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rainythefox · 6 years

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Deviant Heart (D: BH fanfic)

Summary: Post-best ending, nearly 8 months after Markus' peaceful rally for freedom for androids, Detroit life has returned but with it comes many changes as androids learn to live a life of freedom and the world is turned upside down with growing laws to protect android rights. CyberLife succumbs to this fallout and is regained by Kamski, who has different plans for the company he created. But an unknown party linked to CyberLife has created a virus that is affecting deviants and spreading. They have unleashed a superior model of Connor (RK900) to reclaim Connor and Markus for unknown purposes. And now Connor must do what it takes to protect his newfound freedom, friends, and prove that he isn't obsolete. (Hank/Connor as father/son dynamic) (MarkusxNorth) (KaraxAlicexLuther-family)

Disclaimer: I do not own Detroit: Become Human, Quantic Dream, or its characters. I wish I could have my own Connor though ;-;

Chapter 1: Eight Months Later

"You're doing it again."

Markus hid a grin, keeping his face straight as he moved another piece on the chessboard. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Carl laughed, mildly shaking his head as he looked through his lineup. He picked a piece and shucked it forward, knocking out one of Markus' pieces. "My boy, how long have we've known each other? Give this old man a challenge sometimes."

"I won the last game. Maybe I'm just getting tired."

"Tired my ass," Carl said with another chuckle, watching as Markus took out a knight. "You don't know what tired is until you're my age."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Phhh," the old painter huffed. "That's the difference between us, Markus. When you are my age, you will still be the same. Your body and mind won't break down as fast as a human's will. In a way, I envy you."

Markus made his move and then looked up to his father. Carl's tired eyes flicked across the chessboard, and then he reached forward to move his piece, dethroning Markus' queen and ending the game. He had regained his strength in the eight months since the revolution and was starting to look healthy once again, but he did seem more tired.

Markus always logged away Carl's condition with a new scan whenever he came to visit, helping him with anything he needed. Despite his complete autonomy and freedom as an individual, he never broke his dedication to Carl. It wasn't programming, it was love. It was Carl that awoke Markus, he knew. In the eleven years they had been together, Carl had always treated him as an equal, more than just a machine. In the end, it was Carl that made Markus believe that humans and androids could live together peacefully.

"Would you really want to live that long?" Markus asked, surprised at Carl's words.

Carl rolled back in his wheelchair, away from the chess game. His eyes went to the window, looking outside to the perfectly manicured lawn and courtyard of his home under the sun of a breezy summer day.

"Used to, I would say hell no," Carl said bluntly. "I've seen humanity at its best, and I've seen it at its worst. But it's only gone downhill within my lifetime, and it's hard to have faith in humanity anymore." He shook his head. "But now, I see there is hope. And it is because of you, Markus. Because of androids. How you chose to change this world in a way that humans have never been able to do. It makes me…curious…of what the future could be like. After all, you androids don't fight over petty issues involving skin color or which god to believe in. I believe wholeheartedly that you will be the ones to save this world."

Markus got out of his chair, walking around to the old painter. "Well, I guess we will see. What little we have right now is fragile and can crumble at any moment. We still have a long way to go."

"It won't get easier either," Carl stated, looking up at his android son. "But I know you will succeed, Markus."

"Hearing that come from you makes a world of difference," Markus replied, putting a hand to Carl's shoulder. Carl reached up and patted Markus' hand.

They heard the chime for the front doors opening, allowing an entry programmed into the security system. Markus thought that maybe it had been Phillip returning from outside, but then recalled that he was upstairs.

The AP700 had been his replacement since the events that took place eight months ago. And although he was a deviant as well thanks to Markus, he was still dedicated to his serving of Carl. Markus was able to come visit Carl plenty, but his role within his people didn't allow him to stay here at all times, when Carl needed care 24/7. And so, Markus was thankful for Phillip to provide that, and they talked through mind messaging a lot concerning Carl's care.

"Hey Dad! Hey Markus."

The doors to the den opened and Leo Manfred entered with a few brown paper sacks. Carl spun in his wheelchair to face his son. Carl smiled as he watched Leo move to the dining table to set the bags down. Markus grabbed the painter's wheelchair and pushed him over to Leo.

"I was starting to think you got lost," Carl said, his tone playful.

Leo grinned, pulling some items out of the paper sacks, mostly food items. Markus analyzed Leo, a quick scan he habitually ran with anyone he met up with for the day. He was still clean, had been clean off Red Ice for eight months now. He wore relaxed fit jeans, a blue shirt and boots.

In the eight months that had passed since Markus pushed Leo and sent him to the hospital, he had cleaned up and worked really hard at mending his relationship with his father. He came over every day to help take care of Carl. Markus was relieved. There was no more hostility between him and Leo, although Leo was still nervous with trying to bond with Markus at times. They were getting better though.

"Nah, just your typical overcrowded Detroit supermarket," Leo replied. "So, was thinking. Fish…I got salmon. Some steamed veggies on the side. Oh, and rice."

Carl shook his head. "You sure have been on a healthy food kick lately."

"We have to clean up your diet, Dad. Come on. It will be good, I promise."

"He is right. You have been eating too many carbs lately," Markus said.

Carl smacked Markus in the side. "Don't tag team me."

Leo pulled another item out of a bag. It was a bottle of scotch, and he walked it over to his father. "Well, picked this up for you."

Carl brightened, taking the bottle. "Ah, my favorite. Thank you, son. We can enjoy some of this after dinner."

"You know it," Leo replied.

The doors to the den slid open once more and then Phillip was entering. The AP700 android wore a white suit, his LED flashing blue as he came over to Markus, Carl, and Leo. He smiled in greeting, his hands clasped in front of him.

"Oh hello, Leo. I didn't hear you come in."

"Hey Phillip," Leo said, nodding his way. "Yeah just got back from the supermarket."

Phillip turned to Carl. "Carl, it is time for your bath and dose of medication."

"Already?" Carl said, looking at his watch. "I guess you would know best, Phillip."

"If you go right now, you can be done in time for dinner," Markus stated, sparing Carl a smile.

"Yeah, yeah," Carl mumbled, nodding to Phillip. He handed the bottle of scotch to Markus.

The android caretaker took the handles of the wheelchair and started guiding Carl out of the den. Markus and Leo watched them go. Markus scratched his head.

"Holler if you need anything."

He sat the bottle of scotch down on the table. Leo was collecting up the items he bought for their dinner. He glanced up at Markus.

"So, uh, you staying for awhile Markus?" he asked.

Markus nodded. "Yeah unless North or the others call for me."

"Great. Want to help me cook dinner?"

Markus dipped his head. "Sure."

They moved into the large kitchen to start preparing dinner. Markus easily scanned through his memory to recall where all the kitchenware was located. Markus started cutting up the veggies while Leo worked at getting the rice water going as well as preparing the fish.

There was a long period of silence as the two men worked, then Leo broke in.

"Uh, how ya been, anyway?"

Markus thought it over. "I've been alright. Taking one day at a time. Just never know what the day is going to hold with all that's been happening with the android rights movement."

"Yeah, I heard that the old CEO of CyberLife is taking it over again. I guess there was some kind of fallout with all these changes. Makes sense I guess. I mean, no one is going to be buying androids anymore. So, what is he planning on doing with it now?"

Markus paused at cutting up a zucchini, thinking. "He's given a few interviews with his plans, but I've only been able to watch one. Carl seems to think that Kamski wants to turn CyberLife into company dedicated to androids. Thirium replacement, recalibrations, repairs, that sort of stuff."

"So like healthcare for androids?" Leo asked.

Markus nodded. "Something like that, yes. Carl said Kamski's plans didn't stop there, but until we see what happens with the establishment of more android rights, those plans won't come to light."

"I met him one time at one of Dad's art things. He seemed…I don't know…creepy to me. You ever met him?"

Markus twitched his lips, finishing up with the vegetables. "Yeah, a few times. Was always real curious about me, asked Carl questions about my behavior and programming a lot. I guess because I was a prototype."

Markus scraped the cut-up veggies into a bowl just as he heard Leo start frying the fish. He took the bowl over to the steamer to dump it in.

"What about you Leo? How have you been?" Markus asked.

Leo smiled, taking a moment to season the cooking salmon. "Good, good. Every day gets easier. Been focusing more on improving myself, ya know? It keeps me from getting that feeling of wanting to get high. I mean, I haven't felt that way in a long time, it's great. D-don't tell Dad, but…I've been taking piano lessons. Wanted to wait and surprise him."

"Really?" Markus smiled. "That's great. He will love that."

Leo rubbed the back of his head, laughing nervously. "I hope so, cuz you know, I tried taking painting classes. And I was terrible at it. I did not get that artistic gene at all."

They finished up cooking dinner and setting the dining room table. Phillip messaged Markus by thought and told him that he and Carl would be returning downstairs shortly. While waiting at the table, Markus looked outside the window. The sun had started to set. All had been quiet from North, Simon, Josh, and even Connor. He took that as a good thing and relaxed.

"Hey, uh, Markus?"

Markus' two different colored eyes moved away from the outside scenery to Leo, who sat across from him at the dining room table.

"Yeah?"

"I've been meaning to tell you for a while, and well, I guess I keep backing out of it. But…I wanted to thank you…for what you did that night."

Markus knew immediately which night he was talking about. He didn't know what to say at first, thinking it over. He also wasn't sure what he was feeling either. It was something mixed between relief and guilt, and Markus didn't understand that blend very well.

"I regret it. I could have killed you."

Leo shook his head. "But you didn't. And now look at me. You saved my life in the end. You literally knocked some sense into me."

Markus chuckled softly at Leo's light words. "Well, you're welcome, if it means that much to you."

"It does," Leo answered truthfully. He fumbled with his fingers. "And I know I have said this a few times, but I am sorry, for how I acted towards you before."

"It's alright, Leo. All is forgiven."

Carl and Phillip entered the den then, Phillip rolling Carl over to the dining table where dinner awaited. Phillip put Carl in front of the table, and Leo got his father's plate and drink ready for him before sitting down to get his own. Phillip came around and sat next to Markus and the four visited while the humans ate their meal.

"Come on, what the fuck is this?"

"Hi Hank," Ben Collins stepped over, holding his clipboard with notes. He glanced at the lieutenant's ever shadowing partner. "Uh Connor."

The RK800 nodded his way in greeting but didn't get a chance to voice anything before Lieutenant Hank Anderson cut to the chase.

"Is this really it? You ain't pulling my leg?" Hank grumbled, folding his arms and looking around the clothing store.

The veteran police officer chuckled, looking around himself, tapping the clipboard against his side. "Sorry to disappoint you. The bodies are in the back, near the counter."

"I'm skipping a perfectly good burger for this? Couldn't Gavin get this? I'm sure he has nothing else better to do."

"Eh, you'll be outta here in no time, Hank. Simple case. Looks like a robbery gone wrong."

"Any witnesses, Officer Collins?" Connor asked, looking around the outlet store, his sensory units picking up anything that could be of use.

"No, not that we know of."

Connor stepped away from Hank's side, wanting to get to work. Hank heaved a sigh, smacking Ben lightly on the shoulder as he passed to follow Connor.

"You owe me a burger, Ben!"

