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thesunlounge · 4 years

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Reviews 312: Joe Morris

I’ve had considerable difficulty putting down my thoughts concerning Joe Morris’ Exotic Language, though not because of the music…a sonic paradise so panoramic and immersive that my mind is completely overwhelmed with hyperbolic descriptors and imagined fantasy landscapes. No, the difficulty comes from determining how to properly contextualize the work of an artist whose music has meant so much to me over the last few years and who has been a constant guidepost as I’ve explored this vague soundworld we all call “balearic”. So perhaps it’s best to go back to the beginning, which involved me trawling through the Is It Balearic? Discogs page picking out titles whose label art resonated with me…visuals that captured some indefinable spirit of beachside meditation and solar fantasy dancing. This of course led me to Joe’s Golden Tides 12”, the label art of which was given over to impossibly beautiful sunset scenes, ones that were washed out into a sparkling tapestry of golden radiance. It was exactly what I was looking for and from then on, I’ve been in a near constant love affair with the producer’s work, which has led my spirit through so many wonderful musical environments, whether it’s the mystically inclined Bahia EP on Balearic Social, the Cloud Nine 12″ on Wonder Stories, or the increasingly esoteric remix work of Clandestino, Joe’s party crew and studio project run in conjunction with Iain Mac and Nick J. Smith, who have perfected a particularly tripped out style of jacking dancefloor ritualism.

But as great as those works are, the undoubted high point for me came with the release of Jacaranda Skies on Pleasure Unit, an EP that opened Joe’s sound up considerably and foreshadowed many of the adventurous environments he would travel to on his epic full length. Across the 12”, the listener was treated to a tropical house slammer, a futuristic acid jazz ritual, and one of my favorite tracks of recent memory, “The Lost Garden,” which melted the heart with timeless string descents while mallet instruments danced amidst sparkling synths, reverberating guitars, and island percussion exotica. After the release of Jacaranda Skies, I just knew Joe had to drop an album, one that would allow his increasingly adventurous and cinematic sonics to spread all the way out, unrestricted by space or time considerations. Thus I was completely blown away in 2019 as my fantasies came true in the form of Exotic Language, the producer’s magnum opus and a near perfect summary of the many colorful sonic universes he has visited across his career. It’s a true album experience, with well considered track sequencing taking the listener on a oceanic dream journey encompassing Italo deep house, Chicago club workouts, spiritual Afro-trance, ethereal pop-ambient, acid-laced downtempo, aqueous guitar mesmerism, amorphous dub, and so much more. And though mostly realized as a solo effort, including the fantastic artwork, Joe is joined by some crucial guests in the form of Private Agenda and his son Milo.

Joe Morris - Exotic Language (Shades of Sound, 2019) We open on “Firefly Beach,” with guitar swells creating aqueous ripples amidst cricket chirps and crashing waves...the vibe not unlike Onyricon’s “Sweet Dream.” Plucked harps flow through interstellar fluids and synthetic arps smear into seafoam as momentum builds, with hand drums and cymbal taps leading to a low-key climax of downbeat ocean grooving. Tambourines shake through layers of brass synthesis and basslines blur in and out of focus…all while crystalline tones descend amidst solar flare vibrato orchestrations. Next is “Perfume,” a collaboration with Private Agenda that, if released in the 90s, would have appeared on every single balearic comp, so closely does hit that essential seaside pop vibe, with touches of ethereal R&B married to oceanic chill-out in away strongly evoking the work of Afterlife, especially “Dub in Ya Mind (Beach Club Mix)” and the legendary “Speck of Gold.” Rhodes keys sparkle, big bottomed jazz breaks keep the body vibing, and dreampop guitars swim through ether as funk basslines slide through sexual smoke. Elsewhere, pianos constructed from ocean glass play melodies of dream melancholia alongside blazing string themes and laserbeam sequencing. And carrying the whole thing is a chilling vocal performance from Sean Phillips, his multi-layered and soulful hooks pushing the heart towards pure sunset euphoria. Our first taste of club fire comes via “A Dance With Jupiter,” which touches on Chicago house as well as the intense rave workouts of Clandestino. The track starts with loon calls, spectral rattles, mermaid hazes, and bongos popping over tubular basslines before we flash into a jacked out four-four house groove. Anxious cymbal work cuts up the air, electrified claps crack on the beat, and waves of angel synthesis wrap around the spirit while elsewhere, we breakdown into smacked kicks, brass heatwaves, and hand drum tribalisms. And as acid lines filter in from the void, the track snaps back into a tech house fever dream, with increasingly wild 303 patterns spraying neon liquids over anthemic chord riffs while 90s rave whistles are danced around by polychrome pan-pipe tracers.

