Sunday, July 31, 2022

Toni Erdmann

One thing I liked about Toni Erdmann - and which is a key part of why it's good - is the way that its two main characters, while extremes of sorts and while engaging in some pretty off-the-wall behaviour, are always grounded in realism, psychologically and in terms of the worlds they inhabit. And the movie is also good in the way those (late capitalist) worlds themselves come into focus as a subject in their own right. I wasn't completely enthralled, but I liked it.
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Wednesday, July 27, 2022

Soccer Mommy - Sometimes, Forever

Confident and fluid, and has a few surprises up its sleeve, but for me doesn't have the same cutting edge that Color Theory did.

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Spoon - Lucifer on the Sofa

Somewhat back-to-basics Spoon; best are their cover of Smog's "Held" and a couple of the harder rocking ones. Good but unmemorable otherwise.

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Wet Leg - Wet Leg

Fun, scrappy sounding indie. 2022!

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Wednesday, July 20, 2022

Marissa R Moss - Her Country

Of the three Texas women artists whose various paths against the narrow gatekeeping of country radio are described in this very readable book, Kacey Musgraves was the one I knew - and liked - beforehand, and she's also the one given most prominence in Her Country. Maren Morris and Mickey Guyton were both new to me though I've been taking a crash course in their music in the last few weeks.

It's an enjoyable read, no doubt especially given how much I like the genre and how familiar I already was with most of the figures who make up its landscape. It starts in 1999, which Moss presents as a high watermark for women as a mainstream country force as embodied in Shania Twain and Faith Hill, and the subsequent constriction by the intensely conservative and male-dominated country music industry structures, with the treatment of the Chicks (then the Dixie Chicks) following their comments in 2003 a clear landmark and exemplar. Via Musgraves', Morris' and Guyton's stories, Moss weaves in the various sources of influence and inspiration - Patty Griffin, Sheryl Crow and Miranda Lambert prominent among them, plus Taylor Swift - with other figures emerging over its course including Brandi Carlile, Rhiannon Giddens and Margo Price.

Moss's portrayal of the barriers faced by these women - especially Guyton, as a Black woman - is completely persuasive, and likewise the way she renders the combination of talent, determination, hard work and collective solidarity that enabled them to succeed regardless. What's less clear is the true significance of their 'trailblazing' character, but there's a strong argument running through the book about the importance of representation and the visibility of examples for others to aspire towards. It's also notable that Guyton is consistently given the least focus of the three - admittedly partly reflecting the different path she followed compared to the other two and probably the relatively lesser mainstream success she's had to date.

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Maren Morris - Hero, Girl & Humble Quest

I don't really have perspective on music like Morris's, coming as it does at least partly from the proper mainstream country universe which I pretty much don't know at all, so the extent to which she's broken new ground in that very conservative context isn't obvious to me from the music itself. Still, it's obvious that along with those country roots there's a strong weave of contemporary pop along with the type of indie-rock that charts in the mix, and it makes sense to learn that Morris is a fan of fellow Texan Beyonce, and not just because of the explicit quotation in "Girl". 

Hero (2016) is fun but doesn't scan as especially individual to me, Girl (2019) a sizeable step forward in terms of stadium ambition and execution without losing that sense of fun and stacked with earworms (foremost among them the title track, "All My Favorite People", "Flavor" and "Great Ones"), and Humble Quest (2022) a crisper, more focused statement whose inspirations sound more singer-songwriter and Americana coloured than the Pop energy that flavours up Girl.

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Tuesday, July 19, 2022

Live music archive

A long time ago I made a 'Note' on facebook to keep track of gigs I'd been to, which I then dutifully kept on updating even as both my live music attendance and my use of facebook both dwindled over time. Moving it here now and who know, one day I might even go to another gig ever.
(Also, a previous archive here up to 2009)
Not sure if maybe I missed one or two during this period when I wasn't updating ... a fallow period anyway so actually probably not.
2004 and earlier (incomplete)
Pretty Girls Make Graves + Love of Diagrams (November 2004)
Belle and Sebastian + Architecture in Helsinki (23/7/04)
Radiohead (26/4/04)
Tujiko Noriko (18/2/04)
Interpol (7/8/03)
Goo Goo Dolls, Tea Party, Billy Idol + others @ M-One festival (2002)
Beth Orton, Alex Lloyd, Spiderbait, Nine Inch Nails, Red Hot Chili Peppers + others @ Big Day Out (January 2000)
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