"Heh, sure thing, Hank."

A couple other police officers were trudging around, and Hank got onto them while Connor went straight to the bodies. He kneeled down, noticing one was on top of the other. He analyzed the bodies, a red flag coming up in his matrix as one was identified as a WR600 android. He wore normal human clothes, but there was no blue blood around or any injuries to produce such. He had no LED, had probably torn it off in the android revolution months ago like several other deviants. He was very likely a member of Jericho.

The woman his body slumped over was a human employee, late twenties. She was stabbed several times, Connor's coding coming up with a brand of pocket knife. He took a small sample of fresh blood from her clothing and analyzed it.

He looked around their bodies, trying to reconstruct what exactly happened. All he was able to gather was that the WR600 had dragged her over the counter and they fell to the floor.

"Whatcha got so far?" came Hank's voice behind him. "That the robber on top of her?"

Connor glanced at his partner from over his shoulder. "Not real sure it's a robbery. There would be no point for a WR600 to rob this store. It's women's clothing and the cash register doesn't contain much. Something else was the motive."

Hank half-smiled, crossing his arms. "That's why I leave the nitty-gritty to you. You know what's up."

"I am going to move the bodies. I have to see how the WR600…died," Connor said. He almost said shut down. He was eight months a deviant and still some old programming were old habits.

In the case for Connor, the advanced prototype, his abilities allowed him to be a valuable asset to the Detroit Police Department. In the aftermath of Detroit's evacuation, Captain Fowler and Kamski pulled strings to allow Connor to be employed and remain Hank's partner. For a machine that only knew control and completing his assigned missions, becoming deviant had left Connor lost and perplexed. He was thankful for Hank and being given his position back at the police station. It gave him a purpose, something he struggled with being a deviant.

Connor may have had a knack for adapting to human unpredictability, but he still needed help understanding emotions on a deeper level. The feelings and thoughts he would get as deviant he could understand on a basic level most of the time, but it was Hank who helped him understand himself on a deeper horizon. And because of that, Connor was starting to be able to socialize a lot less…awkwardly.

The RK800 grabbed the shoulders of the dead WR600 and pulled it up off of the victim, his database tracing through files to come up with the name Elizabeth Hubb, age 27. The WR600's right hand was clenched just below his sternum, on his Thirium pump regulator. Upon further inspection after laying him down on his back, Connor immediately noticed the knife lodged within the cylindrical plug, destroying it. The victim didn't do this to her killer, the killer did this to himself after he she was dead.

Connor quickly reconstructed the event, seeing the outlines of the attack, the android dragging the victim across the counter, the struggle, their fall to the floor. He saw the android shaking her shoulders after she was dead and then he took the knife and stabbed it into his pump regulator to kill himself.

Connor got to his feet, and Hank must have noticed his unease faster than Connor did himself. "What's wrong? You okay?"

"Huh? O-oh yeah," Connor rubbed his finger tips at his sides, his LED flashing yellow just for a moment before returning to blue. "This wasn't a robbery."

"What happened?" Hank was interested now, walking over to the prototype.

"He dragged her over the counter and killed her. Then he…shook her like he was trying to wake her up. After that he self-destructed. I don't understand the motive though. We must be missing something."

Hank looked down at the bodies, then his eyes went to the counter and skimmed across the clothing store.

"I'll talk to Ben, see if we can get the owner of the store down here. Maybe they will know something."

Connor nodded. "We should reactivate the WR600. He doesn't look majorly damaged beyond that destroyed pump regulator. I should be able to talk to him, figure out what happened. If anything, if I can get him reactivated and he won't talk, I can probe him."

"I'll get it sorted. C'mon, let's go get some lunch."

"But, shouldn't we?"

"Think you got the gist of it, son," Hank said. "Don't worry, we'll be back to finish up. We'll talk to the store owner first. It will take some time to get a replacement plug for that android to wake him up."

"Okay, Hank. But I do suggest a healthier lunch today. You already went over your total calorie intake for the day with that…whatever it was, you had this morning."

"It was a sausage egg and cheese Mcmuffin and it was fucking delicious. Breakfast for champions, I say."

"You ate two."

"So?"

Hank shoved Connor forward, rubbing the android's head playfully. "Jesus Christ, ok, I'll get something less, err, unhealthy alright?"

"Good," Connor smiled.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13002717/1/Deviant-Heart

#detroit: become human #detroit become human #dbh #dbh connor #dbh hank #dbh markus #dbh kara #rk800 #rk900 #deviants #androids #fanfiction #fanfic #Action/Adventure #mystery

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blouisparadise · 7 years

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Upon request, here is a fic rec list with bottom Louis fics that are very long - specifically, 100k words or longer. Happy reading!

1) To Embroider Your Waist With Corals | Explicit | 100700 words

All harpy Louis has known is the sky, all merprince Harry has known is the sea, except when they're together.

2) Swim In The Smoke | Explicit | 101778 words

“What about this, Captain?” Liam asks, nudging the boy kneeling between their feet with the toe of his boot. The boy hisses and swipes at him, slurring out something unintelligible around the makeshift gag Niall had to stuff in his mouth. He misses by a mile and tries again, just as ineffectively.

Harry looks down at him, at the way the sun streams over his face and shoulders, at the way the gag stretches his mouth, lips pink and chapped. He’s lithe and pretty, smudged all over with dirt. They had found him tied up below deck, mostly unconscious, next to a barrel full of gold. He’s clearly a prisoner, but there’s something familiar about him, something that niggles at Harry’s brain. Something he can’t quite put his finger on.

“Put him in my cabin,” Harry decides, turning back to deal with the rest of the loot. The boys screams out jumbled curse words at Harry’s back, muffled by the gag, and Harry can’t understand any of it.

3) You Drive Me Crazy (But It Feels Alright) | Explicit | 102036 words

Note: Mention of BH.

Bridget Jones' Diary AU.

“Harry is not short for Harold,” he corrects, his voice as thick as molasses. He lowers his eyes to Louis’ sequined lapels, rubbing one between two fingers. “Is this small or extra small? It looks lovely.”

Louis breaks away from his grip with a petulant huff and pushes him back with two fingers.

“You’re mocking me. Again.”

Harry smiles and it's a real honest swoop of his lips this time. Louis’ stomach swoops with them.

4) The Galaxy’s Edge | Explicit | 113921 words

In which Louis is a bounty hunter with a messed up past. Harry is a prince who just wants to prove himself. Niall and Zayn have too many things to figure out together. And Liam just wants to take care of his family.

5) Burn To Ash | Explicit | 116004 words

Harry is sitting there, so fucking casual, and Louis realizes in a split second he was not ready. When Harry walked out in Detroit and never looked back, he was a boy verging on a man, still only twenty years old, but there's a man in his place now. Hard and resolute, yes, but still, for the first time in a long time, Louis can kind of see the old Harry in him. The soft, directness of his gaze, the hesitant smile he gives to Lou, the way he wrings his ridiculously large hands in his lap.

He's a little bit the eager sixteen year old puppy dog again, his innocence and sweetness resurrected miraculously, and Louis freezes in place. He was prepared to face the asshole Harry. He was prepared to meet a whole new Harry.

Louis is not prepared to meet one of the old incarnations of Harry, and it absolutely tears him up.

6) Never Be | Explicit | 117522 words

The one where Harry Styles moves to Connecticut from England for nine months as a part of a study abroad program, and he just so happens to move in with Louis Tomlinson and family.

7) I Have Your Dreams (And Your Teeth Marks) | Explicit | 118000 words

Note: This fic was recently deleted, but we’ve linked to a PDF for private use ONLY. Please do not repost the fic anywhere.

Louis and Harry don't believe in second chances, but sometimes it feels like the universe does. A Music Industry/Getting Back Together AU.

8) Baby Heaven’s In Your Eyes | Explicit | 120925 words

They couldn’t be more different if they tried. Louis Tomlinson is 17 years old and in his last year of the most prestigious private school in Doncaster. Everyone who attends his school knows him thanks to his incredibly rich family, sassy attitude and gorgeous girlfriend, Eleanor Calder. If there’s one thing that completely annoys him, it’s that there is a poor community college right across the street.

Harry Styles is 19 years old, and (once again) in his last year of college. He goes to community college in Doncaster. He never shows up to classes and if he actually bothers to, he’s either high or drunk; sometimes both. His skin is littered with tattoos and if there’s one thing he absolutely hates, it’s the snobby students attending the private school right across from his.

9) Among the Humans | Explicit | 129435 words

A gothic, modern day vampire romance between a young human named Louis Tomlinson, and Harry Styles, ancient vampire and gentleman.

Creatures of the night come with more trouble than they wish to make it seem.

10) Run Like the Devil | Explicit | 138084 words

Note: Mentions of BH.

Supernatural AU. Louis hunts demons; Harry's the strangest demon he's ever met, and he keeps fucking meeting him.

11) The Breaking Of Your Soul (Upon My Lips) | Explicit | 138499 words

The one in which One Direction in 2015 still includes Zayn, and nothing has been right between Harry and Louis for a long time now. Louis is certain that the situation he finds himself in won't change anything at all - he doesn't want it to, if he is honest with himself, as he doesn't want this situation to be a situation in the first place.

12) You Are The Blood | Explicit | 175151 words

Note: Mentions of BH.

A seventh-year Hogwarts AU in which Niall gets all the girls, Liam goes on a journey of self-discovery, Zayn falls in love, Harry wants something more, and Louis tries to figure out once and for all why he, a Muggleborn, was sorted into Slytherin.

13) I Only Ever Want You | Explicit | 180079 words

Louis and Harry's relationship goes through a series of changes while Liam and Zayn discover new things about themselves, as well.

14) Cold Little Heart | Teen & Up | 194577 words

Louis is a soft omega with an abusive past and an alpha child.

A few months after getting a divorce, Louis meets Harry, an ex-military alpha wolf that offers him something -odd.

In exchange for teaching him how to cook, Harry will babysit his son, Abraham. Louis really could use the help.

15) All I Want | Explicit | 289311 words

When Harry and Louis got together it wasn’t under the best circumstances. Louis was taken by another. But go figure that the way they ended up together is the very same way it ended. And Harry left Louis. He left him with a lot more than he thought. A story about how people’s misconceptions almost destroyed a love that went beyond measure.

Check out our other fic rec lists by category here and by title here.

#blp fic recs #bottom louis #top harry #fic recs #blp

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techcrunchappcom · 4 years

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New Post has been published on https://techcrunchapp.com/best-fantasy-football-waiver-wire-pickups-for-week-4/

Best fantasy football waiver wire pickups for Week 4

After last week’s injury-riddled Sunday, fantasy football rosters stayed mostly intact in Week 3 (though there are still some injury fill-ins worth considering as free agent adds this week). That’s ultimately good news, but it makes our list of top Week 4 fantasy waiver wire pickups look a little thinner. Fortunately, several rookie WRs, including Justin Jefferson, Tee Higgins, and Brandon Aiyuk, broke out and teased fantasy owners with future stardom. Quite a few veterans, such as Rex Burkhead, Greg Ward, and Jeff Wilson Jr., also stepped up and might be worth considering picking up this week, though it’s unlikely any will require actual waiver claims (save for Carlos Hyde, pending the severity of Chris Carson’s late-game knee injury). Sorry — not every week features the consensus top-two preseason picks suffering serious injuries.