At the start of “Echo Station,” cymbals flow through timelag generators, guitars flutter, and hand drums pop through mutating fx chains until we drop into a subsonic bass groove, with dubwise drum beats pulsing through a stoner paradise. Weirdo reggae riffs wiggle in each ear, with organs and trumpets mutating into insect psychedelia and metallic chords wavering through delay-soaked mirages. Spacey six-strings shimmer, pianos skip across new age sunbeams, and flutes execute LSD dances as the rhythms refuse to coalesce, creating that classical drug touch…a sort of fevered fantasy space where everything constantly shifts through humid layers of rainbow fog…the vibe not unlike the recent work of Androo. There’s a moment where the rhythms fade to gas amidst rimshot cloudforms while anthemic ocean wavefronts fade in, with touches of ambient prog glory shining through the deep blue hazes. Fantasy sequences climb playfully towards the clouds and synthesizers filter into neon magic as the dub riddims finally return, now with piano starlight sparkling amidst drunken brass fanfares. Next comes “Celestial Plantation,” wherein pads settle like a ghostly ocean fog, one aglow in prismatic hues of mother-of-pearl. Birds chirp, waves crash, and hand drums cascade through delays before blurring into a flutter of blutterfly wings…all while bass pulses give the abstracted groove a touch of tribal body magic. Melodic brass themes peel away to reveal sparkling gemstone electronics and electro cymbals hiss across the spectrum as the vibe grows ever more blissed out, with the spirit soaring on waves of coral colored euphoria. The heart overflows with balearic majesty and all bad vibrations are washed away by starlight electronics and glowing melodic crystals as Joe sets the body afloat via gaseous chill-out rhythmics. And best of all, there are these glorious moments where the spirit seems to rise above the clouds, with synths swelling and white noise hazes parting to reveal spiritual whistle tones and elven pan-pipes…a sort of new age paean to the spirits of the sea pulling the mind towards a beachside oasis, with palm trees blowing in a tropical wind while birds of paradise flit amongst the fronds.

In “Dream Clouds,” galactic vapors rattle amidst an angel choirs comprised of male cyborg breaths and glimmering fairy voices. A four-to-the-floor pulse is accented by acid bass jacking, hi-hats spread into ticking psychedelia, and clipped snares give the beat a faint disco pulse as we soar through Joe’s own paradisal imagining of Italo dream house....a euphoria-kissed fantasy world of lush dancefloor exotica…spread out, gaseous, and with billowing waves of ether stoking hallucinogenic visions. Filtering phasers infuse the aqueous pad motions, paranoid rimshots transform into kosmische energy tracers, and feedback marbles glisten in cold solar light as the snares and claps fire in that distinctly Clandestino way…the mind never allowed to settle while pushing ever closer towards hyperventilated delirium. Elsewhere, kicks pull away for a machine jazz jam, all rigid robot bopping before slamming back into fantasy dance magic, with blistering chords ringing out, white light pads bending into dolphin sirensong, and crystalline chords conversing with reverb-soaked cricket chirps. “Acid Safari” hits similar notes of freaky forest acid as “Mangrove Dawn” from Jacaranda Skies, though replacing that track’s ritualistic percussion flow with fat-bottomed rave breaks and a dubwise bass skank. The baggy and zoned out 90s-style beat science is accented by industrial tom-tom splatter, echo-soaked hand percussion, cave crack snares, and mechanized cymbal hiss, with the mix increasingly suffused by monkey howls and orchestral heatwaves. Sunbeam guitar percolations and syncopated synth riffs morph through delay layers until the vibe grows murky, resulting in a mystical environment of dispersed rhythms and machines that growl like jaguars. Cosmic acid lines diffuse in and hand drums carry the soul towards the heart of the jungle, with sunlight filtering through the dark tropical growth in the form of six-string echo dances. Blasting back into sunshine rave breaks and dub-kissed psychedelics, mutating acid lines roar at the edges of the mind and as we move towards the end, saloon-leaning Rhodes chords portend a cinematic western sunset while string synths melt towards an impossible horizon.

There’s some mystical magic happening within “Spirit Walker,” with Joe taking deep inspiration from Larry Heard as he crafts an ambient house epic. But that’s not all, for amidst the mermaid choir fantasias, harmonious whalesong hazes, and clouds of cyborg psychedelia, snare drums rattle into a free jazz fever dream, shakers keep a hypnotic pulse, and hand drums alight on adventures of Afro-beat intensity…the track coming together as some inspired amalgam of ecstatic future dance energy and ancient tribal magic. Animalistic acid lines growl down low and dream house piano chords blur through sunset colorations until eventually being replaced by pure trance vocal synthesis…these chopping waves of angel bliss pushing the mind towards transcendence. There’s a moment where the basslines pull away, leaving behind a gaseous world of spiritual jazz, wherein pianos decay while cinematic pads are surrounded by whooshing layers of aquatic ambiance. Then, as we slam back into Afro-house firedance, balafons and kalimbas weave in and out of the Goan voice layers…a mix of idiophonic rainfall and slow motion trance ecstasy that could float my spirit forever. Closer “Milo’s Theme” begins with morphing synth chords…like pianos obscured by alien foam. Hovering sea-spirits radiate aquamarine while dream sequences dance ear-to-ear and after a gaseous burst, we flow into an immersive groove of downtempo drumming and bongo tropicalia. Chopping vibrato hazes diffuse in and out of empty space, guitars sing spiritual songs of seaside blues, and gemstone melodies flow upwards as feedback tracers mimic sad seagull cries. Then, the rhythms disappear and the song gives over to a new age soundbath, one that celebrates the newness of life with joyous baby babbles (sourced from Joe’s son Milo) and bubbling strands of melted ocean glass. And after a climactic reprise of sunset groove majesty, with layered guitars, tremolo psychedelics, and squelching piano chords hovering over post-rock rhythmics and balearic beat expanses, we return again to a world of ambient sea-spray, abstracted echo weirdness, and gurgling infant breaths.

