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Artist Spotlight: Jouska

Jouska are an Oslo-based musical duo consisting of Marit Othilie Thorvik and Hans Olav Settem that blend elements of bedroom R&B with electronic music. Citing artists such as the Internet and Grimes as influences, they started releasing singles as far back as 2016, and put out their Frog Fiction EP in 2018, making rounds in the Norwegian music scene. But their songwriting approach has shifted over the last couple of years, incorporating more vocals and paying more attention to the narrative and emotional elements of the song. Their latest single, ‘Bring You Back’, featuring production from Sunniva Lindgaard of Sassy 009, utilizes a slick, infectious instrumental while delivering an emotive vocal performance that speaks not just to the obsessive, often irrational feelings that permeate your existence after a break-up, but to the lingering, ghostly presence of the ex-lover in your mind and the inescapable pain of their physical absence. “I never thought that you could hurt me like that/ Feels like a part of you is stuck inside of my head,” she sings in the chorus, which will get stuck in your head regardless of your relationship status. Its somber yet oddly comforting mood is something we’re excited to dive into once their debut album comes out later this year.

We caught up with Jouska for this edition of our Artist Spotlight series, where we showcase up-and-coming artists and give them a chance to talk a bit about their music.

When did the two of you meet, and how did you form Jouska?

We met while studying music together in Oslo. We both hail from smaller towns and had just moved to Oslo, both eager to experiment with electronic music for the first time.

What are some of your biggest influences?

We find inspiration in a lot of different genres and artists. Recently we’ve been listening a lot to R&B and scandinavian club music.
In general, some of our biggest influences would have to be Grimes, Gorillaz, Little Dragon and Smerz.

How has your approach to songwriting changed since releasing your first few singles?

It used to be more about the instrumentation. It would start out with instrumental ideas, and then we created vocals and lyrics that would match these ideas.

But in the last year, songwriting and vocal production has gotten more important to us. Now it’s more about telling a story and creating a unique vocal narrative for the listener to follow.

Could you talk about your new single, ‘Bring You Back’? What were some of the ideas behind it?

We wanted ‘Bring You Back’ to be both dark and uplifting at the same time. It’s a track about missing someone and obsessing over fading memories. Merging RnB with alternative bedroom pop production is something we’ve wanted to do for a long time, and it’s gonna be the main mood for the rest of our debut album as well.

How was it like working with Sunniva Lindgaard and Andrew Murray for the track?

It’s been great. Andrew Murray gives so much life to the songs in the final mixing process, while Sunniva Lindgaard helped us open up our creativity in the sessions with Bring You Back. Her vocals also really helped set the emotional mood that we wanted to express with this track.

What are you currently working on? Should we expect a full-length release anytime soon?

We’re currently working on our debut album set to release in the fall. The songwriting is pretty much done so now we’re just gonna work intensively to make every sonic detail perfect.

10 Brilliant Stills from The Social Network (2010)

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The Social Network, a three-time Academy Award-winning film by David Fincher, was nominated for Best Achievement in Cinematography in 2011. The cinematography of the films was done by Jeff Cronenweth, who also worked on Gone Girl, Fight Club, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Here are some fantastic stills from the film that capture the tension of the characters and events, beautifully.

 

 

MANIFF Review: Lost Transmissions (2020)

“I just don’t see you being a cog in a big machine” – Theo Ross (Simon Pegg)

Films have the ability to transport us to fantastical realms, to spaces and places that appear aesthetically and narratively detached from our reality – worlds that feel completely unlike our own. But they also can root us in the harshest and grittiest of realities, unsympathetically displaying depictions of suffering, social anxieties and complex subject matter. Katharine O’Brien’s directorial debut, Lost Transmissions, is one such film, offering an intricate, honest and poignant portrayal of characters dealing with mental illness. It’s a beautiful, indie melodrama that is, in more ways than one, far from being a cog in a big (cinematic) machine – a breath of fresh air in an industry that, at the present time, is becoming (thanks to all-encompassing monopolies and post-broadcasting platforms) even narrower.