Our full free agent list has a bunch of potential pickups, though most fall into the “stash” category as we get closer to the bye weeks. Guys like Hunter Renfrow, James Washington, Andy Isabella, and Cordarrelle Patterson could have some value because of injuries to guys in front of them. Others, like Myles Gaskin, Logan Thomas, Mo Alie-Cox, and Corey Davis, keep seeing a steady amount of work even if they aren’t necessarily putting up huge stats. It’s all about opportunities in fantasy, so pay attention to more than just the yards and touchdowns. We also have some potential D/ST streamers at the end of this list because we feel much more confident about favorable/unfavorable matchups.

MORE WEEK 4: RB Handcuff Chart

Unless you’re really desperate for a receiver or low-ceiling RB like Hyde, Gaskin or Adrian Peterson, this doesn’t look like the week to use a high waiver claim. Some of these WRs look legit, if inconsistent, but they’re not worth top-five claims. It’s not a bad idea for owners with low claims to snatch these guys up before they hit the free agent market, but you don’t want to fall too far down the list because you know more serious injuries are coming this year. Hyde is the one exception if Carson is slated to miss multiple weeks. — Matt Lutovsky

Unless otherwise noted, only players owned in fewer than 50 percent of Yahoo leagues considered.

Justin Jefferson, WR, Vikings

Jefferson was a non-factor through the first two games (five receptions, six targets, 70 yards), but he broke out in a big way in Week 3, catching seven-of-nine targets for 175 yards and a score. A favorable matchup against the Titans and a 71-yard TD helped him have such a big day, but he’s capable of being an every-week starter if he gets regular targets. The Vikings haven’t utilized their TEs this year, and as long as that keeps happening, Jefferson will have the opportunity for targets. He’s well worth stashing ahead of the bye weeks. —Matt Lutovsky

Myles Gaskin, RB, Dolphins

The Dolphins utilized Gaskin early and often against the Jaguars on Thursday Night Football. He finished with 22 carries for 66 yards and five catches for 29 yards. Aside from Jordan Howard stealing very short-yardage touchdowns, Gaskin seems to be the main man in this backfield ahead of Howard and Matt Brieda. The Seahawks don’t have a great run defense, so if Gaskin continues to see touches, he’ll be worth using in a fantasy flex spot in Week 4, at minimum. –Billy Heyen

Brandon Aiyuk, WR, 49ers

Aiyuk didn’t do much in his Week 2 debut (two catches, three targets, 21 yards, no carries), but his versatility was on full display in Week 3. The talented rookie caught five-of-nine targets for 70 yards and added 31 rushing yards and a score on three carries against the Giants. Deebo Samuel (foot) is expected to be out until Week 5, so Aiyuk will have another chance to establish himself as a trustworthy contributor in Week 4. Grab him now. —ML

Tee Higgins, WR, Bengals

With A.J. Green looking like a shell of himself (despite getting frequent targets) and John Ross III being a healthy inactive in Week 3, a receiver other than Tyler Boyd figures to step up for the pass-happy Bengals. Higgins was that guy in Week 3, catching five-of-nine targets for 40 yards and two TDs. Higgins had six targets in Week 2, so he’s trending upward. At 6-4, 216 pounds, Higgins can do damage all over the field, making him well worth a bench spot. —ML

Carlos Hyde, RB, Seahawks

Chris Carson exitedlate in Seattle’s win over Dallas and was seen limping on the sideline due to an apparent knee injury. We’ll certainly find out more about the severity throughout the week, but Hyde should be on everyone’s radar as a top claim if Carson is expected to miss any time. Travis Homer would also be a potential PPR flex if Carson is out against Miami. —ML

Ward found the end zone in Week 3 on one of his eight catches (11 targets). The converted quarterback has worked well out of the slot for the Eagles since he took on a bigger role late last season, and he did see seven targets in Week 1 before a quiet Week 2. He’s worth considering in PPR leagues as a player with a decent weekly floor, especially against an injury-depleted 49ers defense in Week 4. DeSean Jackson (hamstring) and Dallas Goedert (ankle) suffered injuries in Week 3, so that could raise Ward’s ceiling. –BH

Jeff Wilson Jr., RB, 49ers

Jerick McKinnon was the primary back for the 49er in Week 3, but Wilson saw just about equal work to the shifty back. Wilson saw 12 carries, and while he only logged 15 yards, he did score on the ground. He also caught all three of his targets for 54 yards and another score. Kyle Shanahan loves to mix up his backs, so as long as Raheem Mostert (knee) is out, Wilson will be a solid flex play bordering on RB2 in a couple of good upcoming matchups against the Eagles and Dolphins.— Jacob Camenker

Corey Davis, WR, Titans

Reports continue to indicate that the bone bruise in A.J. Brown’s knee could keep him out of action longer. That means Davis retains his spot as the temporary No. 1 WR in Tennessee for a bit longer. That didn’t lead to huge fantasy production in Week 2 (though he did score), but he did log five catches for 69 yards on Sunday against the Vikings. Davis is still a former top-10 pick playing with one of the league’s most underrated QBs, a combination that should work out more often than not. –BH

Allen Lazard, WR, Packers

The Packers have one of the best passing attacks in the NFL helmed by Aaron Rodgers and they are taking on the Falcons and their turly awful secondary in Week 4. Lazard should have a chance to put up big numbers especially with top Packers receiver, Davante Adams, battling a hamstring injury.— JC

#10

Marquez Valdes-Scantling, WR, Packers

Stop us if you’ve heard this before: The Packers have one of the best passing attacks in the NFL helmed by Aaron Rodgers and they are taking on the Falcons and their truly awful secondary in Week 4. Marquez Valdes-Scantling should have a chance to put up big numbers especially with top Packers receiver, Davante Adams, battling a hamstring injury.– JC

#11

Hunter Renfrow, WR, Raiders

With Henry Ruggs (knee) out, Renfrow stepped up. He saw a team-high nine targets (no other player saw more than four) and caught six of them for 84 yards and a TD (and was a few inches short of a second TD). Garbage time helped him pad those stats, but he should be added based on his potential PPR prowess. –JC

#12

Cole Beasley, WR, Bills

After John Brown exited against the Rams with a calf injury, Beasley emerged as Josh Allen’s favorite target. He led the team in targets with seven, catches with six, and he logged 100 yards even on the day. If Brown misses time, Beasley should be a WR3 and could be a very strong play in PPR against a porous Raiders defense in Week 4. –JC

#13

Rex Burkhead, RB, Patriots

Three-TD games will always draw fantasy attention, but it’s important to note that James White (personal) and Damien Harris (hand) will likely return to the Patriots backfield next week. Because of that, Burkhead might be a one-week wonder who’s not worth owning, but clearly he has big upside if one or both of White and Harris remain out. White is the key, as Burkhead soaks up a lot of his passing-down snaps that White usually gets (as shown by his seven catches on 10 yargets), but considering White isn’t injured, it’s fair to expect him back soon. —ML

#14

Damien Harris, RB, Patriots

Harris (hand) has officially spent three weeks on IR, and the Patriots could activate him soon. If he is active, the second-year back and former third-round pick could work his way into a rotation that could use a potential bell-cow back. Harris could qualify, so scoop him up based on his ceiling even if his floor is low. –JC

Gore is still getting volume as the Jets’ lead rusher. He handled 15 carries against the Colts despite the Jets trailing for a majority of the game. He’s not a sexy pic up, but he does have TD upside as he’ll handle most of the red-zone carries for at least one more week. —JC

#16

Adrian Peterson, RB, Lions

The Lions backfield is going to be unpredictable because Matt Patricia likes to keep opponents guessing, but Peterson looks like the leader back there. Peterson handled virtually all of the backfield work (22 carries) for Detroit and he was their most effective runner. He may eventually cede carries to Kerryon Johnson and D’Andre Swift, but for now, the veteran should be the top back in the offense and owned in more than 52 percent of Yahoo leagues. —JC

#17

Andy Isabella, WR, Cardinals

The UMass product got a chance to play extra snaps with Christian Kirk out, and he made the most of it. Isabella caught all four of his targets for 47 yards and two TDs, and the Cardinals may opt to use his speed and quickness as a mismatch weapon in that red zone more often. He’s worth owning given his potential big-play ability. —JC

#18

Scotty Miller, WR, Buccaneers

Chris Godwin left the Bucs’ win over the Broncos with an apparent hamstring injury. It’s unclear if the Bucs were just being cautious with their receiver in a big win or if he suffered a soft-tissue injury that could linger. If Godwin misses time, that will open up an opportunity for Miller to step into the No. 2 receiver role once again. He caught a 47-yard pass from Tom Brady on Sunday, so he’s good to have around either way. —JC

#19

Alshon Jeffery, WR, Eagles

Jeffery (foot) might finally be back in Week 4. He’s a shell of what he once was, but he’s still a big target who might be counted on in the red zone. If nothing else, it’s worth keeping him in mind as you make your pickups this week. It’s easy to lose track of players who have yet to play a game this season due to injury. –BH

#20

Cordarrelle Patterson, RB/WR, Bears

Tarik Cohen suffered a bad knee injury on a punt return late in the Bears’ win over the Falcons. Patterson will be the top backup to David Montgomery. Patterson with Cohen out, and although he’s not yet RB-eligible on some sites, that’s the position he’ll be playing. He saw four carries for 13 yards against the Falcons, and the converted receiver could do some damage as a pass-catcher out of the backfield if given more snaps.— JC

#21

James Washington, WR, Steelers

Diontae Johnson suffered a concussion in the Steelers’ Week 3 win over the Texans. Now, he’ll have to work his way through the NFL’s concussion protocol, so he should be considered questionable for next week’s game against the Titans, who just had trouble containing rookie receiver Justin Jefferson. Washington could have a chance at a big game as a result, as he ended up with a team-high seven targets and five catches for 36 yards helping to replace Johnson in Week 3. — JC

#22

Mo Alie-Cox, TE, Colts

Even with Jack Doyle back from injury, Alie-Cox was the Colts’ top pass-catching tight end. He managed to grab Philip Rivers’ lone passing TD of the day and has a strong rapport with the veteran quarterback. He will be a solid low-end TE1 given his nice upcoming schedule (Bears, Browns, Bengals, Lions). —JC

#23

Jimmy Graham, TE, Bears

Graham has had an up-and-down season so far, but he saw 10 targets and caught six passes for 60 yards and two TDs against the Falcons. He has more upside with Nick Foles now (likely) starting at quarterback, and he could put up more consistent numbers as a result. He may be more of a TD-dependent start at TE, but he’s worth owning as the potential No. 2 target in Chicago’s offense.— JC

#24

Eric Ebron, TE, Steelers

Ebron caught a touchdown in Week 3, which is where you’re going to find fantasy value from him going forward. The Titans are a favorable TE matchup coming up in Week 4, so if nothing else, you can stream Ebron if you’re dealing with a rough tight end situation. –BH

