWANS are More Vital Now than Ever</a>".<div><br /></div>The albums and live performances of this past decade, spanning 2010-2018, were the fruit of an <a href="http://www.popmatters.com/feature/finding-the-image-michael-gira-talks-swans-creative-process/" target="_blank">extended, ever-evolving</a> recording process. "<a href="http://thequietus.com/articles/09847-swans-michael-gira-interview-2" target="_blank">A Little Drop of Blood: Michael Gira of SWANS Interviewed</a>" for The Quietus describes the often arduous writing, rehearsal, touring and recording in a dynamic creative systole and diastole. The undertaking of then translating these recorded works to a marathon live experience documented in an interview with Pitchfork of 2014, "<a href="http://pitchfork.com/features/interviews/9400-swans/" target="_blank">Michael Gira Talks about How SWANS Returned without Losing Any Potency</a>". Even more personal and confessional, The Quietus have produced a lengthy interview on the <a href="https://www.revolvermag.com/music/swans-talk-pushing-their-bodies-live-performances-dangerous-limits">explicitly spiritual, transcendental nature</a> of their live incarnation, "<a href="http://thequietus.com/articles/15163-michael-gira-swans-to-be-kind-interview" target="_blank">This is My Sermon: Michael Gira of SWANS Speaks</a>". 2018 was to see another of these metamorphosis for the band, as Gira took a second <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://younggodrecords.com/blogs/news/a-note-from-michael-gira-of-swans&source=gmail&ust=1693246036444000&usg=AOvVaw2MAICg3IaIi99Xi_37z97U" href="https://younggodrecords.com/blogs/news/a-note-from-michael-gira-of-swans" target="_blank">brief hiatus to reconfigure SWANS</a>. Issuing <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://younggodrecords.com/blogs/news/m-gira-solo-tour-usa-and-more&source=gmail&ust=1693246036444000&usg=AOvVaw2AiMs88DaJRbcX07C-GNaq" href="https://younggodrecords.com/blogs/news/m-gira-solo-tour-usa-and-more" target="_blank">a statement through his Young God Records</a> site, the author and musician has established this period as an interstice between iterations of his dominant musical project. SWANS last return and reformation <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://younggodrecords.com/news/96-swans/1530-swans-are-not-dead&source=gmail&ust=1693246036444000&usg=AOvVaw0tgEVdCMK43bhMOB1VvX8E" href="http://younggodrecords.com/news/96-swans/1530-swans-are-not-dead" target="_blank">after a 15 year hiatus</a>, in which they became remanifest in the most powerful and expansive iteration to date, there was no doubt that their return after this much more brief hiatus would be one of renewal, reinvention, and creative metempsychosis. So here we are again, with this newest formation, following on the hypnotic and repetitive krautock-inspired grooves of 2019's "<a href="https://younggodrecords.com/collections/swans/products/leaving-meaning">Leaving Meaning.</a>", in which Gira enlisted Australian avant-jazz luminaries, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Necks&source=gmail&ust=1693246036444000&usg=AOvVaw0BrQ_FG6YeLBB7rCPp-jmM" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Necks" target="_blank">The Necks</a>, organist <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_von_Hausswolff&source=gmail&ust=1693246036444000&usg=AOvVaw1ueW4OO9W1sa4g5RFNx7QI" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_von_Hausswolff" target="_blank">Anna von Hausswolff</a>, and Icelandic electronics sculptor, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Frost&source=gmail&ust=1693246036444000&usg=AOvVaw1_T06BgSGE4Tpp2NEixctb" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Frost" target="_blank">Ben Frost</a>, to enhance their tapestries of sound. <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://younggodrecords.com/blogs/news/july-2020-newsletter&source=gmail&ust=1693246036444000&usg=AOvVaw2tSQohe9hOx-TOfD2FKPvd" href="https://younggodrecords.com/blogs/news/july-2020-newsletter" target="_blank">The tour for that album was disrupted</a> and eventually cancelled altogether, with <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://03n40.mjt.lu/nl3/EOWeWyiYHl_p2puU3cUusQ&source=gmail&ust=1693246036444000&usg=AOvVaw36jKYveN54lEY9iQc1QduR" href="https://03n40.mjt.lu/nl3/EOWeWyiYHl_p2puU3cUusQ" target="_blank">Gira releasing a statement</a> about the next work in progress and the fruitful recording sessions held in Germany. The album that came from those sessions, "<a href="https://younggodrecords.com/products/the-beggar">The Beggar</a>" would finally be taken on tour, and enlisted many individuals from the band's previous lineups, including; longtime percussionists Larry Mullins and Phil Puleo, Angels of Light bassist and keyboardist Dana Schechter, Ben Frost again in a more prominent role as "sound manipulator", and mainstays of the band's 21st century incarnation, Kristof Hahn and Christopher Pravdica. Of the sonic topography found on this "<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/jun/23/swans-the-beggar-review-dark-and-unsettling-purifying-and-beautiful">Dark and Unsettling, Purifying and Beautiful</a>" album, Gira has said that "<a href="https://glidemagazine.com/292896/swans-michael-gira-seeks-out-ghost-notes-and-offers-supplication-for-the-beggar-interview/">My vision changes according to the unfolding of random events found in the music that we play together</a>", and as with each release before it, "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://rockandrollglobe.com/rock/swans-just-keep-swimming/&source=gmail&ust=1693246036444000&usg=AOvVaw3-oC8sfBN-bvFeArlP2cZJ" href="https://rockandrollglobe.com/rock/swans-just-keep-swimming/" target="_blank">SWANS Just Keep Swimming</a>" towards some unknown and distant horizon.