These are the reviews and other projects I'm working on this month.
Seattle Film Blog: The Accused [Blu-ray], Broken Lullaby[Blu-ray], and Night Has a Thousand Eyes[Blu-ray].
Video Librarian: Mogul Mowgli and Sparrows.
Endnote: Broken Lullaby still featuring Phillips Holmes and Nancy Carroll from Mubi. François Ozon would adapt the same play, quite magnificently, for 2016's Franz.
18.Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry (R.J. Cutler)
The rest: Belfast, Censor, Cruella, Days of the Bagnold Summer, Dune, France, House of Gucci, The Humans, In the Earth, In the Heights, King Richard, Last Night in Soho, The Little Things, The Many Saints of Newark, Mass, The Mimic, Nightmare Alley, No Time to Die, Petite Maman, Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings, Kenny Scharf: When Worlds Collide, Spencer, The Stairs, Stillwater, The Suicide Squad, The Tender Bar, Test Pattern, tick, tick.. BOOM!, Tiny King: King for a Day, and Woodstock ’99: Peace, Love & Rage.
Shorts:Burrow, Captive Feast, Catman, Chaval, Le Chavalanthrope, Colette, A Concerto Is a Conversation, Do Not Split, The Earth’s Forgotten, Feeling Through, For Gerard, Genius Loci, Hayrides, If Anything Happens I Love you, Kapeamahu, The Last Drink, The Letter Room, A Look at Madness, A Love Song for Latasha, Opera, The Present, The Snail and the Whale, Three Cheers for the Whale, To Gerard, Two Distant Strangers, The Whalers, White Eye, and Yes People.
Missed or haven't seen yet:About Endlessness, Agnes, Attica, Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar, Can’t Get You out of My Head, Cry Macho, El Planeta, I’m Your Man, Jakob’s Wife, Listening to Kenny G, Malignant, The Most Beautiful Boy in the World, The Night House, Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It, Saint Maud, Space Sweepers, Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street, and West Side Story.
Old movies:Anna Lucasta, The Annihilation of Fish, Arabesque, Arrebato, Bad Timing, Beautiful Darling, Blackhat, Black Wax, Blind Beast, The Blood Spattered Bride, Book of Days, Boy Meets Girl, The Bride Comes Home, Bustin’ Loose, Bye Bye Braverman, Castle Freak, Center Stage, Harry Chapin: When in Doubt, Do Something, A Chapter in Her Life, Children of Divorce, Chilly Scenes of Winter, The City of the Dead, Colette, Cotton Comes to Harlem, Coogan’s Bluff, Crazy Thunder Road, Creepy, Day of the Beast, A Day in the Life, D.E.B.S., The Deep Blue Sea, Desire, Devil in the Flesh, Domino, Down Terrace, Dracula (Spanish-language), Ed and His Dead Mother, Egomania - Island Without Hope, El, Elephant Parts, The Exterminating Angel, Fata/Morgana, F.P.1 Doesn’t Answer, F.T.A., Filibus: The Mysterious Air Pirate, Filmworker, Final Flesh, Fool for Love, Freud, Fritz the Cat, Georgia, Georgia, The Gilded Lily, God’s Own Country, The Great Sacrifice, Green Fog, Group Marriage, The Hand, Heartworn Highways Revisited, High-Rise, Hiruko the Goblin, Holiday Heart, Hot Saturday, The House That Screamed, Immensee, In Case of Emergency, Irezumi, The Innocent, The Italian Connection, It's a Girl Thing, I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing, It’s My Turn, Joan of Arc, Journeys Through French Cinema, Just a Gigolo, Kamikaze Hearts, Killer Workout, King Lear, Knights of the City, Lackawanna Blues, La Llorona, The Last Sunset, Le Gang, Legend, Lift, The Little Richard Story, Lux Aerterna, Madame Claude, A Man Called Adam, The Man Who Fell to Earth, Maps to the Stars, Movers and Shakers, Mr. SOUL!, Muscle Shoals, The Neon Bible, The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat, Once Upon a River, Our Song, Outside In, Parting Glances, Party Party, Plácido, The Platform, Pound, Pressure Point, Puzzle of a Downfall Child, Queen of Diamonds, Queen of Hearts: Audrey Flack, The Real Thing, Rebecca (Ben Wheatley version), A Reflection of Fear, Road Salaam Cinema, Rodrigo D: No Future, Ruthless People, The Secret, Secret Honor, Seduction: The Cruel Woman, Sensation Seekers, Seven Days… and Seven Nights, Shogun’s Joy of Torture, Showgirls, Simone Barbes or Virtue, Sparrow, Stages: 3 Days in Mexico, Stan the Flasher, Starred Up, Story of a Woman, Such Good Friends, The Suspect, Switchblade Sisters, The Swordsman, Take Care of Your Scarf, Tatiana, That Certain Summer, Thomasine and Bushrod, Three Men to Kill, Tigers Are Not Afraid, Tombs of the Blind Dead, Tous les Matins du Monde, Torque, Track 29, The Underneath, Upondo & Nkinsela, U.S. Go Home, Videodrome, Vivre Ensemble, Bible!, Whirlpool of Fate, Wives, The Woman One Longs For, Women in Revolt, Yi Yi, and You Don’t Know EVA.