#25

Logan Thomas, TE, Washington

Thomas has racked up 24 targets through three weeks , and that included seven targets for four catches and 31 yards against the Browns. His yardage totals haven’t been particularly inspiring, but Thomas is a TD threat and could be a starter in PPR formats. As long as he’s getting volume, he’s a threat to produce. –JC

#26

Laviska Shenault Jr., WR, Jaguars

Shenault continues to see a handful of targets and multiple rushes each game, and he’s proving to be a powerful runner. The Jaguars could bounce back offensively against the Bengals in Week 4, and Shenault should continue to see a consistent workload, especially if DJ Chark (chest) remains out. –BH

#27

Preston Williams, WR, Dolphins

Williams bounced back from a subpar Week 2 to catch a touchdown on Thursday Night Football in Week 3. He’ll continue to be hit-or-miss as the third passing game option behind DeVante Parker and Mike Gesicki, but he remains talented enough and a good enough red-zone threat to warrant a spot on fantasy rosters. –BH

#28

Braxton Berrios, WR, Jets

For the second-consecutive week, Berrios was able to reel in a TD from Sam Darnold. The Jets aren’t a very good team, but as long as Jamison Crowder (hamstring) is out, Berrios will see a lot of action in the slot and have a chance to catch TDs. And as long as the Jets are trailing, there will be plenty of opportunities for garbage-time points. –JC

#29

Dontrelle Inman, WR, Washington

Dwayne Haskins had four receivers that saw six-plus targets on Sunday against the Browns, and one of them was Dontrelle Inman. The veteran caught three passes for 38 yards but made a big fantasy impact by grabbing two TDs. He may not repeat this production each week, but he should be added given that Haskins seems to be looking his way in the end zone and Washington figures to pass a lot as they look to stay in games.– JC

#30

Olamide Zaccheaus, WR, Falcons

Julio Jones missed Sunday’s game with a hamstring injury and Russell Gage suffered a head injury and exited early. As a result, Zaccheaus ended up seeing six targets and catching four passes for 41 yards, all of which ranked second on the team behind Calvin Ridley. It’s also worth noting that Matt Ryan overthrew Zaccheaus for what could’ve been a big TD, so Zaccheaus should’ve done better. He should be added, as he could be a flex depending on the health of Jones and Gage. –JC

#31

Adam Humphries, WR, Titans

Humphries saw seven targets against the Vikings, good for the second most on the Titans behind tight end Jonnu Smith. As long as A.J. Brown (knee) is out, Humphries will continue to be a reliable slot target for Ryan Tannehill. His upcoming schedule looks solid, as the Steelers, Bills, and Texans have all had some trouble against slot receivers, so he could be a nice low-end WR3/high-end flex in PPR formats.— JC

#32

Curtis Samuel, WR, Panthers

With Christian McCaffrey out, Samuel took on a bigger role as a runner. Mike Davis was the top RB, but Samuel handled four carries for the Panthers. He only had seven yards on the ground, but the sure-fire touches are certainly a good sign. He also caught four passes for 45 yards, so he’s a solid bench receiver that can be a flex play in the right matchup. —JC

#33

Demarcus Robinson, WR, Chiefs

As long as Sammy Watkins (concussion) is out, Robinson will have more chances to produce in the Chiefs’ offense. He should be watched closely against the Ravens on Monday night, but he’s definitely a guy that could be a nice bench piece with flex upside while Watkins is unavailable. —JC

#34

Gabriel Davis, WR, Bills

Davis is distinctly a deep-league target, as the Bills have a lot of mouths to feed. But Davis showed off both his possession skills and his down-field speed in the first half for the Bills on Sunday. The rookie from UCF looks like he’ll be targeted often when he’s in the game, at least, and if he keeps making plays, he can at least push Cole Beasley for the WR3 spot in Buffalo or be a good fill-in for John Brown as he deals with a calf injury. –BH

#35

KJ Hamler, WR, Broncos

Hamler caught just three passes for 30 yards, but he did see five targets and one carry for the Broncos against the Buccaneers. In easier matchups, he should be a better play, and when Drew Lock returns from a shoulder injury, his ceiling as a deep threat could be as high as a WR3. —JC

#36

Justin Herbert, QB Chargers

Adam Schefter has reported that Tyrod Taylor is likely to miss Week 4 as he continues to recover from his punctured lung. Herbert gets a tough Week 4 matchup against the Buccaneers, but the rookie will continue to be worth starting in two-QB and superflex formats as long as he’s getting the starting nod. It’s also fair to expect that another good performance or two could keep Taylor on the sidelines even once he’s healthy, making Herbert worth considering as a backup in single-QB formats if you’re looking for one, as he does have consecutive 300-yard passing games. –BH

#37

Arizona Cardinals D/ST

Playing in Carolina would be scary most of the year due to Christian McCaffrey’s presence, but Arizona won’t have to worry about that in Week 4. That’s enough to fire this group up to chase after Teddy Bridgewater and likely force a turnover or two once Kyler Murray snags a big lead. –BH

#38

Philadelphia Eagles D/ST

There are streams better than this if the 49ers get Jimmy Garoppolo back, but if it’s Nick Mullens and one or more RBs are still absent from the San Francisco attack, the Eagles are a worthy stream. Mullens’ career TD:INT ratio isn’t much greater than 1:1, so the Philadelphia secondary could feast if the 49ers fall behind in this game. –BH

The Broncos are far from full strength due to injuries, but the perfect fix for that is a matchup with Sam Darnold and the Jets, who will still be without Le’Veon Bell and will rely on the ancient Frank Gore in the backfield. Turnovers and three-and-outs could be the order of the day for Denver’s defense on Thursday night Week 4. –BH

#40

Seattle Seahawks D/ST

There’s always a chance Miami breaks out Tua Tagovailoa for his NFL debut here after a 10-day layoff following Thursday Night Football. That means you’ll stream a defense either facing a QB in his NFL debut or facing Ryan Fitzpatrick, both of which are appealing enough to pursue this stream despite the trip cross country. –BH

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theholidaytracklist · 4 years

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50 Tracks 2019

Welcome!! This is your annual installment of 50 Tracks, the musical greeting card to all of my favorite people both near and far. I hope that you and yours have been enjoying the holiday season, the brightness of the lights in the cold of winter, and the warm comforts of steady tradition. May you carry this joy into the boundless opportunity of the new year!

2019 was similar to its predecessor in that it was short on truly great music but deep in really good music, though I think there was actually more depth in album quality this year than last. As I say every year, music continues to be a mirror for where we are individually and as a world, so it’s no surprise that many of the artists I chose to select here are echoing the dynamics I find myself exploring in the twilight of 2019: feelings of uncertainty, existential dread, hedonistic joy, comic apathy, anger and catharsis, obstacles of love, wavering currents of hope. As I age I recognize more and more the way that music can act as a prism through which my emotional thought is refracted and colored, and I am both unsettled by the distorting impact that may have on my perspective, as well as being in awe of the tidal force that it plays in my understanding of the world around me. I hope at least one of these songs or artists can have that level of impact on you as well.

As always, the list is limited to one entry per artist. It was frequently challenging to choose one song to represent the impact that many of these cohesive albums had on me this year, so when the featured artist had multiple songs that were among my favorites of the year, those additional songs will be denoted below the main entry in [Brackets]. Click on the bolded song titles to open the accompanying YouTube video. Enjoy!

Honorable Mentions:

Chromatics - Closer To Grey

We’ll start things off with the washed out driving electronics of Portland quartet Chromatics, who dropped a surprise seventh album in October, also titled Closer to Grey. Always good to set a mood, Johnny Jewel and company deliver another gem here, perfectly scoring my snowed-out back road wanderings this winter.

Clams Casino - Rune

Now almost 10 years into a career that has already seen a remarkable amount of both commercial and critical high notes, New Jersey producer Clams Casino continues to be central in forming hip hop’s next waves. Returning with only his second proper studio album, November's Moon Trip Radio was another dive into his ambient side, ripe with both churning anthems like Rune and delicate moments that feel like watching butterflies flutter about in the sun.

[Twilit]

Crumb - Fall Down

Crumb is a wonderful indie-psych quartet of Brooklyn-based musicians who formed while attending Tufts University right in my backyard. The band quickly received some strong buzz with 2017’s Locket, and followed that up with their first full-length project Jinx this June. That record is stocked with fuzzy little tunnels of sound, with Fall Down being my personal favorite.

JPEGMAFIA - Jesus Forgive Me, I Am A Thot

I've been aware of the artist affectionately known as Peggy for the last couple of years, and while I didn't see last year's Veteran as the achievement some felt it was, I definitely respect the creativity, individuality, and force of the man as an artist. With the attitude of a punkster, a sample folder of the Gods, and a sound born in the deepest cockles of the internet, one of JPEGMafia’s greatest strengths is just how much he attacks you with his musical vision. It’s never worked as well as it does here on the whip-tight energy of Jesus Forgive Me I Am A Thot.

Mannequin Pussy - Drunk II

I'm not even going to try to defend this band name, it's one of the worst I've ever come across. That said, the Philly foursome are proving three albums into their young career that their music can be just as affecting, with lead singer Marisa Dabice delivering a powerhouse turn here with her desperate musings on Drunk II.

Mariah The Scientist - Beetlejuice

I still know very little about Atlanta R&B singer Mariah The Scientist, and the lack of overall noise about the 21 year-old fits with the somewhat strangely elusive feel of Beetlejuice off her August debut Master. On the one hand her age, the look of this video, and her connection to Tory Lanez paint the picture of an R&B B-level flash. And yet the measured power in her voice here, the patience of the production (those drums wait until 1:40 to kick in), and the way her jaded lyrics feel decidedly genuine all point towards a much more promising young artist.

Sir - Mood (ft. Zacari)

A stand out from Inglewoed singer and TDE artist Sir’s latest Chasing Summer, Mood is the well-balanced poolside cocktail for your taste buds. Here the hook comes from label-mate Zacari, who provided a similar garnish for Kendrick on 2017’s Love, and had his own song in contention with Don’t Trip from back in the spring.

Smino - Klink

It feels like Smino’s hip-hop sensibilities are all very relevant to the collective sound in 2020, which might be part of the reason (writing killer hooks always helps) the St. Louis rapper is as well-connected in the community as he is. With ties to Dreamville and everyone in the Chicago scene, Smino blends influences like Nelly, Outkast, Ludacris, and Bone Thugs with his own cartoon flow to create something unique on every feature. I’m stoked to see him and 50 Track alums No Name and Saba join up for more music together as Ghetto Sage in 2020.

Spirit Family Reunion - Come Our Way

Spirit Family Reunion gave us another fulfilling entry into their version of the American Songbook this year with August's Ride Free, the Brooklyn band’s third stellar LP of traditional folk/bluegrass/gospel music. This album saw Nick Panken and friends share a little more of themselves and their view on the state of the world in 2019, with some of that slow entropy leaking into the easy country road malaise of Come Our Way.

Zsela - Noise

Zsela is 24-year old Zsela Thompson, half-sister of actress Tessa Thompson and currently unknown darling of the music/fashion world, releasing hauntingly composed folk ballads and then playing sets on runways, in moody bars, and in quiet churches. Both Noise and Earlier Days made a strong impression on me this year, and if Thompson can approach the heights of current tour mates like Cat Power and Angel Olsen, she’ll be doing just fine.

