Category Archives: Hedonism

This coming weekend, a brand new nightclub is opening up in central Barcelona named Les Enfants Brillants.

The 400-capacity club sets up for the first time in Carrer de Gurdia just off the citys Gothic Quarter from the same team behind Barcelonas Input club in Poble Espanyol.

"With the opening of Les Enfants Brillants we seek to accommodate a different club experience in every way we can," the clubs manager, lex Molina, said on its opening.

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The nightclub will "create an atmosphere in which the public feels comfortable while immersing themselves in a world of hedonism in which they can enjoy good music every week, he added.

Opening this weekend on April 16, Les Enfants Brillants first club night features just two artists, Ferro and Monile for an unforgettable opening. We hope to see you all for this first dance, the club announced.

The club nights second event will take place just a day later on Sunday, April 17, welcoming in one of the mainstay artists of the French minimal scene, Traumer, for his Les Enfants Brillants debut.

Read this next: Snar festival announces full line-up for 2022 event

The Parisian is going to translate his passion for drums and percussion into certified dancefloor magic. Get ready to enjoy a versatile set where he will alternate genres mixing soft productions and more ecstatic tracks, the club added.

Divided into two spaces, Les Enfants Brillants features a main room where DJs will play through a soundsystem made up of 12 L-Acoustics speakers. In the other half of the venue, an in-built cocktail bar allows for a step back from the dancefloor.

In the weeks following the clubs opening events, line-ups feature Priku, Josh Baker, Kid Moss, Javier Carballo, and a collaborative event with French promoters Yoyaku.

Find out more about Les Enfants Brillants here.

Gemma Ross is Mixmag's Editorial Assistant, follow her on Twitter

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Brand new nightclub to open in Barcelona this weekend - Mixmag

As Miami is upon us and with Ibiza on the horizon Xtravaganza Recordings very own Alex Gold, presents Stranded in Paradise (The Anniversary Remixes). Marking a highly anticipated release from the labels front man.

Titled Stranded in Paradise and welcoming a selection of fresh 25th anniversary mixes, the record serves up a firm dose of Xtravaganzas trademark sound as one of dance musics original trailblazers enter into their twenty fifth year.

Xtravaganza Recordings requires little introduction and was seminal in shaping early dance music culture, with the label also having played an instrumental part in launching Armin van Burrens career, with the release of his debut Blue Fear back in 1997.

Whilst Alex Gold and the label are also credited with executive production and crafting the early stages of Chicanes career, releasing and developing the first two albums and Balearic favourites Behind The Sun & Far From The Maddening Crowd. Xtravaganza then went on to create an enviable stable and clock up a number of much loved and classic releases, with the label firmly cementing itself in electronic music history.

Founded in 1996, by the legendary music producer Alex Gold his natural A&R talent, coupled with an unrivalled entrepreneurial spirit saw Xtravaganza become one of dance musics true players and pioneer much of the early Balearic sound, delivering hedonism on a truly global scale. Notching up over fifteen million sales, the label would also go onto deliver two UK No1 hit singles and its internationally famed formula, for an accessible and cosmopolitan, Ibiza focused sound has remained true throughout.

Across its expansive twenty five year history, some of the greatest names in dance music have appeared on the label including Tisto, Paul van Dyk, Above & Beyond, Chicane, Agnelli & Nelson, Chris Lake, Andy C (Groove Armada), Dhasse, Adam K & Soha and Armin van Buuren.

And further highlighting its far reaching level of influence and industry dominance, recording artists such as Bryan Adams, Marie Brennan (Clannad), Phillip Oakey (Human League), Chuck D, Public Enemy and Prince all went onto feature on the label.

Alex Gold himself (under his then Dhasse alias) was also responsible for the remixes of the London 2012 Olympic Games theme tune, the Public Enemy cut Harder Than You Think.

Fast forward to the present, as Stranded in Paradise takes up centre stage hold tight.

Listen to the track below.

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Alex Gold, presents 'Stranded in Paradise' (The Anniversary Remixes) - Rave Jungle

Read Time:9 Minute, 11 Second

Singer/guitarist Wafah and bassist Celeste, joined by drummer Lucy, are deep tan, a tightly wound trio who came together through friends, house parties and clubs of East London after Wafah and Celeste had spent some time in LA. Crafting vibrant minimal music that is wired, menacing and plugged into the uncertainty, cynicism and absurdity of our times. From hedonism to revenge pornography to deep fakes and real-world issues, their knowing music is laser-focused, reflecting the outer edges of society and culture.

Their second EP diamond horsetail will be available digitally from 6th May and on vinyl from 22nd July. Theyre currently in the midst of a tour with Bambara and Bodega.

I caught up with all three members via zoom.

