In a recent interview with Spanish entertainment outlet El Mundo (via IndieWire), the director behind Dune, Arrival, Sicario, and Blade Runner 2049 shared his feelings on the current state of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, stating “there are too many Marvel movies that are nothing more than a cut and paste of others.” Villeneuve then proceeded to temper and clarify his thoughts, telling El Mundo:
“Perhaps the problem is that we are in front of too many Marvel movies that are nothing more than a ‘cut and paste’ of others. Perhaps these types of movies have turned us into zombies a bit… But big and expensive movies of great value there are many today. I don’t feel capable of being pessimistic at all.”
While these words might sting a bit for Marvel fans to hear — especially so shortly after hearing Villeneuve gush over Eternals film director Chloe Zhao — the big-budget science-fiction filmmaker has actually made a few remarks on the MCU as of late. In a recent interview with Premiere, Villeneuve told the outlet:
“If we’re talking about Marvel, the thing is, all these films are made from the same mold. Some filmmakers can add a little color to it, but they’re all cast in the same factory. It doesn’t take anything away from the movies, but they are formatted.”
It’s an interesting position to take after stating one of his challenges with Dune was not making a “cut and paste” version of Star Wars, but since when does Villeneuve not say some pretty interesting things? For those ready to see how Dune holds its own against all the sci-fi films of late, the film hits theaters and HBO Max on October 22.
Maggie Rogers’ 2019 folk-pop debut album Heard It In A Past Life cemented her status as a musician to watch. The album debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 album chart and even earned her a Grammy nod for Best New Artist. While the singer did follow-up the release with a compilation of archival recordings spanning 2011-2016, fans have been waiting for new music from the singer. But this week, she had a good excuse as to why she’s been so quiet in recent months.
Responding to a fan’s inquiry of why she hasn’t released any new music lately, Rogers gave an appropriate excuse. After taking undergrad classes at NYU (where her viral encounter with Pharrell Williams took place), Rogers is now busy taking grad school classes at Harvard. She even shared a photo of her student ID for proof. “lol i’m in grad school,” she wrote on Twitter. Rogers continued to share that she’s “studying the spirituality of public gatherings and the ethics of power in pop culture.” The singer also gave an update on the status of her new music. “and yes, music is coming,” she wrote.
News of Rogers’ Harvard admission arrives a few months after she saw a major music milestone. Back in June, Rogers revealed that her breakout tracks “Alaska” and “Light On” had been Certified Gold.
Here’s something you may not have known: In 2008, we grew enough food for 11 billion people.
(Reminder: There are just over 7 billion humans here on Earth.)
But half of that food went to feeding animals (you know, so we could eat them). And a great deal also went to fueling cars.
Clearly, we’re not hurting when it comes to our ability to grow food. But how we grow that food matters. In the industrial system that feeds much of the globe, it takes 10 calories of fuel to produce one calorie of food.
Which, let’s be honest, is not the most efficient process. That’s why so many people are keen on growing food organically — by which Wikipedia tells me means:
In other words, organic farming involves growing food more naturally with fewer resources. But here’s a good question: Can organic food feed the world?
Allow me to quote noted food expert Michael Pollan:
“In industrial areas, organic [farming] achieves 92% of the yield of industrial [farming]. But you go to the developing world, and it produces 182% of current yield.”
Not too shabby, eh? Maybe there’s some hope for our food system after all.
For the full talk (don’t worry, it’s short), check out the clip below.
Taking a break from ruthlessly dunking on the NFL and anti-vaxxers, comedian Bill Burr has announced the upcoming release of a new live, vinyl, double album from his sold-out show at Madison Square Garden. Now, if you’re wondering how the heck Burr pulled off a sold-out show in the middle of a pandemic, the performance is from 2018 but is only just now seeing the light of a day for the “full, unedited” album.