(images from my personal copy)

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tgon · 6 years

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Shivers #8, Terror on Troll Mountain | Review

Title: Shivers #8 – Terror on Troll Mountain

Author: M.D. Spenser

Cover Artist: Eddie Roseboom

Introduction

I have made a grave mistake! I've set the bar too high. My first review featured an $800 book... How can I possibly top that? ...Wait! I have an idea...

Ladies and gentlemen, stick around to the end of this review to watch me jump a terrifying shark.

Update: At some point between starting this review and now, someone stole the wheels off my bike. That is not a joke. I had a whole bit planned where I was going to jump over a toy shark, too.

But let's not dwell on that. Let's think about simpler times. I remember owning Terror on Troll Mountain when I was younger. Strangely, I donated the book without ever reading it. When I saw it turn up at a bookstore, I had to get it. I had to finally know what lurked between its covers. For better or for worse, I wasn't disappointed.

Story review

Paul Alberti is sitting in the back seat of a car, getting sicker and sicker by the moment. It is a hot summer day, and he is on a trip to his father's home town of Pinzolo, Italy.

“[W]hich is pronounced PEEN-so-low.”

Thanks, book. Meanwhile, Paul's dad makes fun of how much Paul ate. According to the book, this is something Mr. Alberti does regularly. I fully expected this to foreshadow something. But no. Speaking of things that aren't foreshadowing, the book spends two paragraphs describing how big Paul's feet are. Suddenly, the car Paul's in goes careening off a cliff! But it's just a dream, and the car is fine. The book doesn't specify how much of the intro was a dream. Was Paul ever genuinely road-sick? Did Paul's dad actually bully him? Were my bike tires really stolen? Oh, wait. The horror of real life is seeping in.

After making it to Pinzolo, Paul is greeted by a slew of relatives he doesn't really know. Being a curious boy, Paul goes exploring. As told on page thirteen, Paul is so curious, he once ate cat food to see what it'd taste like. If you're like me, you may be starting to suspect that Paul is a strange kid.

Our hero wanders into the woods in search of mushrooms. He fantasizes about bringing some mushrooms home and being the hero of his family's dinner. As Paul hunts, he is jumpscared by a cow. He proceeds to have a conversation with his newfound, bovine companion. After this, Paul stumbles across an entire herd of cows! So many potential friends. Paul takes a seat. As he sits, a hairy hand reaches out from behind him and grabs his shoulder. Paul runs away frantically. He gets back to Pinzolo and tells his family all that's happened, but they laugh at him! They all tell him the bushy hand he encountered earlier belonged to old Italo, a hairy cow farmer. Paul's family also mentions “the Orco,” a giant troll that supposedly lives out in the woods. Paul's uncle tells him that the only way to scare off the Orco is by throwing a wedding ring at it. Sorry, singles, you're monster food.

I would like to take this moment to inform you that the cliffhanger between chapters 9 and 10 hinges on the threatening possibility that one of Paul's elderly, distant relatives will kiss him goodbye.

Paul and his cousin, Anthony, go exploring together. They visit a graveyard and determine that it will be a great spot to play tag. (Now, I've never been to Italy, so I don't know whether or not playing tag in a graveyard is considered disrespectful over there. If I ever go there, this book will have to suffice as my travel guide.) The boys bump into old Italo, and Anthony greets him in Italian. After a small chat, Anthony learns that Italo has never seen Paul before. Then who was hand? Paul is convinced that he encountered the Orco earlier, but his cousin is unconvinced. Anthony doesn't believe in Peter Pan, Frankenstein, or Super—Oh dear. What have I done? I musn't think about that.

Together, the cousins go Orco hunting, and marine conservationists temporarily panic. Anthony reveals that he stole his grandmother's wedding ring, and he gives it to Paul for safekeeping. The duo happens upon a cabin in the woods, which they decide to enter. The boys' snooping is cut short when the ground begins quaking. Realizing that trouble is on its way, our twosome decides that they need to escape. Paul alley-oops his cousin through the cabin's window, but loses his glasses in the process. Before Paul can retrieve his specs, he notices an entity looming in the doorway. Paul can't see the being very clearly, but he can make out certain details. For one, it's big. It also seems to have some sort of pouch around its waist.

Paul's point of view.

Paul tosses his grandmother's ring at the being, but this only makes it upset. Anthony returns and throws a smoke bomb at the figure in the doorway, allowing Paul to escape. The boys run home and tell their family what happened. Mr. Alberti accuses the boys of making up stories to excuse the loss of their grandmother's ring. Here's an idea: if you don't want your kids to go around throwing away expensive rings, DON'T LET YOUR FAMILY TELL THEM THAT THROWING EXPENSIVE RINGS IS THE ONLY WAY TO PROTECT THEMSELVES FROM MONSTERS. Mr. Alberti takes the boys back to the cabin, but they don't find any rings.