Diamond Horsetail is the name of a weed killer because we want to do two EPs before moving on, so its like a nice second part of that cycle. Celeste explains With both of them, the name is chosen because there can be a lot of different meanings with the tracks. Its the sound of us coming together, they feel a lot bigger and bolder. More beefy and muscular.

Muscular fits with the artwork then. adds Wafa.

The artwork is like an amalgamation of a beefy bodybuilder and of a horse Celeste continues I dont know if you know the MEME, theres a really ripped dog and theres a really pathetic dog next to it, so our EP is like a nod to it. Theres a really ripped horse on the cover and a pathetic horse on the back, its basically because we love MEMEs. The MEMES get more and more niche as they go along and they end up if you havent seen the first one and a lot of our stuff is based on memes really isnt it, Lucy offers do you ever ascend on the first EP is written about a meme pageThe mood of the EP is a bit more cheeky than the first one, its more intricate in terms of the instrumentation and lighter in tone and its also an evolution I think.

French-speaking Wafah tells me. Its not about constricting us to an idea. We are feeling it out in terms of how the next step is going to sound. When things are added they are added because in that specific space something is needed there, not that oh I wanted it to sound like that, its more the sound of the song itself and what fits. Most of our stuff isnt structured, Camelot is not really structured, or beginners krav maga has three choruses and two intros.

Their recent single rudy ya ya ya is a short sharp shock of trademark deep tan: scalpel-like guitars gouge above an ominously skittish rhythm section with Wafahs pointed yet detached vocal laced in sardonic black humour that surrounds the melting public image of Rudy. Its about Rudy Giuliani, that scene in Borat 2 where he is caught with his pants down when he is seduced, or ambushed or punkd by the interviewer Wafah laughs. Celeste offers Some of our songs we are just trolling, and a bit cheeky. The Rudy song we are just trolling Rudy Giuliani and we watched Borat 2 and it gave us so much life and this can work its way in!

Last years debut EP Creeping Speedwells was awesome, as evidenced by deepfake, the breakneck, clanging guitars and dissonant homage to a heavy nightcamelotand insidious cold-wave anthem,hollow scene about the feeling of having to move through life with a certain level of detachment in order to function.

Creeping Speedwells, is the name of a common garden plant. It was called that because 2020 was a really tough fucking year, so we found a newfound respect for weeds of the world finding their way up through the cracks in tough conditions! Explains Celeste. Its a double entendre but its actually about weeds. The name was chosen because they can have a lot of different meanings.

Each deep tan composition captures the mood of that moment. Its a document where each element has to play its part, like a living breathing organism rather than overly thought out, overproduced songs, little wonder they are influenced by artists like The Cure and The Fall and one can even hear elements of the likes of Television, Young Marble Giants or Siouxsie and the Banshees. Whatever fits will go in the song. Its a timestamp of this moment. Part of it is also because we write collaboratively when we sit down and discuss it. Explains Celeste Waf and I will sit down and we get a metronome out and we will pick a speed. When we are doing lyrics we sit with the song when its just at the beginning, just an instrumental and say ok what does this song feel like? Wafah continues Its also what fits but it needs to fit the mood of the track as well. As a three-piece, I feel all the parts need to be strong and to be able to stand alone, theres no room for hiding.

Working with producer Dan Carey last year released a more improvised single with Speedy Wunderground called tamus yiffing revenge. He recorded us in half a day. Celeste explains. It was speedy! Lucy adds

Wafah continues It was fun. It was a fun day, it was a memorable day. Its exciting being in that studio with all those machines, it looks like a big bunker with electronics and machinery and its like whats going to come out of this wall of machines?

Their single beginners krav maga from earlier this year carried an important message. Raw, inventive and cool, with metallic guitars and scampering rhythms punctuated by dexterous vocals, it was another superb single with a wry take on contemporary themes. The band expand on the meaning behind the song.

beginners krav maga is a response to the idea that womxn should take self-defence classes in order to feel safe on the street at night. Womxn shouldnt have to. Yet it seems like every day theres a new Sarah Everard, Sabina Nessa or Aisling Murphy. Educate your sons, brothers, guy friends. Male violence against womxn is an epidemic and it needs to stop, so we made a pop song to talk about it.

Being a subject that was very much on our minds, it felt wrong to write a whole bunch of songs without making reference to it, making art when you are working collaboratively, and this work being a period of time, and not referencing something like that, theres two layers to it Wafa explains I was really impressed by how many men were posting in complete solidarity. We are moving in the right direction. The reason for the title is if you ever search for the most deadly martial arts and krav maga is the most vicious style of fighting there is. It was saying that as a woman even if I was taking the most vicious hand to hand combat then I still wouldnt feel safe.

