Still Life is the dynamic new album from Young Magic, the electronic duo of Jakarta-born Melati Malay and Sydney-born Isaac Emmanuel who ... More

Young Magic

Album “Still Life”

Young Magic

Album “Still Life”

Still Life is the dynamic new album from Young Magic, the electronic duo of Jakarta-born Melati Malay and Sydney-born Isaac Emmanuel who began collaborating in Brooklyn in 2010. Known for incorporating field recordings from worldwide travels into their albums, Young Magic has released Melt (2012) and Breathing Statues (2014) and the charitable album Remix Vol.1 (2015). Last year, Malay went on a journey of self-discovery through her birthplace of Java, Indonesia and returned with the storied, winding lyricism for Still Life. Culling recordings from Indonesia, Brazil, Argentina, Iceland, Australia and elsewhere, Emmanuel then wove together contributions from cellist and composer Kelsey Lu McJunkins, Detroit producer Erin Rioux and Bolivian percussionist Daniel Alejandro Siles Mendoza.

Still Life contains a world of catchy, pneumatic rhythms (akin to Four Tet and Gold Panda) against expansive sonic landscapes and ethereal vocal melodies that call to mind Purity Ring and Odesza. Young Magic’s genius is that they avoid a single musical impulse—rather than building to chorus over and over again, their songs are restrained and fluid, a brilliant pastiche of influences and origins.

via Carpark Records

›› Buy Album

Filmed on the remote Italian island of Pantelleria, director Luca Guadagnino’s A Bigger Splash takes on all the beauty, isolation, languor and ... More

A Bigger Splash

Film by Luca Guadagnino

A Bigger Splash

Film by Luca Guadagnino

Filmed on the remote Italian island of Pantelleria, director Luca Guadagnino’s A Bigger Splash takes on all the beauty, isolation, languor and heat of its Mediterranean setting. The film begins with famous rock star Marianne Lane (Tilda Swinton) and her boyfriend (Matthias Schoenaerts), a documentary filmmaker, on hiatus to recover her failing voice. When their raucous friend, who is also Lane’s ex-boyfriend and manager, (Ralph Fiennes) arrives with his daughter (Dakota Johnson), the quiet recedes into old jealousies and competition. This unease and history underpins all—sensual, long shots of bodies, landscape and architecture are intercut with intentionally frenetic, abrupt camera work and flashbacks to earlier days of cocaine and rock ‘n’ roll.

The storyline is adapted from Jaques Deray’s 1969 La Piscine, which stars Alain Delon and Romy Schneider in a similar love triangle with an old friend and his daughter (Maurice Ronet and then-newcomer Jane Birkin). The name A Bigger Splash is also repurposed from the 1967 David Hockney painting featuring a stark, calm California pool scene with the single white splash of a diver. With standout performances, especially from whispering Swinton and boorish Fiennes, A Bigger Splash came away from the Venice Film Festival with the soundtrack award and a nod for the top prize, the Golden Bear.

›› View IMDB

With two critically-acclaimed, low-budget films, A Prophet (2009) and The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005), Jacques Audiard established his place among ... More

Dheepan

Film by Jacques Audiard

Dheepan

Film by Jacques Audiard

With two critically-acclaimed, low-budget films, A Prophet (2009) and The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005), Jacques Audiard established his place among the most talented French filmmakers today. Dheepan was last year’s Palme d’Or winner at Cannes, following Audiard’s more commercial Rust and Bone (2012) with a relatively unknown cast and compelling outsider’s story. The titular character Dheepan (Jesuthasan Antonythasan), a Sri Lankan Tamil freedom fighter, must escape his country as the Civil War reaches its end and defeat is inevitable. He manages to flee with two strangers—a woman and girl (Kalieaswari Srinivasan and Claudine Vinasithamby)—who hope to claim asylum by appearing as a family. But in the banlieues of Paris, Dheepan is again confronted by violence that triggers his past in Sri Lanka and must reprise his role as warrior to protect this new, accidental ‘family.’ A score from electronic artist Nicolas Jaar and strong acting from on-screen newcomers carry this complex story of love, compassion and the ultimate paradox of trading one war for another.

›› View IMDB

On Down in Heaven, Chicago natives Twin Peaks continue with their signature sound—an endearingly unhinged gumbo of garage-punk, fuzzed-out psychedelia, swooning balladry ... More

Twin Peaks

Album “Down in Heaven”

Twin Peaks

Album “Down in Heaven”

On Down in Heaven, Chicago natives Twin Peaks continue with their signature sound—an endearingly unhinged gumbo of garage-punk, fuzzed-out psychedelia, swooning balladry and baroque pop. Their first release since 2014’s Wild Onions, Down in Heaven finds the group in a relaxed state, grooving out with a near-beachy lassitude while honing some of their poppier elements. In the last two years, they’ve picked up a fifth member, keyboardist Colin Croom, who pairs barroom piano and a touch of playful swing under Cadien James’ scratchy vocals. A loose, lo-fi arrangement marks the touch of producer John Agnello (Dinosaur Jr., Kurt Vile, Sonic Youth) as the band deftly continues to borrow from new influences while turning out something markedly their own.

