Search

Search only in certain items:

Magical Moments of Rhythm by Zakir Hussain
Magical Moments of Rhythm by Zakir Hussain
1992 | Jazz, Pop
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"This is a compilation of Zakir playing different concerts, and it blew my mind when I was 16. Its one of the albums I've listened to 1000 times. It's bizarre that that would be something I'd listen to so many times, because it's so sparse - there's only the tabla and occasionally one other instrument, but never more than two at any one time. I once got to see him play with John McLaughlin, they really opened up my whole understanding of rhythm. I felt like my brain was getting bigger, it felt like I was learning about music. It's probably the most sophisticated rhythm I've heard from any country at any time, but it's not show-offy and designed to impress you technically. It has so much soul, it's such passionate music. Some people can't stand listening to it, but it's one of those albums that I could be in a terrible state but still happy to hear it. It relaxes me. That album really opened me up to listening to Ali Farka Touré, Indian classical musicians and so much more."

Source
  
40x40

Gruff Rhys recommended Barafundle by Gorky's Zygotic Mynci in Music (curated)

 
Barafundle by Gorky's Zygotic Mynci
Barafundle by Gorky's Zygotic Mynci
1997 | Psychedelic, Pop
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"Gorky's were one of the greats. Whoever the greats of the rock canon are – and it's no use me bothering to name various people – Gorky's are as important as any of these people. Euros Childs is a phenomenal songwriter, has a pitch perfect voice and this record is their classic line-up with John Lawrence still in the band. This is also produced by Gorwel Owen and he was perfecting his vision in a way as he was getting more and more into simplicity; the song Heywood Lane was recorded with just one microphone and they bypassed the mixing desk and went straight to tape! It's a really great sounding record. It was really bizarre that the singles all charted in the low-40s without ever breaking the Top 40. You could release two versions of a single at the time to get it into the charts but they never did that even though they probably sold as much as chart-claiming people! But the records are there. It's aged incredibly well and still sounds really fresh and complete."

Source
  
Nurse Betty (2000)
Nurse Betty (2000)
2000 | Comedy, Drama
As bleak, jaundiced, and jet-black of a comedy as we've gotten in quite some time - this would make a perfect double feature with 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘶𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘈𝘵𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 or any of LaBute's other riveting provocations. But unlike even those others, this somehow manages to also have some sort of a happy ending? This really is fantastic; a well-rounded, bizarre, humorous (if not always consistently hilarious), completely solitary curio and a cleaner/better example of a woman flourishing in the knocking down of the toxic men in her life than 𝘔𝘪𝘥𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘳. Not to mention it has a surprisingly positive view of women in general without resorting to that insulting, disingenuous T-shirt-ready brand of corporate faux-feminism that stagnates the pond in many of today's films of the sort. Cast is insanely good, legit one of Freeman's best performances and Kinnear isn't too far behind. LaBute really was something, God could you imagine if comedies could still get screenplays like this, sell big, and be in awards contention?
  
Queen & Slim (2019)
Queen & Slim (2019)
2019 | Drama, Romance
Very slow
Finally got the chance to see this after missing it at the cinema and to be honest I’m kind of glad I didn’t get a chance to see it on the big screen, as I probably would’ve gotten rather bored.

The story behind this about racial injustice and the issues that are being faced in real life, especially in America, is important and I’d never deny that. I think the problem with this film is that it’s very slow. It starts off well and fairly fast paced, but within the first hour it starts to drag, lose it’s momentum and point, and could easily have had a lot of the filler cut out without detriment to the story. I’m also not entirely sure the two main characters are particularly likeable, especially Queen, and their actions and choices are often rather bizarre and don’t make sense. It’s a shame, because this film is actually well made with a great soundtrack and feel. I just wish they’d cut it down to make a much more fast paced story.