<div><br /></div>Jefferson Petreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16247636099853517835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-534298114929538402.post-80257167396325191312023-08-27T12:04:00.001-07:002023-09-03T11:49:52.378-07:00Boris and Melvins “Twins of Evil” US Tour: Aug 24 - Oct 14<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivUgg86DjqFvK2w9ouhT-FEFPRvsM2TcSE-9kEShtCCTKSFBKRs15UECVNAwFpXBU52XZ9S146EBKetLlcN5puqgpnHVWq_o475rAD_fFoJipS6b63fkG-u2WMW1I4vMsRL-AY0faRD73u2IUwuQ9IIZBvRdbheCZm_yHSo7nNeF-ohRHpB6KeYC2mvk4/s1200/boris_heavy_rocks_2023_1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="889" data-original-width="1200" height="489" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivUgg86DjqFvK2w9ouhT-FEFPRvsM2TcSE-9kEShtCCTKSFBKRs15UECVNAwFpXBU52XZ9S146EBKetLlcN5puqgpnHVWq_o475rAD_fFoJipS6b63fkG-u2WMW1I4vMsRL-AY0faRD73u2IUwuQ9IIZBvRdbheCZm_yHSo7nNeF-ohRHpB6KeYC2mvk4/w663-h489/boris_heavy_rocks_2023_1.jpg" width="663" /></a></div><br />Showing no signs of a sedentary codification of their sound, or a deceleration of their recording or touring schedule, <a href="https://borisheavyrocks.com/" target="_blank">Boris</a> sessions for the 2017 album "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://sargenthouse.com/boris-dear&source=gmail&ust=1693593918213000&usg=AOvVaw0IPaxemujVH__hl9-o26sm" href="https://sargenthouse.com/boris-dear" target="_blank">Dear</a>" for the Sargent House label generated <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://thequietus.com/articles/22893-boris-dear-album-review&source=gmail&ust=1693593918213000&usg=AOvVaw14ct3CMSpJFYaNSfQz5fsm" href="https://thequietus.com/articles/22893-boris-dear-album-review" target="_blank">nearly three albums of new material</a>. Following on this prolific period, in rapid succession they then delivered, "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://thirdmanstore.com/bands/boris/love-evol&source=gmail&ust=1693593918213000&usg=AOvVaw2VxmDlK9w_vdFPu4lPW1tQ" href="https://thirdmanstore.com/bands/boris/love-evol" target="_blank">LφVE & EVφL</a>" as well as a set of <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://thirdmanstore.com/bands/boris&source=gmail&ust=1693593918213000&usg=AOvVaw1qqVb2z2ws09EQ3ncfHQ2O" href="https://thirdmanstore.com/bands/boris" target="_blank">domestic LP reissues</a> for Jack White's Third Man Records in 2019. In the trio of years since, they released the stellar "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://thirdmanrecords.com/products/no&source=gmail&ust=1693593918213000&usg=AOvVaw2lZXEr7-KlFRCh2DOtF7t-" href="https://thirdmanrecords.com/products/no" target="_blank">NO</a>" on their own label, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.sacredbonesrecords.com/collections/boris-uniform&source=gmail&ust=1693593918213000&usg=AOvVaw0qD8MfR6Bb58y9lvMHQIX7" href="https://www.sacredbonesrecords.com/collections/boris-uniform" target="_blank">a collaboration with post punk band, Uniform</a>, and the dub-inspired release, "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.sacredbonesrecords.com/products/sbr287-boris-w&source=gmail&ust=1693593918213000&usg=AOvVaw3q7FrAwghakSVxTeYWJ9q0" href="https://www.sacredbonesrecords.com/products/sbr287-boris-w" target="_blank">W</a>" both for Sacred Bones. Not satisfied with two albums titled "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.relapse.com/collections/boris/products/boris-heavy-rocks-12&source=gmail&ust=1693593918213000&usg=AOvVaw1XUgnbwJtx6-Gqe3Kziu9z" href="https://www.relapse.com/collections/boris/products/boris-heavy-rocks-12" target="_blank">Heavy Rocks</a>", they then created a third this year for Relapse Records, and this fall, "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://thirdmanrecords.com/blogs/news/boris-to-release-heavy-rocks-2002-reissue-announce-tour-with-melvins&source=gmail&ust=1693593918213000&usg=AOvVaw3ldUN7WPzdxO-Uqwx_OuPD" href="https://thirdmanrecords.com/blogs/news/boris-to-release-heavy-rocks-2002-reissue-announce-tour-with-melvins" target="_blank">Boris Announce Tour with Melvins</a>" spanning <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://borisheavyrocks.com/news/7668/&source=gmail&ust=1693593918213000&usg=AOvVaw1ZIMgnA4lwApkzmtHv0FcH" href="https://borisheavyrocks.com/news/7668/" target="_blank">late August to mid-October</a>. Indeed, from this evidence it's clear that, "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://daily.bandcamp.com/2017/07/14/boris-metal-band-dear-interview/&source=gmail&ust=1693593918213000&usg=AOvVaw1Zuu5twDcTgEUTP372Navn" href="https://daily.bandcamp.com/2017/07/14/boris-metal-band-dear-interview/" target="_blank">For Boris, Heavy is a State of Being</a>". The most recent tour marks a decade of semiannual domestic visits to North America in which they have manifested an ever-mutating mix of doom metal, heavy psych, warped J-pop, willfully dysfunctional indie rock, and even their own thrilling take on dreampop and shoegaze. The latter we first glimpsed on their "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://blog.southernlord.com/?p%3D210&source=gmail&ust=1693593918213000&usg=AOvVaw3mi3VeDeEgE1f5xnpuLs1e" href="http://blog.southernlord.com/?p=210" target="_blank">Japanese Heavy Rock Hits</a>" 7" series, which was then refined on "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.sargenthouse.com/boris_attention_assets.html&source=gmail&ust=1693593918213000&usg=AOvVaw1WxldfnWjrdf77jdspkYiX" href="http://www.sargenthouse.com/boris_attention_assets.html" target="_blank">Attention Please</a>", from which they then pivoted to the guttural psyche assault of the second "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.sargenthouse.com/boris_heavy_assets.html&source=gmail&ust=1693593918213000&usg=AOvVaw0Fz8euhdvcQcH0QKCaE6NG" href="http://www.sargenthouse.com/boris_heavy_assets.html" target="_blank">Heavy Rocks</a>". This prolific inundation <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2011/05/boris-three-new-albums-of-heavy-rocking.html&source=gmail&ust=1693593918213000&usg=AOvVaw3jRtMiHzbSbk4-wFreh4TO" href="http://blog.adventuresinsightandsound.com/2011/05/boris-three-new-albums-of-heavy-rocking.html" target="_blank">culminating in the tri-album recording release of late 2011</a>, topped by their upbeat pop-assault of the generically titled, "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.diwproducts.com/prd.php?DYMV996&source=gmail&ust=1693593918213000&usg=AOvVaw3W4pAJGH0b-sRmsuMag9W7" href="http://www.diwproducts.com/prd.php?DYMV996" target="_blank">New Album</a>". Following this deluge was the more atmospheric Metal-oriented tour album "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.diwproducts.com/shopdetail/008005000008/&source=gmail&ust=1693593918213000&usg=AOvVaw1FhNhLQOmhdOgQkHctjWZb" href="http://www.diwproducts.com/shopdetail/008005000008/" target="_blank">Präparat</a>" and the mainstream riffs of 2014's "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://hellomerch.com/collections/boris/products/noise-bundle&source=gmail&ust=1693593918213000&usg=AOvVaw3yca_5NvEAPTyTvKy-npsZ" href="http://hellomerch.com/collections/boris/products/noise-bundle" target="_blank">Noise</a>", with