TV:Allen v. Farrow; American Masters: Keith Haring - Street Art Boy, Sammy Davis, Jr. - I Gotta Be Me, Charley Price - I’m Just Me, and Walter Winchell - The Power of Gossip; Babylon Berlin S1-3; Baptiste S2; Barry S2, Bosch S3-7; Broadchurch S1-3; Call the Midwife S10; Masterpiece: All Creatures Great and Small S1, Beecham House, The Child in Time, Dark Angel, and The Long Song; The Crown S1; Finding Your Roots S6-7; The Good Place S2; Grantchester S6; Hacks S1; Halifax: Retribution; Ken Burns’ Hemingway and Muhammad Ali; Her Effortless Brilliance - A Celebration of Lynn Shelton Through Film and Music; Icon: Music Through the Lens; Law & Order: SVU S23; Lupin S1; Mare of Easttown; Miss Scarlet and the Duke S1; Music Box: Mr. Saturday Night; Night Gallery S1; Perry Mason S1; Philly DA; Professor T (UK version) S1; Q: Into the Storm; Shrill S2-3; Shameless S11; The Sopranos S4-S6; Succession S3; Ted Lasso S1 E1-3; The Underground Railroad; Unforgotten S4; Vienna Blood S1, The White Lotus S1; and Wormwood.
Images:Drive My Car (IndieWire/Janus Films), The Green Knight (A24), Titane (Neon), Downstream to Kinshasa (Icarus Films), and Anna Lucasta (United Artists/Harlem World Magazine).
Video Librarian:Freud[Blu-ray], The Accused [Blu-ray], Alexander Nevsky [Blu-ray], Broken Lullaby [Blu-ray], Karen Dalton - In My Own Time, Labyrinth of Cinema, Filibus - The Mysterious Air Pirate [Blu-ray],Night Gallery[Blu-ray], and Night Has a Thousand Eyes.
Video Librarian:Legend: Limited Edition[two-disc Blu-ray set], The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat[Blu-ray], Summer of 85[Blu-ray], and Deep Red[three-disc Blu-ray set].
Edmonds Center for the Arts: Introduction and Q&A for 2013's Muscle Shoals, the first film in ECA's Music on Film Series.
Video Librarian:Arabesque[Blu-ray], Blind Beast[Blu-ray], Immensee/The Great Sacrifice[two-disc Blu-ray set], Hot Saturday[Blu-ray], The Last Sunset[Blu-ray], Shameless - Complete Eleventh Season[three-disc Blu-ray set], and Story of a Woman[Blu-ray].
Image: Sophia Loren in Arabesque / Universal Pictures.
Endnote: Image of Marlene Dietrich in The Woman One Longs For. By Unknown - http://www.puettner.com/film12.htm, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=54103597
Endnote:Anna Lucasta image from DOLA. Rex Ingram as patriarch Joe Lucasta; Eartha Kitt as his daughter, Anna; Sammy Davis, Jr. as her part-time boyfriend, Danny; and Alvin Childress as barkeep Noah.