For a band on a swift ascent, lockdown in 2020 presented its own very real challenges for each member of deep tan but also made them more focused on songwriting. It was frustrating but in a way it gave us time to write material. No gigs to go to so time to write. Wafa tells me. In some sense, it was one of the best things to happen when lockdown two happened, I was made redundant from my job and we worked so much, we would call Lucy up and have listening sessions and make a playlist, so we made the best of the time we had. Celeste remembers.

I dont take part loads in the lyric writing from my perspective it kind of internet-based thats just natural coming out of lockdown Lucy notes The internet is the way most people interact with each other I feel like its taking effect on the songwriting. Theres one song about loving your mobile phone. You work all day on a screen then in your downtime you are staring at a screen

Its called device devotion about being addicted to your phone Celeste reveals. Its like a shield, you can choose when you are in front of someone you have to be interactive but with the internet, its more selective. Wafa observes of social media she adds that Its like everyone shouting at once

The Social Dilemma on Netflix goes into the brain of all the algorithms. Celeste remarks it gets really dark, its like the presence of social media in our lives, how it is now is tearing our social fabrics apart. The algorithms can be used to sway elections like in Ethiopia there has been this huge political divide because of hacking or Trump in America where these divides have led. It also talks about how the response your brain gets is like a dopamine rush similar to what you would get from gambling. Like whenever your phone lights up now our brains are now wired to deal with our phones its completely in the addiction centres of our brains and how dangerous it is.

In the lyrics of device devotion there are a few references in the social dilemma like whenever you unlock your phone its like spinning the wheel in the casino Celeste notes so when Wafa sings I spin the wheel I spin the wheel also there are references to random browser searches.

Its a Pavlov reaction, your phone rings the bell and your like a dog panting Wafah adds.

Its rare for acts to write about the internet without it sounding try-hard, with deep tan its part of what inspires their artistry, how can it not when most of us spend our lives online? Theres a resistance to it because people think that they want a song to be more timeless but ultimately it is because of what we are actually living. Initially, I had that feeling. Celeste observes. We can do both as well. Diamond Horsetail has BDSM overtones and is a revenge story Wafah points out about dousing someone with poisonous liquid.

Tour dates:14 Apr Sneaky Petes, Edinburgh [Supporting Bambara] SOLD OUT15 Apr Sneaky Petes, Edinburgh [Supporting Bambara] SOLD OUT16 Apr Stereo, Glasgow [Supporting Bambara]18 Apr The Leadmill, Sheffield [Supporting Bambara]19 Apr Hare and Hounds, Birmingham [Supporting Bambara] SOLD OUT6 May Focus Wales, Wrexham7 May Are You Listening Festival?, Reading20 May Zerox, Newcastle21 May The Great Eastern Festival, Edinburgh22 May Record Junkee, Sheffield24 May Rough Trade, Nottingham25 May Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff27 May Headrow House, Leeds28 May YES (Basement) (Mood Swings) Manchester29 May Hare & Hounds, Birmingham1 Jun Venue MOT, London22-24 Jul Truck Festival, Oxford

https://deeptan.bandcamp.com/

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IN CONVERSATION: deep tan the (songs) feel a lot bigger and bolder. More beefy and muscular - God Is In The TV

Gilbert Gottfried, who died on Tuesday at age 67 after a long battle with a genetic muscle disease, was a true comic's comic. A throwback to setup-and-punchline humor in an era dominated by storytellers and observational comedians, he relied on impeccable timing and a peculiar style part whiny voice, part squinted eyes to pummel his audiences with joke after joke. HIs delivery made him unique and unforgettable, and his mastery of an audience left his fellow comedians in awe.

"If Gilbert wanted to kill, forget about it," stand-up comic Ritch Shydner told Salon. Shydner often had the unenviable task of following Gottfried at New York comedy clubs.

He relied on impeccable timing and a peculiar style . . . to pummel his audiences with joke after joke.

Born in Coney Island, Gottfried grew up in a small apartment above the hardware store his father and uncle ran. He was an awkward child who earned his fellow students' acceptance by becoming the class clown . . . at least on the days he attended school, which were few and far between. Whenever he could, he played hooky, spending his days in the library reading books. At home, he lived in front of the television.

Gottfried decided early on that show business was his calling. "I couldn't sing. I couldn't dance. I wasn't particularly good-looking," he wrote in his autobiography, "Rubber Balls and Liquor." "I had no discernible talent or admirable qualities, although I did like to do voices."

When he was still in high school, Gottfried developed a string of impressions that amused his family so much his sister decided he was ready for a real audience. She took her 15-year-old brother to "Hootenanny Night" at the Bitter End in Greenwich Village. His first gig went well enough that Gottfried continued to perform there weekly, building his act and eventually performing anywhere he could in the nascent 1970s Manhattan comedy scene.