its pronounced college-rock sensibilities. The band themselves perceive this stylistic shift as just another stage in their assimilation of influences towards an all-inclusive Boris sound, in an interview for The Quietus the feedback-worshiping trio state, "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://thequietus.com/articles/15561-boris-interview&source=gmail&ust=1693593918213000&usg=AOvVaw1ej1rYUVA7J5O_cwvmfHrC" href="http://thequietus.com/articles/15561-boris-interview" target="_blank">Noise is Japanese Blues': An Interview with Boris</a>". The sonic realm which they have created for themselves was first carved out with 2005's "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.diwproducts.com/shopdetail/014003000006/&source=gmail&ust=1693593918213000&usg=AOvVaw3Xfe6K2DEKwrQxrFEXoon8" href="http://www.diwproducts.com/shopdetail/014003000006/" target="_blank">Pink</a>", and the brand of lyrical guitar squall of collaborator <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_%25281984_band%2529&source=gmail&ust=1693593918213000&usg=AOvVaw3SNCAR-zeQR-P1N7In1xxp" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_%281984_band%29" target="_blank">Michio Kurihara</a> heard on the companion album "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/9787-rainbow/&source=gmail&ust=1693593918213000&usg=AOvVaw3ZttotGMebCNcHYeH_Gyfc" href="http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/9787-rainbow/" target="_blank">Rainbow</a>". Typical of the abundant recording sessions which have produced each album, the recent domestic reissue of "Pink" features a <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://sargenthouse.tumblr.com/post/147101880993/boris-pink-deluxe-edition-is-out-now&source=gmail&ust=1693593918213000&usg=AOvVaw0a_XcJAnyKAa_gJ_JJrnBw" href="http://sargenthouse.tumblr.com/post/147101880993/boris-pink-deluxe-edition-is-out-now" target="_blank">previously unreleased companion album of "Forbidden Songs"</a>. Comprising overflow from this era that ended up on the cutting room floor, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.invisibleoranges.com/interview-takeshi-boris/&source=gmail&ust=1693593918213000&usg=AOvVaw0bbZA_JdHEVB6smPkP4Q42" href="http://www.invisibleoranges.com/interview-takeshi-boris/" target="_blank">their interview for Invisible Oranges</a> delves into this phase of high production and new inspirations. The <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.thewire.co.uk/issues/385&source=gmail&ust=1693593918213000&usg=AOvVaw1Qk5AP5jxJV0sGWTysECoz" href="http://www.thewire.co.uk/issues/385" target="_blank">March 2016 issue of The Wire</a> recaps the trio's decades-long recording and touring process, which brings them back into contact with legendary noise extremist <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merzbow&source=gmail&ust=1693593918213000&usg=AOvVaw2g-9eKPwRIoPjWTceX8er6" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merzbow" target="_blank">Merzbow</a> on the 150 minutes of new music appearing on the <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2016/03/13/music/rock-act-boris-noise-musician-merzbow-attempt-interactive-experiment-gensho/&source=gmail&ust=1693593918213000&usg=AOvVaw2WAfw_eNMjMQXea-mvtYvK" href="http://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2016/03/13/music/rock-act-boris-noise-musician-merzbow-attempt-interactive-experiment-gensho/" target="_blank">interchangeable double LP</a> set, "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://store.relapse.com/item/38402&source=gmail&ust=1693593918213000&usg=AOvVaw3ASYkSqToam-uffyBQzNMB" href="http://store.relapse.com/item/38402" target="_blank">Gen</a><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://store.relapse.com/item/38403&source=gmail&ust=1693593918213000&usg=AOvVaw1KtLWOWgIU6BUhuBZ7alqY" href="http://store.relapse.com/item/38403" target="_blank">sho</a>". Its depths sounded by Masami Akita in his interview for The Quietus, "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://thequietus.com/articles/11806-merzbow-interview&source=gmail&ust=1693593918213000&usg=AOvVaw3TG8rEigvDCb91ZPLZtUs5" href="https://thequietus.com/articles/11806-merzbow-interview" target="_blank">Razor Blades in the Dark: An Interview with Merzbow</a>", which acts as a preface of sorts for their second studio album collaboration "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.relapse.com/products/boris-with-merzbow-2r0i2p0-2x12&source=gmail&ust=1693593918213000&usg=AOvVaw22OQ8AMot4jm7HmbkegtlK" href="https://www.relapse.com/products/boris-with-merzbow-2r0i2p0-2x12" target="_blank">2R0I2P0</a>", released in 2020 on Relapse.<div><br /></div>Jefferson Petreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16247636099853517835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-534298114929538402.post-33639021713906382592023-08-24T12:00:00.004-07:002023-10-26T12:17:16.805-07:00Alabaster DePlume and Joshua Abram's Natural Information Society at Sunset Tavern & The Neptune Theatre: Sept 6 & 14<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-uygsDCk-GUbkM4N0yKjsoHpciOSwAV37xIuFtxDWkQlfJkPcWQmKqjsyo-GndX6iqoqqa0kgqO0XZ9f0o-01IwSM0scwoQoU6bHIWD8XiW1QzU-GKpBaSR5jcWE2Hhb2VCKXY4T3F8-M7lRYX0m96dvOyVWVoH2zhCLoiew80QGYpdpvx077PefMdvQ/s730/natural_information_society_live2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="485" data-original-width="730" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-uygsDCk-GUbkM4N0yKjsoHpciOSwAV37xIuFtxDWkQlfJkPcWQmKqjsyo-GndX6iqoqqa0kgqO0XZ9f0o-01IwSM0scwoQoU6bHIWD8XiW1QzU-GKpBaSR5jcWE2Hhb2VCKXY4T3F8-M7lRYX0m96dvOyVWVoH2zhCLoiew80QGYpdpvx077PefMdvQ/s16000/natural_information_society_live2.jpg" width="660" /></a></div><br />Two of the pivotal outfits describing the new jazz sounds of London and Chicago and specifically the artistry of the <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.intlanthem.com/about&source=gmail&ust=1692985558343000&usg=AOvVaw2jte3r0riZjJr1k2ziJLJe" href="https://www.intlanthem.com/about" target="_blank">International Anthem</a> label find themselves at <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.ticketweb.com/event/the-crocodile-presents-alabaster-deplume-sunset-tavern-tickets/13249358&source=gmail&ust=1692985558343000&usg=AOvVaw0P3YJoIcvzuZLwqtwZD8D3" href="https://www.ticketweb.com/event/the-crocodile-presents-alabaster-deplume-sunset-tavern-tickets/13249358" target="_blank">Sunset