Inspired by a true story, Lost Transmissions begins with Hannah (Juno Temple), an aspiring Los Angeles pop-songwriter, meeting Theo (Simon Pegg), a gifted record producer, at a party where she’s summoned to sing, whilst he plays the piano. This is A Star is Born without the glamour and amorous passion. As the pair bond, it becomes increasingly apparent that their friendship is a mutually beneficial relationship: whilst Hannah gains a chance to write for pop superstar, Dana Lee (Alexandra Daddario), thanks to Theo’s guidance, it surfaces that Theo is a schizophrenic, who needs Hannah’s help after he stops taking his medication because he feels it’s a “shame to live life with a filter over it”. As her career begins to take flight, Theo’s conditions starts to deteriorate – which is unaided by a pitiable, mental healthcare system and his painfully unhelpful and inept friends. Through helping Theo, Hannah begins to confront her own problems with anti-depressants and wavering emotions but, as she does so, she begins to question whether she’s illogically assisting an unstable individual that she doesn’t really know and issues that she herself doesn’t fully comprehend.

Perhaps the most poignant and heart-wrenching moment comes when Theo, not taking his medication, is in the car with Hannah and he begins to play with the car radio, turning up the volume and stating that “if you listen really carefully, you can hear the transmissions” and patterns that are permeating beneath the static and between the stations. It’s a sequence that also typifies where the film really shines: Pegg’s performance. Estranged from the distinctive comedic performances that we associate with Pegg (his starring roles in The Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy or as Benji in the Mission Impossible film series to name a few), he seems to truly find his feet as a natural dramatic actor – in a manner akin to Adam Sandler’s outstanding, performative shift in Uncut Gems. It’s a true testament to his skill in this film that as Theo suffers, we, as audience members, suffer with him. Pegg manages the complexity of portraying a character dealing with schizophrenia with delicacy and I, for one, couldn’t help but be captivated.

Temple’s Hannah is equally compelling and she handles the nuances of Hannah with care but, in many ways, she gets overwhelmed and (sadly) outshone by Pegg’s vulnerable performance – though that’s not necessarily a fault of her own (its more that Pegg’s portrayal is wonderful). The same, unfortunately, can be said for Daddario whose part is fleeting and her ability is somewhat wasted.

Beyond those performances, the film’s second and third act don’t match its compelling and promising opening and consequently the narrative tends to dwindle and, towards the end, falls flat. Similar to Temple and Daddario’s performances, we can’t help but want and, based on the opening, expect more. Whilst the conversations are meticulously written and you do feel for the characters, the narrative just never gets to where you want it to go. It promises so much but the payoff is, to an extent, lacklustre.

Whilst Pegg offers a compelling and nuanced performance that is simultaneously refreshing and heart-breaking, Lost Transmissions, frustratingly, fails to keep the pace that its first act promises. Though O’Brien handles the complexities of schizophrenia and mental illness with care and the film feels like an inspirational take on dense subject matter, it doesn’t altogether realise its potential. It’s not entirely lost in its own transmission, just not quite there.

The Burning Shades of Passion in Céline Sciamma’s ‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire’

There are two shades of passion blazing through Céline Sciamma’s breathlessly devastating Portrait of a Lady on Fire. One is fire, consuming violently from within. Its burning intensity reveals itself in fleeting moments. The other is the sea, conquering from the outside, its tides raging restlessly against the shore. Though just as powerful, the sea does not subside – it is a memory that remains true forever.

There is a woman on fire, her face burning with anger. But she is not the one who lit it – it is a product of her environment, of the air that is stifling her. It is a product of drought. The woman on fire does not know how to swim. She has spent her whole life scouring through a dark and desolate place. Though she lives right by the ocean, she has never dived in. She knows how dangerous it would be to try to escape.

There is a woman on a boat. She is wearing a red dress. When the tempestuous waves threaten to steal her canvases, she throws herself into the ocean to save them without hesitation. They are her only means of eternalizing, of making things permanent. The woman huddles naked in front of the fire in between her canvases, drying herself off and smoking a pipe. She has come to eternalize the woman on fire.

According to the world, the woman on fire does not yet have a face. She must be moulded, contained, protected. Like her mother, she will find it one day in a portrait. But the woman on fire does not want to be painted. She does not want to sit still – she dreams of running, of living in perpetual motion, of living. Posing would mean surrendering herself to a man she has never met. It would be a portrait of her, but not for her. It would be suicide.