Paulamus and Anthisbe are forbidden from meeting, but they communicate in secret. The duo concludes that, if they ever want their family to forgive them, they will have to find their grandmother's ring. The boys head out to the mountains once more, and Paul makes sure to take his trusty camera. The duo's exploration is interrupted when they begin squabbling. This causes an avalanche. This book takes place during the summer. It says so on page five. Plus, Pinzolo is a real place, so you can find images of what the nearby mountains look like during the summer. You will likely notice the lack of snow. I did some research, and I learned that some of the nearby mountains can have snow at their summits year-round, but there probably wouldn't be enough for a full-scale avalanche.

Paul manages to get up, but he is attacked by the Orco. Anthony jumps out and he begins throwing snowballs at the monster. Anthony calls the creature an “ugly kitty,” and Paul decides that it's as good a time as any to correct Anthony's broken English. Once he's done being pedantic, Paul uses his camera's flash function to scare the creature off a cliff. Before it falls to its demise, Anthony and Paul grab its pouch, hoping that the ring will be inside.

The boys rush home and dump out the contents of the bag. Inside, they find a bunch of mushrooms. (Paul should feel bad about killing the Orco. After all, the two of them had so much in common. They both enjoyed exploring the mountains. They both loved collecting mushrooms. They both had huge feet. And I'm sure that the Orco talked to cows when he was lonely, too.) Amid the fungi, the boys find their grandmother's ring. The duo returns the wedding band, but they decide they will need to come up with a boring story about how they found it—something that their parents will believe. Anthony says that he can't wait to visit Chicago, Paul's hometown, next summer. I suppose this ends the book on a relatively sweet note.

The verdict

Let's have a quick compilation of some of the strange things that Paul does or has done.

He pats his stomach for good luck.

He talks to cows.

He's eaten cat food.

He once pretended to be blind and fell down a flight of stairs.

Paul is unquestionably strange. Yet, by the end of this story, Paul somehow manages to become an endearing character, perhaps simply by merit of naïveté.

This book may not have delivered shivers, but it gave me a chuckle or two. At least it didn't overstay its welcome. I sure am glad the story concluded when it did— Hold on. I've just received breaking news. Terror on Troll Mountain has an obscure sequel called Shriek Home Chicago. And it costs $16 on Amazon! Now I really am scared.

What will next week's review be? Will Paz ever jump the shark? Will our tire thief ever face justice? Only time will tell. Tune in next time to see the epic continuation!

Best quote

“[Paul] walked around with his eyes closed, to see what it would be like to be blind, and he fell down the stairs. His mom had to take him to the emergency room”

#Shivers #Halloween #Horror #1990s #Books #Goosebumps #Trolls #Literature #Reviews #PazReviews #The Ghost of Nostalgia

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upalldown · 4 years

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Jessie Ware - What’s Your Pleasure?

Fourth album from the English R&B pop star working with producers Benji B, James Ford (Simian Mobile Disco), Midland, Joseph Mount (Metronomy), Matthew Tavares

9/13

On her new album, Jessie Ware sounds like the host of the kind of party you heard about in ‘70s Manhattan—velvet banquettes and powdery surfaces, mink coats and cigarette holders, and club names that were enigmatic numbers, or—post-gay liberation and pre-AIDS—sincerely promised sanctuary, paradise. You can imagine Ware taking a scene newcomer under her wing, detailing the venue’s clandestine corners, advising which watered-down liquor to avoid—and anyway, don’t you deserve champagne?

Disco has been a shared obsession of late for both chart juggernauts and Ware’s own peers, but her reverence for the era may be the most literal, down to her flash-lit portrait on the album cover, the spitting image of Warhol’s iconic polaroid of Bianca Jagger. Here, Ware is a lycanthropic party girl, coming alive under the mirrorball with breathy flirtations over disco-funk and vibrant Hi-NRG, recreated deftly by chief producer James Ford. Her wonderland is, to quote Fran Leibowitz’s one-time description of Studio 54, made for “sex and dancing.” (Ware says as much of the record herself.)

Over the Italo disco daydream of a title track, Ware presents a dessert trolley of options for, ahem, “dancing sideways.” “Come on now push/Press/More/Less,” she sighs over neon-streaked synths.“Step Into My Life,” co-produced by Ford and Kindness, is a masterclass of orchestral funk, with Ware insisting “I don’t wanna talk, no conversation.” “Save A Kiss,” an outlier, extends the album’s palette to kinetic electropop, which Ware’s voice floods with romantic yearning.

In a recent interview, Ware described What’s Your Pleasure? as a celebration of her flourishing confidence. It has less of the soul-searching of Ware’s previous album Glasshouse, yet zooms in on a lighter facet of her personality, and is threaded with a camp sense of humor that reflects disco’s frivolity as well as the cheekiness that is all over Ware’s Table Manners podcast but has been largely missing from her recorded music. Her airy vocals feel like secrets whispered, confidences offered, recalling Diana Ross’s supple quiver over Nile Rogers and Bernard Edwards’ beats and, in “Mirage (Don’t Stop),” coming close to Donna Summer’s orgasmic rapture. The strutting chorus of “Read My Lips” doubles down on the song’s oral innuendo with kissy sound effects, bringing to mind Anita Ward’s disco classic “Ring My Bell.” The rubberized bass jam “Ooh La La” is a riot of saucy ad libs and tooting car horns, and the frothy, Jellybean-esque “Soul Control” centers on the delightful frippery “We touch and it feels like: Woo!” It is a joy to hear Ware sounding so relaxed.