Tavern</a> and <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.stgpresents.org/calendar/14407/natural-information-society&source=gmail&ust=1692985558343000&usg=AOvVaw1h8DAeIW3ggt0jtzfBykky" href="https://www.stgpresents.org/calendar/14407/natural-information-society" target="_blank">The Neptune Theatre</a> in early September. Gus Fairbairn had his beginnings as <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.intlanthem.com/artists/alabaster-deplume&source=gmail&ust=1692985558343000&usg=AOvVaw384-Uu5hxg1NiPbOoeBLXU" href="https://www.intlanthem.com/artists/alabaster-deplume" target="_blank">Alabaster DePlume</a> in the early 2000s as one of the players around the locus of London's <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://totalrefreshment.net/&source=gmail&ust=1692985558343000&usg=AOvVaw1xyiu6t8hania_2iny-Dby" href="https://totalrefreshment.net/" target="_blank">Total Refreshment Centre</a>. The venue enjoyed a recent anthology on the legendary <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.bluenote.com/transmissions-from-total-refreshment-centre-out-feb-17/&source=gmail&ust=1692985558343000&usg=AOvVaw0gP0HQOmw01HyGkGyT1plV" href="https://www.bluenote.com/transmissions-from-total-refreshment-centre-out-feb-17/" target="_blank">Blue Note</a>, the venerable label capturing "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/feb/19/transmissions-from-total-refreshment-centre-blue-note-review-london-jazz-now&source=gmail&ust=1692985558343000&usg=AOvVaw1f0IIZWmAgBkIxZftQT2CG" href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/feb/19/transmissions-from-total-refreshment-centre-blue-note-review-london-jazz-now" target="_blank">A Complex, Thrilling Moment in a Fast-Expanding Musical Community</a>". The venue and its players are central to the new British jazz scene, as covered in The Guardian's primer to this contemporary body of musicians, "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/apr/08/british-jazz-invasion-moses-boyd-matthew-halsall-nubya-garcia&source=gmail&ust=1692985558343000&usg=AOvVaw2y_3g_I5x3d_7NlKq5R3yp" href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/apr/08/british-jazz-invasion-moses-boyd-matthew-halsall-nubya-garcia" target="_blank">The British Jazz Explosion: Meet the Musicians Rewriting the Rulebook</a>". In the fist of his releases for the International Anthem label, Fairbairn released a gently enveloping suite of instrumentals, "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.intlanthem.com/releases-2/alabaster-deplume-to-cy-and-lee&source=gmail&ust=1692985558343000&usg=AOvVaw1IMw6MPosEQDEvJlAAUDhb" href="https://www.intlanthem.com/releases-2/alabaster-deplume-to-cy-and-lee" target="_blank">To Cy & Lee: Instrumentals Vol.1</a>". The album stretched over eleven tracks of Fairbairn’s tentative, breathy sax melodies laid over downtempo, atmospheric chord voicings and chamber music compositions. Described in the pages of The Guardian as "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/nov/04/alabaster-deplume-interview-gus-fairbairn-jazz&source=gmail&ust=1692985558343000&usg=AOvVaw3hVA2SPPa2c-0TFoYe045X" href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/nov/04/alabaster-deplume-interview-gus-fairbairn-jazz" target="_blank">The Stress-Busting Jazz of Alabaster DePlume</a>", Fairbairn's latest project, "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.intlanthem.com/releases-3/alabaster-deplume-gold&source=gmail&ust=1692985558343000&usg=AOvVaw3rx0xRWR8tCLqCsdXTIgdL" href="https://www.intlanthem.com/releases-3/alabaster-deplume-gold" target="_blank">Gold: Go Forward in the Courage of Your Love</a>", continues and expands upon that emotional ethos and its swooning gently flowing musical surfaces. Recorded over the course of two weeks at Total Refreshment Centre and employing Fairbairn's practice of having different band arrangements playing on each session, the resulting pieces have also been mixed by different producers and employ self-sampling and structural techniques from his prominent label-mate and drummer, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.intlanthem.com/artists/makaya-mccraven&source=gmail&ust=1692985558343000&usg=AOvVaw0qvBxfvYs2krafjYPT6Xmy" href="https://www.intlanthem.com/artists/makaya-mccraven" target="_blank">Makaya McCraven</a>.<div><br /></div>These two artists are among the 21st century body of musicians effectively "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/label-guide-international-anthem-rewriting-the-rules-of-jazz/&source=gmail&ust=1692985558343000&usg=AOvVaw3UVGnWoQKGjaoqDqu10Om6" href="https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/label-guide-international-anthem-rewriting-the-rules-of-jazz/" target="_blank">Rewriting the Rules of Jazz</a>", who have produced bountiful collaborations on an array of top-notch labels. Most notably releases from Chicago's aforementioned <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.intlanthem.com/releases&source=gmail&ust=1692985558343000&usg=AOvVaw0TzNucI5QNhv7-JaRaGTQZ" href="https://www.intlanthem.com/releases" target="_blank">International Anthem</a>, New York's <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://eremite.com/&source=gmail&ust=1692985558343000&usg=AOvVaw0pSkeY1RrL0BWeeVNJlHmm" href="https://eremite.com/" target="_blank">Eremite</a>, and the UK's scene represented again by the Total Refreshment Centre and <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles_Peterson&source=gmail&ust=1692985558343000&usg=AOvVaw04zwFh1Qftf1wwFViiVACi" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles_Peterson" target="_blank">Gilles Peterson</a>'s <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://brownswoodrecordings.com/&source=gmail&ust=1692985558343000&usg=AOvVaw0OBlqkYBd6OobfcEXMg09C" href="https://brownswoodrecordings.com/" target="_blank">Brownswood Recordings</a>. Culled from all of these, London's Soul Jazz Records have assembled the most comprehensive overview of this chiaroscuro with their "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://soundsoftheuniverse.com/sjr/product/kaleidoscope_2&source=gmail&ust=1692985558343000&usg=AOvVaw0g5d6RMvaveZJI3_9z9HjJ" href="https://soundsoftheuniverse.com/sjr/product/kaleidoscope_2" target="_blank">Kaleidoscope: New Spirits Known & Unknown</a>" compilation, fixating heavily on both the London and Chicago players. Representing a similar locus for the Chicago scene, bassist