Burr will also be signing copies of the album next week. However, as he’s made hilariously clear several times on his Monday Morning podcast, he’s not messing around with anti-maskers, so be prepared to cover your face. From the official press release:
Bill Burr will release a live, vinyl, double album, Bill Burr Live From Madison Square Garden, in limited quantities on Thursday, September 23, available at 11:00 AM PT through Amoeba Music Hollywood and amoeba.com. Amoeba will only be able to ship to U.S. addresses, no international shipping is available due to Covid-19. Bill will make an in-store appearance at Amoeba Music to sign copies of the album on Thursday, September 23 at 6:00 PM. Signing is limited to copies of Bill Burr: Live At Madison Square Garden only. Limit one per person. Masks are required at all time while inside Amoeba Music and masks are encouraged while in line outside as well.
To further promote the limited album release, the comedian dropped an announcement video on Twitter, which you can see below:
Now that large-scale events can once again take place, festivals that had to cancel their 2020 events are now making a 2021 comeback. This means that Post Malone‘s curated festival, Posty Fest, is also set to kick off this fall. Now expanding from one to two days, Posty Fest 2021 has unveiled its lineup, which includes some of today’s biggest hip-hop stars.
Taking place over the weekend of October 30-31 2021, Posty Fest is set to be held outdoors outside of AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX. Along with Post Malone, Posty Fest’s 2021 lineup includes sets by Megan Thee Stallion, Lil Uzi Vert, Roddy Ricch, Jack Harlow, $uicideboy$, Polo G, Rod Wave, Tyga, Iann Dior, Koe Wetzel, Turnstile, Tyla Yaweh, Flo Milli, Kaash Paige, Kenny Mason, Peach Tree Rascals, RMR, Gatecreeper, Clever, LoveLeo, and more.
Posty Malone originally started the festival in 2018 with a sold-out extravaganza at Dos Equis Pavilion in Dallas. After seeing major success with its inaugural event, Posty Fest expanded to AT&T Stadium in 2019, which is home to the Dallas Cowboys. Since the 2020 event was canceled, this year’s Posty Fest is offering some special travel packages to celebrate its return. Fans who buy the travel package will receive a three-day stay at a hotel, a VIP or GA Festival ticket, Posty Fest official merch, and exclusive open bar event on Friday night in downtown Dallas.
While NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts have switched to an “at-home” format over the course of the last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many of the guests have branched out, stretching the concept to incorporate diners, nail salons, and rental spaces to perform their fan-favorite hits. Reggaeton star J Balvin takes it a step further in his scenic Tiny Desk Concert, performing his set from at atop a barge floating on New York’s East River, with the Brooklyn Bridge hanging over the gorgeous backdrop.
The set, which opens with “Vestido” and closes with his latest hit “In Da Getto,” also includes emphatic performances of “Que Locura,” “OTRO FILI,” and “F40,” all of which appear on his newly released album, Jose, released September 10 via Universal Latin.
In addition to releasing his new album and performing on Tiny Desk, J Balvin’s busy 2021 has included a performance at Governor’s Ball, a feature on “Nirvana” from Skepta’s new EP All In, a remix of Eladio Carrion’s “Tata” featuring Bobby Shmurda and Daddy Yankee, and an appearance on Metallica’s covers album, turning the band’s “Wherever I Roam” into a reggaeton anthem. Balvin also teamed up with UPS to support Latinx small businesses.
Elvis Costello’s motiviations, in this moment, appear to be punctuated by a want to bring more people into the circus tent that is music. These are, of course, commercial endeavors, but there’s a purity to them that feels like a friend sitting in a corner sharing secrets about the sometimes vexing but always tantalizing guitar or sliding a box of records over to you with a promise of something cool and unique.
Working with Audible with their Words + Music series, Costello has just launchedHow To Play The Guitar And Y, an instructional that’s a bit deconstructed, providing a more mellow and meditative experience. Costello, a master storyteller, romanticizes the instrument and the craft of learning it here, giving people a bit more meat than they’d get with a black and white technical manual.
In addition to that release comes Spanish Model, a reimagining of 1978’s This Year’s Model, but powered by a mix of the original’s music from Costello and The Attractions and a roster of Spanish language stars who put their own spin on the words, freshening a classic and giving Costello’s music an entirely new audience.