Disco music never liked to consider what happens when the music stops, but Ware allows a little of her signature psychodrama to creep into the nocturnal escapades she describes, and the flecks of ennui make the highs even higher. Over the darkly pulsing synths of “In Your Eyes,” Ware is racked with insecurities. “Would you follow me, with no guarantee?” she asks, before allowing herself a rare belting vocal. “Adore You,” produced by Metronomy’s Joseph Mount, commits what on paper might seem like a cardinal sin: it Auto-Tunes Ware’s pristine voice to a robotic murmur, the kind that could soundtrack a lonely android searching the cosmos. But her intonations (“Lean in...move slow”; “don’t go”) reshape the song’s mood with every syllable, in a nuance that makes the smallest shifts feel seismic.

The critic Douglas Crimp had a name—“boogie intimacy”—for the particular frisson you have while dancing with a stranger. “It’s usually limited to dancing together for a while before you each dissolve back into the crowd,” he wrote. That attitude seems to have galvanized Ware, too, on an album where she sounds bolder, looser — and frankly, more fun — than she has in a near-decade. “Last night we danced/And I thought you were saving my life,” she sings in “Mirage (Don’t Stop),” an evocation of communal movement as well as a mantra for the artistic rejuvenation that Ware finds in the groove. Her delivery is exquisite and carefree, suggesting an earned wisdom that a kiss is just a kiss, a touch is just a touch, and next Saturday night probably has more of both in store.

youtube

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/jessie-ware-whats-your-pleasure/

#jessie ware #what's your pleasure

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wobc-fm · 4 years

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Album Review: Ma Quele Idea

Written by Lilyanna D’Amato

Everyday, somewhere around four in the afternoon, I have the same conversation with my Mom. I wander into her office to tell her that I’m bored, she scolds me because she hates the word “bored” (it is “forbidden” in this house) and says that if I’m so unimaginative she will certainly dream up something for me to do. After five weeks of my nonsense, she finally did.

Much to my dismay, I was sent to unpack the boxes in the basement, the contents of which haven’t seen the light of day since 1998. So, that’s how I spent my Saturday, up to my neck in junk. Or so I thought. On my sixth box, I uncovered my Dad’s collection of 80s CDs. At first I saw some familiar, albeit dusty, favorites — Prince’s Sign “O” The Times, Bowie’s Tonight, Marvin Gaye’s Midnight Love — but as I sifted through the piles, I found a few I had never seen before. Among them was a four-track EP from Italo disco artist Pino D’Angiò called Ma Quale Idea, the vivacious tech-pop album I never knew I needed.

Released in 1981, the titular track, Ma Quale Idea, opens with a series of extraterrestrial electronic tremolos, ushering in D’Angiò’s sultry spoken vocal and a resonant bass line sampled from McFadden and Whitehead’s Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now. His native Neapolitan inflection rings throughout the song — seductively,and somewhat sardonically — mocking Italian dandies who look down upon the poor and “uncultured” people of the region. In his most popular performance of the song, on a popular Italian television show, the debonair singer, clad in a very 80s all-white ensemble, strides across the stage, unfastening the first few buttons of his dress shirt. Flirtatiously taking a drag from a very large cigar, he begins whisking beautiful women away from posh-looking men, whispering an ultra-smooth “oh yeah” all the while. Translated, the the chorus reads:

I had a great thought, I brought her in my den

I poured an orange juice and she burst into a laughter

She clung to my whiskey, she gulped down five litres

She seemed to be out of her wits

She kissed me, I kissed her

I stopped her, I caressed her fairy face

But she looked like a potato

Undoubtedly, the sentiment is sexier in Italian. Nonetheless, the simple piano melody perfectly punctuates his wonderfully dizzying lyricism, his gruff timbre laid over multiple tiers of 70s jangly guitar riffs and an ever-present propulsive bass line.

On the funkier, more soulful, Okay Okay, D’Angio picks up the tempo. His signature rasp is extraordinary, but the song’s subtle groove and wildly catchy techno-R&B melody seal the deal. His enunciation is impeccable as he flies through the first verse, rapidly and sleazily marveling at the fun of wooing:

Wow, what a woman! I don't trust women

Courtship is a ritual

Too often all ends up with a woman betraying you

And I don't care whether they're blonde or brunette

I just need them to be curvy and willing to make love

His flirtations echo the bounce of the disco-dance keys line, almost begging the listener to get on their feet.

And I gotta say, it’s hard not to. Ma Quale Idea is the quintessential disco album: boisterous, a little cheesy, and, unfortunately, lost in someone else’s long untouched 80s CDs box.

