Author: Louis Pavlakos

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Music

The Globalization of Travis Scott

Travis Scott’s transformation from rapper to music oligarch to meme proves that money always beats art

It’s about 1 a.m. and you and your friend Tanner are driving to get food after a long night. As you both approach the golden arches of a local McDonald’s in a beat-up Honda Civic, you decide to connect your phone to the aux. Presented with a myriad of new albums and singles to listen to, you know there’s really only one song you can play.

Once the drive-thru worker asks for your order, you pause, just long enough to add dramatic effect, and whisper, “you know why I’m here.” “Sicko Mode” starts playing.

“Cactus Jack sent me,” you add.

While this seems like a soap-opera dramatization of the ordering, it’s actually not that far off from what’s really happening. In case you haven’t been following, Travis Scott recently announced a collaboration with McDonald’s in which the fast-food giant is trying to sell a quarter pounder with bacon as a meal called “The Travis Scott.” And if you thought this might be the most ridiculous collaboration, you may very well be right.

This collaborative effort comes right off the heels of Scott’s puzzling song “The Plan” made specifically for Christopher Nolan’s new movie Tenet.

In the real world, people are getting yelled at by other McDonald’s customers for recording annoying TikToks of them ordering “The Travis Scott” meal. Others are parodying the stupidity of this whole affair, and some are spending their money buying the bland collaborative merch between Travis Scott and the enormous fast-food chain.

Travis Scott has transcended artistry. He is a business mogul and a meme now, all to his benefit. He can release a phoned-in feature and no one will care. He can drop the worst merch ever, including a chicken-nugget-themed-body-pillow, and get people to buy it. He can release a whole Netflix documentary, and the fans will eat it up like it’s an Oscar-nominated piece of work.

Despite this level of superstardom, Travis Scott feels less like a human being every year and more like a machine meant to satisfy your wants and needs than an actual person who cares about their craft.

And the worst part is that Scott’s music isn’t even all that terrible. Out of all his projects, there are only one or two entries that completely miss the mark. Days Before Rodeo, Rodeo, and Astroworld are good-to-great albums that show he can be fun and entertaining, if a little vapid.

But quality aside, Scott’s numbers began to hit the stratosphere after the release of his second album Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight, a record that took the world by storm with the inclusion of the Kendrick Lamar-assisted hit, “Goosebumps.”

This was the beginning of the rise of Travis Scott, the meme.

Travis Scott was everywhere. There wasn’t a single on the album that he couldn’t have pushed more. At the time, he seemed primed to at least compete with Drake and Kendrick for being one of the most commercially successful artists.

Then came Fortnite, the massive battle royale game that had the world entrenched in its complex yet accessible gameplay. Following a few years of success, Fortnite itself transcended being a game. In fact, it halted the actual battle-royale aspect of the game for a few evenings when they announced a live, in-game Travis Scott concert.

Obviously, Scott wasn’t performing on a stage inside the game’s only level, but it was an expensive psychedelic experience akin to a Travis Scott video that had a number of my friends ask me to virtually go with them. To these friends, I’m sorry I had to say no.

But just because his music is accessible doesn’t mean it should be thrown everywhere. To be a Travis Scott fan in 2020 is to not just enjoy his music, but to enjoy and, without any doubt, gobble up everything this man has to offer.

And this is the problem with how we treat artists. We give them all the platforms they can use because the bottom line is obviously money. The music business is still a business, after all. But Travis Scott seems to have traded all his humanity for an increasing slew of income, even if it means dropping cop-out merch and sending features to other artists that should’ve stayed in the vault.

With this Travis Scott obsession taking over the world, the resale value of anything Travis Scott-related has become astronomical. His collaborative effort with Reese Puffs, which is literally Travis Scott branding on their usual cereal boxes, at one point sold for $400 on eBay, while some listings still have it at over $200 CAD. Teens are stealing the Travis Scott burger posters. To his fans, Travis Scott is a god.

Treating artists like deities has proven to have a horrible track record, but Travis Scott is perhaps beyond even being a deity. Maybe he’s the Zeus to Drake’s Ares, but even Drake knows his limits.