In the early days of cable, MTV gave Gottfried his big break, hiring him to record ad-libbed bits to be aired between music videos. His MTV presence led to a brief stint on "Saturday Night Live," which in turn earned him a series of movie roles. After appearing as an accountant in "Beverly Hills Cop II" alongside his former "SNL" castmate Eddie Murphy, Gottfried became a regular performer, often creating memorable characters with his unmistakable voice. His most notable role: Iago the parrot in "Aladdin."

RELATED: Bob Saget, a dirty daddy: Appreciating the darker elements of the talented comedian's work

"Our hearts are shattered at the loss of our beloved friend, collaborator, behind-the-scenes mischief maker, and most irreverent spirit, full of light and magic," wrote Linda Larkin, Scott Weinger, and Jonathan Freeman, his co-stars in "Aladdin," on Instagram. "Gilbert Gottfried, you were one of a kind."

Throughout his career, Gottfried's acerbic joke-telling remained his calling card. From his regular work in comedy clubs to his appearances on "The Howard Stern Show" and on Comedy Central, he worked as blue as he could, often tackling material too edgy for most comedians.

"Gilbert was a marvelous mimic and impressionist," Shydner told Salon, "but it was his daring assaults on forbidden subjects that caused the other comics to bow at his feet."

"It was his daring assaults on forbidden subjects that caused the other comics to bow at his feet."

Sometimes, his willingness to take comedic risks cost him. In 2011, hours after a devastating tsunami hit the coast of Japan, Gottfried tweeted jokes that seemed to minimize the resulting human suffering. Although they were tamer than some of his regular material, the insurance company AFLAC which had cast Gottfried as the voice of its commercial duck fired him from the gig.

Actor/comedian Gilbert Gottfried performs at the International Myeloma Foundation's 6th Annual Comedy Celebration hosted by Ray Romano benefiting The Peter Boyle Research Fund at The Wilshire Ebell Theatre on October 27, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. (Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for IMF)One particular Gottfried joke went far past edginess, however, into a transcendent stratosphere, enshrining him in American comic history: "The Aristocrats."

For a short while after Sept. 11, comedy felt both inappropriate and impossible. The networks pulled their late night talk shows off the air, and the media declared that the age of sarcasm was over. Laughter seemed like collateral damage in the War on Terror. After two somber weeks, however, Comedy Central decided to go forward with a roast of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner. Gottfried decided that leaving comedy moribund would mean the terrorists had won, and he wasn't about to let that happen on his watch.

"I just wanted to be the first person to make a really-poor-taste joke about September 11," he wrote for Vulture.

And did he ever. Gottfried opened with a joke about not being able to get a direct flight from New York to California because they needed to stop at the Empire State Building first. Then he told a self-deprecating, defamatory joke about the Muslim version of his name: "Hasn't Been Laid."

"I just wanted to be the first person to make a really-poor-taste joke about September 11."

Vinnie Favale, producer of "The Howard Stern Show," was there in the room when it happened. He told Salon that after that opening, "There was a shift in the room." The audience wasn't ready to laugh at recent events. No matter. " . . . Then he went right into the Aristocrats joke and stole the show."

The beauty of "The Aristocrats" the legendary, long-winded joke about a family that performs a lewd vaudeville act for a talent scout is all in the telling. As Gottfried's description of the family's deviant act stretched on, his whiny voice turning staccato and getting louder, audience members slowly surrendered to the bit, some literally falling on the floor. By the time he ended the gag with its classic punchline the agent asks the family what they call their act, and the family says "The Aristocrats" Gottfried had jump-started comedy, sending a clear signal that it was not "too soon" but rather it was OK to laugh again.

Gilbert Gottfried performs at The Stress Factory Comedy Club on November 25, 2015 in New Brunswick, New Jersey. (Getty Images/Bobby Bank/WireImage)

In recent years, he started "Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast," which revealed a new side of his comedic mind. Each episode offered penetrating insights into popular culture built on Gottfried's encyclopedic knowledge of comedy, movies, commercials, and cartoons.

RELATED: Interview: So, Gilbert Gottfried, about those tsunami jokes . . .

One particular target of his podcast criticism was one much-beloved 1986 Matthew Broderick movie. On Broderick's birthday, Gottfried took to Twitter to wish the actor well, but opened with a savage assessment: "I still f**kin hate 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off.'"

Although the film might have seemed innocent when it came out, Gottfried argued, a story in which Bueller's nihilistic hedonism triumphs over characters who were just trying to do their jobs and care about others landed differently during the Trump era.

"His podcast is a comedy treasure," Judd Apatow noted on Twitter. "What a terrible loss."