Uproxx had a chance to speak with the iconic rocker about these projects and their DNA, that effort to bring people into the tent, growing up with a sonic mixing bowl of inspirations, and whether he’s choosing to make songs of lament or songs that kick out of the box that COVID times have put us in. Here’s the result.
I am a 20-years-in terrible guitar player. I’ve never bothered to learn the technical way, I’ve tried with apps and stuff and it just never fits.
I’m 50 years into playing and you can still walk up to the guitar and point at the neck, and go, “what note is that?” And I go, “I have no idea.” And I’m not [just] saying that. That is not false modesty. I’ve deliberately kept some parts of it mysterious. And I think it’s important to keep the inner idiot alive when it comes to playing rock and roll, certainly.
What made you go down this road (an audio, non-standard demystification of the guitar) with this project?
So you probably get the idea if you’ve listened to this piece, that this is really about taking away your fear of failing… as much as I can from example. It’s not supposed to be a hard and fast foolproof instructional. It’s, as I say, a work of comedic philosophy because it’s about the state of mind. But there’s got to be something I can let people in on. Not a secret trick that’s going to make them successful, and then people love them and throw money or their underwear at them, but [something that] takes away some of that trepidation, which as you say, you can play for a long time and not feel like you’re getting anywhere, well, a lot of that is where the starting place comes.
Some people are quite happy with the three chords they can pull out at a party. Some people’s three-chord trick becomes a curiosity in which they learn every chord and they learn music more formally. I did that. I think I was in my forties before I learned how to write music down. I had written hundreds of songs, but they weren’t songs that required the writing of music. Then I started to want to do some music that did require musical coding, so to speak, which is no different than computer coding when you think about it, it’s just a mathematical diagram for ideas. But all the time, I’ve still, as I said, kept alive that idea of just playing it.
With the electric guitar, that can be very much an expression of anger, and when you play the guitar quietly, it can be your deepest sorrow or your biggest praise that you want to give, or the most heartfelt expression of love. You can do that with three chords, as well as you can with 25, if you’ve got the right song. That’s why I chose the Hank Williams song. That is such a beautiful song, but it’s only three chords. When you hear it from the outside of the music, you probably imagine anything that’s lasted that long and has mattered that much to people must be more complicated. And then actually when you get into it, it isn’t. Not technically, it’s not more, it’s where it’s phrased, and the trust that your fingers will follow you, particularly if you’re not playing in a key that’s mechanically intimidating like C, which leaves you with this great puzzle.
You mention Hank Williams and George Jones comes up in the piece. I’m fascinated by the influence of country music, specifically, that era, on UK-raised artists. When did US country music really start to influence you?
I think somebody that grew up… I’m the perfect age to be a Beatles fan. Okay. So I was eight years old when “Love Me Do” came out. I was 16 when “Let It Be” came out. So the whole of my childhood into my teenage years was the Beatles were the group. Fairly early on, they did this song and it’s like a jokey… “Act Naturally,” and Ringo’s singing it. It’s sung with a sense of humor. And I heard Jim Reeves’ [version], and that was very sentimental. Then I heard Johnny Cash and now that was something else. But I didn’t even really think that was country music as much as like some kind of rock and roll.
And then I have to say like a lot of people in my generation, The Byrds playing country music sort of made it… [I] sort of went, hold on a second. Now they’re doing a song that I’ve heard that was written by the guy that sang “Private Number,” William Bell. Now what’s going on here, now that music just jumped out of the box that I thought it was in, and it’s walked over to this other box and jumped in there. And then I heard The Flying Burrito Brothers do “Do Right Woman.” And I go, hold on a second, now I’ve got the Aretha Franklin version of that. And that’s the thing when you shouldn’t have these signposts for the names of types of music be a barrier or a stop sign, because then you go well, oh, wait a minute, both those songs are great. They are different, but one’s got a pedal steel guitar, the other’s got an organ. But is one less felt than the other? No, not really. Aretha’s obviously technically a much better singer than Graham Parsons, but they both move me. That’s all that matters. Isn’t it? That’s how it got in.