It’s interesting to watch this development (and collapse if you’re not as big a fan of his music) because he was and still is a mogul in hip hop and mainstream pop. But if there’s one thing Travis Scott won’t do, it’s giving up the spotlight. He lives in it and would never relinquish it. He might know the cost, but let’s be real, he absolutely does not care. We should stop caring too.

 

Graphic by @the.beta.lab

 

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Music

Dope.Gng, brotherhood, and their latest album, Drogue Maison

The Montreal rap duo details their symbiotic relationship while making their latest full-length project

Dope.Gng is for the ragers. The Montreal-based hip hop duo, made up of rappers Zilla and Yabock, isn’t here to reinvent the rap wheel. What they are here for, however, is to obliterate your speaker system with booming bass and a smorgasbord of creative melodies that’ll stay stuck in your head for days.

Though they haven’t been around for a long time, Dope.Gng understands the importance of identity. They originally started out as Dopamine, a harmless musical project with the intent of just dropping bangers on Soundcloud. The more they continued to drop music, the more they started to take it seriously.

“We wanted to make [Dopamine] serious and a central part of our lives,” Zilla told me over a Zoom call. “We wanted to put our all into it and rebrand.”

With that, Dopamine died and Dope.Gng was born.

In 2019, Dope.Gng unveiled their first mixtape, Fiend, a low-stakes project that would showcase the young duo’s ability to rap, and more importantly, create hits. In that rookie effort, you could hear glimpses of Kanye, Kid Cudi, and Travis Scott, but really, the comparisons are surface level.

After dropping Fiend, Dope.Gng refused to stop. They followed it up with countless singles, videos, and live performances, all of which helped fuel the creation of their second full-length project Drogue Maison.

Zilla and Yabock treat Drogue Maison like their firstborn. While they still love Fiend, they went into it knowing it was just a mixtape. This new project, a much more dense and focused one, sounds like the two young Montrealers know exactly where they’re headed.

Despite a drug-heavy allusion on the album’s title, drugs weren’t actually the central theme to the project itself.

“[Drogue Maison] is actually a reference to our apartment,” Zilla continued. “That’s where everything went down. We have a home studio and everything was actually made in the house.”

With both rappers living together and creating in the same space, it was vital for Zilla and Yabock to not only be coworkers and roommates but to be brothers too. Their duality on Drogue Maison is the driving force behind the album’s cohesiveness and the chemistry they show when rapping back and forth on the album.

“When I’m making music alone, sometimes I think I need [Zilla] to come and complement it with his sauce,” Yabock added. “I make better music when he’s around.”

Dope.Gng’s symbiotic relationship is, on its own, proof that Drogue Maison is the floor and not the ceiling when it comes to their potential. They both repeatedly claim that the quality of their music stems from trust and teamwork.

“If I’m stuck with a verse or if I need a rhyme, I’m gonna ask [Yabock]. We’re a team, we’re not gonna be fighting over intellectual property,” concluded Zilla.

 

Photo Credit: Béatrice Félixe

 

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Arts

I’m Thinking of Ending Things: A bizarre time-bending ride disguised as a break-up movie

Im Thinking Of Ending Things. Jessie Buckley as Young Woman, Jesse Plemons as Jake in Im Thinking Of Ending Things. Cr. Mary Cybulski/NETFLIX © 2020

Charlie Kaufman’s Netflix Original is odd, complex, and thoughtful — in the weirdest way possible

Charlie Kaufman doesn’t want to spoon-feed us. If you’ve seen Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Being John Malkovich, or Adaptation, then you know that most of his films are open to different interpretations. If you haven’t seen any of these, then you’ll maybe be weirded out (or turned off) by the director’s newest Netflix movie, I’m Thinking of Ending Things.

Kaufman’s latest work, an adaptation of Canadian author Iain Reid’s novel of the same name, is a puzzling one to review. I don’t want to dive into deep plot details because that would pretty much ruin most of the enjoyment that comes from his off-kilter storytelling, but essentially, the movie is about a nameless young woman (Jessie Buckley) who’s been thinking about — you guessed it — ending things with her boyfriend Jake (Jesse Plemons). Before committing to this decision, the couple decides to go visit Jake’s parents, in the middle of nowhere, during a blizzard. From here, the only thing I can say that won’t spoil anything is that it gets weird.

