night school

I was impressed by 1981's Boston-set whodunit slasher Night School on a aesthetic level much more than I thought I would be. The film, edited by Robert Reitano, is rife with sophisticated, slightly tongue-in-cheek cuts: a shot of a shower drain to a diver feeding fish in an aquarium, and later a cut to a turtle nibbling at a severed head. With no particular reason symbolically, water is a motif throughout--from the aquarium to a shower scene to a diner kitchen sink. At the time, Ken Hughes had long been writing and directing a diverse array of films--from noir to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. This could be one reason why which may be why Night School stands out from younger-directed horror flicks of the era. The use of sound is jarring in a good way--from the racket of a blade against metal to the mechanic whirring of a coffin being laid into the ground. Brad Fiedel's (The Terminator) score features a lovely, melancholy string strain paired with bubbling, menacing synths. But the silences are effective as well. The chase scenes are tense--Rachel Ward's panicked flee is convincing. The killer dons sleek, Daft Punk get up and orchestrates some pretty gruesome, elaborately planned beheading sequences sometimes with savage slow-mo.



The film seems to have an inherent contempt for higher education--the smug professor in his cream colored weaved sweater. Early on, our Ivy League-brandished investigator Judd (played by Leonard Mann) jokes about his own education. The police that surround him--"Bawston" cop chomping sandwiches with notepads kind of types is a contrast to Mann's demure performance, standing tall and rail thin with a mop of black hair, blazer, hands in pockets. The movie also illustrates class divisions in Boston: the diner waitress and one key suspect who lives in a ramshackle apartment (a "Jason" hockey mask appears, two years prior to Jason taking the mask on) as a peeping tom.

Night School is quite fun (it breezes by!) and one I look forward to reading more about; I would also give this another watch to discover more of the layers it likely contains. ***

-Jeffery Berg

top 10 albums of the year: #7

7.

The Order of Time - Valerie June



Tennessee-born Valerie June's swell sophomore record was a comforting solace when it landed in mid-March. New Yorker's Hua Hsu called her music "a reminder that life goes on." Her Dylan-esque nasal singing style pinches her bluesy, occasionally optimistic lyrics, and recalls the twangy country singers of yesteryear. Central piece "Shakedown" is a giddy-up wax poetic on Solomon Burke's "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love" and the slow shuffle tilt of "If And" is lovely. I should also shout out the great instrumentalists' efforts on this record too including Dan Rieser's percussion.

"The songs were written over the course of 10 to 12 years; some of them I wrote when I was on the road, others I wrote when I was working in Memphis or just after I moved to New York. So, they take place in different times of my life. The songs have their own lives, their own dreams, and their own visions, so I have to respect them. It’s not always time for them to be recorded; as a service to the songs, I just needed to wait on some of them.

It takes time when you’re going toward a dream. It’s a journey more than it is immediate gratification, especially when the songs create worlds for me... each one has a world that I go to when I write it, and I hope that when I share it with people that they can get a taste of what the world that I visited was like, you know? And all of that is part of the time and the process of waiting and getting it right." -Valerie June

top 10 albums of the year: #8

8.

More Life - Drake


After his strong, wide-ranging record Views dropped last year and carried the summer airwaves, Drake returned again, this time with not really an album but a "playlist" of dancehall, R&B, rap, and pop. His seemingly flat, unaffected vocals belie lyrics of yearning. "Get It Together," "Passionfruit," British rapper Giggs' solo on "KMT," and moody, J-Lo sampled "Teenage Fever" are few of the highlights on this epic. Featuring a bevy of guest stars (including his mom on voicemail) and a manifold sound, More Life is exceptionally produced with smooth-as-silk transitions.

"This project is just a celebration of the fact that we're still here, still going." -Drake

top 10 albums of the year: #9

9.

American Dream - LCD Soundsystem



After a much ado disbanding, James Murphy and co. returned with another disco-punk album that didn't stray the course and bucked notions of irrelevancy in a tumultuous year that feels like the start of another decade. The album wears much on its sleeve, including its sleeve itself--a sunburst set in blue sky (the painting is by Rob Reynolds--a cover that  happened to spark divisiveness among consumers).

When you get down to the music, it crackles with those slap-down synths and Murphy's slippery vocals. Politics and the social times drive much of the lyrics and mood of record like the big-sky, anthemic "call the police"--which teasingly (?) hints at U2 through warbly electro. There's also nods to the late David Bowie in lyrics (the winsome "black screen") and sound. Songs like "tonite" vibe on attempting to unite pessimistic ("the future is a nightmare), fragmented pop audiences ("what's left of the airwaves") to the dance-floor.

"I was like, 'I don’t know if people are gonna like this, it’s a much darker record.” And Michael, who’s been the art director at DFA forever, was like, “With the bands I like, I’ve always waited for the dark record…' But I don’t know if we’re the best target market, late forties music nerds… I was a goth band in the ’80s, and it’s a big part of my youth. In some ways, it was just letting myself have the questionable taste of my ’80s, not just the quite obviously approved tastes of my childhood, but the dubious stuff too, which still means a lot to me. Letting that out a bit, without reserve, was a big part of it. It’s also kind of a weird time... It’s a weird time to be a human. It’s always a weird time to be a human, but particularly, for me, now." -James Murphy

dynamite remix

Dynamite disco remix by Midnight Pool Party of Lorde's tune!

top 10 albums of the year: #10

10.

Noir Éden - Peter Peter

Peter Peter's delicate vocals thread through exquisite lo-fi electro gems. Like many of the songs on the record, opener "Bien réel" begins with a plaintive acapella over little beats and builds gradually. Tracks like "Nosferatu" and the title track feature moody, enveloping synths. The French pop bop "Little Shangri-La" features a compelling melody and ambiance. Pleasant and appealing with some gentle guitar work--this seems like an album almost anyone would like. 

"It's an album about asking yourself questions and doubting yourself. The last song is about embracing those moments of passion and being alive. Accept you won't answer all the questions and take that pure feeling of being there." -Peter Peter

art by eric yahnker

Select works from Erick Yahnker. 

I originally posted some of his art back in 2013.

via Eric Yahnker