The Bullet List #9: Kamasi Washington, How Music Works, Joshua Ellis, Conan and Zappa

Kamasi Washington

Someone recommended I give this a listen a couple of days ago (thanks Talar) and it is truly phenomenal. A little digging reveals that Washington was responsible for the sax arrangements on the latest Kendrick Lamar album, but his solo work is the kind of jazz that comes around once in a generation. His album — aptly entitled The Epic — was featured in Pitchfork’s Top 50 of last year and he’s recently been the subject of a glowing New York Times Magazine cover story.

From Jackson Allers: “ He represents the progeny of the jazz elders I worked with in Los Angeles with my partner Carlos Gabriel Niño (*working class productions) between 95'-2000. What Kamasi and his family of musicians in the West Coast Get Down represent (Stephan "Thundercat" Bruner, Ronald Bruner, Brandon Coleman, etc.) are the current purveyors of the Central Avenue Jazz scene of Los Angeles from the 40's to the mid/late 60's - culminating in 2015 with Kamasi Washington's 3 disc album - The Epic - on Flying Lotus' label Brainfeeder. These cats are also the chief architects behind the music on Kendrick Lamar's 'To Pimp a Butterfly.'”

How Music Works by David Byrne

David Byrne’s seminal work is an all-encompassing look at where music comes from, the spaces it occupies and the industry that promotes it. It essential reading for anyone involved in the industry, from musicians to managers and labels, and basically anyone who cares about the context around the stuff they listen to.

“How Music Works is David Byrne’s remarkable and buoyant celebration of a subject he’s spent a lifetime thinking about. He explains how profoundly music is shaped by its time and place, and how the advent of recording technology forever changed our relationship to playing, performing, and listening to music. Acting as historian and anthropologist, raconteur and social scientist, he searches for patterns—and tells us how they have affected his own work over the years with Talking Heads and his many collaborators. Touching on the joy, physics, and the business of making music, he also shows how it is inextricably linked to its cultural and physical context. His range is panoptic, taking us from La Scala to African villages, from his teenage reel-to-reel recordings to his latest work in a home music studio.How Music Works is a brainy, irresistible adventure and an impassioned argument about music’s liberating, life-affirming power.” - McSweeny’s 

Joshua Ellis

I came across Josh when an article called ‘Everyone I know is brokenhearted’ popped up in my news feed. I was moved to my core by both his message and his prose, which compelled me to follow him on Facebook. I suggest you do the same. He is a truly gifted writer, and posts regular commentary on life in US as seen from Yakima, Washington. He’s both sensitive to the issues driving our world today (race, gender, religion) and deeply irreverent in his treatment of those subjects and opponents to his views. He was also nominated for a Pulitzer and wrote a very Bukowskiesque account of his trip to Mexico (An American Vampire In Juarez: Getting My Teeth Pulled In Mexico's Most Notorious Border Town) to get his teeth fixed which you can get on online.

Going Down A Rabbit Hole of Conan Remotes

The release last week of Conan O’Brien’s latest side splitting video with Kevin Hart, Ice Cube and Diana Chang (a Conan staffer) is a great reminder of where the lanky pompadoured comedian performs best: out of the studio. Conan remotes have been legendary since his early days at NBC, and a lot of them are on YouTube. There’s no better way to waste an evening than to spend an hour going through them. I’ve linked a few of my favorites below.

Frank Zappa talking about his guitar heroes

Zappa at his zenith ... Think about this the next time you play a "wind-up monkey" note-for-note guitar solo ...

Posted by Paul Dezelski on Thursday, January 14, 2016

The Bullet List #8: Netflix Special

Now that Netflix is rolling out worldwide (except for China, North Korea and Syria) and the internet has gone into overdrive trying to come up with ‘funny’ Netflix and Chill jokes that are culturally specific to the 130 countries that will now know the ecstasy of on demand, you might be wondering where to start watching. It’s a bit tricky to give recommendations on Netflix, as the catalog offering isn’t quite the same in different parts of the world. If you can’t watch Love Actually in Morocco it’s not because they don’t think you deserve Colin Firth in a sweater, it’s probably because the original rights negotiations didn’t include that territory. So I’ve tried to keep the recommendations to Netflix originals or shows Netflix has bought the rights outright to. Anyway, once you start watching, Netflix will tailor some recommendations specifically to you, and most of the time they work out pretty nicely.