I’m Thinking of Ending Things then takes a turn as the movie diverges from its more-or-less linear story and jumps from scene to scene, forward and backward in time, detailing key moments in both the young woman and Jake’s lives. At times, the main story branches out in so many different directions, it becomes difficult to figure out what’s real and what isn’t.

There’s no one true answer as to what happens in the movie. It’s important to keep in mind that you really should be paying attention to what each character says. Sometimes, a keyword from dialogue earlier in the film will be an essential piece in understanding moments that happen later. I’m Thinking of Ending Things demands to be rewatched. Kaufman’s storytelling is so open-ended that it begs the viewer to come up with their own interpretation — a task that may not be viable to complete upon a single viewing.

Every character in this otherwise small cast is fully fleshed out. You could not cast a more awkward couple than Jesse Plemons and Jessie Buckley. Both were fully invested in the oddities of their characters, such as the bleak intensity of the young woman’s recital of a rather morbid poem to Jake on the way to his parents’ house.  Jake’s parents, played by the wonderful Toni Collette (Hereditary, Knives Out) and the absolutely creepy David Thewlis (Big Mouth, Fargo), elevate the movie to surreal heights. The main cast feels at home in Kaufman’s film, but they aren’t weird for the sake of being weird. Every line of dialogue is essential, perhaps not to the story, but to the character development and overall understanding of the film.

I’m Thinking of Ending Things is yet another winning entry in Charlie Kaufman’s labyrinthine filmography. It requires patience, deep observation, and critical thinking, but at no point is it a slog or boring, despite its hefty length. The good thing is, it’s a Netflix original, perhaps the best platform for a movie like this to exist since it allows the viewer to watch the movie over again and pause it at critical moments to reflect on scenes they wouldn’t have thought about upon their first viewing.

There are multiple moments in Kaufman’s movie that call back single lines of dialogue mentioned earlier in the film. Some of which might be apparent, others, less so. All these idiosyncrasies are precisely what makes Charlie Kaufman a standout director.

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Music

Underrated albums of 2020, Vol. 2: Kacy Hill – Is It Selfish If We Talk About Me Again

Kacy Hill’s GOOD Music tenure was uneventful. Now as an independent artist, her music can shine without lofty expectations

When Kacy Hill first emerged into the mainstream as a feature on Travis Scott’s “90210,” it was apparent that she was a star in the making. Prior to that, Kanye West’s infamous GOOD Music label had signed her to a deal after West heard her promotional single “Experience” on his The Yeezus Tour in 2013. Clearly, he saw her potential before anyone else did — a very Kanye thing to do.

Though Hill has a soothing voice and a good ear for beats, she was, for the most part, mishandled by GOOD Music. All the music she released under West’s imprint had pretty much gone by the wayside. With a disturbing lack of label-backing and nearly zero marketing for her debut album Like a Woman, it seemed like her career came to a jarring halt nearly as soon as it began.

GOOD Music has received its fair share of criticism for squandering young talent —  like Desiigner, Cyhi The Prynce, Valee — so it’s understandable that Hill decided to cut ties with West’s once-legendary label. With her departure from the imprint came a more stable release cycle for her music. Despite not having dropped a full album in 2018 or 2019, she released a handful of loosies that would keep whatever fans were still tapped in after her split.

Then came her sophomore album Is It Selfish If We Talk About Me Again. Released entirely independently, Hill’s newest album is not only a return to form but an indication that she’s confident in her own lane of indie-pop.

Kacy Hill made her album without it sounding like a glaring attempt at re-emerging into the mainstream. Her songwriting on tracks like “Much Higher” and “Everybody’s Mother” proves that she can not only sing the hell out of a dreamy pop ballad but write one with extreme care and tenderness.

The sole feature comes from Francis and the Lights on “I Believe in You” and the pairing is as natural as you’d expect. The group is also a GOOD Music signee but their chemistry together is simply an example of what could’ve been if the label had treated her music with the same level of importance that they treat Big Sean and Teyana Taylor.

Is It Selfish If We Talk About Me Again is the type of album you’d put on a Sunday evening in August. It sounds like the summer ending, despite an early May release. It’s chill, relaxing, and thoughtful enough to keep your attention both by the gentle instrumentals and by Hill’s introspective and reflective songwriting.