The Rest:16 Bars, Adriana's Pact, Always Shine, Amazon Women on the Moon, The Ape, Aristotle's Plot, Baby Bump, Bay of Silence, Bei Bei, Ben Blair, Betty: They Say I'm Different, Beyond the Lights, Blank Generation, Brewster McCloud, Brief Crossing, Butter on the Latch, California Split, Candyman, The Carter, Caught Up, The Cement Garden, César et Rosalie,Charlotte For Ever, Christmas Holiday, Clifford, Come and See / Idi i Smotri, Conscience Point, Crafting an Echo, The Creator / Le Createur, The Cube, Daisies / Sedmikrásky, Death Laid an Egg / La Morte Ha Fatto l'Uovo, Deepstar Six, Def by Temptation, Dial Code Santa Claus / 3615 Code Père Noël, Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler / Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler, Drifting, The Eiger Sanction, Evil Under the Sun, Fattitude, Fairytale / Favola, Ferat Vampire / Upír z Feratu, Final Cut: Ladies & Gentlemen / Final Cut: Hölgyeim és Uraim, Friday After Next, The Friends of Eddie Coyle, The Front Page, The Fourth Man / De Vierde Man, Get Crazy, Girl with Hyacinths / Flicka Och Hyacinter, Go Go Mania aka Pop Gear, Goodbye, 20th Century! / Zbogum Na Dvaesettiot Vek!, Hardware, High Strung Free Dance, His Girl Friday, Ice Thickeners, An Impudent Girl / L'Effronte, In God We Tru$t, The Intrigue, It Comes at Night, It's Alive III: Island of the Alive, It's Trad, Dad, James White, Jennifer's Body, Kansas City, Knockoff, The Laughing Woman / Femina Ridens, Lick the Star, Mad Max, The Majesty of the Law, Malcolm, Man of Erin, Mary, Queen of Scots, Messiah of Evil, Monster Dog, My Name Is Pedro, Night Games / Nattlek, Nymphomaniac: Vols. I and II, Ode, Old Boyfriends, One Hundred Men and a Girl, The Other Side of the Underneath, The Other Side of the Wind, Out of the Blue, Outside the Law, Penitentiary, Penitentiary III, Pepi, Luci, Bom, Play Misty for Me, Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools, Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project, Red Cow / Para Aduma, Return to the Andes, Rituals, River of Grass, Ruth Weiss: The Beat Goddess, Santa: The Fascist Years, Santa Claus Has Blue Eyes / Le Père Noël a les Yeux Bleus, Serendipity, Shanghai Triad / Yáo a Yáo, Yáo Dào Wàipó Qiáo, Shutter Island, Siesta, Silent Running, Singled [Out], Sixteen Candles, The Slit / Die Spalte, Small Town Ecstasy, Sol Alegria, Star Time, Stop, Storefront Hitchcock, Streetwise, The System, Teenage Superstars, Closeness / Tesnota, The Things of Life / Les Choses de la Vie,Thou Wast Mild and Lovely, Time Piece, Tremors / Temblores, Unspoken, Vashti Bunyan: From Here to Before, Waging Change, Walking the Streets of Moscow, The War of the Worlds: Next Century, Watch List, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, The Watermelon Woman, Welcome Home Brother Charles, Welcome II the Terrordome, What Are You?, What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael, The Whistleblower, Witch Hunt, and Wolf's Hole / Vlčí Bouda.
Short Films:;), Adspace, Alex, Chill, Fish Fish Bish, Joy Ride,
Lucky Girl, Niyayesh, The Orchard, Rated B for Black, Sleep Paralysis, Tattwo, Ultimatum, Unveiled, Wish Upon a Snow-
man, Ter, A Bold Experiment, Coup d'etat Math, Just Hold On,
The Paint Wizzard, Talk Outside, Time Piece, Zoey and Hanh.
TV:American Masters S32: Mae West - Dirty Blonde, Baptiste S1, Black Mirror S3 - "San Junipero," Bosch S1-2, Cher S1-2, Cobra S1, Endeavour S7, Frontline S39: "Amazon Empire: The Rise and Reign of Jeff Bezos," "America’s Great Divide: From Obama to Trump," and "United States of Conspiracy," Grantchester S5, Howard's End, I May Destroy You, The Queen's Gambit, Halt & Catch Fire S1-4, Law & Order: SVU S22, Press, Roadkill, Sanditon, Tiger King, The Trouble with Maggie Cole, Van der Walk S1, The Vow S1, World on Fire S1.
Endnote:House of Hummingbird image from MUBI, Lovers Rock from Amazon, Possessor from Neon, The Exorcist from Warner Home Video/Shudder, and The Point! from MVD Entertainment Group.
Other than a Wye Oak concert preview for The Stranger, which didn't run due to pandemic-related cancellation, I stopped writing about music in 2020. Then again, that depends on how you define such things. I still write about film and some of those films revolve around music and musicians. In 2020 alone, I reviewed Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind, The Point! (twice), Kansas City, Times Square, 16 Bars, Betty Davis: They Say I'm Different, Go Go Mania aka Pop Gear, Harry Chapin: When in Doubt, Do Something, The Soul of the Midnight Special, and nine-disc Time/Life set The Best of Cher. So, technically speaking, I didn't stop writing about music, though not one of those films centered on new music. I hate to pitch, but I did send exactly one music pitch...
and never received a response, so that's it for me for the time being.
As ever, there are a number of records that probably would've appeared on this list if I'd known about them or taken the time to listen during the calendar year, like...the Avalanches' We Will Always Love You. If you see something missing that you think I'd enjoy, feel free to let me know in the comments. It's never too late to get caught up.