So the woman in the red dress must perform her task in secret. She must observe her carefully, the way she moves and walks and talks. She must memorize the contours of her face, her hands, her ears, her hair, her spirit, and then immortalize them on her canvas. But her first attempt is a failure: though it follows standard artistic conventions, it lacks truth. It does not capture her aliveness. There is no fire in it.

The two women reach an agreement. For her, the woman on fire will make an exception – she will pose in exchange for her lighting match of a gaze. For her, she will allow herself to be looked at, to be turned into art. The fire is rekindled – not by anger this time, but by love. The woman becomes fire. And in the pleasure of watching her, and realizing she is looked at as well, the woman in the red dress can peel off her clothes. She no longer has to tame herself. She becomes the sea.

The women have invented fire. They have invented the sea.

One plays with the other, a forbidden dance. A fatal dance. A dance that must not be seen in broad daylight. But at night, the world is lit by candles. So they watch, and they watch, and they watch.

But the sea must hold the object of her gaze. She must capture it before the flames die out. But the fire does not like to be held still. It is in her nature to dwindle.

So her towering waves embrace her, devour her, and she lets herself be engulfed by the flames, fully aware of the inevitable outcome of that interaction. The fire and the sea coalesce in one final, sweeping, earth-shattering dance – they become one and the same. They have always been the same.

“When do we know it’s finished?” the fire asks. “At one point, we stop,” the sea answers.

And with one final stroke, the dance is over, and the portrait is complete. There is truth in it, but the fire is hidden. It has turned into smoke. The ghost of a memory. The ghost of a woman.

The sea has extinguished the fire, and in doing so, locks her in her heart forever. Like Orpheus, she has decided to look at her love, despite knowing it would cause her to vanish from the face of the earth for all eternity. Because though trapped, her memory will always exist in that sacred place, perfect and untarnished.

But there is still an ember glowing inside of the woman, and her spirit is very much alive. Transfigured for a moment by the power of that memory – their memory – she turns into fire one last time, flames shaking uncontrollably, sparks flying off and dancing all around her. And though she does not know it, the woman in the red dress is watching her, her waves still raging on.

Adèle Haenel in Portrait de la jeune fille en feu (2019)

Albums Out Today: U.S. Girls, Anna Calvi, Caroline Rose, Phantogram

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In this segment, we showcase the most notable albums out each week. Here are the albums out on March 6th, 2020:

U.S. Girls, Heavy Light

Image result for us girls heavy lightFollowing the release of 2018’s acclaimed In a Poem Unlimited, indie rock outfit U.S. Girls return with a new album titled Heavy Light, out now via 4AD. The latest from singer-songwriter Meghan Remy was produced by Remy herself and recorded live with 20 session musicians, including E Street Band saxophonist Jake Clemons.  Named after Franz Kafka’s aphorism “a faith like an axe. As heavy, as light”, a press release describes the songs on the album as “reflections on childhood experiences that are collaged into moving spoken word interludes”. The album features reworked versions of the previously released ‘Statehouse (It’s A Man’s World)’, ‘Red Ford Radio’, and ‘Overtime’, as well as 10 new songs.

Anna Calvi, Hunted

Image result for anna calvi huntedAnna Calvi’s new record is a reworking of her acclaimed 2018 album Hunter, featuring an impressive list of collaborators including Courtney Barnett, Joe Talbot (IDLES), Charlotte Gainsbourg and Julia Holter. “During a break from touring I went back and listened to the first recordings I ever made of ‘Hunter’,” the singer-songwriter explains. “These recordings capture the very moment I first wrote these songs, and recorded them on my own, in my attic studio. I find something especially intimate about sharing these most private recordings with my favourite singers and asking them to lend their voices and artistic sensibility.”

Caroline Rose, Superstar

Image result for caroline rose superstarSinger-songwriter Caroline Rose has come through with her fourth studio record, Superstar. The follow-up to 2018’s Loner, which saw her going in a more pop-rock direction compared to her folk country roots, tells the story of an artist who leaves their life behind in pursuit of fame and is inspired by movies like The Bitter Tears of Petra Von KantMulholland Drive, and Drop Dead Gorgeous. Caroline Rose explains: “To me, there’s both humor and horror in hubris and what it takes in order to be successful. I wanted to make a story out of those parts of myself that I find largely undesirable and embarrassing, then inject them with steroids.”