It’s also a testament to releasing music independently. GOOD Music clearly had a winner on their label and didn’t know what to do with her. It’s a shame that this is such a common occurrence in 2020, as independent artists have proven time and again that they know best when it comes to their own music. Is it surprising? Not really. At least Kacy Hill figured it out.

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Music

Punisher: helplessness in the face of the apocalypse

On Phoebe Bridgers’ sophomore album, she predicts her version of the end of the world and the dissociation of self that comes with it

Some of 2020’s best albums have eerily reflected just how dark and miserable the year has been so far. Some, like Taylor Swift’s Folklore, sound desolate by design, as the pop singer crafted her latest full-length project during her time in isolation. Others, like Oddisee’s ODD CURE, are the result of a massive studio session crammed into just a few weeks. Then, there’s Phoebe Bridgers’ devastating sophomore record, Punisher.

Punisher is the type of album you put on either after lighting a joint at the end of a long day or while driving late at night. It’s the type of album that carries a lot of weight throughout the bulk of its 11-track run. The themes Bridgers sings about aren’t uncommon. Depression, dissociation, and anxiety drive the album, but the Los Angeles-born singer also tackles the reality and seriousness of imposter syndrome.

In short, imposter syndrome is a psychological pattern in which the person who has it will constantly feel like they don’t deserve to be in the position they are; they believe they’re going to be exposed as a fraud. In a press release following the announcement of Punisher in April, she explained that the song “Kyoto” was about imposter syndrome and “about being in Japan for the first time, somewhere I’ve always wanted to go, and playing my music to people who want to hear it, feeling like I’m living someone else’s life.”

Bridgers’ desire to dissociate becomes even more apparent on “Halloween,” where she sings “Baby, it’s Halloween / And we can be anything” on the chorus. Though this song is about a couple hiding their issues by dressing up as different people, it only enforces her continued longing to be someone else.

These moments of dissociation culminate in the closing track “I Know the End,” a sombre and creepily foreboding track about Bridgers’ prediction that the end of the world is approaching. In the third verse, she begins to list the things she sees while “driving into the sun” as the apocalypse begins to set in. Much of what’s on her list can be associated with modern conspiracy theories like a UFO sighting, the fear of God, and of course, subtle shade thrown at Donald Trump’s United States of America.

Clearly, like the rest of us, Bridgers isn’t optimistic about the rest of 2020.  With a potentially game-changing election looming at the beginning of November, she knows that the future of her current home is in peril. While being pessimistic about the remainder of the year doesn’t take rocket science to understand, Bridgers’ helplessness is intrinsically linked to her own experience with imposter syndrome.

Bridgers certainly isn’t the first artist to sing about these topics on an album, but the timing of Punisher’s release date paired with the introspective songs and macabre predictions of the near-future makes this album a definitive reflection of what is probably the worst year in a long time.

In the span of eight months, nearly a million people have died from COVID-19, we lost Kobe Bryant, riots are breaking out over blatant and systemic racism, and a revolution seems to be on the horizon in the U.S. — among countless other tragedies that would take far too long to list. It’s certainly easy to feel the same helplessness that Bridgers does.

But what can we do?

We do our best to educate ourselves and others. We make lists of resources that we can use to make life a little easier for everyone. But we can only do so much before we need help to change things. Yes, we can vote, yes we can vocalize the criticisms of our society with little to no negative consequences. But, still, it doesn’t feel like enough.

And yet, Punisher feels like one of the only albums that encapsulate the helplessness of 2020 in a brief 40-minute run. On “I Know the End,” Bridgers doesn’t seem to have any answers to her troubles, though she sings without any sign of anxiety. In fact, she sounds at peace. Maybe she’s onto something. Maybe she’s just completely dissociated. Maybe we’ve all gone mad. All we can do is ride it out and hope for the best.

 

Graphic by Taylor Reddam

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Arts

Tenet: it won’t let you breathe, but it’s beautiful to look at

Christopher Nolan’s love affair with time continues, with mostly confusing results

Christopher Nolan is infatuated with time. Many of his films have manipulated time in different ways to try to show his audience that it’s not as linear as we understand it to be. While some have delivered greater results than others, like Inception and Memento, it’s clear that Nolan has no interest in telling a straightforward story. Tenet continues this theme and it ends up being Nolan’s most ambitious, but also his safest, movie in years.

