April 2021 | Page 2 of 3

16Apr

By Matt ShiverdeckerNo Comments

Art, Film, Reviews

SFFILM Review: “Lily Topples The World”

After its recent world premiere at Austin's SXSW Film Festival, Jeremy Workman's superb new documentary "Lily Topples The World" won the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary Feature. The film is being featured this week on the lineup of the 64th Annual San Francisco International Film Festival (SFFILM) and it's a must-see. 22-year-old Lily Hevesh started posting videos of her unique domino creations at the tender age of nine. Over time, her ideas became more elaborate and she has built a massive following on YouTube where her videos have reached over a billion views. Before watching the film, I never could have imagined that being a "domino artist" was something you could make a living from. Something tells me that your average person still could not, but a small handful (of otherwise ...

KALEO Release Stunning Video Performance In Front Of An Active Volcano

15Apr

By SimonNo Comments

Features, Music

KALEO Release Stunning Video Performance In Front Of An Active Volcano

Icelandic alt-rockers have a new album on the way and have just released a one-of-a-kind music video of a performance in front of an actual live volcano. Surface Sounds is their third studio album and is set for public consumption on April 23. The first two singles from the project were released in January of last year with other tracks released in March and April. The album release date was pushed back due to the pandemic and we're finally going to have an opportunity to hear the rest. https://twitter.com/officialkaleo/status/1382332815652577281 On March 24 frontman JJ Julius Son performed in front of the erupting Fagradalsfjall volcano (just don't ask us how to properly pronounce it). The resulting footage is strikingly beautiful and we can't help but wonder what was going t...

Grohl-Led Documentary Chronicles ‘Life In A Van’ Before Massive Success For Bands

14Apr

By SimonNo Comments

Features

Grohl-Led Documentary Chronicles ‘Life In A Van’ Before Massive Success For Bands

No band or musician starts out selling out Madison Square Garden or The Forum right away. It can take years to even progress past playing the bar circuit. A new Dave Grohl-directed documentary tells the story of a number of well-known bands just starting out. Perhaps it'll even inspire some of the next generation of talent to hit the road and test their fortunes once more concerts return. The new trailer for What Drives Us provides a sample of how the film will take an in-depth look at experiences from acts like No Doubt, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, U2, and many others before they started selling out arenas. Each act pays tribute to their early years on the road and points out how important that time was to their development. According to a press release the movie is a testament to ...

SFFILM Review: “Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliché”

13Apr

By Matt ShiverdeckerNo Comments

Film, Reviews

SFFILM Review: “Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliché”

The 64th Annual San Francisco International Film Festival (SFFILM) is going on now through April 18th. It is the longest-running film festival in the Americas and this year they are doing a hybrid event that includes drive-in screenings happening in San Francisco along with over 100 films available to watch online for viewers in the United States. Co-directed by filmmakers Paul Sng and Celeste Bell, "Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliché," is on the festival's documentary slate this year. It chronicles the life and career of Marion Elliot, better known professionally as Poly Styrene, frontwoman of legendary British punk band X-Ray Spex. She was a young biracial woman with braces and a flair for fashion when she saw the Sex Pistols play a raucous live show on her 19th birthday. Shortly after,...

Five Musicians Who Are Killing It On TikTok Right Now

11Apr

By SimonNo Comments

Features

Five Musicians Who Are Killing It On TikTok Right Now

From viral trends to threats of getting banned in the United States, there's been a lot of discussion about the social media site TikTok in recent years. There's a little bit of everything circulating around the platform from choreographed dances to comedy to even stock advice. TikTok is owned by a Chinese company called ByteDance. In 2018 they purchased the social media site Musical.ly and merged the two platforms. With that move, TikTok became available worldwide and has seen rapid growth first with America's youth. With the onset of the pandemic and widespread boredom setting in, a larger piece of the demographic pie joined in over the last year. As easy as it is to add music to each post, it's also become an important source of new music discovery. But we're not talking about th...