Gottfried was known for his gentle, almost shy, offstage presence, a significant contrast to his bombastic stand-up persona. "He was the sweetest guy in real life," Favale recalled. As widely beloved as he was by comedians, however, his family treasured him the most.

"In addition to being the most iconic voice in comedy, Gilbert was a wonderful husband, friend and father to his two young children," they shared on social media. "Although today is a sad day for all of us, please keep laughing as loud as possible in Gilbert's honor.

Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.

Although a secular Jew, Gottfried did reflect on the possibility of an afterlife in his autobiography: "If there is a hell," he wrote, "and if that's where I'm going, there'll probably be an endless gag reel being played on some big-screen television of me trying to talk to women."

Fittingly, in his final social media post, Gottfried defended the right of comedians to work the bleeding edge in their material, just as he'd done himself throughout his career:

"Which is the worst crime? Chris Rock being physically assaulted or Chris Rock telling a joke?"

To the very end, he devoted himself to the art of the joke setup, punchline, and laughter and everything jokes can engender: great offense, deep insights and relief from great tragedy.

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Gilbert Gottfried, defender of transgressive comedy and a throwback to the great joke-tellers - Salon

Rocknroll was born when we were kids, says Brian May. We were the luckiest people on the planet. The Queen guitarist is chatting on Zoom but we are having technical issues, so all I can see is a black screen with the word Brian on it.

Somewhere behind those five white letters, from which emanates a gentle, thoughtful voice, is the glam-rock being whose towering curls form an iconic hairdo, an astrophysicist whose guitar riffs can shift tectonic plates, and who, in the white heat of the solo on We Will Rock You, sounds like he is setting fire to ice.

The 74-year-old has been thinking about the minor heart attack he suffered in the early months of 2020. It came as a shock to May, who cycles, has a low-fat diet and doesnt smoke.

He had stents fitted to deal with blockages in three arteries but, he tells me: The conclusion we came to was that it could have been due to an early Covid infection because we were in Japan and Korea just ahead of the wave. Queen were touring East Asia with the singer Adam Lambert in January that year, and May had a cough all through the trip.

More than two years later, the band will finally be back on stage, and the guitarist is focused on being fully fit when the tour resumes in Belfast in May.

Before then, there is the reissue of his 1998 album Another World, the second of two solo works that May released in the 90s, after the death of Freddie Mercury in 1991.

Both stand the test of time, yet the genesis of Another World was unusual. The ethereal title track was written for the film Sliding Doors but not used; the thrash metal Cyborg was created for a video game; and Business, which could have been a classic Queen rocker, was composed as a theme tune for the 1993 BBC comedy-drama Frank Stubbs Promotes, starring Timothy Spall as a down-on-his-luck promoter.

Given the traumatic sequence of loss at the time May had lost his father and his marriage, as well as his friend and frontman Mercury, which led to his 1992 debut, Back to the Light did the bleakness of his lyrics for Spall, I got nothing and no one in my life, have a personal meaning?

I have this theory that anyone who writes songs or poetry or paints cannot avoid being autobiographical, he says. Im a depressive. I dont wallow in it, but I have that in me, and sometimes it will take over, and thats how I will feel: Ive got nothing dont tell me Im a successful rock star, dont tell me Ive got money. Ive got a great relationship, Ive got great kids. Something inside me is telling me that Im failing and there is no hope. Its not logical.

May has been happily remarried, to former EastEnders star Anita Dobson, since 2000, yet one of the reasons the songs on Another World still feel relevant, he says, is that the same battles are going on and Im hoping I will still win them and hoping people who listen to it relate to that and will be able to win their battles.

There is a hint of a different kind of battle on China Belle, a hard rocker with a seeming subtext to its lyrics: You take her as you find her but you never can quit. I wonder if its about heroin. No, he insists. Ive never tried heroin I think relationships are my drug. I have a kind of addictive personality, but its not to substances. I never have been that kind of an animal. Thank God. That on top of everything else would have killed me long ago.

I mention an article Id read about the infamously debauched launch party for the Queen album Jazz in New Orleans in 1978, which reportedly involved the finest Bolivian cocaine offered from trays carried on the heads of dwarfs, nude waiters, snake charmers, and guests offered their choice of oral satisfaction in the bathrooms.

The piece suggested that May, not Mercury, had been the ringmaster is that true? No, I think the opposite, really. I was on the fringes. I enjoyed it, but generally my head was in another place. I spent at least half of that party in a car looking for the girl I hoped would arrive. The old addictive romantic in me was much more taken up by that than by what was going on in the party.

He looks back on that whole era of rock hedonism with a measure of humour and forgiveness, because life was different in those days, everything was different. I always tried to be a decent person, and consider peoples feelings.