Tenet doesn’t let you breathe. From the beginning of the 150-minute film, Nolan showcases his characters in exposition-heavy dialogue scenes that try to advance the plot without spoon-feeding its deeper elements. Meanwhile, Nolan is throwing John David Washington’s character, literally called The Protagonist, in various scenes across the world as he searches for answers regarding his mission.

But even when Nolan does try to clear up the convoluted plot, you can barely understand what the characters are saying because of poor audio mixing, whispered dialogue, and Kenneth Branagh’s sometimes-incomprehensible Russian accent as the oligarch antagonist, Andrei Sator. When all you hear is bass mixed with murmurs, it may be a sign that the movie is too loud.

Without giving too much away, The Protagonist and Neil (Robert Pattinson) team up to stop a potentially catastrophic disaster that could end human life on Earth. That’s all I’ll say. But even with a central plot so simple, Nolan manages to make it convoluted while rarely offering a slower pace to absorb what’s actually going down.

Nolan directly implicates his love affair with time in Tenet as well,, but his interpretation of it isn’t as intriguing as it was in many of his previous films. In fact, his storytelling is so obscure that it’s easier to just accept the banality of the plot than to try and decipher it.

Yet, even with these story-telling plunders, Tenet remains captivating, largely thanks to a great performance from Washington and excellent action sequences that make the audience feel like they’re watching a scene out of some futuristic Call of Duty game. Yes, the action doesn’t stop, but because of that, it makes the two-and-a-half-hour movie seem shorter than it actually is. It’s a fun experience, but shallow.

Tenet is Nolan at his safest. He knows all he has to do is come up with an ambitious plot and expensive action sequences to get the masses flocking to the theatres (despite a pandemic). It’s by no means Nolan’s greatest film — in fact, it probably ranks among his worst — but it’s still a visual feat and a fairly good time.

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Music Quickspins

QUICKSPINS: Radamiz – Synonyms of Strength

Radamiz’s new EP is a brief but colourful look into the artist’s aspirations as a rising New York rapper

Radamiz wants more than respect. He wants to live comfortably, he wants to end world hunger and stop the destruction of rainforests. He says all this without skipping a beat on “Brodies, Wodies,” the opening track of his 24-minute EP Synonyms of Strength.

The Brooklyn-born rapper demonstrates across the project just how good he is at rapping. The beats are clearly influenced by the city’s boom-bap history. However, he adds his Dominican twist as he raps the chorus of “Bendiciones” in Spanish, while also denying common Latino stereotypes, like the copying of characters on the Netflix show Narcos, and telling others he doesn’t want them pretending like they sell cocaine.

Synonyms of Strength is a lyrically dense project that focuses on Radamiz’s lyrical ability rather than flashy flows and expensive beats. He raps about peace, acceptance, and the pursuit of happiness, but his messages aren’t preachy to a fault. In fact, they inspire hope rather than make your eyes roll. There’s a positivity that echoes from the 27-year-old rapper’s voice that makes you want to listen over and over to decipher his messages.

At seven songs, Synonyms of Strength also captures the essence of Radamiz’s lyrics by not overcrowding the tracklist with filler and useless features. Instead, he only has two features: AMYRA on “Brodies, Wodies” and Kota the Friend on “Goya.” Their presence doesn’t deter you from Radamiz, but complements his relaxed flows.

Radamiz is on his way to making a masterpiece. The foundation set by Synonyms of Strength proves that the Brooklyn rapper has a high ceiling and could very well spell the future of New York rap, a city that is looking for its claim to the rap throne once again.

Rating: 7.5/10

Trial Track: “Goya”

 

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Music Quickspins

QUICKSPINS: Childish Gambino – 3.15.20

The final album from Childish Gambino sees the multi-talented artist distance himself even further from rap

Donald Glover doesn’t follow any patterns. Be it in his music, his movies, his TV series, there’s no one-word you can use to describe the Stone Mountain-bred artist. After an abrupt end to his rap albums with the beautifully retro Awaken, My Love! under the Childish Gambino moniker, fans wondered if they’d ever hear him rapping again.

Sure, “This Is America” is technically a rap song, and sure, his feature on 21 Savage’s “Monster” is a rap verse, but those two moments are literally the only times we’ve heard Gambino rap since his 2014 mixtape STN MTN.

