Vancouver-based vocalist/composer Ian William Craig returns with Slow Vessels, an album-length EP which both extends and radically re-imagines Centres, rendering six of ... More
EP by Ian William Craig
Vancouver-based vocalist/composer Ian William Craig returns with Slow Vessels, an album-length EP which both extends and radically re-imagines Centres, rendering six of its tracks in a stunning new light. While not quite an “unplugged” version, it is fundamentally stripped back, raw and predominantly acoustic. Slow Vessels sees Craig paring back the dense, billowing layers and heavily distressed textures that dominated the album and re-playing these tracks on a borrowed acoustic guitar and piano. Deeply affecting and almost devotional in character, this re-setting of the songs throws a brilliant new slant on Craig’s prodigious creativity. (FatCat Records)
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Argentinian-born Far Rockaway transplant Tall Juan has managed to evade labels and put out songs that only a Latin Elvis inspired by ... More
Album by Tall Juan
Argentinian-born Far Rockaway transplant Tall Juan has managed to evade labels and put out songs that only a Latin Elvis inspired by the Ramones could deliver: short, fast, and packed with attitude. Tall Juan’s lyrics are autobiographical nuggets about everything from drug addiction, the perils of dating, and living in Queens.
With only a handful of songs released, Juan has landed himself on the radars of many and has been touring the world constantly since 2014. (BUFU Records)
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The End Of All Music record store in Oxford, MS is releasing a benefit record to support the Southern Poverty Law Center ... More
EP by Various Artists
The End Of All Music record store in Oxford, MS is releasing a benefit record to support the Southern Poverty Law Center on May 5, 2017. The 12-inch EP features new songs from Patterson Hood (Drive-by Truckers), Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, William Tyler, and Adam Torres, while the record’s artwork is composed of photographs taken from Maude Schuyler Clay’s book, Mississippi History, which was published by Steidl in 2015. The record will contain four tracks on the A-side and a “Resist Fear. Assist Love” etching by artist Nathaniel Russell as the B-side, and is being pressed in a limited edition of 1,000 copies – with the first 500 copies on colored vinyl. It will only be available for purchase through The End Of All Music website and at the brick and mortar store in Oxford.
All profits from the sale of this record will go directly to the Southern Poverty Law Center and the donation period for this project will remain open until the record sells out.
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In her debut novel, Palestinian-American writer Hala Alyan transforms the lyrical force of her poetry into a multi-generational story of a family ... More
Book by Hala Alyan
In her debut novel, Palestinian-American writer Hala Alyan transforms the lyrical force of her poetry into a multi-generational story of a family displaced and dispersed across the globe. Salt Houses spans six decades, beginning with the Six-Day War of 1967 and the family’s resettlement in Kuwait. It follows through major Middle-Eastern conflicts, including Saddam Hussein’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait and the 2006 bombing of Lebanon. Each chapter is narrated by a new family member, young and old, united in their far-flung movements—from Palestine to Europe and America—as well as their assimilation into new lives and homes.
“I spent a lot of time around my grandparents growing up and have always loved listening to them, stories of how the world had changed in front of their eyes. It was always startling to hear my grandparents reference something I’d learned about in history class.” Alyan says. “I became really fascinated with the idea of what we inherit (emotionally, psychologically, etc.), as well as conceptualizing the same historical event from the perspective of different generations.” Drawing on her family’s own fractured history, Alyan reveals the intricate bonds behind war and displacement, trauma and resilience; how they live on, rich and heartbreaking and full of life, through the stories we tell one another.