I lived the life of a rock star, but not truly to excess. And there is a lot of confusion in there, because I got married shortly before we first started touring and thats not a great idea so I resisted getting sexually involved on tour, and for a long time, didnt, but then gradually, I think some of the walls came down. But for me, the music was always it.

The painful end of the bands glory years was explored in the recent BBC documentary Freddie Mercury: The Final Act. It told the story of the singers final years with Aids alongside accounts of others who lost loved ones when the disease took hold in the 80s.

Was Mays close involvement with the film a response to criticism that the 2018 film Bohemian Rhapsody which May and Queen drummer Roger Taylor nursed to the screen over 12 years had brushed over Mercurys sexuality and illness? I think thats bollocks, he says of the criticism.

The rumour persisted after the departure of Sacha Baron Cohen, who had been lined up to play Mercury, long before the Oscar-winning Rami Malek took over the role. Taylor recently opined, having watched his previous films, that Baron Cohen would have been utter shit as the singer.

Is there anger there? Its a shame because we got on very well for a while. And he did bring some energy to the project for which I will always be grateful but we parted in an unfortunate way. We said, We would like to part company as good friends and thanks for what youve done. His publicist then told the world that he had walked out on us. It ended up with him slagging off the film, and saying that he had quit because of there not being enough gay sex in it.

I dont think we skirted around anything, May notes. I think its all there. We didnt over-glamorise Freddie. And the boys who played us were so magnificent. They got inside our skins.

I dont think the film would have been a billion-dollar smash if all youre looking at had been sexual detail. It wasnt necessary. Im very proud of the film.

A sequel may be on the cards. There is a story we would like to tell because the end of the film is Live Aid, and of course thats not the end of the Queen story by any means, May confirms. But it needs to have a coherent story, and it needs to be entertaining, because Freddie would be the first to say: Dont put out anything thats boring.

Being part of a rock band that expanded the possibilities of sexual identity at a time when it was difficult to talk about such things publicly, does he have a view of the polarising topic of sex and gender in todays society?

I have to be honest, Im very old school, he says. And I have difficulty with a lot of the woke stuff because I think its very punitive theres a lack of empathy, a lack of perspective, a lack of compassion. And I find a lot of it damaging.

My generation has been vilified. Were viewed as having made the wrong decisions, and right now as having an unacceptable vocabulary. But changing peoples vocabulary does not change the way they behave.

As someone who likes to speak his mind, he says, he is constantly asking himself whether he is going to be misinterpreted, which he says has already happened. Somebody got the idea that I wouldnt have wanted a transsexual in the band, which is rubbish, because we didnt care.

I actually said: Did you not notice the fact that Fred wasnt exactly straight. He wasnt exactly English. He wasnt exactly white. Do you think it made a hairs breadth of difference to us? No. We were all musicians, young people with dreams. And thats all that mattered. We had a vision in music. And I think that innocence, sadly, has been lost.

What troubles him most about the present moment, though, is the way that truth has no value any more starting with Donald Trump and continuing with Vladimir Putin. Its not entirely new, he notes.

Weve been told there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. We all protested and said: Tony Blair, do not invade Iraq. And he did, saying: Im justified. And there was no justification. So were not whiter than white. But the scale on which the violence is happening now, and the scale at which lies are being told is just colossal and desperately sad.

The fact that you can actually lie, bare-faced, and say, No, this isnt happening while somebodys being tortured to death that absolutely kills me.

Another World is released on 22 April

Originally posted here:

Brian May: 'A lot of the woke stuff is very punitive. My generation has been vilified' - iNews

Sweet Emotion by Aerosmith is an iconic track. Whether it be the chorus, guitarist Joe Perrys riffing, or even its use in Richard LinklatersDazed and Confused, there are many reasons to love the 1975 classic. This accounts for why the song has been so enduring within popular culture. It has a timeless style, and thats why we love it.

The song has long been taken as an ode to the hippie spirit, a celebration of being high, and hedonism in general. However, the song has a much deeper meaning than that, and ironically, it was written during a tense period for the band.

Frontman Steven Tyler wrote the track about how frustrated he felt with the situation in the band at the time. Famously, the band were doing a lot of drugs, and this led to boiling tensions, particularly between The Toxic Twins, Tyler and Perry. The finished product became a statement of independence, defiance, and an unwavering dedication to self-fulfilment in the face of adversity from others.

On numerous occasions, Tyler has claimed that the first lines, Talk about things that nobody cares / wearing out things that nobody wears, were written about Perrys first wife, Elyssa, as at the time, there was an incredible amount of tension between the two, exacerbated by drug use.One night, things came to a head between Tyler and Elyssa when the frontman went to Perrys hotel room on a desperate hunt for drugs, but he was sent away by the couple, who refused to share their score.Understandably for an addict, he was incensed.