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pubtheatres1 · 5 years

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AS A MAN GROWS YOUNGER by Howard Colyer Jack Studio Theatre 19 Feb – 23 Feb 2019 ‘ … well-acted and well-judged … the play boasts a fine central performance and subtle, dream-like sequences’ ★★★.5 What is the role of art under fascism? Why write at all, when citizens and the state can imprison, torture, and kill you for expressing your thoughts? In the darkness of early 20th Century Europe, some artists were brave enough to continue, and while some were able to escape death, others were not so lucky. It is certainly a privilege to read, hear, and experience their stories, even when there was no guarantee that people would. ‘As A Man Grows Younger’ is a rewarding if dense play about the life of Italo Svevo, an Italian writer who lived under Mussolini’s regime. The dramatic monologue is as intriguing and complex as is its subject, a man whose life seemed to be a series of contradictions. Businessman and artist, Catholic and Jew, and a Socialist at heart but Capitalist by necessity, Italo Svevo (born Ettore Schmitz) would go on to be regarded as the Italian Proust. If you think that is a lot to take in, you would be right. ‘As A Man Grows Younger’ packs so much personal and social history into its run-time you feel as though you’ve watched a lifetime unravel before your eyes. Extensively researched, Howard Colyer’s script has a ring of authenticity that lends the character of Svevo weight and reality. There is knowing humour too, and students of history and literature will be delighted by references to James Joyce, Schopenhauer, and Marx. David Bromley is convincing as Svevo. A witty yet pompous intellectual, Svevo’s fear of the authorities threatens to overcome him and his writing. Bromley plays this conflict well, endearing audiences not only by his defiance in the face of persecution, but his crippling doubts and anxieties, too. Under the assured direction of Kate Bannister, ‘As A Man Grows Younger’ is both well-acted and well-judged. The play boasts a fine central performance and subtle, dream-like sequences. The technical and design team deserve a great deal of credit, with Karl Swinyard’s bohemian garret, Philip Matejtschuk’s evocative sound design, and William Ingham’s lighting, which helps transform Svevo’s ranting confessions into moments of intrigue and horror. Despite some powerful scenes, As A Man Grows Younger is more intellectual than emotional, providing a lot to think about but not always that much to feel. The real problem for me was the inaccessibility of the play, for while Svevo is a fascinating character, I never quite connected to his character or his struggle. As A Man Grows Younger is a worthwhile play about a compelling life, and one which deserves to be better-known. Svevo’s example shows that, in times of darkness, creating art can be a necessary but dangerous act. I hope that our times, bleak as they are, do not produce similar legacies. Box Office https://brockleyjack.co.uk/jackstudio-entry/as-a-man-grows-younger/ Reviewer Alex Hayward is a playwright, poet and author of short fiction. Raised in the West Country, Alex moved to London to pursue an MA in literature at Queen Mary University of London and has not left since. His plays deal with themes of nationalism, trauma, and the limits of idealism. @alexwhayward

#As a Man Grows Younger Brockley Jack Theatre #Italo svevo Review

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tatauini-blog · 7 years

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what i'm interested according to facebook ads topics

Feb 19th

i’ve downloaded my facebook data today and it was very interesting to kind of go back in time while looking at things i’ve done on my digital/social life since i’ve created an account (nov 2006).

These are the ads topics that i’m interested in according to my facebook data:

Youth Lagoon

Athletics at the Summer Olympics

Aventura

Home video game console

Hour

Solidarity

Escape pod

McSweeney's

Federal University of Rio de Janeiro

Public broadcasting

60 metres

Vivo (telecommunications)

Guto Requena

Parsons School of Design

Artnet

Joan Cornellà

Table tennis at the Summer Olympics

Amazon Student

Vitis

Hammer throw

Exame (magazine)

Humanities

Monologue

TV5Monde

AIESEC in Brazil

ClickBus

jerome jarre

A Mighty Girl

Baroque pop

Fernanda Lima

mofilm

Trama (mycology)

Simon & Garfunkel discography

Miles Davis

Observatório da Imprensa

Kelis

Badminton

Antônio Carlos Jobim

Tiny Furniture

Morgan Library & Museum

Weta Workshop

Motherboard

Torta

Goethe-Institut

Organism

Bamboo

BoA

Le Lis Blanc

Frank Ocean

Amy Poehler's Smart Girls

Quartz

Moringa

Latitude

Sketchbooks

Cutty Sark (whisky)

Flea

Totem

StreetArtGlobe

Independent record label

scarface

Funhouse

Republic

Panda (band)

Aion (Japanese band)

Road

Lisbon

Jinx (DC Comics)

Artforum

Hugo Weaving

The Creators Project

Brilliant.org

Degustation

Hostel (2005 film)

Mystery film

Livery

Planá (Tachov District)

Consortium

Simon & Garfunkel

Launch vehicle

Secret NYC

Exame

Nerds (candy)

childish gambino

Braun (company)

Deception Point

médicos sem fronteiras

H2 (TV network)

Tropicália

Workers' Party (Brazil)

Tisch School of the Arts

Zine

Governors Ball Music Festival

Printed Matter, Inc

WeWork

HuffPost Women

Andre (band)