via Grand Jury

›› Buy Album

Kyle Craft wrote his debut LP Dolls of Highland in a period of upheaval, including the end of a long relationship and ... More

Kyle Craft

Album “Dolls of Highland”

Kyle Craft

Album “Dolls of Highland”

Kyle Craft wrote his debut LP Dolls of Highland in a period of upheaval, including the end of a long relationship and a move away from his hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana on the banks of the Mississippi. Dolls finds Kyle at a sonic crossroads exploring his deep regional and musical connections while fielding an uncertain future. The album integrates Southern barroom bombast, ragtime pianos and Dylanesque guitar work, together with Craft’s insistent, nostalgic tenor. His voice is likely to provoke a ‘love it or hate it’ spot in listeners—a certainty not lost on Kyle: “I’m fully aware that I have a very abrasive, very loud voice, but Bob Dylan is the one that taught me to embrace that,” Craft says. “I stray away from him from time to time but always come back. I don’t want to come off as antique, but I also don’t want to be afraid of paying homage to the stuff I’ve always loved.” This statement forms the backbone of Dolls of Highland as an apt distillation of its mood and sound.

via Sub Pop

›› Buy Album

With the Baudrillard epigraph “photography is our exorcism,” Argentine photographer Mariela Sancari presents Moisés, a moving volume of portraits featuring men in ... More

Moisés

Book by Mariela Sancari

Moisés

Book by Mariela Sancari

With the Baudrillard epigraph “photography is our exorcism,” Argentine photographer Mariela Sancari presents Moisés, a moving volume of portraits featuring men in their 70s, the age her deceased father would be today. Sancari was not allowed to see the body of her father before his burial due to reasons she’s unsure of—his suicide, their Jewish beliefs or both. According to thanatology, the scientific study of death, contemplating the body of the deceased is key to overcoming one of the most complex stages of grief: denial. “Not seeing him has made us doubt his death in many ways,” states Sancari. To obtain the closure she needed, Sancari posted an ad featuring an old portrait of her father and asked men of the same age to contact her should they notice a resemblance. While those who responded do not bear any striking similarity to one another, collectively Sancari’s portraits assemble the idea of another, unseen man, especially as each stranger wears her father’s woolen sweater. Moisés is a limited edition of 1000 copies and combines two booklets which fold out over one another to create an intimate, interactive environment for Sancari’s work.

via La Fábrica

›› Buy Book

Renowned artist Carrie Mae Weems described the scenes in her 1990 Kitchen Table Series as “the battle around the family…monogamy…and between the ... More

Kitchen Table Series

Book by Carrie Mae Weems

Kitchen Table Series

Book by Carrie Mae Weems

Renowned artist Carrie Mae Weems described the scenes in her 1990 Kitchen Table Series as “the battle around the family…monogamy…and between the sexes.” The 20 photographs and 14 text panels in Kitchen Table Series tell a story of one woman’s relationships with her lovers, friends, children and self. Now collected in book form with text by author Sarah Lewis and curator Adrienne Edwards, Carrie Mae Weems: Kitchen Table Series renders a page-by-page account of a woman’s life within the intimate setting of her kitchen—a stage for female individuality, intricacy and strength. According to Weems, “unrequited love” is a cornerstone of the story, as are fortitude, vulnerability, aloofness, tenderness and solitude. Weems’ art is presented in public and private collections worldwide, including New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, MoMA, and Los Angeles’ MOCA.

via Damiani/Matsumoto Editions

›› Buy Book

One of the preeminent female photographers of our time, Nan Goldin integrates her love for artwork from the past with her most ... More

Diving For Pearls

Book by Nan Goldin

Diving For Pearls

Book by Nan Goldin

One of the preeminent female photographers of our time, Nan Goldin integrates her love for artwork from the past with her most personal relationships in Diving For Pearls. Upon invitation from the Louvre, Goldin photographed artworks of her choice and paired them with early photographs of friends and lovers via aesthetic and associative analysis. The resulting pairs are at times elusive, at times striking in their comparison. Diving For Pearls is comprised of over 400 photos and was exhibited for the first time at the Kestnergesellschaft in Hannover, Germany. Conceived in book form for the occasion, the artbook contains text by Nan Goldin, curator Lotte Dinse and author Glenn O’Brien. Diving For Pearls is truly an engrossing lesson in art history and a compelling insight into the life and associative comprehension of a distinguished artist.

via Steidl

›› Buy Book

Departing from her usual documentary style, California street photographer Deanna Templeton presents The Swimming Pool, a series of eloquent black-and-white and polaroid ... More

The Swimming Pool

Book by Deanna Templeton

The Swimming Pool

Book by Deanna Templeton

Departing from her usual documentary style, California street photographer Deanna Templeton presents The Swimming Pool, a series of eloquent black-and-white and polaroid images of the human form in water. Inspired by a nude swimming shoot with husband and fellow artist Ed Templeton, The Swimming Pool explores the cool and enigmatic nature of water: it’s light, patterns and distortion. The images feature Templeton’s close friends and acquaintances instead of her usual subjects of strangers on the street, and carry this intimate energy in their study of the human form—expressive and quiet, the models vulnerable and at ease.

via Um Yeah Arts

›› Buy Book