 The Square

Ann Hornaday, writing in the Washington Post, said of the film that it “Epitomizes nonfiction film not just as a way to deepen knowledge and understanding, but also as an art form”. And audiences agreed as did jurors and voters at the Emmys, Sundance, Toronto and so on. It is a sprawling and intimate, ground-level look in the Egyptian revolution is a visceral expression of what revolt feels like, and all the complexities inherent to change on a monumental scale. Although the revolution might feel compromised today, the urgency of this documentary transcends current events.

Fireplace For Your Home

While going through my recommendations around the holidays, something called Fireplace For Your Home popped up. I wondered what it was, so I clicked. And I really shouldn’t have spent too much time wondering, as it does exactly what it says on the label. It simulates a fireplace on your screen. I can’t tell if it’s cute or sad, but it’s definitely there. And the self-referential folk in the Netflix marketing team even came up with a fun backstory to whoever put that on the platform.

Danger 5

I still have no fucking clue what I’m watching when it comes to Danger 5, but let’s just say it’s an Australian 2012 reimagining of what a British-American swinging 1960s reimagining of the Nazi invasion would look like if you threw in killer dinosaurs (and season 2 takes things to the 80s. If you've seen Kung Fury, you know what to expect). It is heavily influenced by pulpy men’s magazine fantasies and adds layers of bizarreness and camp, and has a ferociously solid cult following online. Anyway, I’ll shut up and just let you watch a clip.

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

The unexpectedly chirpy tale of the titular Kimmy Schmidt, who escapes decades being held underground by a delusional cult leader in Indiana and makes her way to New York ("Yes, there was weird sex stuff). It is full of characters that teeter on the verge of gross caricature but are infused with enough love to stay on the right side of offense and be hilarious. Oh, and Tina Fey is one of the principal writers and producers, so you know that you don't need to take my word for it. The video below is of Titus Andromedon and his rendition of “Peeno Noir”. Watch it. 

Bojack Horseman

I'm not even going to bother writing anything for this one, I'll just paste the show description, and you'll know whether or not it's for you. 

"A humanoid horse, BoJack Horseman -- lost in a sea of self-loathing and booze -- decides it's time for a comeback. Once the star of a '90s sitcom, in which he was the adoptive father of three orphaned kids (two girls and a boy). The show was the hottest thing around, then suddenly, was canceled. Now 18 years later, BoJack wants to regain his dignity. With the aid of a human sidekick and a feline ex-girlfriend who is his agent, he sets out to make it happen. But Hollywood is vastly different from those days, and getting used to stuff like Twitter may take some time. This first animated series from Netflix -- with plenty of references to sex, drugs and alcohol -- is not for the little ones."

Voice talent includes Will Arnett and Aaron Paul. 

PS: Master of None and Jessica Jones aren’t on here because I already recommended them here.

The Bullet List #7

Cholos Try

The internet has helped us reveal a lot of really weird stuff about ourselves, stuff like the fact that we love to watch other people play video games and take products our of boxes. Another thing we love apparently is watching people try new foods for the first time. This seems to make up 96% of Buzzfeed’s video content. But the best videos of people trying out food – by far – is Cholos Try. Go through them all. You won’t regret it.

The School of Life YouTube Channel

Pop philosopher Alain De Botton set up The School of Life as a way to extend the work he does in mega-popular books like the Art of Travel to a real-life self-help-y space. This project comes with an actually very entertaining YouTube channel that offers very helpful primers on subjects we should all be thinking about. I recommend subscribing for regular updates.

 47Soul - Shamstep

I saw two of the artists from 47SOUL during a set at Wickerpark Festival in Batroun a couple of years ago and it was mindblowing. The extended band is an electro-mijwez, shamstep, choubi ensemble whose members are rooted in Bilad Al-Sham, spanning the divides from Amman to the Galilee, the Golan Heights to Ramallah. Their sound combines the electric Arabic debka sound through underground music scenes. And it's amazing.

