Welcome back to On Rotation, a good month of listening to music, going to the cinema and being very very late to some good pieces of creativity.
Enjoy!
Steve
This month for me has mainly been two things: music and reading. I’ve found myself with a bit of time off, and of course, rather than just read one book, I’ve got my head stuck in two. So hopefully, by the next on rotation, I’ll be able to update you on one of those. With that time off, I’ve also been putting on a lot of music, and I wanted to share just three albums today that are really standing out for me.
Salutations by Realizer - 4/5
On my time away, I found myself searching for more relaxing music, some jazz, and some guitar-based stuff. Classical guitar was one of my first instruments that I learned, and that’s why this album by Realizer has really jumped out at me. I’ve had this on rotation because it’s some incredibly beautiful classical guitar playing with really modern and melodic tools. If you want to sit back and enjoy some great guitar playing in the background, this is an awesome album to throw on.
Stream on Spotify:
Act IV: Rebirth in Reprise by The Dear Hunter 5/5
So, being in the process of working on an album with one of my main bands has got me back into listening for a defining album that can help articulate the tone, style, and influence in terms of what we’re playing.
I’ve actually chosen a song off this and suggested it as a reference track for our mixing. It’s got me back into listening after this. It’s one of my favourite The Dear Hunter albums.
Act IV and Act V are both incredible albums. They take you on an absolute journey, combining different styles very much in the alt-rock world, but a very progressive, almost experience going through this album. This would have to be one of my favorite albums of all time. I’ve been listening to it for years, and every time I go back to it, I feel like it’s something new again. So, yeah, this one’s got a lot of musicality in it. Hope you enjoy it.
Stream on Spotify:
Kid A by Radiohead 5/5
Is it possible to have 6/5?
Pretty impossible to not have Radiohead on this month. Of course, they’ve just announced their Australian tour, and I cannot tell you how excited I am to have some tickets to see them in Melbourne on one of the dates. I saw them last time in Australia, and it was hard to think of a show quite like it. Naturally, they’re back on my listening list. Hard to pick an album, but I’ve always been so obsessed with the keyboard line that kicks off the Kid A album. I think it’s such an amazing opening track, and it always makes me want to immediately put this on. If I haven’t listened to Radiohead in a while, I immediately want to start with “Everything in Its Right Place” and go from there. There’s part of me secretly that’s like, whoa, that’ll be great, if they start with that in their live set.
But look, there’s quite a chance that I’ll be sharing a Radiohead album here every month, leading up to their show in May next year. So we’ll see what happens. But yeah, not much extra explanation needed!
Stream on Spotify:
Kaye
A mix of new material and old this time around. Branching out a lot this time this month and found myself at the movies once again.
Six of Crows: a Darker Shore, Leigh Bardugo 5/5
The long awaited, yet surprising third instalment of the Six of Crows duology, A Darker Shore is the perfect, controlled glimpse into the events post duology. As a lover of these books in my teenage years, I’ve been looking forward to buying this book since news came out of its release.
If you haven’t read the duology, do yourself a favour and read through it. Bardugo’s two stories are New Adult, but is a gripping, mature and emotionally poignant story that has stayed with me for years. It’s something special to have characters you grew up with suddenly be the same age as you again. First with the new ATLA movie and now with the resurgence of the Crows, it’s been a good year for my younger self.
The humor, the worldbuilding, the designs, the score, the puzzles - all of it is amazing and fully transports you into the world of Ketterdam once more. One of the highlights of my year and a very very easy 5/5
Serena joy, oliva rodrigo 5/5
A single, post third studio album from Rodrigo and just before her Daisy Chain festival, Rodrigo offers a quiet, rageful commentary on the current landscape of women’s rights in America. As someone watching on from Australia, Rodrigo’s refusal to back down from what she believes in and her constant, brave and admirable stance against discriminatory politics elevates her from a regular pop star into a role model.
Named after an antagonist/ victim from The Handmaid’s Tale the song balances a rage that is so deeply ingrained in the female experience with the youthful hope of togetherness. 5/5.
The Mentalist 3.5/5
A procedural, enclosed story each episode, The Mentalist seems to be a mix of Law and Order and Sherlock, yet with its own optimistic spin.
The character of Patrick Jane, a mentalist - someone who is a master manipulator, stands on his own. It’s a breath of fresh air to have a smart and slightly arrogant character be written as a genuine kind person. Compared to other leading men that share the same mental acuity - Sherlock, Dr. House, Tony Stark, to name a few, Patrick Jane is able to hold his own. Halfway through the first season it’s a good background show or a show to just relax after a long day. 3.5/5
The Box Man, Kobe Abe 3/5
A man decides to live the rest of his life in a box. That’s the premise of the book.
Intriguing but weird. I’ve read one other story by Kobe and that’s The Woman in the Dunes, a twilight zone episodic storyline too. I did enjoy the book, but couldn’t cast the idea that this idea for a story would have such widely different connotations if the author, or even just the unnamed protagonist, was a woman.
Spider- Man: Brand New Day 4/5
The best of the Holland Spiderman movies, in my opinion.
I quite enjoyed the movie. The stunts and choreography were very good and the actual Spiderman suit itself was synthetic which really helped with the realism of the movie. There were quite a lot of mature decisions of the characters that seemed quite out of place for a Marvel movie - in a good way.
It seemed to be quite a feat to produce a very good movie after the introduction of Toby Macguire and Andrew Garfield’s respective spidermen in the third instalment of the franchise, (spoilers, whoops) but Brand New Day delivers on plot, character development, pacing and humor.
Personally, whenever there’s a fight scene, regardless of genre, it’s always more interesting to me when characters of different strengths, sizes and powers fight each other - waterbenders vs earthbenders, (ATLA) or humans vs titans (Attack on Titan) , or even a wrestler vs a bjj fighter (Physical 100).
With the lack of female-led superhero movies, the dynamics of a fight scene with Spiderman, a hero that relies heavily on gymanstics is really fun to view and shows what we could have had with more Black Widow movies.
The only note in the film is the normalisation of surveillance equipment by Peter Parker, which seemed to be very out of character - that and his rewritten financial situation, it seems like they’ve slowly moved away from the broke student since Mcguire’s interpretation.
Melodrama, Lorde 4/5
Inspired to listen to the album for the first time because of a recent painting and very happy I did.
The second studio album by the Royals singer, Melodrama is the perfect blend alternative/indie/ pop album. My favourites are Green Light, Liability and Supercut - I have listened to those songs before, but they did stand out again against the others. As a theatre lover, I do very appreciate the use of Liability and Liability Reprise.
Prima, ADELA 4/5
The first full album of the Slovakian singer and a very strong sound.
Despite being a relatively new artist Adela has her branding locked down, her particular taste of music is so succinctly fine-tuned throughout her album. She knows exactly who she is and what she’s selling. Her unique fashion of punk-ballet,her soft, sultry vocals and evocative lyrics blend seamlessly together. Her songs range from club bangers (Boys, I’m the Man, Nicole Kidman) to soft sentimentalities (Hitachi, Therapy), to her pride of being an immigrant runs through the whole album from the opening track KGB to the closing track Ain’t in LA.
What have you been reading, listening to or watching? Let us know in the comments below. See you next week for a brand new article. And next month for another rendition of On Rotation.
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