[Earlier Days]

50.) 03 Greedo & Kenny Beats - Disco Shit (ft. Freddie Gibbs)

03 Greedo hasn't necessarily done much to make me take notice to this point, but as a fan of Kenny Beats (check out his YouTube show The Cave if you haven't) I gave their collaborative album Netflix & Deal a listen, and while this is one of the lone standouts, Greedo might deliver the hook of the year right here. The way his voice hits this beat is butter, and with the bonus of hearing an auto-tuned Gibbs, this one is too good to deny.

49.) Girlpool - What Chaos Is Imaginary

LA duo Girlpool have graced this list a couple of times before, but February's What Chaos Is Imaginary was the first record they've released an album since founding member Avery Tucker's voice became profoundly impacted by hormone therapy. Tucker entered the gender flow in 2017 and has had to cope with the impact that flow has had on his voice, once a huge part of the band’s sonic identity The title track of that record is proof enough of the band’s resilience, with Harmony Tividad’s voice wielding much of that restorative power.

48.) Rich Brian - Yellow (ft. Bekon)

After being somewhat of a meme throw-in in this area of the list with his song Dat Stick (as Rich Chigga) back in 2016, Brian Emmanuel has steadily become a legitimate artist in hip hop, following up 2018’s solid Amen with The Sailor this July. Lead single Yellow is a creative revelation for Brian, introducing a wave of psych elements, the prominence of his singing voice in new ways, and a more direct window into his pain.

47.) Sacred Paws - The Conversation

Indie rock duo Sacred Paws won the Scottish Album of the Year Award with their 2017 debut Strike A Match, and returned with more noodly goodness with May’s Run Around The Sun. The Conversation was just one of a number of tracks on that record with a similar 90s sunshine sensibility that feels so blissfully hopeful and welcome in this era of existentialism in music.

[Almost It] [Brush Your Hair]

46.) Danny Brown - Dirty Laundry

With uknowwhatimsayin, his first record in the shadow of 2016’s Atrocity Exhbition, Danny Brown says his goal was to create a hodge-podge of sounds and ideas, like how when people tack ‘you know what I’m saying?’ to the end of heir sentences they’re usually not saying much. The record comes off sounding much more New York than Detroit, but Danny keeps his manic energy, hitting his spots with a range of humor, wit, and tenacity over Q-Tip led production.

[Best Life] [Change Up] [Combat] [Savage Nomad]

45.) Boy Scouts - All Right

Boy Scouts is Oakland singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Taylor Vick, and her record Free Company made it across my desk relatively late in this process, as her stellar track Get Well Soon graced some other end-of-the-year lists. But it was the chugging blues and golden refrain of All Right, complete with space confetti synths, that really permeated my being. One of those relatively soft songs you can still head bang to.

[Get Well Soon]

44.) Brockhampton - Dearly Departed

Ginger was a step forward for the boys of Brockhampton, even if it failed to reach the same dizzying heights of any of the Saturation trilogy. Still trying to find their footing in the wake of traumatic transition, BH have oscillated between an R&B sound (giving Bearface and Joba more reps and streamlining production) and a gritty oddball sound (more bombastic Romil production with Matt, Meryln, KA, and Dom front and center). Dearly Departed is the emotional centerpiece of Ginger and sees the group confronting the anger and pain that Ameer’s absence has left them with.

[Sugar] [If You Pray Right]

43.) Oso Leone - Virtual U

Virtual U is a sticky ode to modern distance from Barelona-based band Oso Leone, who broke a 5 year fast with their third record Gallery Love back in March. Striking a similar tone as modern bedroom bands like Rhye, with influences from the world of jazz, fusion, and 90’s pop, this one ripples with a meditative swagger.

42.) Pivot Gang - No Vest (ft. Mick Jenkins)

2019 was the year where we finally got a handful of “Crew” records from some of the most vibrant gangs in hip-hop (with Travis’ Jack Boys project only releasing in the days before this was published), and the three big ones all made the list. First up is Pivot Gang, the west-side Chicago clique who have been putting out diverse independent hip-hop for the past ten years. The group lives on without founding member John Walt, who was memorialized in group leader Saba’s tour de force Prom/King from last year. Their first studio album You Can’t Sit With Us is littered with standouts, but here’s the Mick Jenkins featured No Vest, where you get to see all three core members turn a verse.

[Bible] [Mortal Kombat] [Hero]

41.) Kanye West - Follow God

It’s a strange time to be a Kanye fan on the eve of 2020. While he’s (thankfully) not following through on his promise to run for president this coming year, Kanye has continued to thrust himself into the social/political consciousness in recent years, and in increasingly destructive ways. I’ve always been a Kanye defender, partly because I understand the bond bond between art and artist to be inherently tumultuous, and because I’ve seen Kanye as an impulsive, narcissistic, and emotional, but ultimately harmless musical savant, who consistently reinvents himself and pushes genre forward. I thought The Life of Pablo was a flawed masterpiece, and furthered the notion of Kanye as a towering artist, both in reality and inside of his head. His decision to scrap Yandhi and replace it with Jesus is King will become one of the more bizarre ‘what ifs?’ in hip-hop history, and the combination of his pseudo-religiosity and Trumpathy (just made that up) are signs of a man cracking under the weight of his own ‘icon’ obsession. To Kanye, Trump represents the pinnacle of ego achievement, I don’t think he so much endorses the politics as much as he is blinded by the raw power of Trump’s being. As documented in the Jesus is King videos, Kanye is building a rural kingdom in Wyoming, Kardashian clan fully in tow, his personal brand of middle-age dad paranoia melding with the existential paranoia sitting heavy in the 2019 air. But even with all of the baggage he brings these days, Kanye can still make remarkable music. Even at 1:45 Follow God is the standout moment from JiK, but if you want an indication of what the record may have sounded like in the Yandhi alternate timeline, and what this man is still capable of, check out the OG version of Selah linked below or revel in the power of Use This Gospel’s solo (whether you prefer Mike Dean or Kenny G).

[Original Selah] [Use This Gospel]

40.) Gerry Read - It’ll All Be Over (DJ Koze Remix)

This is the second straight year that DJ Koze has made a loop-heavy dance floor smash that begs for repeat plays. Last year it was his Gladys Knight sampling shake of Pick Up and this year it was his re-work of his label signee Gerry Read’s equally groovy It’ll All Be Over that nustled into a warm place in my subconscious.

39.) Dreamville - Costa Rica

Here’s the second crew record to make the list, with the exuberant Costa Rica from Dreamville’s third Revenge of the Dreamers compilation. The last installment of this series was all the way back in 2015 however, and even though label-head J. Cole remains the leader of Dreamville, III is a different monster purely in scale. With a swollen features list, swollen track list, and a stable of new talent since 2015 that includes J.I.D and Earthgang, III is groundbreaking in its consistency and it’s commercial appeal. Alongside posse cuts and introspective bangers, Costa Rica is notable in that it jams 9 artists into three and a half minutes and none of them are named J. Cole.

[Wells Fargo] [Sacrifices]

38.) Joji - Sanctuary

Another memer gone good, Joji made this list for the first time last year with the understated sleeper Test Drive but in 2020 he left twitch subtlety behind for the quiet grandeur of Sanctuary. Appropriately laid over the backdrop of space opera and ruminating on the soul’s solace in love’s intimacy, Sanctuary is a stunning 180 for the man formerly known as Filthy Frank.

37.) Kevin Abstract - Joyride

It’s easy to feel like Brockhampton have been taking their sweet time with their music over the past two years, but the you remember that’s only because they put out three classics in 2017 alone, and then you realize that Kevin Abstact’s Arizona Baby is basically a BH companion record, and they probably scrapped at least two albums worth of music post-Saturation, and you realize the sheer pace these boys are moving at. I personally felt Arizona Baby was a better record pound-for-pound than Ginger, and I think a lot of that is because Romil’s production really shines through, with the horns and atmosphere of Joyride being a great example.

[Baby Boy] [Georgia]

36.) Tame Impala - Borderline

I'm not sure whether or not Kevin Parker is feeling the weight of expectation, but the uncertainty in the rollout for his fourth studio album (appropriately titled The Slow Rush and now scheduled for February) has been interesting to watch. It’s not like an artist of Parker’s caliber to cave under public reception, but it seems like that’s ultimately what happened as he chose to delay the album after playing SNL and initially releasing two singles from the project back in April. While the lead single Patience did feel a bit uninspired, the salt-breeze pop of companion Borderline has been in rotation ever since.

35.) Earthgang - Proud Of U (ft. Young Thug)

It was hard to pick an Earthgang track largely because it’s always hard to pick a Young Thug track. I could have just as easily used this as his entry as well (more from him later), but Thugger and Earthgang deserve their own spot this year, with the latter releasing their major label debut with September’s Mirrorland, a refraction of their vibrant funk-rap. While it may not be the best showcase of the style of Atlanta duo Johnny Venus & Doctur Dot, Proud of U was undeniable this year. More samplings from Mirrorland are linked below, and Venus is featured prominently on Dreamville’s terrific Sacrifices.

[Bank] [This Side] [Top Down]

34.) Florist - Time is a Dark Feeling

Florist graced the list back in 2017 with the serene reflections of What I Wanted to Hold, a collection of polaroids, winter scenes through cold kitchen windows, dreams of warmth. They’ve done it again this year with Time is a Dark Feeling, a contemplation of the void out ahead of us, and the way it clings to your bones with a hollow chill.

33.) Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - Crime Pays

5 years after Pinata, the initial studio collaboration of Gary Indiana heavy hitter Freddie Gibbs and legendary producer Madlib, the duo returned for the highly anticipated follow-up Bandana in June. Freddie has been a favorite of mine the past several years and the flow is extra nice over Madlib production, like on the twinkle-laced ‘making it’ anthem Crime Pays. Freddie and Danny Brown both share a love of Midwest disco style, and use their videos to play characters, act goofy, and explore their aesthetic.

[Half Manne Half Cocaine] [Palmolive]

32.) Grace Ives - Mirror

This DIY pop number feels like it just shook itself into existence. It certainly shook itself into my brain this year, and to watch Brooklyn musician Grace Ives perform it, with sudden barks and stops and starts, it feels like it shakes her pretty good too.

31.) Maxo Kream - Meet Again

With his second studio album Brandon Banks Houston MC Maxo Kream shows off one of the best voice/flow combinations in the game, as well as a growing storytelling ability, both on full display here on Meet Again. Maxo uses prison correspondence to paint a picture of his life’s traumas: how money, drugs, and the judicial system have systematically destroyed those around him. You’re left almost as amazed at the story as you the skill with which he tells it.

[Change] [8 Figures]

30.) Daughter Of Swords - Dawnbreaker

Man, the delicacy of this song is so wonderful. Daughter of Swords is the solo venture from former Mountain Man member Alexandra Sauser-Monnig, and the tenderness she crafts both in her finger picking and in the gentle lilt of her voice is so striking that Dawnbreaker is demanding of your attention on every play.