Smot (chanting)

Decriminalization

Vine (service)

Garance Doré

Meta, Campania

MIT Media Lab

Taste of Cinema

New York University School of Law

Pole vault

Anthology film

Coconut Records (musician)

Frequency

Levant

Sensacionalista

Special effect

Artist-in-residence

Navigation

Bananal, São Paulo

States of Brazil

1900 Summer Olympics

Steering wheel

IEEE Standards Association

revista piauí

Pro Evolution Soccer

romantic comedies

D-A-D

the cool hunter

Flux

Getty Images

HuffPost Brasil

René Aubry

Kizomba

Knot (unit)

Palestine Liberation Organization

King Krule

Room

New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA)

Thread (computing)

Kite

News magazine

Rozendaal

Lincoln Center

SOS

Sigur Rós

Urbanus

Steeplechase (athletics)

Romário

Shaivism

Gilberto Gil

Museum of the Moving Image (New York City)

Olympic medal

Sochi

Formigueiro

2016 Summer Olympics

Landform

Tijuca

Arte

Dream pop

Opala .

Orquestra Voadora

Forum for Urban Design

Móveis Coloniais de Acaju

Fair

History of Europe

800 metres

Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger

Illuminated manuscript

Sociedade Brasileira para o Progresso da Ciência

Financial Times Global 500

Moog Music Inc.

The Intercept

Democratic Labour Party (Brazil)

Bossa nova

Western Europe

Rio, I Love You

Rama

Freak folk

Epic film

Protest

Psychedelic pop

New York University Graduate School of Arts and Science

Extremis

guardian

Mediterranean Sea

Operating system

El Hormiguero

Swimming at the 2000 Summer Olympics

Araucaria angustifolia

Shot put

Helianthus

Dr. Martens

Extended play

Nectar

Ariel Pink

do bem™

Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)

Plastic

Blake Edwards

2020 Summer Olympics

Laurus nobilis

London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games

Queremos

Carl Linnaeus

Selectism

Megaforce Records

Nike Soccer

Giorgio Moroder

Moog synthesizer

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

400 metres hurdles

Portmanteau

Dance-punk

Prix Ars Electronica

enlace

The Awl

CreativeApplications.Net

DOS

Glossary of musical terminology

Jout Jout Prazer

Sensationalism

Rosin

100 metres

República

Marshmallow

void

Rodrigo Hilbert

Tank (magazine)

Deborah Colker

Fundação Estudar

Música popular brasileira

IEEE Electromagnetic Compatibility Society

AIESEC

Rio (2011 film)

Casablanca

Quentin Tarantino Movies

Cactus

CRESCER E VIVER

Brooklyn Museum

100 metres at the Olympics

Lego The Lord of the Rings (video game)

Beach House (album)

Helianthus annuus

Noisey

Infinitum

Nova (TV series)

Common quail

NOO

Woody Allen

Hudson River

Award

Samba-enredo

fear

The Week

The Proud Family

Bubblegum pop

Drive-through

110 metres hurdles

Guarda, Portugal

2010 Winter Olympics

ARTE Concert

The Party (film)

Mare

Ben Gibbard

AD Parla

Christopher Lee

International System of Units

Darcy Ribeiro

Sport Club Internacional

Brooklyn Academy of Music

Psychosis

GBK

Frank Ocean discography

Mini (marque)

It's Nice That

Study in Germany

Orient

IEEE Communications Society

Victoria Harbour

Acne Studios

Sea of Shoes

eMAG

Pagode

Réunion

Oboe

Fernando Gabeira

Quartz (publication)

Jornal Meia Hora

Líbano, Tolima

Kings of Convenience

NewYorker

EF Brasil - Intercâmbio

Residency Unlimited

Grass

Samba-canção

Sagmeister & Walsh

Araucária

Vertigo

BAMcinématek

Hyperallergic

Academy Award for Best Costume Design

Nowness

Hyperbole

The Tallest Man on Earth

Wednesday

Bachelor of Fine Arts

Dark wave

2014 Winter Olympics

Olaria Atlético Clube

Cachaça

Smaller Earth

Kingston upon Hull

Plastic bag

Space Shuttle

Hyphen

One Million Voices Against FARC

Muda (Japanese term)

Lightning strike

Eunápolis

Sketchbook

Guillermo del Toro

Brazilian science and technology

Phonebloks

Silent film

John Mayer Trio

Paste (food)

Ralph Bakshi

Chevrolet Opala

vox

A&E Networks

Hunna

Levante UD

Brownie (folklore)

Mad Decent Block Party

Etapes

best vines

Hurdling

Piracy

Beautiful/Decay Magazine

Anima Mundi (event)

Trip hop

Long jump

Street

Perestroika

Winter Olympic Games

The Dodos

VFX Solidarity International

Green Party (Brazil)

Mobile, Alabama

Pali

Roman Forum

Party (role-playing games)

List of Sonic the Hedgehog characters

Moog Music

MUBI

Discus throw

Gold medal

Frontier

Ema (Shinto)

Xcaret Park

Sliced bread

Post-punk

Sambass

ClickBus

gus

Xcaret

Death Cab for Cutie

breakfast at tiffanys

Catcher In The Rye

Vuze

D3 road (Croatia)