Of course, then I understood after a while, where a lot of those cues came from. They came from George Jones, they came from Merle Haggard. And they’re more complex writers like Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, who wrote a lot of the songs for the Everly’s, and wrote those songs that Emmylou Harris and Gram Parsons did: “Love Hurts” and “Sleepless Nights.” And then you discover, oh, Willie Nelson… Willie Nelson wrote that song “Funny How Time Slips Away,” which I knew as a Georgie Fame song.
So I heard it as an R&B song, first. He was covering an R&B cover of that song, not a country song. So the names for all this music all got very mixed up in England. We heard a lot of songs twice and three times over. So my familiarity with, say, the songs of Burt Bacharach were both from Dionne Warwick and people from the local music scene who were covering those songs because they were hits on the American charts. My own father was singing on the radio dance band. And I was hearing him practice songs, which I then heard sung by my favorite group. You understand, it’s confusing when you have that kind of upbringing.
What do you listen to now? Do you retreat more to things that are familiar? Are you still looking voraciously to find new influences?
Well, recently, of course, I’ve been listening to a lot of singers from Latin America because I’ve been working on Spanish Model for a couple of years. And I knew some of the artists before, and some of them were friends, and I’d worked together with Marisol and I knew Fito Páez. When I went to Argentina, he welcomed us there. But Sebastian Krys and I have worked together on a lot of different records. Some of them are available already. Some of them are still to come. And he’s also done work on things like the Armed Forces box set, where he makes four albums worth of live material to complete the reissue. So we’ve had a way of looking at different music. And one of those projects was Spanish Model, which is using the original backing tracks [from This Year’s Model] with brand new vocals by Latin artists.
This wasn’t something planned in a marketing room. This was something where I actually dreamt it up and waited for him [Sebastian] to tell me that it was crazy. And he said, “yes, it’s crazy, and that’s all the more reason why we should do it.” And we’ve worked together on finding a combination of young, successful, unknown, rising stars… people who have very artistic profiles. Some of them are very pop and would really surprise and even horrify people, even Latin audiences, that they would even be singing my song. You have to understand that I’m completely unknown in most of the countries in Latin America. So if somebody like Sebastian Yatra, who’s a big current Colombian pop star, sings one of my songs, I’m a songwriter who Yatra is singing, I’m not a famous recording artist in my own right.
So all of these different stories… the reversal of the perspective of the songs by having a young woman sing a song in her twenties that I wrote when I was in my twenties, this is all the reason why we’re doing it. That required me to become acquainted with these singers and to hear the sense of possibility in their voices. I wanted their voices to be right ones, and then asked them if they felt they could sing music that in many cases was very outside of their common experience. It wasn’t even the kind of music they sang often, and they did a great job. So that was a big lot of listening, to listen to that.
Is there a want to continue to do things like this where you work through your back catalog and work with other younger, up-and-coming artists to put a new spin on these things?
Would I do this again? Oh, I don’t know. It hadn’t occurred to me. People that want to be sarcastic about it will say, oh, what’s coming next? A Serbo-Croat version of King Of America? I don’t know. If somebody wanted to take it on and they thought there was something to be had from it, maybe, but I don’t know. This was different because Sebastian was born in Argentina and raised in Miami, which is the perfect example of a city… it’s got a huge Latin culture and you’ve got the states in America, you know the ones on the border, like Texas and California, that are as Spanish speaking as they are English speaking in some parts. That’s all represented in this record. It’s not like a political statement in any sense, it just acknowledges the reality that it’s a shared culture.
Sebastian’s worked with so many Latin artists, both northern and southern hemisphere. He was uniquely placed to suggest to me people who would really sing this well. So it wasn’t just an exercise in getting the most successful singer of that demographic to use that word and hope that they could relate to this, that we could have a conversation about what was in the songs and what we wanted that song to be in this version. Would that work in another language? I don’t know.