Childish Gambino released his newest album 3.15.20 on a Sunday morning at 3 a.m.—on his website. You couldn’t download any tracks, nor could you even know what song was playing as it was just one long stream with no breaks in between tracks. As was expected, there was little-to-no rapping, which is for the best.

Rapping has never been Gambino’s strong suit. He’s been able to scrape by with inventive concepts that show how hard he’s trying to create a unique experience no one else is offering. Because the Internet was a millennial look at life in an internet-filled world and was accompanied by a script that reflected on mortality. Awaken, My Love! echoed the funk-driven sound perfected by Funkadelic, a prominent funk band from the 70s. It was also seemingly dedicated to his then newborn son.

3.15.20 feels like it’s lacking that conceptual drive. Instead of a cohesive storyline, the album feels like a loose collection of tracks that feel more like summer-ready bops than a narrative-driven project. The songs aren’t basic, as Gambino really tries to experiment with instrumentals, vocal effects, and track lengths throughout the 12 tracks.

“Algorythm,” (yes that’s what it’s actually called) is the first real track on the album that sounds like a computer-generated banger. Gambino’s lyrics are simple and uneventful, but the hook is enough to bolster the track from boring to decent. 

“Time” features the stellar Ariana Grande who shows great chemistry with Gambino as they both sing the chorus in an uplifting way (“Maybe all the stars in the night are really dreams/ Maybe this whole world ain’t exactly what it seems/ Maybe the sky will fall down on tomorrow”). Gambino manipulates his vocals to make them seem both robotic and drugged-out.

The hooks shine the most on 3.15.20 because of how sticky they are. “19.10” and “47.48” are breezy guitar-led tracks that sound like they came from the 60s while high on a cocktail of drugs.

The album’s highlights come in the shape of “12.38,” “24.19” and “42.26” (previously released as “Feels Like Summer.” The first of the three tracks features an excellent 21 Savage verse accompanied by a strong instrumental from DJ Dahi and bright vocals from Gambino.

“24.19” is a beautiful track dedicated to a “sweet thing” who moved to southern California and follows her parents’ orders daily. The lyrics are a bit all over the place (“If you wanna be happy, don’t look at my phone), and that somewhat brings it down, but the instrumental and the vocal effects are enough to distract from the few iffy moments. That said, the first verse without any alterations to Gambino’s voice is the most sincere part of the album (You wouldn’t change a hair/ Sometimes I wonder why you love me / But you love me). However, the track runs about four minutes too long and, along with many other tracks, overstays its welcome.

Gambino falters a little after that track as “32.22” and “35.31” are a bit underwhelming. The former track is one of the grimiest beats on the album but comes out of nowhere and seems a bit out of place. “35.21” is a childish attempt at making a country-rap crossover that sounds more like a kids’ song than an experimental island song the album seems to have been preaching up until this point.

Thankfully the album closes out nicely with “42.26,” “47.48” and “53.49” which allow Gambino to stick the landing on a good––but rather quaint––album. 3.15.20 is a step back from Awaken, My Love! but it is still enjoyable to an extent. It feels unfinished and the track titles are just psychopathic.

Glover  has been vocal about 3.15.20 being his final album under the Childish Gambino moniker. It may be time to retire him indeed, but Glover should continue to make music. It’s become evident that he no longer wants to rap, which is what Gambino is primarily known for (if you exclude “Redbone”). But if there’s one thing that 3.15.20 makes apparent, it’s that Glover should have been singing his whole career.

Rating: 7/10

Trial Track: “24.19”

Categories
Music Quickspins

QUICKSPINS: Lil Uzi Vert – Eternal Atake

Eternal Atake was worth all the delays

Lil Uzi Vert defied expectations. After numerous album delays, very few singles, and a quiet label feud, it seemed that Eternal Atake was destined to die from the start. Expectations were high, but people were wary. Could the rapper responsible for one of 2017’s biggest hits drop a complete album?

In short, yes. Very much so, actually. There are a lot of things on Lil Uzi Vert’s album that shouldn’t work: a sequel to “XO Tour Llif3,” a Backstreet Boys-sampled track, and a lengthy runtime that is likely to test the listener’s patience. Yet, all these elements work in the album’s favour.