Phantogram, Ceremony

Image result for phantogram ceremonyAlternative rock duo Phantogram have released their fourth studio album, Ceremony, out now via Republic. The band, consisting of lifelong friends Josh Carter and Sarah Barthel, recorded the album largely at Barthel’s new home studio as well as Rancho de la Luna studio in Los Angeles. The long-awaited follow-up to 2016’s Three was influenced in large part by the death of Barthel’s sister, Becky, due to suicide. Barthel explains: “Life keeps going while you’re in your album cycle bubble and when it pops, you have to pick up the pieces. And once you stop, all the distractions go away and you’re left with a lot of feelings, feelings that got trapped outside of the bubble. And those are what came out on Ceremony.”

Other albums out today:

Riz Ahmed, The Long Goodbye; ROCH, Via Media; Nadia Reid, Out of My Province; Silverstein, A Beautiful Place to Drown.

Simon Pegg is coming to Manchester Film Festival

Simon Pegg, the actor known for films such as Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, will appearing at the Manchester Film Festival, next week. SPegg will be attending the screening of Lost Transmissions at the Manchester Film Festival 2020 on Sunday 8th March at 5:30PM at the Odeon, Great Northern. Simon will also be taking part in a Q&A alongside director Katharine O’Brien.

Lost Transmissions sees Pegg in a rare dramatic role, playing an acclaimed music producer who goes off his medication for schizophrenia. The film also stars Juno Temple as a friend who pursues him through the L.A. music scene — trying to get him the help he needs.

4 Tips to Find Inspiration for Artwork

If you are an artist, there must be some days when you feel demotivated and uninspired to create your next masterpiece. Sometimes that uninspired days can extend to weeks and even months. All the artists suffer from the periods lacking artistic inspiration at some points in their careers. Some of them may also experience demotivation at the same time, feeling that they would never be able to come up with an exotic and creative artwork ever again. These phases are common in the lives of artists, and you should never give up. Following are a few practical tips that will help you find the much needed and necessary inspiration and renew your passion for art.

Keep Your Art Tools and Supplies Available and Accessible

You have to make so many arrangements before you can start making your art piece. You have to make sure that you are equipped with all the essential tools and supplies to do your art. You may also have to rearrange furniture, dig into closets to find tools, and move lights in order to get started. This whole array of tasks can make you lose motivation to start your work. Moreover, if you are already going through a low inspiration phase, the willpower to make these arrangements may not come easily. A useful tip here is to keep all your art supplies and tools organized in one location so that you can start up and clean up effortlessly. This tip will also help you save time and effort to do these non-creative tasks before you start working on your art.

Show Up at an Art Fair

When you feel uninspired, search the nearest art fair in your location using artfairmag.com. Attending an art fair where you can find creative inspiration from many exhibitions. Various renowned and emerging artists exhibit their artwork in art fairs, which serve as one of the biggest sources of inspiration for many other artists. There could be an artwork that would move you to create something really unique. With a wide of artwork, attending an art fair can light you up to run back to your studio and create something exotic.

Go to Your Art Studio

One more way to spark your creativity is to show up at your art studio even if you don’t feel inspiration coming. Look at your previous artwork, organize your tools and art material, and go through the art books and art magazines. Aim at working on your art for at least 30 minutes. These tips often get you going, and you will end up working on your art for a couple of hours without even noticing.

Take Pictures of the Things and Places Like

The things, sights, and places that catch your eye can also inspire you to create art. Don’t miss those moments and keep capture those captivating places and things. The photos you take yourself can drive you more and can be better used for reference while creating your artwork rather than using someone else’s photos. Thus, nothing is better than taking the photos yourself that can click unique ideas in your mind for creating your art. If you see other artworks that you like, save them for inspiration too. Increasing numbers of artworks, including Watercolour Painting, are becoming digitised so you can easily browse online!