(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
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When French stylist Christopher Niquet spotted 1960s supermodel Peggy Moffitt in a Beverly Hills restaurant in 2008, he had never asked for ... More
Book by Christopher Niquet
When French stylist Christopher Niquet spotted 1960s supermodel Peggy Moffitt in a Beverly Hills restaurant in 2008, he had never asked for a celebrity’s autograph before but felt compelled to ask for hers. The result of that crucial moment is a corporeal homage to legendary fashion muses in the form of Niquet’s Models Matter: A Private Collection as a Fashion Hall of Fame. Following his encounter with Moffitt, Niquet began contacting models he considered quintessential to the fashion industry, asking for their autographs. “My original purpose was to get beyond the abstract, incorporeal beauty of these icons and bring back a sense of their physicality,” Niquet remarks. Renowned fashion photographer Steve Meisel penned the preface to Models Matter, a collection of autographs from models such as Jean Shrimpton, Jerry Hall, Lauren Bacall, Isabella Rossellini and Naomi Campbell, muses to fashion giants like Meisel, Karl Lagerfeld, Diana Vreeland and Richard Avedon. (Damiani)
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In post-war America, gas stations were a culture of their own—bustling oases beckoning passersby to stop in for a meal, repairs, directions, ... More
Book by David Freund
In post-war America, gas stations were a culture of their own—bustling oases beckoning passersby to stop in for a meal, repairs, directions, maps and bathrooms. In Gas Stop, renowned photographer David Freund, whose work has appeared in galleries such as MOMA New York and the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, archives this lost culture via photographs of gas stations he took in over 40 states during 1978-81. Freund captured the attitudes and activities particular to employees and customers at these roadside watering holes, as well as the distinct architecture and signage that beckoned to weary travelers. Of the over 200,000 gas stations surviving at the time of Freund’s project, most are gone, forever commemorated in Gas Stop (Steidl)
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Bold, breathless and wickedly fun, Free Fire is an electrifying comedy-thriller about an arms deal that goes spectacularly and explosively wrong. Acclaimed ... More
Film by Ben Wheatley
Bold, breathless and wickedly fun, Free Fire is an electrifying comedy-thriller about an arms deal that goes spectacularly and explosively wrong. Acclaimed filmmaker Ben Wheatley (Kill List, High Rise) propels the audience head-on into quite possibly the most epic shootout ever seen on film as he crafts a spectacular parody—and biting critique—of the insanity of gun violence. Everyone’s got a gun, and absolutely no one is in control. Set in a colorful yet gritty 1970s Boston, Free Fire opens with Justine (Oscar winner Brie Larson), a mysterious American businesswoman, and her associate Ord (Armie Hammer) arranging a black-market weapons deal in a deserted warehouse between IRA arms buyer Chris (Cillian Murphy) and shifty South African gun runner Vernon (Sharlto Copley). What starts as a polite if uneasy exchange soon goes south when tensions escalate and shots are fired, quickly leading to a full-on Battle Royale where it’s every man (and woman) for themselves. (A24)
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Too Much and Not the Mood is the first collection of essays from Brooklyn-based writer Durga Chew-Bose. Born in Montreal to parents ... More
Book by Durga Chew-Bose
Too Much and Not the Mood is the first collection of essays from Brooklyn-based writer Durga Chew-Bose. Born in Montreal to parents from Kolkata, Chew-Bose meditates on “the beautiful dilemma of being first-generation,” by blending personal experience, cultural criticism and her insightful, poetic prose. The collection is named for an 1931 entry in A Writer’s Diary by Virginia Woolf, which ends with the phrase “too much and not the mood,” describing Woolf’s agitation at writing to please an unseen reader and questioning her work’s intrinsic value. Chew-Bose takes on this same dilemma and answers it through the particulars of her lived experience. Too Much and Not the Mood builds to a grappling with society, place and identity, all the while exposing Chew-Bose’s eye for small impressions with sharp, lucid descriptions of the world around her. (FSG Originals)
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Belladonna of Sadness is the long-anticipated debut album of Portland based artist Alexandra Savior. Savior first gained attention as a 17-year-old in ... More
Album by Alexandra Savior
Belladonna of Sadness is the long-anticipated debut album of Portland based artist Alexandra Savior. Savior first gained attention as a 17-year-old in 2012 when Courtney Love spotted her rendition of “Big Jet Plane” on YouTube. The following year, Savior scrapped her plans for art school, moved to Los Angeles and signed to Columbia Records, where she developed an organic writing partnership with Arctic Monkeys’ Alex Turner. Belladonna of Sadness, previously titled Stranger Portrait, was written and recorded in Los Angeles from 2014-15 with Turner and co-producer James Ford. Grammy winning artist and producer T. Bone Burnett selected her first demo “Risk” as part of the soundtrack for HBO’s second season of True Detective. Savior has since released three more singles from Belladonna, co-written the Last Shadow Puppets’ single “Miracle Aligner“, appeared at festivals such as SXSW and supported the likes of Daughter and Hamilton Leithauser. Named after an obscure 1973 Japanese film about an exiled woman seeking revenge on her village, Belladonna of Sadness is available this week. (Columbia Records)
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