I turn 49 today. Happy to still be here, slightly confused at how that's possible. Fuck it - let's listen to some Flying Lotus!
Even at a curt 1:24, "Blood and Pain" stands out as one of my favorite tracks on an album full of favorite tracks, Flying Lotus' 2021 Yasuke. I'd kind of lost track of this man's music for a few years when I discovered this record last year, and it brought me flying right back.
Watch:
Speaking of Flying Lotus, this past Thursday night, K and I sat at our local big box theatre and watched Flying Lotus' new film, Ash.
Ash is slow and somewhat cumbersome in its dissemination of the story. It's meant to be that way because of where the characters are, but it takes making us feel what they do a bit too literally. Slow is never a problem with me, if the film has strong legs to stand on. But things here wobble; there's some convenience in the writing and some ambiguity that doesn't feel purposeful. Also, Ash substitutes - probably out of budgetary necessities - flashes of FX for anything of real depth, which is fine if it's not the only technique you're using. But here, we're indoctrinated with these kind of "nightmare, body-horror" flashes early on, fragments of main character Riya's damaged memory of events that led to the death or disappearance of her ship's entire crew. Later in the movie, we get some action, a fight for survival, and the FX opens up a bit, but it still feels right in line with what we had earlier. Limited.
Now, to play my own devil's advocate, while everything I mention above feels like a weakness, I can say there's also a strength and a healthy dose of hope here, as well. Everything I'm describing feels like a weakness because this is a movie on a big screen in a theatre. But can we not shift our bias and look at this as, "Holy smokes - this is basically a relatively new filmmaker being given not only a chance to make a pretty large-scale film but have it distributed nationwide? I mean, I saw this at a Regal in Clarksville, for fuck's sake. That's kind of staggering.
Granted, Ash is considerably more advanced than films like Skinamarink or The Outwaters - two films I give props to but fucking hated - but its distribution jackpot owes a lot to them*. So I guess all this is to say it's not really a surprise that Ash found a wide release, but even with its shortcomings, the hope is this will further develop Flying Lotus' career so that maybe next time, he'll have the budget and insight to really blow our minds.
* And yes, I'm aware both of those films owe their shot at the big screen to the massive success of Damian Leone's Terrifier 2; however, if you want to take it even further back, I'll bring up my absolute shock at seeing films like Hatching, You Won't Be Alone and Lamb in my local AMC theatre post COVID lockdown.
Read:
The same day that we went to Nashville to see The Straight Story at the Belcourt Theatre, we made our first visit to Jack White's Third Man Records.
I'm not a Jack White fan. The White Stripes were a much-needed breath of fresh air at the time Elephant blew up, but White's meteoric rise to stardom afterward kind of baffles me. I think I can trace my cynicism back to the moment I saw the DVD It's Going to Get Loud on a shelf at Borders. This is a video that hoists White up as a peer with The Edge and, even more incredibly, Jimmy Page. I can't say I ever watched this video, but its very existence rankled me, and from there, whatever tidbits of information that have trickled down to me about the man have just reinforced that opinion. Well, except one.
His records stores.
From all accounts I'd read, Third Man Records is a bastion of old-school record store glory in an age devoid of such places. Add to this innovations like converting an ice cream truck into a mobile record shop and I almost want to cry. I mean, what an unbelievably cool idea! Literally bringing the music to the people.
I knew Third Man was in Nashville, but I hadn't been yet, so when my cousin asked if we could visit while he was in town, I assured my wallet all would be well and set the controls for 623 7th Ave South.
The moment I stepped inside, I fell in love with the place.
Wall-to-wall vinyl, all gorgeously packaged and displayed. So many items unique to this store, and just a general sense of reverence for physical media. Yeah, it didn't exactly alter my opinion of White as an egotist when, for the entire forty-five minutes or so we were inside, all they played on the overhead speakers was White's music. That's fine, though. I mean, flaunt it if ya got it, I guess, right? Especially when you maintain a place like this (named after my favorite black and white movie, no less)
Other than the records I purchased, I also picked up an issue of Maggot Brain, Third Man's quarterly music magazine.
Playlist:
Blind Willie McTell - Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order (Vol. 1)
Sqürl - Third Man Records Session
Spoon - They Want My Soul
QOTSA - In Times New Roman
INXS - Kick
TVOTR - Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes
Deftones - Ohms
Flying Lotus - Yasuke
Flying Lotus - ASH OST
Windhand - Levitation Sessions (Live)
Heilung - Lifa
Radiohead - Myxomatosis (single)
Radiohead - In Rainbows
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• Four of Wands
• Ace of Swords
• VI: The Lovers
Being that it's my day of reiteration today, I'm viewing this spread as an indication of how to proceed for the next 365 days. What does it say? Well, I see a steady foundation and a healthy application of Will - moving forward with these two ideas as a basic tenant for the next year will provide an alchemical reaction.