From their site: “Overcoming physical and logistical challenges, they came together to play electronic Palestinian street music. 47SOUL writes and performs to speak about freedom of movement, whether that’s sparking new dance styles or singing about breaking down border check points. [The] sound is rooted in Arabic Dabke, the celebration dance music from the Bilad Al-Sham area; the name for the land that spans Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, and Jordan. 47SOUL hypes it up with analog synthesizers, drum machines, epic guitar lines, and tripped-out English and Arabic verses from the four singers. The electronic and urban influence in their music takes them far out of the ‘world music’ context and places them in the genre of a new generation of international electronic/hip hop acts that are reinventing the old for the future. This new sound of 47SOUL is called ShamStep."

This Trailer for the first Tamil Zombie Film

Zombies are a creation of Haitian folklore, but they’ve found universal appeal through American and UK cinema and TV over the years. And the last decade has seen a massive revival in their role in popular culture. Even Bollywood started tucking into the monumentally popular genre in 2013. Now Kollywood, the Tamil-language equivalent, is trying to get itself a chunk of the Walking Dead crowd with Miruthan. The trailer is pretty bonkers. I’ll just leave it here for your viewing pleasure.

Parks And Recreation

Somehow I managed to miss this massive pop culture phenomenon. I mean, I knew Parks and Rec existed, and I knew the memes (Treat Yo’self!) and I knew about Ron Swanson. But I’d never actually ever watched an episode. And now that I have I can’t stop. And there’s something beautiful of knowing I have 7 seasons of the show to look forward to. If you’ve never watched it, do. And if there’s a cozy, hilarious show that isn’t Parks and Rec that you’ve always wanted to get around to but never have, do it. It's cold and grey outside and it'll make you happy. 

Insider's Cultural Guide to Beirut | The Guardian

The Guardian has a great series called Insider's Cultural Guides, in their must-read Cities sections that aims to give a flavor of various cities around the world by trying to get people from those places to express the zeitgeist through various ephemera (Vine accounts, sounds, street art & style, and so on). I was lucky enough to be asked to put together the Beirut guide. 

You can read it here. Hope you enjoy it.

"A beautiful, rowdy, intoxicated mess  – Instagram stories of Syrian refugees, Arabic rap and Armenian food – Nasri Atallah shows us there’s more to the capital of Lebanon than its glamorous clubs, or its troubled politics"
 

The Bullet List #6: No List Edition

Happy New Year! I couldn’t put together a list this week, so here’s a pop culture year in review round table we did in my living room instead. 

PS: One quick recommendation would be to watch ABC's FBI drama Quantico. I was stuck in bed for 48hours with a nasty bug, and it is perfect popcorn television. It's like the CSI meets Heartbreak High, with a diverse and interesting cast (including the first South Asian woman to headline a network drama). 

Watch our Pop Culture roundup of 2015 hosted by four of the most awesome media people in Lebanon: Anthony Sargon (The...

Posted by Iron Heyoka on Tuesday, December 29, 2015

The Bullet List #5: Christmas Special

I’ve been too busy stuffing my face with festive food to come up with a proper list with a modicum of analysis this week. However, a few massive pop culture treats have dropped in the last couple of days, so I’ll recommend those, along with a Netflix true crime doc and a Facebook video of some ludicrously acrobatic Azeri dancing.

Azeri Dancing

This popped up in my Facebook feed somehow. Before anyone jumps in with regional animosity, I know it’s very similar to Armenian and Georgian dances (and other folklore from the area). Just sit back and enjoy, and know you’ll never look this good at a wedding.

رقص های زیبای آذربایجانی

رقص های زیبای آذربایجانی

Posted by OyanNewsFarsi on Monday, December 14, 2015

Making A Murderer

If you loved Serial and/or the Jinx, get ready to disappear down this latest true crime blackhole. Steven Avery was wrongfully convincted of a crime, spent 18 years locked up and was later exonerated by new DNA evidence. A few years after he's released, he ends up locked up again. Is it a local law enforcement vendetta? Is something darker going on? In this masterful 10-part documentary, we go into a complex family, a small community and the failings of the US legal & justice system (of which there appear to be many). Netflix made the first episode available for free on YouTube, and you can watch it below.