Lil Uzi Vert is at his best on songs like “POP” where his energy is unparalleled and his rapping is immaculate. The hook is catchy and a part of the third verse sees Uzi yelling “Balenci!” multiple times and the results are simply exuberating.

The writing is also one of Eternal Atake’s strengths as shown on songs like “I’m Sorry” and “Bigger Than Life” which showcases Lil Uzi Vert at his most engaging and most thoughtful self.

Eternal Atake is a wonderful album that, despite having been done for a while now, barely shows its age and sounds like it came from the future. Lil Uzi Vert has always been ahead of the curve—we just finally caught up to him.

Rating: 9/10

Trial Track: “POP”

 

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Music

Fire on the thirteenth floor

Haviah Mighty and Lou Phelps join forces to put on a fantastic show at Le Belmont

The rap scenes of Toronto and Montreal have been at odds for a little while now. There aren’t many collaborations between artists in both cities but the Haviah Mighty and Lou Phelps show at Le Belmont on Feb. 21 proves that talent runs deeper than just the big names.

While the top billing showed that Mighty was the headliner, her and Phelps shared the stage for equal amounts of time at around 45 minutes each. Before them, Montreal rapper CJ Flemings warmed up the crowd.

Phelps arrived shortly after Flemings’ performance to a fairly empty venue. Most people had gathered in the back to sit and grab drinks until the lights dimmed and Phelps’ funky instrumentals started playing. In between album releases, Phelps bounced back and forth from his best hits like “2 Seater” and “Miss Phatty” off his 002/Love Me project and songs from his upcoming album Black Vogue Funk.

Montreal rapper Lou Phelps.

The transitions were seamless but the production on the new tracks sounded like they were hits-to-be. He never quite gave out the individual track names, but the songs seemed ready and Phelps performed them with shining confidence that made up for the crowd’s lack of knowledge of his songs.

The crowd was into it until Phelps asked if anyone loved weed—a question responded to by only a few cheers and claps. Funny enough, when Phelps asked the crowd to sing “Smoke that Shit,” everyone sang along.

Phelps’ performance was great but the crowd was ready for Haviah Mighty. 

When the Toronto rapper got on stage, the crowd got tighter and the breathing room became sparse. Mighty exuded confidence as if she was born and raised on stage.

On top of being a lively performer, Mighty also took plenty of time to speak to the crowd between tracks, shouting out her DJ and a producer from the album that happened to be in the crowd.

During the show, Mighty even got off stage and joined the crowd to incredible results. The audience was cheering, yelling, dancing, and everything in between while Mighty performed songs off her Polaris Prize-winning album Thirteenth Floor.

Toronto rapper Haviah Mighty.

Mighty is a talented and fierce rapper and it shows––especially when she performed “In Women Colour” without a beat before restarting it with the full fury of the production to back her. Even when she sang, it felt natural. “Wishy Washy” is a hidden gem of a song that should have gotten more radio-play than it did. Her sister, Omega Mighty, who was featured on the studio version of the track, couldn’t make it to the show so Haviah opted to sing her verse instead, and it sounded fantastic.

Neither rapper took up too much of the time which allowed for both performances to excel without overshadowing the other. The only problem with the show was that there weren’t enough people at the venue.

When talent like this occupies a small venue, it should be filled to max capacity. Despite this, Haviah Mighty and Lou Phelps put on an excellent show for  their fellow Canadians.

 

Photos by Ora Bar

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Arts

The Call of the Wild is well-spirited but ultimately generic

Call of the Wild: A CGI dog does incredible things for two hours

If you watched Cats and thought we needed a better movie about our favourite domestic animals, then I’m here to tell you that The Call of the Wild is a much more engaging (though much less sexual) movie than the adapted musical. In his live-action debut, Chris Sanders adapts the classic book of the same name to the big screen with decent results.

Buck, the protagonist, is a gigantic CGI dog that’s too big and wild to be anyone’s pet. He’s loud and always finds a way to cause a ruckus, much to the chagrin of his owner, Judge Miller (Bradley Whitford). Despite being a four-legged animal, Buck very much understands English. In various scenes, the human actors talk to the dogs as if they’ve been speaking the language for years. Funny to watch, sure, but very stupid.