Joshua Abrams‘ and his large ensemble, <a href="https://naturalinformationsociety.com/">Natural Information Society</a>, are joined on his most recent outing "<a href="https://eremite.com/album/mte-78-79">Since Time is Gravity</a>" by Ari Brown, the 80 year old tenor saxophonist and Chicago legend whose work is central to the album. Their release on the Eremite label is the prime meeting of Abrams previous discography of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Reich">Steve Reich</a>-like trance inducing patterned minimalism and the new addition of a more swooning and fiery saxophone compositions which share a lineage with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Mingus">Charles Mingus</a>' mid-period albums. Touching on these disparate points, "<a href="https://www.brooklynvegan.com/natural-information-society-discuss-the-inspirations-behind-since-time-is-gravity/">Natural Information Society Discuss the Inspirations Behind 'Since Time is Gravity'</a>", and their amassing a larger ensemble which includes saxophonist Mai Sugimoto, titanic percussionist Hamid Drake, and cornetist Ben LaMar Gay, as "<a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/04/17/1169959650/natural-information-society-celebrates-its-idiosyncrasies-warts-and-all">Natural Information Society Celebrates its Idiosyncrasies, Warts and All</a>". A central component to their live incarnation is the environment that they invoke, largely supplied by Abram's wife, artist and musician <a href="https://whitney.org/education/for-teachers/teacher-guides/2022-biennial/lisa-alvarado">Lisa Alvarado</a>, and her creations both on and off the stage, "<a href="https://chicagoreader.com/music/natural-information-society-make-the-stage-a-home-and-vice-versa/">Natural Information Society Make the Stage a Home and Vice Versa</a>".<div><br /></div>Jefferson Petreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16247636099853517835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-534298114929538402.post-78392459338729791922023-07-06T14:24:00.010-07:002023-09-28T11:21:07.242-07:00"The Dirty Stories of Jean Eustache" at SIFF Cinema: Jul 14 - 23<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="440" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9ge8teihDws?rel=0" width="680"></iframe><br /><br />In an atypical move, <a href="https://www.siff.net/programs-and-events/the-dirty-stories-of-jean-eustache">SIFF Cinema</a> have adopted the totality of the retrospective of "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-dirty-stories-of-jean-eustache-a-rarely-seen-french-director-157d83b8&source=gmail&ust=1688763211818000&usg=AOvVaw0BuyX7rbwmLhUtZCJl3xEs" href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-dirty-stories-of-jean-eustache-a-rarely-seen-french-director-157d83b8" target="_blank">Jean Eustache: A Rarely Seen French Director</a>", from the premiere of the <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.janusfilms.com/film-sets/13&source=gmail&ust=1688763211818000&usg=AOvVaw1rHrmu6ljXZfs5hXNArSRz" href="https://www.janusfilms.com/film-sets/13" target="_blank">Janus Films</a> series run at New York's <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.filmlinc.org/series/the-dirty-stories-of-jean-eustache/&source=gmail&ust=1688763211818000&usg=AOvVaw069QD-gzm6aUW4h7Z0F6K3" href="https://www.filmlinc.org/series/the-dirty-stories-of-jean-eustache/" target="_blank">Lincoln Center</a>. As the Film Society at Lincoln Center put it; "Few filmmakers have captured the sheer sorrow and humor of being alive in a time and place more majestically than Jean Eustache. A fellow traveler of <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cahiers_du_Cin%25C3%25A9ma&source=gmail&ust=1688763211818000&usg=AOvVaw174DJQVg4RZ7-gUVGCe8UH" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cahiers_du_Cin%C3%A9ma" target="_blank">Cahiers du Cinéma</a> in the late 1950s, Eustache was a satellite figure of the ascendant Nouvelle Vague while it was revolutionizing the aesthetics and aesthetic politics of narrative cinema. But he emerged in the second half of the 1960s as a singularly formidable filmmaker in his own right, directing several fiction films and documentaries before producing one of French cinema’s all-time masterpieces, the titanic and epochal "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.siff.net/programs-and-events/the-dirty-stories-of-jean-eustache/the-mother-and-the-whore&source=gmail&ust=1688763211818000&usg=AOvVaw07_pm6VkiMyAe8cTGUHvwc" href="https://www.siff.net/programs-and-events/the-dirty-stories-of-jean-eustache/the-mother-and-the-whore" target="_blank">The Mother and the Whore</a>". This film is considered the centerpiece of any <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Eustache">Jean Eustache </a> retrospective, “It’s a historical marker in a way that few other films are,” wrote <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://jonathanrosenbaum.net/2022/11/the-way-we-are-2/&source=gmail&ust=1688763211818000&usg=AOvVaw0aQRnGQ3kI_tNmIhoQOwHV" href="https://jonathanrosenbaum.net/2022/11/the-way-we-are-2/" target="_blank">Jonathan Rosenbaum in the Chicago Reader</a>; “not only the nail in the coffin of the French New Wave and one of the strongest statements about the aftermath of the failed French revolution of May 1968, but also a definitive expression of the closing in of Western culture after the end of the era generally known as the ’60s.” At the time of the release of this new restoration by <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/7691-jean-eustache-and-jacques-rozier&source=gmail&ust=1688763211818000&usg=AOvVaw3VJfNY5AC1SC1_xOK8AZIs" href="https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/7691-jean-eustache-and-jacques-rozier" target="_blank">Les films du Losange</a>, Richard Brody wrote for The New Yorker, "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/the-mother-and-the-whore-newly-restored-still-overwhelming&source=gmail&ust=1688763211818000&usg=AOvVaw1C01vh0BOSvEbnhQoBLx3H" href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/the-mother-and-the-whore-newly-restored-still-overwhelming" target="_blank">'The Mother and the Whore', Newly Restored, Still Overwhelming</a>". In which he states; "It’s overwhelming in its length and in its emotional intensity. It’s a self-consuming masterwork that seems to burn itself up as it passes through the projector. It’s a film of rage and self-punishment, of arrogance and humiliation and, ultimately, of ferocious irony about pleasure and power, desire and submission. What’s original in its style is the sheer profusion of dialogue, which exceeds in quantity, density, and tone even the talk in contemporaneous films by <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%25C3%2589ric_Rohmer&source=gmail&ust=1688763211818000&usg=AOvVaw2i2SrEZ3SSbOEIDLTH5moB" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89ric_Rohmer" target="_blank">Éric Rohmer</a>."