Top 10
1. Gil Scott-Heron & Makaya McCraven - We're New Again:
A Reimagining by Makaya McCraven (XL Recordings)
2. Tie: Sault - Untitled (Black Is) and Rise (Forever Living Originals)
3. Aoife Nessa Frances - Land of No Junction (Ba Da Bing!)
4. Delphine Dora - L'inattingible (Three:Four Records)
5. Cindy Lee - What's Tonight to Eternity (Maple Death)
15. Kelly Lee Owens - Inner Song (Smalltown Supersound)
16. Open Mike Eagle - Anime, Trauma and Divorce (Auto Reverse)
17. Bob Dylan - Rough and Rowdy Ways (Columbia)
18. Molly Joyce - Breaking and Entering (New Amsterdam)
19. Stephen Malkmus - Traditional Techniques (Matador)
20. Shopping - All or Nothing (Fat Cat)
21. Ambrose Akinmusire - on the tender spot of every calloused moment (Blue Note)
22. Jim White and Marisa Anderson - The Quickening (Thrill Jockey)
23. Shirley Collins - Heart's Ease (Domino)
24. Songhoy Blues - Optimisme (Fat Possum)
25. Brigid Dawson and the Mothers Network - Ballet of Apes
(Castle Face)
26. Oh Sees - Protean Threat (Castle Face)
27. The Necks - Three (Northern Spy)
28. Khruangbin - Mordechai (Dead Oceans)
29. Horse Lords - The Common Task (Northern Spy)
30. Anna von Hausswolff - All Thoughts Fly (Southern Lord)
31. Jessie Ware - What's Your Pleasure? (Universal)
32. Margo Price - That's How Rumors Get Started (Loma Vista)
33. Idles - Ultra Mono (Partisan)
34. Fontaines D.C. - A Hero's Death (Partisan)
35. Tricky - Fall to Pieces (False Idols)
36. U.S. Girls - Heavy Light (4AD)
37. Deerhoof - Love-Lore (Joyful Noise)
38. Caribou - Suddenly (City Slang)
39. Elvis Perkins - Creation Myths (MIR-Petaluma Records)
40. Mary Lattimore - Silver Ladders (Ghostly International)
Songs & Singles
1. Sault - "Free" (Forever Living Originals)
2. Caribou - "Home" (City Slang)
3. Songhoy Blues - "Happy" (Fat Possum)
4. Gorillaz - "Désolé" ft. Fatoumata Diawara (Parlophone-Warner)
5. Run the Jewels - "Ooh La La" ft. Greg Nice and DJ Premier
(Jewel Runners)
Reissues & Compilations
1. Pylon - Box (New West Records)
2. Bobbie Gentry - The Delta Swete (UMC) [UK]
Note: Shortest list ever, but the depth and quality of both releases makes up for it.
Endnote: Like many reviewers, I enjoy ranking the things--or the kinds of things--that I write about, but the placements above are somewhat arbitrary. I start compiling my music list the minute I hear something that catches my ear. Then it's a matter of adding, subtracting, and shifting things around, but I would rank some of these records differently now than I would have just a few months ago.
Assembled over the course of five years, Voices in a Rented Room features two Bay Area musicians I've long admired: singer-guitarist Ben Chasny (Comets on Fire, Six Organs of Admittance) and singer-guitarist Donovan Quinn (Skygreen Leopards). I'm sure it's coincidental, since they sound nothing alike, but their handle reminds me of Boston band Big Dipper's shout-along anthem "Younger Bums" ("The younger bums will likely outlive us!").
Together, Chasny and Quinn make the kind of music I would expect—and I mean that in the best possible sense. I expected folk with a freak bent, and that's exactly what New Bums deliver. Aside from the outfits with which they've been involved, their full-length debut brings to mind Chris Bell and Jordan Lee of Mutual Benefit, artists who share their interest in acoustic instrumentation and nature imagery (rain, boughs, birds, etc.). Though not their love of profanity.
I particularly like "The Killers and Me," which layers closely-mic'd guitar picking over ghostly ambience in the vein of Big Star's "Big Black Car."* I've never been a fan of coffee-shop folk, but noir folk is another matter, and a dark and dusty feel permeates this track. By contrast, "Your Bullshit" bears a glittery trace of glam as the two add a stratospheric electric guitar line to their acoustic foundation.
Throughout Voices, Chasny and Quinn often sing in unison, and they have a sympathetic style, but one vocal at a time would work better (or one singer adding counterpoint to the other). It contributes to the dreamy, democratic feel of the enterprise, but definition and clarity can create greater impact. It would also make the lyrics easier to understand, although I had no problem making out the line, "You only get fucked in a pigeon town." Ain't that the truth. Here's to more profane, lovingly orchestrated introspection from this multi-talented duo.
* Granted, there's more keyboard to the Alex Chilton song, but Chasny and Quinn conjure up a similar vibe.
Credit and/or blame where it's due: the term "Old Drunk America" comes from Drag City's press notes. The label releasesVoicesin a Rented Room on Feb 18. New Bums play Chop Suey on Apr 10.
I write about popular music and film and the relationship between the two. I'm Irish on one side, Italian on the other—British on both. I was born in Connecticut (Far From Heaven), raised in Alaska (Northern Exposure), and I've lived in Seattle, WA (Trouble in Mind) since 1988.