What to Expect From The New Minecraft Nether

In Minecraft, the Nether is an alternate dimension that can only be accessed using a Nether portal from the overworld. It’s a difficult map filled with challenging bosses and hostile mobs, though it does reward you with a lot of rare loots and blocks. However, content for the Nether has been dry for years, so players eventually stopped visiting. Fortunately, that’s where the Nether Update comes into the picture.

Here’s everything we know about it so far, and why Minecraft fans may finally have something to look forward to.

Enemies

The new biomes will have two new enemies: the Piglins and Hoglins. Both can be tough to beat, but the former won’t attack you if you’re wearing gold armor. In fact, the Piglins will even trade with you. Hoglins, on the other hand, will simply attack you on sight.

Biomes

The Nether Update will add three new biomes: Warped Forest, Crimson Forest, and Soulsand Valley. The Warped Forest has a floor covered in Nylium and contains a lot of the new vegetation, including Shroomlights. It’s the “safest” place among the new biomes as you’ll mostly encounter Piglins. Just beside it lies the Crimson Forest, a more challenging version of the Warped Forest. Aside from everything you can find in the first biome, this is where you’ll find Weeping Vines and encounter the Hoglin.

Soulsand Valley is an extensive grotto that cuts through the Nether’s terrain. It’s entirely made out of Soul Sand and Soul Soil—the former being one of the most useful blocks in the game. Soul Soil is a new addition. However, Soulsand Valley is a terrain that’s literally out for your soul, where Skeletons and Ghasts frequently spawn.

Blocks

HITC

One of the biggest things about this update is its introduction of the Netherite—a substance more powerful (and more expensive to use) than the diamond. Netherite can be mined in the depths of the Nether, which can later be refined in a blast furnace to create Netherite scrap. You need four pieces of Netherite scrap and four gold ingots to make a single Netherite ingot. It may sound far-fetched, but the items you can craft out of it will be the fastest and most durable you can get in-game.

Here are some new blocks you can find in the update:

• Crimson Stems and Warped Stems for wood
• Crimson Nylium and Warped Nylium as new ground surfaces
• Nether Sprouts, Crimson Roots, Warped Roots, and Shroomlights for vegetation
• Weeping Vines
• Warped Wart
• Crimson and Warped Fungi
• Basalt
• Soul Soil

Minecraft is the modern version of Super Mario—an internationally renowned game available on multiple platforms and enjoyed by all ages. True enough, an article on HP claims its simple design is what makes it great for kids, but its nearly infinite ways to play appeal more to the older demographic. From a survival game to a farming simulator, Minecraft is whatever players want it to be. As for Minecraft Nether, it’ll definitely be enjoyable for battlers, hunters, and crafters.

Minecraft Nether doesn’t have a definite release date yet, but Microsoft assures that it’ll be out on or before June 2020. Although, Screenrant reports that players can get a little taste of this new Nether update by playing the Java Edition (PC) and selecting Snapshot 20W06A. The Snapshot doesn’t fully encompass everything the Nether Update has to offer, but it includes a lot of its features, including access to the Crimson and Warped Forests, as well as a closer look at the Netherite.

Wondering what else the year has in store for us gamers? Check out our article on ‘5 Exciting Game Releases in 2020’.

11 Stunning Stills from Days of Heaven (1978)

Days of Heaven, a Terrence Malick classic follows a hot-tempered farm laborer who convinces the woman he loves to marry their rich but dying boss so that they can have a claim to his fortune. At the 1979 Academy Awards, the film deservedly won an award for Best Cinematography which was credited to Néstor Almendros, who also worked on films such as Sophie’s Choice (1982), The Blue Lagoon (1980), and Kramer vs. Kramer (1979).

Are You Still Singing? by Gilly Barnes

Are You Still Singing? is a film by Gilly Barnes which follows Joy Fields who just walked out on her marriage, and is now working as a party entertainer to pay the bills. However, she is also struggling with an anxiety disorder- which, on this particular day, cannot be treated due to a lapse in her insurance. 

Credits

Directed by: Gilly Barnes
Written by: Joey Ally and Gilly Barnes
Produced by: Laura Turner Garrison
Edited by: Ting Poo
Cinematographer: Drew Daniels
Production Designer: Margaux Rust
Costume Designer: Callan Stokes
Line Producer: Judy Craig
Hair/Make-up: Mazena Puksto
Color by: Beau Leon at Framestore