In his 1997 memoirWalk This Way, Tyler explained that the opening lines of the song were his angry side talking, and recalled that when he wrote the line, Cant say baby where Ill be in a year, he had Elyssa in mind, quipping but it will be at least 1000 miles away from you!

Musically, the song was based on the grooving bassline that Tom Hamilton stumbled across one day in the studio. Tyler knew instantly that this was the perfect setting for his lyrics, and they put the song together with ease in a jam session.

Hamilton credits the bands producer, Jack Douglas, with him completing the bassline. Towards the end of the recording sessions for what would becomeToys In The Attic, Douglas asked the band if anyone had any leftover riffs that hadnt been used. Allegedly, that was when Hamilton stepped forward, and he won over everyone in the room instantly.

InWalk This Way, Hamilton remembered: I smoked a bowl or two and wrote the arrangements, the guitar parts. Steven took the intro, turned it around, changed key, and we used it as the tag, the resolution of the song. Brad, Joey, and I went home. Next time we heard Sweet Emotion, it had the overdubs, the vocals, and I flipped out. I loved what they did with it.

Interestingly, the song also has a hidden message buried within its heady tones. The band recorded themselves clapping and chanting, which was then played backwards in the final mix of the song, which creates the iconic sucking-type noise that is heard during the bridge, as Perry lets rip with one of his best licks. Due to conflicting accounts, what the band actually chanted is up for debate.

One thing is clear. The chant was based on Aerosmiths ex-manager, Frank Connelly, who had just been diagnosed with cancer and had sold the rights to manage the band to Steve Leber and David Krebs. Per Tylers account, the band were saying Fuck you, Frank. However, Douglas maintains that it was instead, Thank you, Frank. Its up to you which you choose to believe.

An iconic song, with a lengthy backstory to boot, it just adds to the brilliance of Sweet Emotion. Theres no surprise the song has found a place in the hearts of three different generations, as with many classic songs, it has a genuine density.

Listen to Sweet Emotion below.

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The Story Behind The Song: Aerosmith's iconic 'Sweet Emotion' - Far Out Magazine

Im not sure if this is a song, I dont even know what Im saying, admits Rhian Teasdale on Wet Legs eponymous debut. The confessional stream-of-consciousness mid-section of sparkling closer Too Late Nowfractures the often comic-strip facade of a record that captures the unease of the 2020s like few others. Across its 12 tracks, Wet Let light the kindling of intimate disappointment, restless social anxiety, the blind alleys of academia and the fleeting thrills of hometown hedonism and then gleefully stoke the flames.

Ever since the viral boom of debut single Chaise Longue in June 2021 (complete with cottage-core parody video), Wet Leg have been met with near-ludicrous hype. The duos five electrifying follow-up singles, kicking off with the bouncy Wet Dream, continued to jolt a lockdown-stiffened industry from its slumber, and gave rise to breathless premonitions of world-beating success.

Formed in 2019 by former music college students Hester Chambers and Rhian Teasdale (bolstered by additional live guitar and keys, bass and drums), Wet Legs essence is the interplay between its two frontwomen. Though drawing on new-wave punk, slacker minimalism and classic pop, accompanied by crafty vocal production and a solid rhythm section, Wet Legs sound and personality feels enticingly fresh.

Those expecting their debut record to be a compendium of spritely, party-ready tracks will find much to savour here. But Wet Leg is at its most beguiling when its thematic and musical ambitions are laid bare. The introspective I Dont Wanna Go Out is an early indication of its complicated depths, the drama of its downcast chord sequence matching a lyric that faces the dawning shadow of adulthood. Further cuts, such as the shimmering Loving Youand self-deprecating Piece of Shit, reveal colourful forays into dream pop and gloomy acoustic-led angst. In this context, then, Wet Legs hook-driven bangers are put through a new prism, working in counterpoint to the records emotional conflicts and tonal shifts.

The laddering riffs of Ur Mom and the awkward, angular brilliance of Angelica, perhaps the albums finest track, match up to the propulsive tone of Wet Legs initial salvo of singles, and both songs became singles in their own right. Angelicas brilliance lies in how it reframes a relatable social anxiety (The ambience was overrated at the party / I want to run away before its even started) into a defiant deconstruction of the empty promise of enforced fun. Its matched by an inspired musical framework led by cleverly crafted, octave-tilted riffs.

Image: Hollie Fernando

Angelica is just one example of Teasdale and Chambers captivating use of guitar. Responding to the records changing shapes, the guitar provides the core riff of Oh No, the reverb-soaked light twinkling on the horizon of closer Too Late Now, the Beck-esque acoustic patchwork of Supermarket, and the springy thorn in the side of the pained epic I Dont Wanna Go Out. Wet Legs arrangements, elegantly produced by Speedy Wundergrounds Dan Carey, often economise guitar, fuelling its impact when it re-emerges or colours the mix in textural ways.