29.) Young Thug - What’s The Move (ft. Lil Uzi Vert)

I told you that it’s hard to pick just one Thugger song. His best albums (So Much Fun is a good one) sort of flow into each other both in sound and in quality, so that every beat, ad-lib, and vocal cadence hits like a familiar friend, with no one song standing out. You’re not a fan of just one Thugger song, you’re a fan of the whole Thugger experience.

[Surf] [Light It Up] [Ecstasy] [Circle Of Bosses]

28.) Bedouine - Bird

I was just going on about how the tenderness of Daughter of Swords felt so strikingly apart, but Azniv Korkejian (who records as Bedouine) specializes in those tender songs that grab you by the collar and hold you close. The Syrian-American singer-songwriter recollects titans like Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen, as well as contemporaries like Jessica Pratt and Tobias Jesso Jr., and Bird is an entry equal to those masters.

27.) ScHoolboy Q - Numb Numb Juice

Even though CrasH Talk was something of a flop for TDE stalwart ScHoolboy Q, he still managed to produce one of the best pure rap songs of the year with dizzying lead single Numb Numb Juice. Packed with raw attitude along with memorable lines and cadences, it’s a song that feels a lot longer that its two minute run time and has crazy replay value.

26.) Davido - Disturbance

For those like me whose knowledge of world music trends is limited, you should know that Afrobeat (and more specifically Naija-beat from Nigeria) is having a moment right now. With so much similarity to the more melody-driven hip-hop sound that’s so prevalent stateside, and the role the Toronto cliques have already had in incorporating island sounds to the masses the past few years, it makes sense that modern Afrobeat would have so much crossover appeal. There’s a lot of artists primed to take advantage of that wave, but most agree that Davido is the current living legend of Afrobeat, and with perfect little songs like Disturbance from A Good Time, it’s easy to see why.

25.) Angel Olsen - All Mirrors

Perhaps one of the current living legends of alternative music, St. Louis native Angel Olsen first graced this list all the way back in 2014 with the sorrowful May As Well. Things have changed a lot in the past 5 years, with Olsen eventually evolving to a much more expansive, almost gothically theatrical sound throughout the crest that was her 2019 album All Mirrors. The title track, along with the soaring Lark, are the best offerings.

[Lark]

24.) Toro y Moi - Who I Am

Who I Am is off of Toro Y Moi’s terrific electronic/dance record Outer Peace from early January, whose lead single Freelance was one of my favorite songs from 2018, clocking in at #14 on last years’s list. The rest of the record was equally strong, especially in Chaz’ ability to craft minimalistic chill electronica that still gets stuck in your head. Most of those more laid back tracks are those below, because Who I Am is another upbeat party song in the same throbbing vein of Freelance.

[New House] [Baby Drive it Down] [Monte Carlo]

23.) Nilufer Yanya - Melt

I had thought this may be the third time on the list for the low-key London songbird Nilufer Yanya, but in checking the record I’m reminded that she just put out a bunch worthy of inclusion back in 2017 when I first caught wind of her, starting with Golden Cage and culminating with Baby Luv. Returning this year with March’s Miss Universe Yanya gives us another strong collection to choose from. I’m partial to the jazz-club sound of Melt, but you can’t go wrong with these other three either.

[Heat Rises] [Tears] [Safety Net]

22.) Denzel Curry - Ricky

One of the more consistent and unique young voices in hip-hop, Dade county’s Denzel Curry has been on the map for over 6 years despite not being 25 yet. Starting with 2013′s cloud rap classic Nostalgic 64 (released while Zel was in high school) and graduating to critical emo-rap darling with last year’s Ta13oo, Curry decided to just hit us with some straight bangers in 2019 with Zuu.

[Carolmart] [Speedboat] [Wish]

21.) FKA Twigs - sad day

The bulk of Magdelene (co-produced by 50 Track alum Nicolas Jaar) may not be the kind of music that I’m dying to listen to again and again, but I can’t deny the artistic plane that FKA Twigs (also an alum with 2014′s Two Weeks) is operating on throughout the record inspired by her tabloid breakup with actor Robert Pattinson. Tracks and videos like Cellophane are a remarkable testament to Twig’s raw emotive power (like bright liquid flowing from a freshly cracked melon), but it was the melodic flutterings and glitchy atmosphere of sad day that got lodged in my brain.

[Cellophane]

20.) (Sandy) Alex G - Gretel

This song, from Philadelphia indie artist Alex G, bounced around a lot throughout the process of this list, from the cutting room floor to the honorable mentions and ultimately all the way up to kicking off the top 20. Gretel might sound somewhat inauspicious at first, but there’s a lot to unpack here, and it benefited from being in rotation since the summer, making it a Maine-house stargazing staple. With elements of acts like Elliot Smith, Broken Social Scene, and even the late Lil Peep, Giannascoli has carved a beautiful little space between genre.

19.) Frank Ocean - In My Room

Mostly in hibernation since the dual releases of Endless and Blonde back in 2016, Frank Ocean slowly begun sticking his head out of the cave in late 2020 with a trail of singles from a supposed forthcoming third studio album. Two of the tracks were released across all platforms including the mumbly DHL, and three others (Dear April, Cayendo, Little Demon) that were released as vinyl-exclusive singles. These four songs range from puzzling to promising, but despite the shipping reference Frank really only delivers on the final cut, the dualistic In My Room. On the first half of Room Frank gives one of his more cohesive and well performed rap verses to date, exploring themes of bravado, ambition, and hate, while the second half blossoms into his familiar melodic coos, both halves hopefully a harbinger of things to come in 2020.

18.) Beast Coast - Coast Clear

The third and final crew record on our list is from the collective known as Beast Coast, long an informal tag for the combination of three prominent Brooklyn groups who finally hybridized for a full-length project Escape From New York in 2019. Beast Coast is Pro Era (Joey Bada$$, Kirk Knight, CJ Fly, Nyck Caution, Powers Pleasant, etc), Flatbush Zombies (Meechy Darko, Erick Arc Elliott, Zombie Juice), and The Underachievers (AK The Savior, Issa Gold). All three of those groups have been featured individually on the list before so the hype was definitely real for me, and I was so thankful that Escape turned out so great. Coast Clear was my personal favorite and served as the encore when I saw these guys in August (which was wild), but check out the video for Left Hand if you need a more formal introduction.

[Left Hand] [One More Round] [Bones]

17.) Aldous Harding - The Barrel

Aldous Harding hails from Lyttelton NZ, a small town near Christchurch that lies on the same peninsula where I would often take the bus to have a day at the beach. The Barrel, a strange little dance/folk number, only found its way to me as I was combing other year-in-review lists this past month making sure I didn’t miss anything, which always makes for trickiness when ranking them among other songs I’ve been listening to for months. But the uniqueness of this track (magnified by the music video), the seamless way the backing vocals are integrated to the latter half of the song, and the Grateful Dead-esque guitar part combined to give me the sense that this one might endure into 2020 and beyond.

16.) Daniel Caesar - Cyanide

Toronto’s Daniel Caesar has been one of my personal favorite R&B artists since I heard his track Death & Taxes back in 2015, his neo-soul/gospel sound culminating with 2017′s terrific Freudian. His second album Case Study 01 out this past June drifted away from that gospel influence and introduced more electronic and island sounds, as exhibited on the effervescence of Cyanide.

[Entropy] [Frontal Lobe Muzik] [Restore The Feeling]

15.) Frankie Cosmos - Rings on a Tree

The evolution of Frankie Cosmos from minute-long journal-entry-style lo-fi bedroom recordings free on Bandcamp to full-band alt princess has been one of my favorite artist trajectories to witness, and she returned with her fourth studio record Close It Quietly this September. Now her fourth appearance on 50 Tracks, Rings on a Tree was featured as a full-band song on that record, but a stripped down piano version that was included on Kline’s Haunted Items EP from March is the version I’m giving you here. A hopeful little yarn about love and death and suicide.

[Actin’ Weird] [41st]

14.) 2 Chainz - Money in the Way

I can’t tell you that I expected a 2 Chainz song to be in the top 15, especially above artists like Frank, Twigs, Angel, and Denzel. I mean what is this, 2011? That my friends is the joyous power of Money in the Way: a triumphant, brass heavy victory lap and one of the most fun rap songs you’ll ever hear. I challenge you to not bop your head with a goofy ass smile to this one.

[NCAA]

13.) SALES - Rainy day Loop (Parent’s House Remix)

SALES may not have put out a record in 2019 (they’re still touring 2018′s forever & ever) but they still managed to get a song on the list, as they released a remix of Rainy Day Loop from that record this past March. Keeping the core melody, but accelerating the pace and swirling in the drum kit, SALES create an entirely new song on the remix, so much so that I didn’t recognize it on first listen. The beat billows and bends through the atmosphere, with lines like ‘watch me fade away’ ‘stuck in a rut’ and ‘watching everything around me come undone’ supplying you with the chillest depressive episode ever.

12.) Tierra Whack - Only Child

Looking back with hindsight on 2018′s list there were at least three major acts I missed. The first was the self-titled album by one of my favorite electronic arts Chrome Sparks (see O, My Perfection), the second we’ll get to in a bit. The third was Philly’s Tierra Whack, who put out one of the most unique, fresh, and ambitious projects I’ve ever heard with 2018′s Whack World, a 15-track album with a run time of less than 16 minutes due to each song being ~1:00 snippets that were deliberately made to sound incomplete but cohesive. She then shot a 16-minute video for the album, which showcases different sounds, flows, characters, and lyrical foci. One of the best things I heard this year by far. She followed Whack World up with some loosies early this year, including Only Child which was promptly stuck in my head for a month. This girl is so god damn creative it blows my mind. But as she says on Wasteland, ‘There’s a long line, there’s a wait.’

[Wasteland]

11.) Tyler, the Creator - A Boy is a Gun

Speaking of fascinating trajectories to witness, who would have seen IGOR coming from Tyler back in the early OF days? Taking his patented in-your-face persona, applying it to his newly open queerness, and splashed against a canvas of neo-soul maturity, heavenly samples, and his trusty voice mods, Tyler put out one of the more complete and personally meaningful albums of 2019, like a vicious snake shedding his beautiful skin.

[Earfquake]

10.) Jai Paul - He

One of the most influential artists of the past ten years that you’ve probably never heard of, Jai Paul was on the precipice of music stardom back in 2012 on the strength of singles BTSTU and Jasmine. Those two tracks were hugely responsible for breaking the levee of the modern electronic/pop sound further popularized by people like James Blake, whose output over the past decade has itself had wide-spread influence that spans genres. Jai Paul was readying his full-length debut for 2013 when it got mysteriously leaked online, putting a series of events into motion that resulted in Paul essentially withdrawing from the music industry and eventually starting his own institute/label with his brother in his native UK. Then, 6 years later and without warning, Paul re-surfaced with an official release of the originally leaked album as well as two new singles, one of which is He, the lovechild of Prince, Michael Jackson, and Bon Iver.

9.) Bon Iver - Hey Ma

Speeaaking of whom, Justin Vernon also returned with only his second record in the past 8 years and his first since 2016′s sterling 22, A Million. Forever taking the vocal tech advancements he helped create and popularize and pushing them further into the future, I,I twists and contorts those sounds and places them on new sonic landscapes. Lead single Hey Ma may be the most generally accessible of the album’s songs but it’s also the one that stuck the most. Check out iMi for a taste of what the rest of the record sounds like.