But we did, of course, release a French EP off the back of Hey Clockface because Steve Nieve, my cohort of 43 years, lives in France, he carries a French passport. I knew that Iggy Pop could sing in French. So I thought let’s have Iggy sing the translation. Steve then and his partner Muriel Teodori got Isabelle Adjani, who was somebody I would’ve dreamed of working with… [and she] recited one of the pieces from that Hey Clockface record. I just wanted something to offer to the French audience that was in their own language, on an EP. I have no idea whether the Spanish language record will open a door for us in Latin America where I’m currently not really very well known. It doesn’t really matter. They might just like that one song, sung by Raquel Sofia or by Jesse & Joy or any of the other artists on the record.
How has the COVID era influenced your songwriting?
It didn’t really influence the songwriting so much as the attitude to recording, because I had begun Hey Clockface in Helsinki just before the last tour I was able to do in 2020. I went to Helsinki, recorded three songs, went to Paris, recorded nine songs. That wasn’t quite the record I had in mind. So I came back and completed it with two more pieces, which were recorded from remote occasions. So once we had crossed that barrier off, which is purely a state of mind, because, as you know, many records are recorded instrument by instrument. I’ve made records both ways, live in the studio, instrument by instrument, both have their virtues, both have their pitfalls. But largely when you know you can’t get together, the only thing really holding you back is the feeling that you are somehow confined by the general malaise to your spirit, of being separated from those you respond to normally — producers, other musicians, your family. You’re far away from your friends and your family, you’re concerned for their well-being, particularly their mental, emotional health. And you try not to dwell on all of the implications of every piece of misinformation that might come through your window.
You’ve got two choices then: you can make music sort of, to some degree, embracing that sense of isolation and make songs of lament. Or you can say, well, what circumstances have put us in this box? Let’s kick our way out of here. I’ll let you guess which one of those I chose.
‘How To Play The Guitar And Y’ is available to download on Audible and ‘Spanish Model’ is also available now
Elton John has announced that he would have to postpone the UK and European legs of his Farewell Yellow Brick Road: The Final Tour due to needing surgery on his hip.
“At the end of my summer break I fell awkwardly on a hard surface and have been in considerable pain and discomfort in my hip ever since,” he explained in a post to Instagram. “Despite intensive physio and specialist treatment, the pain has continued to get worse and is leading to increasing difficulties moving.”
He continued, “I have been advised to have an operation as soon as possible to get me back to full fitness and make sure there are no long-term complications. I will be undertaking a program of intensive physiotherapy that will ensure a full recovery and a return to full mobility without pain.”
Still, John noted that he would be playing the Global Citizen Live charity concert in London on September 25, as the set would be “a very different physical undertaking to the demands of playing for close to three hours every night on tour and traveling overnight between countries.”
After the operation, the singer will hopefully return to touring in January 2022. In the interim, fans can look forward to John’s collaborative release, The Lockdown Sessions, which arrives on October 22 and features collabs with Gorillaz, Miley Cyrus, Stevie Wonder, Stevie Nicks, Nicki Minaj, and Young Thug.
Last summer, Jay-Z’s Roc Nation brand launched its School of Music, Sports, and Entertainment at Long Island University in order to “educate the next generation of industry changemakers.” The partnership is designed to grant undergraduate students opportunities to work in the music, sports, and entertainment industries, offering degrees in music, music technology, entrepreneurship & production, as well as sports management. Today, in honor of the upcoming fall semester, the school has released its first official merchandise collection, with proceeds going to the HOPE Scholarship program.
The collection is available via the university’s student-operated store and online, featuring everything from beach towels to water bottles, as well as the usual assortment of apparel such as hats, hoodies, shorts, socks, sweatpants, and t-shirts. According to a press release, additional options will be added in the future.
Roc Nation’s Hope Scholars are selected from freshmen based in New York determined by need, while the school also offers other scholarships based on GPA. When the school first launched, Long Island University President Dr. Kimberly Cline was quoted, “Our proximity in and around New York City’s epicenter of music and sports clearly positions us to offer unparalleled experiential learning and access to professional opportunities that will launch students to success.”
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