Buga, Valle del Cauca

Loungerie Intimates

Cut, copy, and paste

Binders full of women

Carnival block

Social class

Médecins Sans Frontières

Local Natives

Maxxie Oliver

The Last King of Scotland (film)

End Homophobia

Dazed & Confused (magazine)

graduate

Individual Olympic Athletes at the 2000 Summer Olympics

Samba

Svetlana Kuznetsova

Toda Criança Pode Aprender

Little Joy

Girls Who Code

Pes

Munchies (film)

Robert Moog

Partido alto

Pictoplasma

New Art Dealers Alliance

Alto

Bois de Boulogne

Control key

Bus

uber

Cereal Magazine

Diego Ribas da Cunha

Dia Art Foundation

Bolt (2008 film)

Agência Pública

MOODs

Human Development Index

Z (Aion album)

MIMO

Power station

Marcelo Freixo

The Antlers (band)

Shiva

spicy food

Rhythm

(Le) Poisson Rouge

Boiler Room

Unidentified flying object

200 metres

Girls (comics)

Print on demand

That '70s Show (Official)

Sociedade Esportiva do Gama

Ondina

Colossal

Mae

Psychological thriller

Artsy

Escola Nacional de Belas Artes

Music Photographers

design-dautore.com

MTV Europe Music Awards

Vuze Bittorrent Client

Biographical film

Poorly Drawn Lines

Piauí (magazine)

Mac DeMarco

Non-governmental organization

Propaganda

StreetArtGlobe

Olympic Games ceremony

Vila-seca

Tijuca Forest

Sarah

Pedro (footballer, born July 1987)

Inhotim

Praia da Vitória

MyFrenchFilmFestival.com

Mandrake the Magician

Vector space

Convenience store

The Beach (film)

Indie folk

Multi-sport event

São Paulo

New York (magazine)

OZY

Midfielder

Action Bronson

Jerry Mouse

Philippines at the 2012 Summer Olympics

Vinicius de Moraes

npr music

Link (knot theory)

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

British rock

Gaia (mythology)

I-D

Fountain

Italo disco

Skins (UK TV series)

James Blake (musician)

Nord (French department)

Token ring

Comparison of BitTorrent clients

Kinescope

Courage

Nõo

Helianthus annuus

e-flux

Cave

Seed

High jump

Cultural diversity

2000 Summer Olympics

Instituto Moreira Salles

2012 Summer Olympics

Alpine skiing at the 2014 Winter Olympics

Belgium

Designtaxi

Anima mundi

Academic journal

Military dictatorship

Dumont, New Jersey

Wilfred

Adaptations of The Lord of the Rings

Glass House

Somos tão Jovens

Domestic worker

Units of measurement

Porvir

Ars Electronica Center

Bubble wrap

Summer Olympic Games

Atlantic Records

Bon Iver discography

CCBB Rio de Janeiro

Sovereign state

Oriente (Ecuador)

Ministry of Education (Brazil)

Sigur Rós discography

Condé Nast

Nanotechnology

Emporium (antiquity)

CPI

Céu

Mark magazine

Thought Catalog

Spaceflight

Sanskrit

The City of the Sun

Sense

Temple

Student exchange program

Ciência sem Fronteiras

Grammatical mood

Comic strip

Third Man Records

Collection catalog

Devendra Banhart

Mammal

Tictail

Cell nucleus

Blue-eyed soul

Facebook Lite

Carona, Ticino

Celina, Ohio

Residency (medicine)

MGMT (album)

Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro

Cronus

Heima

La Blogothèque

Public library

Help Kids with Cancer

Russia

Trem Desportivo Clube

Cooper Union

Professional wrestling promotion

Opening ceremony

binders full women

Bar da Praia

República (Nepalese newspaper)

Bento

Ethnic groups

The New School

Chico Buarque

Smile (band)

Institution

The Cure (The Cure album)

List of Girls episodes

Associação Quatro Patinhas

MyFonts

IEEE 1541-2002

Gus Van Sant

Fictional film

400 metres

MIT Technology Review

International Olympic Committee

Port

Computing

Fuerza Bruta Wayra

awl

Design Milk

Studio

Earth, Wind & Fire

Ian Holm

Pingu

Middle-distance running

Foster the People discography

European Union

Parque Lage

Mixcloud

Jah Wobble

Vox (blogging platform)

John Mayer discography

Videos

Hue

Unbreakable

Tempo

Piauí

Archive

Middle Ages

Skill

Academic publishing

Incendies

Nice

Air (French band)

Grizzly bear

Somos Tão Jovens - O Filme

Deckdisc

Urban area

Caetano Veloso

Dirty Projectors

Triple jump

Musical film

Astronaut

Chameleon

Salário digno aos PROFESSORES do Brasil

Code Club

1996 Summer Olympics

O Terno

Ear

Konbini

Rockland County, New York

Apartamento

Public university

FIBA Americas League

Land use

Jinx

Penny

Nothing

Sukha

Bronze medal

Video hosting service

#100daysITP2017 #100daysofidentityperception

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