The plot of the movie is fair and the stakes are somewhat high in certain scenes; Buck is a companion dog to the town’s judge, then gets kidnapped and sold to traders in Alaska, only to join a team of sled-dogs to help Perrault (Omar Sy) deliver mail across the remote area he had been designated to. Buck then gets sold again to Hal (Dan Stevens) and his team to help drag them to a place rumoured to be surrounded by a plethora of gold.

The Call of the Wild is a coming-of-age film for dogs and it survives its 100-minute runtime solely on its strong heart and free-spirited attitude. The plot, despite it being a classic, is somewhat boring and redundant and offers little in the way of imagination. The acting is passable and Harrison Ford’s performance as John is fine, even if uninspired. Ford looks genuinely tired and understandably so as the only great role he’s had in the last few years was in Blade Runner 2049.

Ford’s narration is quite annoying. The plot is simple enough for anyone to follow, yet he interjects at almost any plot advancement to explain what Buck was feeling as if it hadn’t already been conveyed through his computer-crafted facial expressions.

The movie also pushes itself with simple humour meant to entertain the generic movie-goer but fails to resonate with the audience after you realize the gags are the same as the ones you’d experience at home with your much more real dog.

There have definitely been worse movies than The Call of the Wild but there are so many others that are much more deserving of your time. Come for the dogs and stay, well, only for the dogs because the CGI made them cute. The rest of it is forgettable. 

 

 

Film still from trailer.

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Music

The power of Waves’ soundtrack

How Waves soundtrack elevates the film’s themes of teenage angst and depression

*Spoilers ahead*

The trailer for Trey Edward Shults’ film Waves scared me, initially. It was vague and cluttered with songs that most teens would compile into a generic Spotify playlist entitled “Vibes.” When I finally watched the movie last week, I was shocked. The movie wasn’t as corny as the trailer made it out to be and the soundtrack, to my surprise, elevated the film’s themes of teenage angst and depression.

The opening scene shows the protagonist Tyler (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) driving with his legs out on the freeway as his girlfriend Alexis (Alexa Demie) sings along to “FloriDada” by Animal Collective. The track encapsulates the ever-freeing sentiment of being a teenager in love.

In the first truly pivotal scene of the movie, Tyler receives news from Alexis that she’s planning on keeping a baby that they accidentally conceived not long before. After a failed attempt to convince her to get an abortion, “IFHY” from rapper Tyler, the Creator starts playing as the protagonist gets up off his chair and begins to trash his room.

There could not be a better song to go with the scene as Tyler’s newly-formed resentment to his now ex-girlfriend fits perfectly with the “IFHY” about hating then loving a woman he dreams to be with forever. The track bounces back and forth from soft melodies to an aggressive hook where he yells, “I fucking hate you, but I love you.”

The movie quickly switches courses when Tyler, who can’t cope with the idea that his girlfriend is seeing someone (she isn’t), goes out to a party that leads to his eventual arrest.

Unsurprisingly, Frank Ocean leaves his mark all over the A24-produced film. Many tracks off of his beautiful Blonde and Endless projects make their way onto the film, especially in the first half, with songs like “Mitsubishi Sony” and “Rushes” eerily pointing out what comes next in the heartbreaking film.

The second half of the movie deals with the aftermath of Tyler’s actions. Particularly, it focuses on Tyler’s sister Emily (Taylor Russell) and how her brother’s arrest has forever changed her life. She meets Tyler’s old teammate, Luke (Lucas Hedges) and falls in love with him. The second half also puts Frank Ocean’s Endless on the forefront as three tracks from the project play in succession.

The ending of the movie pairs Radiohead’s beautiful “True Love Waits” with Emily trying to make amends with her estranged mother. The two had a falling out after Tyler’s indictment and hadn’t spoken to each other until Emily sent a tear-jerking text that paved the way for a hopeful, yet still depressing ending.

Waves’ reliance on a 2010s-heavy soundtrack is a sign that the movie is for our generation. Frank Ocean, Kanye West, Tame Impala, and H.E.R., among many others, make their mark on the heavyweight film that will resonate with the youth more than it might with adults. The story is universal; everyone will understand it. The soundtrack, however, is a direct glimpse into how music affects our thoughts and actions.

Waves is for everyone, but really, Waves is for the kids.

Graphic by @sundaeghost.

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