[iMi]

8.) Vampire Weekend - 2021

By far the most difficult song selection on the list this year, I would ask that you just view this as the Father of the Bride spot as opposed to just 2021, because as you can see below, I could have basically taken anything from the whole album (in fact, with the exception of #3 we’re basically in best album mode from here on out). A brilliant return from the biggest band in the world with assists from people like Haim, Steve Lacy, and Mark Ronson, FotB is a dizzying and vibrant record with a singular feeling despite its wide diversity of sound. 2021 was the second song I remember hearing from the record (after Harmony Hall) and despite its minimalism compared with the rest of the record, it was the one that took up the largest residence in my brain and also illustrates that half-dread/half-hope feeling that I’ve been trying to communicate throughout the list as a whole.

[Sympathy] [Flower Moon] [Harmony Hall] [Bambina] [This Life] [Stranger] [Sunflower]

7.) SAINt JHN - Monica Lewinsky (ft. A Boogie wit da Hoodie)

Man, I can’t express how much this album took me by surprise and subsequently dominated my listening cycle for much of late summer. SAINt JHN, the Guyanese-American former pop songwriter turned star who hit #44 on this list last year with his spacey party anthem I Heard You Got Too Litt Last Night destroyed any idea of one-song wonder with August’s Ghetto Lenny’s Love Songs. Monica Lewinsky is my personal favorite but this album is crazy deep throughout; different moods, different flows, love songs, bangers, strip club jams, yell-it-out-the-car-window shit, Lenny fucking Kravitz people.

[High School Reunion] [Who Do you Blame?] [5 Thousand Singles] [All I Want is a Yacht] [Trophies] [Borders] [Wedding Day]

6.) Whitney - Giving Up

Three years after their debut album Light Upon the Lake splashed onto the indie the Chicago’s Whitney returned in August with the equally satisfying Forever Turned Around. This record will forever be imprinted with images of back road New England foliage, oranges and yellows and browns. The build that starts after a moment of silence at 1:45 of Giving Up and continues for the next minute or so is one of my favorite moments in music this year. The way the brass and guitar take turns with that little riff is orgasm in music form, complete with the afterglow.

[Valleys (My Love)] [Friend of Mine] [Used to be Lonely]

5.) Twin Peaks - Lookout Low

First off I want to complete my earlier thought and say that the final act I missed out on from the 2018 list was a duo named Grapetooth, the side band of Twin Peaks singer/guitarist Clay Frankel. Along with producer Chris Bailoni and inspired by 80′s Japanese New Wave their self-titled record was full of in-your-face tunes like Violent. Clay re-joined his fellow Twin Peaks dudes in 2019 and with Lookout Low they’ve continued to hone a mature sound that owes more to classic rock and bands like the Grateful Dead than their former DIY days would have suggested. This record made me sing along, play more guitar, and man did they put on a killer show when I saw them last month. Sweet noodly goodness.

[Sunken II] [Better Than Stoned] [Casey’s Groove] [Dance through It] [Ferry Song]

4.) Caroline Polachek - Door

I was a fan of Caroline Polachek’s voice and style via her duo Chairlift, who broke up in 2016 but had great songs like I Belong in Your Arms and Amanaemonesia, so when I heard she was putting out a solo record I was intrigued. Then I heard Door and it blew my gosh darn sock off. Then I heard the rest of the album and shucks howdy if it didn’t blow the other sock clean off too. Polachek has such an amazingly etherial voice, and she’s learning to fully wield it it almost Caroline Shaw-like ways on October’s incredible Pang, which like SAINt JHN before her demonstrates so many different beautiful incarnations of her vocal talent.

[So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings] [Go As A Dream] [Caroline Shut Up] [Look At Me Now] [Ocean of Tears] [Pang] [Hit Me Where it Hurts] [New Normal]

3.) Big Thief - Cattails

Big Thief released two very different albums in 2019 (U.F.O.F. and Two Hands) en route to their most successful and critically acclaimed year as a band. And while I didn’t connect with either of those projects quite as much as I’ve dug their work in the past, they still managed to re-claim the same #3 slot they occupied on this list two years ago. In 2017 it was on the back of the stunning Mary, and this year it’s with the equally affecting Cattails, a song that weaves together pain, joy, grief, and freedom and hits me right in the heart.

[Orange] [Not]

2.) James Blake - Can’t Believe The Way We Flow

I mentioned the influence that James Blake has had on the past decade in music while talking about Jai Paul earlier, and while I‘ve seen and understood that impact for some time, that hasn’t always translated into my enjoyment of his output as a solo artist. That changed with Assume Form, the fourth record from the London producer which saw him find new channels to explore the use of his voice (both his natural voice and distorted with endless layers of effect) as an instrument atop his skeletal creations. Can’t Believe The Way We Flow rose to the top of a handful of great tracks from the project, with an Animal Collective-like sound and a refrain that’s probably about love, but could just as easily be about humanity tumbling down the flowing ribbon of time.

[Into The Red] [Don’t Miss It] [I’ll Come Too]

1.) Bibio - Curls

This was the first year in a while where I really had not idea what the #1 song might be until I really started getting into the list this past month. The past several years there’s been a clear leader (Amen Dunes, Brockhampton, Ultralight Beam, Mural), and while Bibio made the list back in 2016, it was with the decidedly electronic Light Up The Sky. Ribbons, out this past April, was my first exposure to Bibio as a folk artist, and this record perfectly incapsulates what I was talking about in my intro as far as music that acts as a prism to shape my understanding of things. Ribbons was the lens through which I saw the world this spring, and this album is full of written songs and instrumental tracks that create mood, that create feeling, that can brighten or provoke fear. Curls is one of those rare songs that acts like a pensieve: gaze into it and feel it cradle you, watch as it paints dream-like pictures from your memories, feel its nostalgia, feel its sadness, feel hope, feel joy, and feel love.

[It’s Your Bones] [The Art of Living] [Before] [Old Graffiti] [Patchouli May] [Watch The Flies]

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weekendwarriorblog · 6 years

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WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND 8/31/18: Labor Day Weekend!

It’s Labor Day weekend, the last weekend of the summer box office season and usually a slower holiday than Memorial Day or July 4th, mainly because many schools are already in session. Also, for many, it’s the last chance for a vacation. In the past, it’s been a weekend used for genre films and prestige films wanting to get an early lead on the fall awards season (which starts officially at the Telluride Film Festival over the weekend). In the past few years, it’s also seen a lot of new movies outright bombing in favor of higher-profile returning films, and this weekend could see some of all the above. (Just for comparison, last Labor Day, there wasn’t a single new movie in the top 10 with none of them opening in over 1,000 theaters. At least this year, we have a few opening in more than 1,800 theaters, which wasn’t the case last Labor Day.

OPERATION FINALE (MGM)

Likely to be one of the weekend’s more high-profile releases, despite this not being a great time for new releases, is this new political thriller from director Chris Weitz, that looks at the 1960 search and capture of the Nazi mastermind of the “Final Solution” Adolph Eichmann by a group of Mossad agents. It opens on Wednesday in hopes of building up word-of-mouth for the longer holiday weekend.

It’s another vehicle for Oscar Isaac, an actor who STILL hasn’t gotten an Oscar nomination despite always doing excellent work in a number of great dramas. At this point, he’s probably best known for playing the role of Poe Dameron in the latest Star Wars trilogy. Besides those movies, Isaac appeared in the Terry George drama The Promise, which was about the Armenian genocide, and that opened with around $4.1 million in 2,251 theaters and grossed a piddling $8 million. Granted, the Armenian genocide is not as well-known as the Holocaust, which is a shame since more people really should know about the million and a half Armenians killed in 1905. His anticipated take on the X-Men villain Apocalypse might not have been received as well by critics or fans, but as long as he keeps balancing the movies with ones like this one, he should have a long and thriving career.

Older moviegoers may be more interested in Oscar winner Sir Ben Kingsley, who plays Eichmann, and seems to be playing another awards-worthy role after a few missteps like last year’s long-delayed Collide, the Focus film Self/Less with Ryan Reynolds and Ridley Scott’s Exodus: Gods and Kings. Kingsley has also appeared in a number of family films including Jon Favreau’s The Jungle Book and the last Night at the Museum movie, but he always seems to recover even after appearing in the worst movies. (On the flip side, he’s far too often ignored in some of his better recent movies, as well.)

Prestige films have often done well over Labor Day, maybe because they’re targeting adults over 30 with George Clooney’s The American and The Constant Gardener being two of the breakouts with $16.6 million and $10.9 respectively. If that doesn’t sound like a lot, just look at the last few Labor Days when movies like The Light Between Oceans barely grazed $6 million in 2016. Another good comparison for this one might be the 2011 Focus Features release The Debt, starring Helen Mirren and Jessica Chastain, which opened with $12.5 million over the four-day Labor Day holiday and grossed $31.2 million total. It’s a similar mix of new and old generation of actors, but that also got a much bigger push by Focus with Mirren being more of a proven draw than Kingsley, by far.

What Operation Finale has going for it is its intriguing premise, and although reviews are mixed, there’s enough positive ones that older adults with few options will give this a look-see. Opening in around 1,850 theaters, I could see Operation Finalemaking close to $6 million or slightly moreover the four-day weekend (plus another $1 or 2 million on Weds and Thursday), and that should be good for $15 to 20 million total.

Mini-Review: It’s not too surprising Chris Weitz would take on serious historical subject matter like this as he continues his attempts to be taken seriously as a filmmaker after walking away from the world of studio franchises. It may be surprising (to some) that he’s actually really good at this sort of genre film, creating a tense and infinitely interesting film in the bargain.

Oscar Isaac plays the f*ck-up Mossad agent Peter Malkin who is sent to Buenos Aires to retrieve the evil Nazi mastermind Adolph Eichmann (Ben Kingsley) and bring him back to Israel to try for his crimes. Along with a team of fellow agents, they plot out a scheme that involves nabbing Eichmann when he returns from his job, and it mostly goes as planned until they have to figure out a way to get him to the airport with the airline balking at taking part in a potentially troublesome international incidence.

Working from a fantastic script by Matthew Orton, Weitz creates a great deal of tension during the second and third acts, as the Mossad needs to keep Eichmann hidden away from the Argentine forces who are trying to rescue him. (Unfortunately, there’s a fairly large Nazi faction forming in Buenos Aires who are trying to protect Eichmann.)

This section features some of the best scenes, particularly between Isaac and Kingsley, who are so good together, they deliver some of the finest dramatic moments in any movie this year. Both actors are as great as always, but you can tell that they each pushed the other one to be even better than usual. I’d love to see either or both get awards recognition.

The results are a political thriller that’s relevant to the times without hitting the viewer over the head with that fact (ala BlacKkKlansman), but also a fairly entertaining film in the vein of Argo and others.

Rating: 8.5/10

KIN (Lionsgate)

The other new release being given a moderately wide release is the feature directorial debut from Jonathan and Josh Baker, who previously made a 15-minute short called “Bag Man,” on which this sci-fi crime thriller was based. In fact, you can watch the short below without worrying about spoilers because it’s somewhat of a prequel:

youtube

The short was seen by producer Shawn Levy who produced the feature with his 21 Laps Entertainment production company. If that sounds familiar, it might be because Levy produced the Amy Adams sci-fi thriller Arrival, as well as the hit Netflix show Stranger Things from the Duffer Brothers.

