Let's kick things off for my weekly recs for the last year of entertainment I consumed. This year I've decided to shoulder a bigger load and as such will be posting once a week with my recommendations for the remaineder of "January"—but perhaps we'll go further into the year cycle! Please engage! Everything is linked for your pleasure.. Please click the links of anything that interests you! This year I Seek to Impress!
Original Soundtrack to "Boxes of Glass" by Willem Setters
In an attempt to curry favor amongst downtrodden 40-somethings (the crop-fires affected this age-bracket hardest) writer/director Geralt Spivak was hellbent on obfuscating old tales of the Old World as some sort of metaphor. The film itself was garbage. It relied too heavily upon misplaced nostalgia and was severely intentional with its disgusting "us vs. the world". It seems that Spivak still does not understand what brought down the Old World in the first place, and he settles for a masturbatory fantasy wherein old laws are worshipped and the class systems are again used as stepping stones for the elite.
Thankfully, because he was either absent from the filming or willfully ignored instruction (of the two I lean heavily on the latter), Willem Setters' mastery of the foundant nouveau "earscape" redeems an otherwise grotesque malaise of ignorance and cheap depravity. Most enjoyable when cooking or amidst outdoor chores. An understanding yet unseen for the reviving medium.
"92m," by 92
A seminal work of the nonagenarian crew 92 known to most, "92m," is an interesting twist on the previously tired practice of throat-singing. I slept on this one when it debuted several cycles ago, and am regretting having taken this long to grapple with it.
Ixii, cryptic lead singer and conceptualist for the album's overarching theme "sterilization", claims the ideas and her gifts were received in a dream from GYIA. With or without arcane influence, the album is a triumph and stretches deep into the conceptual without losing its heart: THIS is how it ends.
"Eye White; Reflect" by Straw
It's hardly a surprise these days to see Straw at the top of the charts, but the sheer volume of their work in relation to how many years they've been featured should be testimony enough to their prestige. In a way, their popularity is due in no small part to how they've become the voice of the zeitgeist.
"Queen Scream," "Memymitica," and "GANG" are go-to's for any casual Straw evangelist, but the simple cadence of "Prophesy! Prophesy!" and sizzling ear-worm "Blistering Sword of the Landsknecht" are anthemic. With this release, Straw has solidified their placement in Jeffersonian history, but it is enough for them to remain merely celebrity?
"Forests Forgotten" by Gary
It broke my goddam heart to see this posthumous release, due in no small part to its prophetic lyrics about Gary's untimely death. Ranging from the political to raw emotion, Gary has always sought difficulty. "Difficulty," he argues in "Satin," "is truth, and yet it's still so much easier to settle for the dust and dregs... shit."
An intimate collection of singles and remixes lifted from his corrugated cell phone, and oftentimes seems dangerously close to triggering the artist's own seance... if only it could.
No comments:
Post a Comment