<br><br>Richard Brody continues by saying; "Where Rohmer’s cinematic language is dialectical, Eustache’s is torrential. The characters in “The Mother and the Whore” don’t so much talk with each other or even at each other as bare their souls verbally and pour out confessions in soliloquies - especially the movie’s protagonist, Alexandre, as played by <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Pierre_L%25C3%25A9aud&source=gmail&ust=1688763211818000&usg=AOvVaw2z8NrauNb1IANJDhODAuJV" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Pierre_L%C3%A9aud" target="_blank">Jean-Pierre Léaud</a>." In this "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/22/movies/the-mother-and-the-whore.html&source=gmail&ust=1688763211818000&usg=AOvVaw0mKe9_o3RwWA7vsqfstsU_" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/22/movies/the-mother-and-the-whore.html" target="_blank">Threesome and Then Some</a>", as it was put by The New York Times, Léaud's Alexandre is a creature of impulses and monstrous in his insistence. Adopting and discarding attitudes, he is given to absurd, self-hypnotizing rants that fascinate Veronika, charm Marie, and repulse the viewer. He conceives himself as a dandy who reads Proust and listens to Édith Piaf, and his obsession with the past, mainly the aborted revolution of 1968, is the focus of his delusions. Yet, as established by <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-mother-and-the-whore-1999&source=gmail&ust=1688763211818000&usg=AOvVaw32ipa1w9IkdQ6U4kNiQ7m7" href="https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-mother-and-the-whore-1999" target="_blank">Roger Ebert in his 1999 review</a>; "The first time I saw "The Mother and the Whore," I thought it was about Alexandre. After a viewing of the newly restored print being released for the movie's 25th anniversary, I think it is just as much about the women, and about the way that women can let a man talk endlessly about himself while they regard him like a specimen of aberrant behavior. The film made an enormous impact when it was released. It still works a quarter-century later because it was so focused on its subjects, and lacking in pretension. It is rigorously observant, the portrait of an immature man and two women who humor him for a while, paying the price that entails". Here in this series, framing the above masterwork SIFF presents the totality of , "<a href="https://www.siff.net/programs-and-events/the-dirty-stories-of-jean-eustache">The Dirty Stories of Jean Eustache</a>", which features the titular "<a href="https://www.siff.net/programs-and-events/the-dirty-stories-of-jean-eustache/a-dirty-story-and-alixs-pictures">A Dirty Story</a>", alongside, "<a href="https://www.siff.net/programs-and-events/the-dirty-stories-of-jean-eustache/robinsons-place-and-santa-claus-has-blue-eyes">Robinson’s Place</a>", "<a href="https://www.siff.net/programs-and-events/the-dirty-stories-of-jean-eustache/le-cochon-and-shorts">Le Cochon</a>", "<a href="https://www.siff.net/programs-and-events/the-dirty-stories-of-jean-eustache/numero-zero">Numéro Zéro</a>", "<a href="https://www.siff.net/programs-and-events/the-dirty-stories-of-jean-eustache/the-virgin-of-pessac">The Virgin of Pessac</a>", Eustache's own remake "<a href="https://www.siff.net/programs-and-events/the-dirty-stories-of-jean-eustache/the-virgin-of-pessac-79">The Virgin of Pessac '79</a>", and "<a href="https://www.siff.net/programs-and-events/the-dirty-stories-of-jean-eustache/my-little-loves">My Little Loves</a>". The latter, on which <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/movies/my-little-loves">The New Yorker's Richard Brody</a> weighed in again, offers a summation of the series as a whole; “In Eustache’s loamy, holistic vision, the events are shaped less by the demands of drama than by the meanderings of consciousness itself."<br /><br>Jefferson Petreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16247636099853517835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-534298114929538402.post-63634887084537693032023-07-02T12:12:00.007-07:002023-08-03T14:19:01.219-07:00Seattle Art Fair at Lumen Field Event Center: Jul 27 - 30 | Jónsi "FLÓÐ" at The National Nordic Museum: Mar 17 - Jul 30<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcu2-TWr647zYXWJFzqNHxmmbpLQKW3G0x6m6hBxDxPyqo1ghLq2UhrryAoKN0JgkfKc_4dJDKfPBLQuOhb8PMKr0-d7YQ8G1aRffiPefld3xWbJp8KGOyNcCcq9pzPbY1KONIi_c1834MNB3edve7pC-Px1hKRbLQGrgqXZppJbjTL1S0qZrmNpdCyz4/s1188/jake_dinos_chapman_fcking_hell1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="550" data-original-width="1188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcu2-TWr647zYXWJFzqNHxmmbpLQKW3G0x6m6hBxDxPyqo1ghLq2UhrryAoKN0JgkfKc_4dJDKfPBLQuOhb8PMKr0-d7YQ8G1aRffiPefld3xWbJp8KGOyNcCcq9pzPbY1KONIi_c1834MNB3edve7pC-Px1hKRbLQGrgqXZppJbjTL1S0qZrmNpdCyz4/s16000/jake_dinos_chapman_fcking_hell1.jpg" width="680" /></a></div><br />After a two year hiatus, <a href="https://seattleartfair.com/">Seattle Art Fair</a> returned in the summer of 2022, with a new artistic director under the aegis of <a href="https://amp.events/" target="_blank">Art Market Productions</a> who announced that they would <a href="https://seattleartfair.com/About/Announcements/2022_07_27_SAF-Will-Return-in-July-2022.aspx.html" target="_blank">continue as sole owner and producer</a>. This was due to the passing of <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/paul-allens-legacy/" target="_blank">Paul Allen in 2018</a>, wherein the future of Allen's founding of numerous cultural and arts institutions, and significant <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2018/cinerama-mopop-kexp-upstream-paul-allens-cultural-legacy-permeates-seattle/" target="_blank">philanthropic contribution to the city</a>, were made uncertain. By 2020, it was established that Allen's Vulcan corporation would no longer be investing in their cultural branch, with the explicit message sent by the shuttering of their arts and entertainment