October 07, 2016
Regina Spektor/for PhillyVoice
A scene from the video for “Small Bill$” by Regina Spektor. The video was directed and animated by Steven Mertens.
This is the trailer that blew up my Facebook feed a few days ago. I just watched it again and I’m still excited to see it. “Get Out” is written and directed by Jordan Peele, one of the funniest people in the business right now, but this looks like a freak-you-out horror flick. Be warned: The trailer feels like it gives a lot of stuff away. Then again, the movie doesn’t come out until February, so maybe try to forget? I've watched it five times already.
OK, here’s the first single off Spektor’s new “Remember Us to Life” album. Directed and animated by Steven Mertens, the video features the singer-songwriter running through a cut-out world. Eventually, she becomes a mermaid. The visuals are pretty, but the song leaves me feeling a little itchy. Spektor’s no stranger to puzzling approaches — like her OK-that’s-enough-of-that Italian accent on “Oh Marcello” — but the sparse music and stilted quasi-rapping style here are, at least at first listen, nonplussing. That said, Spektor’s one of the most fearless pop artists out there, capable of such beautiful things. If we’re not on board with every move she makes then, well, that’s part of the deal.
No, not the one with Bowie and the Muppets. This is a short film by Jason DeMarco based on the short story by Amelia Gray, one of the most fun and freaky writers out there. She’s best known for her stories, but let me tell you, her novel “Threats” was amazing — just super moody, gorgeous and gross in very unpredictable ways. You can read “Labyrinth,” originally published in The New Yorker, here, if you want. It has a Stephen King vibe.
LABYRINTH from Jason DeMarco on Vimeo.
Floyd just released a new official video for a song from the recently remixed 1972 album “Obscured by Clouds.” A new box set, “Early Years,” comes out Nov. 11.
They smoke weed, eat potato salad and fight monsters. I laughed. The game comes out Oct. 11.
Netflix is bringing back the grim and satirical anthology series, having outbid Channel 4 in the UK. Created by British TV producer/writer Charlie Brooker, “Black Mirror” is sort of a modern “Twilight Zone,” with technology becoming the culprit for all kinds of moral conundrums.
Lastly, while we’re talking about Netflix, I recommend you check out this gripping documentary about a Philly-area man on death row. To tell you more would be to tell you too much (even though it came out in 2015). There are so many twists and turns.