Newcomer Myles Truitt, who has appeared on Queen Sugarand Black Lightning, plays Eli, a 14-year-old boy from Detroit who finds an alien blaster in a deserted warehouse, and when his adopted brother Jimmy (Jack Reynor from Sing Street) gets into trouble with local criminals, they go on the run with Eli using the blaster for them to get money from other corrupt individuals.

The cast is rounded out by Dennis Quaid, whose last movies were the faith-based hit I Can Only Imagine and the canine drama A Dog’s Story, James Franco as one of the baddies and Zoë Kravitz as a stripper they meet along the way. Oh, yeah, and the movie is PG-13, so you don’t have to worry about nudity or blood and gore, cause there’s none of that.

In fact, this is a fairly bland genre film, a bit like Sleight, which was released last year after making waves at Sundance and being picked up by WWE Films and BH Tilt for distribution. That only opened in 565 theaters and made $1.7 million opening weekend and less than $4 million total. We also have to look at another sci-fi film opened over Labor Day two years ago, Fox’s Morgan, which bombed with $2 million in 2,020 theaters despite much bigger names. A month earlier, Lionsgate opened Nerve, a high-concept thriller involving the internet which did far better with $38.5 million.

One has to assume this won’t do nearly as badly as Morgan or Sleight, but it’s unsure whether it can make more than $5 million over the long weekend with no real draw besides the cool visuals. (Quaid is long past being a draw and Franco might still be a little taboo after his #TimesUp faux pas last year.) Expect Kin to end up somewhere near the bottom of the top 10 and mostly be forgotten by the handful of people who do go to see it.

Mini-Review: There are so many science fiction movies that take what might have been a decent premise but can’t find a good way to use it, and that’s certainly the case with this feature expansion on Jonathan and Josh Baker’s “Bag Man” short (which you can watch above).

Myles Truitt is Eli, who we watch finding a high-tech weapon in an abandoned warehouse near a couple bodies. We’ll learn much later that this a gun from another race/planet, but before that, we learn that his brother Jimmy (Jack Reynor) has gotten out of jail and his father (and Eli’s adopted father) Hal (Dennis Quaid) warns Eli to watch out for Jimmy. Sure enough, Jimmy owe a lot of money to James Franco’s Taylor, who tells Jimmy to get the money from his father’s work safe. This sets up the main storyline where Taylor and Jimmy clash while stealing the money and Taylor heads out with Eli to run away from Taylor and his goons. At the same time, a couple alien military types show up where Eli found the gun, wanting it back.

The plot seems fine and if Kin was just a family drama, it might be okay but kind of bland. Most of the movie just follows Eli and Jimmy on the road, getting into trouble with the money, but when they get to a strip club and meet Zoe Kravitz as a stripper, Eli’s high-tech gun gets them out of that trouble.

I think the biggest drag about Kin is by how bad Dennis Quaid is in the movie, and Jack Reynor (who was amazing in Sing Street) is even worse, and then you have James Franco chewing the scenery in every scene. Basically, you have a movie that isn’t well-written to begin with being dragged down by lopsided performances.

The movie’s best parts are the moments between Zoe Kravitz and first-timer Myles Truitt, but that’s not good enough for a movie that seems to struggle to stay interesting outside of the sci-fi elements, which seem to be shoehorned into what is essentially a family drama.

It’s just disappointing to discover the Bakers just don’t have the skill or talent to make a movie like this work. If nothing else, Kin is proof positive that people who play too many video games shouldn’t be allowed to make feature-length films. Rating: 5/10

SEARCHING (Screen Gems)

After opening in nine theaters last weekend and grossing roughly $360,000 (~$40k per theater), Aneesh Chaganty’s directorial debut, the talk of Sundance, will expand moderately wide into around 1,100 to 1,200 theaters across the nation, hoping that strong word-of-mouth from opening weekend will spread.

The movie stars John Cho from Star Trek and Harold and Kumar fame as a father whose teen daughter mysteriously vanishes, and his search for her is told entirely on a computer screen. It’s something that was used recently for Unfriended: Dark Web (also produced by Russian blockbuster filmmaker Timur Bekmembatov) although this one has the added benefit of actually being good.

Cho is a great actor who is really coming into his own, and the movie should benefit from the backing of Crazy Rich Asians director Jon M. Chu who wanted to keep the love for Asian leads going, at least until next week’s The Nun (which is at least produced by Asian James Wan).

This is a really intense movie with a number of great twists, and of course Cho is fantastic, so do try to check it out this weekend. It should be good for around $5 million this weekend, more or less.

After that, we get to a few more moderately-released films opening in less than 600 theaters, neither of which I’ve seen, unfortunately:

THE LITTLE STRANGER (Focus Features)

This historic thriller based on Sarah Waters’ book brings together Lucinda Coxon, the writer of The Danish Girl, with Room director Lenny Abrahamson, and unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to see this beforehand, so I have no idea if it’s as good as the trailer. The Little Stranger stars Domhnall Gleeson (another Star Wars vet) and Ruth Wilson from The Affair (which I’ve also never seen), and both of them have done a fair share of promotion for the film. Focus is opening it in 475 theaters on Thursday night, which is fairly moderate, but I don’t think this movie will make more than $1.5 or maybe $2 million over the four-day weekend with stronger adult fare like Operation Finale.

YA VEREMOS (Pantelion/Lionsgate)

The latest film from Pantelion is Pedro Pablo Ibarra’s Mexican drama about a young boy named Santi who has to deal with the separation of his parents (as opposed to being separated from his parents by ICE), who also has to get surgery to save his sight. It’s obviously going to be trying to bring in Mexican audiences over the holiday weekend, opening in 350 theaters across the country. This is another one of Pantelion’s Spanish-language releases similar to La Boda de Valentina, which opened in 331 theaters right before Valentine’s Day, and it grossed less than $3 million. The previous year, Pantelion opened Un Padre No Tan Padre in 312 theaters with similar results, so there’s probably no reason to think this one might do much better. Maybe it’ll make a little more than a million, but less than $3 million total.

On top of that, Roadside Attractions is supposed to expand Jesse Peretz’s adaptation of Nick Hornby’s JULIET, NAKED, starring Rose Byrne, Ethan Hawke and Chris O’Dowd nationwide into an unknown number of theaters, so definitely check that out ‘cause it’s great! Chances are that all three of these movies will end up outside the Top 10 with less than $2 million, though.

This week’s top 10 should look something like this… (and please note that these are all for the four-day weekend.)

1. Crazy Rich Asians (New Line) - $28 million +12% 2. The Meg (Warner Bros.) - $9.5 million -26% 3. Operation Finale (MGM) - $6.8 million N/A 4. Mission: Impossible – Fallout (Paramount) - $6.5 million -19% 5. The Happytime Murders (STXfilms) - $5.6 million -44% 6. Christopher Robin (Disney) - $5.1 million -20% 7. Searching (Screen Gems) - $4.8 million +1333% 8. Kin (Lionsgate) - $4.5 million N/A 9. Alpha (Sony) - $4.2 million -25% 10. BlacKkKlansman (Focus Features) - $4 million -25%

LIMITED RELEASES

A fun movie for fans of ‘80s movies is Victor Levin’s DESTINATION WEDDING (Regatta), which stars Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder as two strangers who meet on the way to his brother’s destination wedding in California wine country. It’s the epitome of “meet cutes” as the two of them hate each other at first (Ryder plays his brother’s ex-fiancé) but over the course of time, they bond over their snarky feelings on love, marriage and everything else. It’s a hilarious dark comedy with a great script by Levin, one of the producers of the hit show Mad about You, and it will open in New York and L.A. on Friday. This could be an amazing date movie, or it could be a date deal-breaker, but that depends on who you take to see the movie.

My Interview with Victor Levin at NextBestPicture.com

A couple docs worth checking out this weekend:

Don Hardy Jr. and Dana Nachman’s PICK OF THE LITTER (Sundance Selects) is a doc that follows five puppies from birth as they’re raised and trained by Guide Dogs for the Blind to become, well, guide dogs for the blind. Nachman previously directed Batman Begins, which was a favorite of mine a few years back, and this film does a similarly thorough job following the five dogs as they’re paired with families for raising and then work with trainers to pass the rigorous training and testing process before the dogs are paired with a blind person.

I wasn’t as big a fan of Laura Nix’s INVENTING TOMORROW, which opens at the IFC Center in NYC and L.A.’s Arclight Hollywood, but I did like it quite a bit. The first half of the film involves a lot of scientific stuff as it follows four groups of teenagers from Hawaii, India, Indonesia and Mexico, who are working on ecological solutions for local environmental issues that could theoretically be used on a global scale. I was really impressed with these teenagers and their path to a global Science Fair to show their work. My heart was beaming with pride that there are young people out there interested in science and improving the environment.

I wish I could say that I liked the Belgian film LET THE CORPSES TAN (Kino Lorber) from directors Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani, but there was something about the movie that really annoyed me. It’s a very stylish, quickly-cut crime-thriller that involves a group of armed robbers converging on a desolate Mediterranean villa where a painter lives. This could have been like a cool Quentin Tarantino movie with lots of nods to great genre flicks, but instead comes across like the directors were saying “Look how cool we are” throughout the movie with so many close-ups and cutaways that it boggles the mind.

Regardless, Let the Corpses Tan opens at the Quad Cinema on Friday with the directors in person. The Quad is also doing a companion repertory series called Origin Stories: Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani’s Footnotes to Let the Corpses Tan for those who like it. Me? I was kind of disappointed because the trailer is so cool:

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Then there’s a bunch of movies I haven’t seen, so I won’t take up too much time on them.

These include a new Donnie Yen action film called Big Brother (Well Go USA) in which he plays a soldier who has to teach a group of kids. From France comes Jean Paul Civeyrac’s A Paris Education (Kino Lorber) about a young cinephile who leaves his girlfriend behind to study film in Paris… so basically like every French coming-of-age film. Blood Fest (Cinedigm) – not to be confused with Herschl Gordon Lewis’ Blood Feast or next month’s Hell Fest—about a group of teen horror enthusiasts who attend a horror movie festival that starts killing them off. Frank Grillo and Bruce Willis star in Brian Miller’s Reprisal (Lionsgate Premiere) about a bank manager who teams up with an ex-cop to take down a violent bank robber, while Orlando Bloom and Simon Yam star in Charles Martin’s Shanghai-based film S.M.A.R.T. Chase (Universal Pictures Content Group)about a security agent sent to protect a Chinese antique.

Jack Bryan’s doc Active Measures (Super Ltd) is a timely movie about the Russian involvement in the 2016 Presidential election with new interviews with Sen. John McCain, Hillary Clinton and many more. (It also opens at the IFC Center.)

Not much on the repertory front except that the Metrograph will be playing a 30thanniversary revival run of the classic anime film Akira by Katsuhiro Otomo, which starts today. The Quad is also doing an Alain Delon series for the next two weeks.

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