Gloriously Goofy “Barb & Star Go To Vista Del Mar” Out Now on Blu-ray and VOD (Review)

9Apr

By Matt ShiverdeckerNo Comments

Film, Reviews

Gloriously Goofy “Barb & Star Go To Vista Del Mar” Out Now on Blu-ray and VOD (Review)

Comedians Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo became fast friends after meeting at The Groundlings, a Los Angeles-based improv comedy theater in the early 2000s. In 2011, the duo earned an Academy Award nomination for their uproarious "Bridesmaids" screenplay. A full decade later, Wiig and Mumolo have brought us two of the most gloriously goofy characters ever to be unleashed on audiences. They've now written, produced, and starred in "Barb & Star Go To Vista Del Mar," which is directed by Josh Greenbaum (better known as an award-winning documentarian behind "Becoming Bond" and "The Short Game"). Barb (Mumolo) and Star (Wiig) have best friends for their entire lives and pretty much spend every waking moment together. After the store they work in closes down, they decide to take ...

Beastie Boys, Pearl Jam, Grateful Dead & More Announce Record Store Day Releases

8Apr

By SimonNo Comments

Music

Beastie Boys, Pearl Jam, Grateful Dead & More Announce Record Store Day Releases

The list of new, exclusive, and reissued albums available on Record Store Day 2021 has arrived and there's a lot of options for music fans. Spread out over two days this year, June 12 and July 17 there are a few things you'll want to educate yourself on to give you a better chance of locking up the albums you're looking to add to your collection. The good folks over at the official Record Store Day site have laid it all out for us and there are three categories of content to keep in mind. First, there's the 'Exclusives'. These are titles that will only be released physically at indie record store shops. Next, we have 'RSD First' which are titles that will hit the indie shops first but could later be released via other retailers or online at some point. Next up there is the 'Small Run/R...

Twenty One Pilots Return With ‘Shy Away’, New Album Announcement

7Apr

By SimonNo Comments

Music, Reviews

Twenty One Pilots Return With ‘Shy Away’, New Album Announcement

Twenty One Pilots started teasing a new release earlier this year and we just got the payoff. 'Shy Away' is the first single from their new album Scaled and Icy. You can put May 21 on your calendar for the release and a live stream performance from the band. Tickets are on sale now and the experience starts at 8 PM EST. You can secure your passes now via their website and start at $20. Scaled and Icy is the band's first album release since 2017s Trench. The band did treat us to the pandemic-inspired single 'Level of Concern' last year. The video for 'Shy Away' was directed by Miles Cable and A.J. Favicchio and lays it on pretty heavy with the 80s vibes. And that's ok, we're feeling it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sO-Y1Zbft4 LYRICS When I get home,You better not be ...

“Godzilla vs. Kong” is a Quickly Forgotten Battle (Review)

6Apr

By Matt ShiverdeckerNo Comments

Film, Reviews

“Godzilla vs. Kong” is a Quickly Forgotten Battle (Review)

There were a few reasons why I was looking forward to checking out "Godzilla vs. Kong." For starters, 2017's "Kong: Skull Island" was legitimately pretty damn fun to watch and gave a great cast the opportunity to ham it up against some beautiful locations and solid effects work. Full disclosure: I have not seen the 2014 "Godzilla" reboot nor its 2019 sequel, "Godzilla: King of the Monsters," but when I saw that Adam Wingard had been secured to direct this new battle-centric sequel, my interest level piqued. His 2011 home-invasion thriller "You're Next" is one of my favorite genre films in recent memory, so I was interested to see what he would do with two of the most legendary cinematic monsters of all time. It's unlikely that any filmmaker could have given this lackluster effor...

Five Bands Not To Miss If You’re Heading To Bonnaroo 2021

5Apr

By SimonNo Comments

Music

Five Bands Not To Miss If You’re Heading To Bonnaroo 2021

The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival is celebrating 20 years on the farm after having to outright cancel last year's show due to the pandemic. They've come out of the gates in a big way this year with one of the deepest lineups in recent memory. The internet likes to complain about lineups for these types of shows. The reality is, you're not going to be able to recreate the magic of a Tom Petty headlining set in 2013. Or that time Phish came out of hiatus and played to a capacity crowd back in 2009. For the record that set happened at the same time as a rousing Public Enemy set (and I'm glad we split time between the two). Having always wanted to make the trip to Manchester Tennessee it took a group of friends celebrating a 30th birthday party to get me south of the Mason Dixon line...