division, and the layoff of all related staff. This would of course translate as "<a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/vulcan-to-close-its-arts-entertainment-division-which-includes-cinerama-and-seattle-art-fair/" target="_blank">Vulcan Closes its Arts + Entertainment Division, which Includes Cinerama and Seattle Art Fair</a>". Producing a cascade of concerns related to arts funding and the venues under Vulcan's purview. Most significantly, the question of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Cinerama" target="_blank">Seattle Cinerama</a>, one of only three movie theaters in the world still capable of showing three-panel Cinerama films, project 70mm celluloid, and present digital ultra-high resolution films in Dolby Atmos Sound. This threat to the longevity of the almost one-of-a-kind venue was only resolved this past May with the announcement in the Seattle Times that, “<a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/movies/siff-buys-cinerama-plans-reopening-of-beloved-seattle-movie-theater/">SIFF Buys Cinerama, Plans Reopening</a>", through a deal with the Paul G. Allen estate, <a href="https://www.siff.net/blog/cinerama-announcement">reopening of the cinema is scheduled as soon as this fall</a>. In the case of Seattle Art Fair, it is now wholly run by Art Market Productions, after the inaugural success of its four year run under Vulcan Arts + Entertainment. On the eve of the fair's 2015 launch, there was abundant speculation as to the nature of the exhibit local philanthropist Paul Allen and the organization he had assembled with Max Fishko of <a href="http://artmarketproductions.com/" target="_blank">Art Market Productions</a>, would be bringing to the city. At the time there was little that offered insight beyond the <a href="http://seattleartfair.com/assets/uploads/main/Press_Release.Seattle6-24-15FINAL_%282%29.pdf" target="_blank">press release</a>, which made it out to be <a href="http://www.architecturaldigest.com/blogs/daily/2015/07/seattle-art-fair-slideshow" target="_blank">half-commercial gallery, half-curated exhibition</a>, featuring some <a href="http://seattleartfair.com/galleries/" target="_blank">60 galleries</a> representing local to international dealers with an emphasis on the Pacific Rim.<div><br /></div><div>The majority of the dialog focused on the fair's relation to the art market, with Brian Boucher's "<a href="https://news.artnet.com/market/gagosian-pace-zwirner-seattle-art-fair-312712" target="_blank">Why Are Gagosian, Pace, and Zwirner Signing On for the Seattle Art Fair?</a>" and The Observer's "<a href="http://observer.com/2015/05/paul-kasmin-and-pace-gallery-join-the-inaugural-seattle-art-fair/" target="_blank">Paul Kasmin and Pace Gallery Join the Inaugural Seattle Art Fair</a>" leading the discussion. With later pieces like Seattle Times "<a href="http://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/visual-arts/high-art-meets-deep-pockets-at-seattle-art-fair/" target="_blank">High Art Meets Deep Pockets at Seattle Art Fair</a>", as well as the New York Times recap, "<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/03/arts/design/seattle-art-fair-receives-a-boost-from-techs-big-spenders.html" target="_blank">Seattle Art Fair Receives a Boost From Tech’s Big Spenders</a>", and ArtNews "<a href="https://news.artnet.com/market/reasons-seattle-fair-important-320505" target="_blank">Why the Seattle Art Fair Is Important for the Art World</a>", positioning the event in relationship to the <a href="https://news.artnet.com/market/seattle-art-fair-2015-321683" target="_blank">moneyed local tech industry</a>. All of which were little more than discussions of the art market and the inclusion of some of the gallery world's international power players. For insight into the curatorial direction and work to be featured, one had to rely on regional media in which there was no small supply of <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/blogs/slog/2015/07/02/22487642/the-best-case-and-worst-case-scenarios-for-the-big-upcoming-seattle-art-fair" target="_blank">skepticism expressed </a>concerning the fair being another of Paul Allen's pet cultural projects, both for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Cinerama" target="_blank">the good</a> and <a href="https://upstreammusicfest.com/" target="_blank">the bad</a>. The extent of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/08/arts/design/at-seattle-art-fair-the-interaction-between-technology-and-modern-life.html" target="_blank">the fair's scope</a> became apparent opening weekend with favorable coverage in both the <a href="http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/07/31/first-seattle-art-fair-opens/" target="_blank">New York Times</a> and <a href="http://artforum.com/diary/id=54209" target="_blank">Artforum</a>. The exhibitions and galleries drawn from Asia were among the three day event's greater successes. In addition to the participating galleries <a href="http://gallery-kaikaikiki.com/" target="_blank">Kaikai Kiki</a> and <a href="http://www.kokiarts.com/" target="_blank">Koki Arts</a> from Tokyo, along with <a href="http://www.ganaart.com/" target="_blank">Gana Art</a> of Seoul and <a href="http://www.osagegallery.com/" target="_blank">Osage Gallery</a> from Hong Kong, the "<a href="http://seattleartfair.com/projects/event/thinking-currents" target="_blank">Thinking Currents</a>" wing curated by Leeza Ahmady, director of <a href="http://www.acaw.info/" target="_blank">Asia Contemporary Art Week</a> produced a premier <a href="http://www.acaw.info/?p=16911" target="_blank">exhibition of video, film and sound work</a> exploring themes related to the cultural, political, and geographical parameters of the Pacific Rim. With Kaikia KiKi head, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/02/arts/design/02mura.html" target="_blank">Takashi Murakami</a> returning for the fair's second installment, programming his own satellite exhibition "<a href="http://www.juxtapoz.com/news/painting/takashi-murakami-and-jux-join-for-juxtapoz-x-superflat-pivot-art-seattle-aug-4-7-2016/" target="_blank">Juxtapoz x SuperFlat</a>", for <a href="https://www.pivotartandculture.org/" target="_blank">Pivot Art + Culture</a>. <br /></div><div><br /></div><div>As covered by Trinie Dalton in, "<a href="https://www.artforum.com/diary/id=62912" target="_blank">Pacific Objects</a>", for Artforum, "<a href="http://www.seattleweekly.com/arts/the-seattle-art-fair-and-out-of-sight-ready-a-return/" target="_blank">Seattle Art Fair and Out of Sight made a Return</a>" on the occasion of the fair's second year. Continuing the trend of atypical and non-traditional gallery works, the fourth annual Art Fair presented <a href="http://www.srl.org/mark.html" target="_blank">Mark Pauline</a> the founder of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survival_Research_Laboratories" target="_blank">Survival Research Laboratories</a>, joining influential science fiction author <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Sterling" target="_blank">Bruce Sterling</a> in conversation. The author and the outsider artist, technologist and robotics specialist have intersected on previous occasions, notably 20 years prior in the pages of Wired, for "<a href="https://www.wired.com/1996/07/srl/" target="_blank">Is Phoenix Burning?