Deadpool - Second Red Band Trailer

I’m only mildly interested in comic books and their cinematic & small screen adaptations. But this year’s been a treat, with Daredevil, Jessica Jones and now Deadpool going for another part of the audience-base. Foul-mouthed and unhinged, Deadpool is my kind of superhero (I’ve stocked up on some comics to gear up for February). And this new Red Band trailer came out just in time for Christmas.

LCD Soundsystem – Christmas Will Break Your Heart

Now this is truly a Christmas miracle. After five LCD Soundsystem-less years, we are given a new, beautifully miserable track on Christmas eve. Couple that with rumors of a reunion in 2016, and everything looks a bit brighter.

Radiohead Spectre Theme

Despite some impressive set-pieces, Spectre was one of the most lackluster movie offerings of the year, and it came delivered with one of the most lackluster Bond theme songs of all time. Well, Radiohead have just shown us what could have been. Bless them. 

Last year we were asked to write a theme tune for the Bond movie Spectre. Yes we were. It didn’t work out, but became something of our own, which we love very much. As the year closes we thought you might like to hear it. Merry Christmas. May the force be with you.

The Bullet List #4: Balkan Special

There's something comfortingly familiar about the Balkans when you're someone Lebanese who was brought up in Europe. It's just in that uncanny valley of neither quite Mediterranean enough, nor quite European enough. Which is why I think I'm so interested in the region, and have formed so many friendships with people from the area. Traveling to Zagreb, Sibenik, Zlarin, Split, Belgrade, Novi Sad and Sarajevo, I came across some really brilliant culture, and this list is by no means exhaustive. Consider it an invitation to dig into one of Europe's richest cultural environments.

(Note: although I've divided up the list by country, the relationships between them is often complex as you can imagine, with many people being born in one, growing up in another and living in yet another.)

The Bambi Molesters (Croatia)

Croatia’s answer to Dick Dale, The Bambi Molesters are a surf-rock band from Sisak, about 60 kilometers south of Zagreb. Since their formation in 1995, they have taken part in the revival of the 1960s surf genre and continue to contribute to its survival and further development with their music. They perform all over Europe, and supported REM on tour. Their track Chaotica, a cut off their third album Sonic Bullets: 13 from the Hip, was featured in Breaking Bad (Season 5). It's a mystery how a Croatian Surf Rock band hasn't ended up on a Tarantino soundtrack yet. Hateful Eight maybe?

The films of Danis Tanovic (Bosnia & Herzegovina)

Tanovic is best known for having directed and written the script for the 2001 Bosnian film No Man's Land, which won him the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. His critically acclaimed work means that his name regularly pops up as one of the most respected Bosnian filmmakers of the last few decades. In 2008, he established Nasa Stranka, a secular grassroots political party, aiming to break the dominance of nationalist parties in the political system. If you’re interested in them, keep an eye on Sabina Cudic (who happens to be a friend), who is a rising political star in Sarajevo. 

The Box by Slavoljub Stankovic (Serbia)

Sadly, foreign-language translation of contemporary Serbian fiction can be very hard to find, for semi-obvious economic reasons: there doesn't appear to be a market for them. Of course you could argue it's very hard to create that market if no one translates the damn things, but that's another discussion. One Belgrade-based publisher, Geopeotika, has created a series called Serbian Prose in Translation, aiming to bring some influential contemporary titles to a wider audience. My favorite of the bunch is The Box by Slavoljub Stankovic. Filled with references to nineties pop culture - and a heavy helping sardonic humor - The Box traces the transformation of Belgrade into a ghetto and the desires of three young men who work as movers, packing up the lives of those lucky enough - in this case diplomats - to get out of the city. The story follows their frustrations at being stuck as they help others to leave. 

Jarboli (Serbia)

Jarboli have been around in Belgrade since the 90s, and have dabbled in everything from post-punk, to art rock and neo-psychadelia, so there's a great cross-section of stuff to look for on YouTube. The video below (and some of their other videos) were made a very talented group of people I was actually very lucky to meet in Belgrade (who were involved with the EXIT Festival and SHARE Conference, both of which you should also check out). 

Vaçe Zela (Albania)

Zela, who passed away last year, was a legendary Albanian singer and chansonnière. She began her career at a young age – she was only ten years old when she began to sing folk songs from the Myzeqe region – and in 1962 was the first to win the Albanian Song Festival (Festivali i Këngës). An 11-time winner of the festival, Vaçe gained fame during the communist era and was awarded the Merited Artist of Albania prize in 1973 and the People's Artist of Albania prize in 1977.

Thanks to Andrija Kovac and Rajko Bozic for the help making sure this list made some sense.

The Bullet List #3

Serial: Season 2

Mail..kimp? Serial, as the podcast that brought podcasts into the mainstream, needs no introduction. But here's one anyway. In Season 1, This American Life staffer Sarah Koenig dug into a Baltimore murder case from the 80s bringing her dulcet public radio tones to the true crime genre. In season 2, the first episode of which dropped last night, looks into the story of Bowe Bergdahl who walked off a US base in Afghanistan and was captured by the Taliban. Five years later when he was released, he was greeted with suspicion and accusations. The season will look into what happened during his captivity and since his release. Expect plot twists, quizzical expressions from Koenig and product placement.

No Such Thing As A Fish

Sticking with podcasts for a minute, I highly recommend No Such Thing AsA Fish, the weekly show that’s put together by the researchers from Stephen Fry’s QI (if you don’t know QI, it’s a British topical panel show centered around general knowledge. You’ll learn & laugh a lot). The show centers around three or four often-fascinating facts, and conversations emerge from there. It is a fun way to spend 40 minutes in the company of some very funny and very smart people, and you’ll come away with lots of dinner party material.

Fargo (Season 2)

Anthology series are notoriously hard to pull off, as the lack of a story arc from season to season and different settings can often result in wildly fluctuating tonal shifts. It is a problem that has plagued franchises like American Horror Story, and more recently the extremely disappointing - and widely critically panned - second season of True Detective. Fargo however is a notable exception. The first season was heavily inspired by the 1996 Coen Brothers film, and the showrunners turned into a massively compelling mini-series. And in season 2, they've pulled off the highly unlikely feat of doing it again. The season is set decades before the first season and centered around the events in Sioux Falls (which gets mentioned a lot in the first season), and includes some very interesting thoughts on capitalism, Reagan, feminism and racism, all with a touch of the absurd. The season is one episode away from wrapping, so binge watchers can safely get into it now without having to wait too long between hits. 

Veep (Season 4)

Transatlantic comedy doesn't always work, but when it does it is spectacular. Think 'The Office' in its first few seasons. Veep is another such show, created by the Armando Iannucci, the mind behind one of my favorite shows of all time, The Thick of It and its film spin-off In The Loop. Starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, the show follows the hilarious relationship between US vice president Selina Meyer and her staff. I hadn't watched the show in a while, and caught 6 episodes of the fourth season on a flight from London to Beirut two days ago. Meyer is now President, and the show is as sharp as ever, the incompetence of everyone involved is painfully funny and the dialogue is some of the most quotable stuff out there today. Highly recommended. 

South Park (Season 19)

South Park, like The Simpsons, is one of those shows that has kind of become a part of the ether. Omnipresent yet also oddly not of the Zeitgeist. But in its nineteenth season and about 265 episodes in, South Park remains one of the most biting satirical entities in pop culture. This season has featured an arc that focuses on political correctness and our current culture of permanent outrage. I highly advise giving it a watch, especially if you haven’t dipped your toe into some Parker and Stone in a while. There’s a great New York Times piece that highlights the season’s importance in unpacking some of the themes around hyper-correctness and what it’s doing to the culture, sketching a "unified theory of anger, inequality and disillusionment in 2015 America".