</a>". The cultural and economic landscape that Pauline operates in now is quite different than that of the early 1980s, presenting <a href="https://www.sfgate.com/performance/article/Mark-Pauline-fiery-showman-now-into-machines-3510577.php" target="_blank">a new set of challenges</a> to his performative art. So there's logic at work in that Pauline would now align himself with <a href="http://www.marlboroughcontemporary.com/exhibitions/survival-research-laboratories" target="_blank">gallery culture</a>, and the <a href="https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-artist-builds-high-tech-robots-attack" target="_blank">contextualized space</a> of its presentation. As <a href="https://www.wired.com/beyond-the-beyond/2018/01/mark-pauline-srl-new-york-times/" target="_blank">Wired</a> said, "artistic respectability doesn’t so much beckon as envelop", in response to The New York Times' "<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/05/arts/design/mark-pauline-survival-research-laboratories.html" target="_blank">Fire-Breathing Robots Bringing Anarchy to a Chelsea Art Gallery</a>". The 2018 installment also saw <a href="https://www.surfacemag.com/articles/laura-fried-seattle-art-fair/" target="_blank">artistic director</a>, <a href="http://artforum.com/news/id=58205" target="_blank">Laura Fried</a>, succeeded by <a href="http://www.artnews.com/2017/12/19/artnews-accord-nato-thompson-avram-finkelstein-conversation/" target="_blank">Nato Thompson</a>. For <a href="http://www.artnews.com/2018/06/19/seattle-art-fair-announces-programming-fourth-edition/" target="_blank">ArtNews, Thompson went on to explain</a> the approach in his <a href="https://seattleartfair.com/pages/2018-Curatorial" target="_blank">curatorial statement</a>, for the 2019 edition which featured works and talks by the <a href="https://seattleartfair.com/Projects-Talks/2019/Center-for-PostNatural-History.aspx" target="_blank">Center for PostNatural History</a>, largescale <a href="http://www.hironakasuib.com/" target="_blank">video artists</a> <a href="https://seattleartfair.com/Projects-Talks/2019/Hironaka-Suib-Vanitas-MMXVIII.aspx" target="_blank">Nadia Hironaka and Matthew Suib</a>, architecture and <a href="http://www.bigertbergstrom.com/solar-egg-2017" target="_blank">installation</a> creators, <a href="https://seattleartfair.com/Projects-Talks/2019/Bigert-Bergstrom-Incubator-for-Earthquakes.aspx" target="_blank">Bigert & Bergström</a>, and choreographer <a href="https://seattleartfair.com/Projects-Talks/2019/Morgan-Thorson-Rachel-Cook-Dayna-Hanson.aspx" target="_blank">Morgan Thorson</a>. For Seattle Art Fair's seventh installment, artistic director <a href="https://www.natothompson.com/work">Nato Thompson</a> returns, with this year's edition looking to present a series of specific works by <a href="https://seattleartfair.com/projects/unseen-currents/">Lauren Bon</a>, <a href="https://seattleartfair.com/projects/the-many-worlds/">Jeffrey Gibson</a>, <a href="https://seattleartfair.com/projects/touch-grass/">Eunsun Choi</a>, <a href="https://seattleartfair.com/projects/are-you-ready-for-the-future/">Sasha Stiles</a>, <a href="https://seattleartfair.com/projects/where-the-castoffs-grow-materials/">Marita Dingus</a>, <a href="https://seattleartfair.com/projects/palimpsests/">Sharita Towne</a>, <a href="https://seattleartfair.com/projects/4th-sunday/">Tariqa Waters</a>, <a href="https://seattleartfair.com/projects/risk-assessment-by-what-love-have-i/">Catalina Ouyang</a>, <a href="https://seattleartfair.com/projects/melted-riot-light-aloud/">Fox Whitney</a>, and a installation by <a href="https://seattleartfair.com/events/artist-talk-dinos-chapman/">Dinos Chapman</a>, a prominent artist from the <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/y/young-british-artists-ybas">Young British Artists movement</a>. As a duo with his brother Jake Chapman, Dinos work has been characterized by Wired as, "<a href="https://www.wired.com/2014/01/chapman-hellscapes/" target="_blank">What if Satan and Hitler Opened a MacDonald's in Hell?</a>". The final weekend in July, "<a href="https://www.seattlemet.com/sponsored/2023/06/seattle-art-fair-diverse-perspectives-artistic-expression">Seattle Art Fair Pushes the Boundaries of Artistic Expression</a>", with a voluminous body of galleries, <a href="https://seattleartfair.com/2023-galleries/">more than 70 in total</a>, along with <a href="https://seattleartfair.com/2023-projects-events/">on-and-off site discussions, projects and and open studio events</a>. Elsewhere in the city on the weekend of Art Fair, there are <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/visual-arts/beyond-seattle-art-fair-2023-5-must-see-pop-up-art-exhibits/" target="_blank">six major satellite events</a> to take in representing regional work, including the return of the <a href="https://www.fftt.space/" target="_blank">Forest For the Trees</a> exhibition. And across town, the <a href="https://nordicmuseum.org/" target="_blank">National Nordic Museum</a> hosts the immersive audiovisual installation space "<a href="https://nordicmuseum.org/exhibitions/jnsi" target="_blank">FLÓÐ</a>" by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigur_R%C3%B3s" target="_blank">Sigur Rós</a> member, <a href="https://jonsi.com/" target="_blank">Jón Þór Birgisson</a> through the end of the month. Photo credit <a href="https://lesoeuvres.pinaultcollection.com/en/artwork/fucking-hell">Pinault Collection</a>.<div><br /></div></div>Jefferson Petreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16247636099853517835noreply@blogger.com