Frequently, Teasdale and Chambers put aside their Jag and Strat to allow close-micd vocals to take the lead, as with the Jane Birkin-meets-The Strokes pep of Chaise Longues loaded verse, and the touching Loving You. But, when required, the pair show considerable teeth. From the sludgy Convincingand the fuzz that envelops opener Being in Love to the distortion that batters Angelicas wobbly structure, Wet Legs overdriven outbursts stress a visceral, punkish spirit that flows through the record.

Modernity is a stifling, omnipresent theme here, evident in the lyrics of Oh No and its phone-scrolling time-sinks, Too Late Nowand its dangerous dating apps, and I Dont Wanna Go Outand the hunger to simply Ctrl-Alt-Delete emotional mistakes. The lyrics interplay of tech and all too human feelings of alienation will resonate many, particularly in the midst of a decade so far defined by contact-limiting.

Wet Legs debut doesnt just deliver on the potential of those promising early singles this is a thematically rich, musically adventurous and endlessly repayable classic. Its best moments, Angelica, Too Late Now, I Dont Wanna Go Out and Ur Mom, leave us giddily pondering where Wet Leg will go next. But right here, right now, this is the manifesto of a band ready to take their place as a generations new figureheads.

Wet Leg is out now.

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Wet Leg Wet Leg review: Believe the hype | Guitar.com | All Things Guitar - Guitar.com

A24s weird af sci-fi comedy, Everything Everywhere All At Once, may have only been shown at a select few cinemas in the US, Canada and parts of East Asia so far but its already becoming adored by movie fans. It is currently the highest rated movie on public film review platform Letterboxd; its 4.6 out of 5 star average even higher than Oscar-winning movies Parasite (2019) and The Godfather (1972). The movie tells the story of down-and-out Evelyn, played by Michelle Yeoh, and her exploration of a multiverse of alternative realities where she is a thriving girlboss. Its also been noted for being utterly chaotic with blood covered dildos, anal wars and snot weapons. Naturally, then, it's become the internets new favourite movie.

Luckily we wont have to hear about the film vicariously through the few who have seen it for much longer, with Everything Everywhere All At Once having a wide US release today with it then hitting cinemas around the world in the coming weeks. To prepare you for the deranged viewing you are about to witness here are seven other chaotic movies filled with sugar daddy drama, queer cannibalism, horny hedonism, crazed pop star stans and Daniel Radcliffe playing a flatulent corpse with a magical boner. No, were not kidding.

Considered a milestone of Czechoslovakian New Wave cinema in the 60s, Daisies follows Marie I and Marie II, two young girls feeling so dejected and disenfranchised by the selfish hedonistic world around them that they decide they too will be utterly self-serving and spoiled, acting exclusively off their impulses and whims. At the time of release the movie was considered a scathing take on authoritarianism and was banned by the Czech government from theatres, only being shown discreetly at smaller venues.

This odd fart-filled comedy is directed by Daniels, the filmmaking duo behind Everything Everywhere All At Once. It stars Paul Dano (who was also in the new Balenciagaified The Batman) as Hank, a man shipwrecked on an island and about to commit suicide when he discovers a corpse (played by Daniel Radcliffe) washed ashore with a serious post-death flatulence problem (Is that actually a thing?) for some absurd reason. When the cadaver, nicknamed Manny, starts to speak to Hank, it/he becomes a useful source of survival on the island (from being a source of drinking water to its rigour mortis erections acting as a compass - a sentence I never thought I'd type in my life.) Together, the new besties explore the pleasures of a gross yet inhibitionless life.

Before there was cannibal dating horror Fresh (2022), there was cannibal dating horror Raw. Directed by Julia Ducournau, the mastermind behind the fucked up Palme dOr-winning movie Titane (2021), Raw is about meat-virgin Justine. A lifelong vegetarian, as she moves away from home to go to veterinary school, she enters a world of partying, sororities, hazing, hedonism and sexual freedom. And in turn, she discovers deep internal desires within her she never knew existed. Definitely not for the squeamish, Raw was critically acclaimed upon its release and put Julia on the map as a director to watch.

From renowned horror director James Wan co-creator of the Saw, Insidious and Conjuring universes comes one of the most unhinged horrors to ever hit the screen. The film introduces us to Madison, a pregnant woman with an abusive partner who finds that all those in her life are being attacked by a hellbent deformed figure from her past she thought was gone forever. Starring Annabelle Wallis (Peaky Blinders), Michole Briana White and George Young (who is also a lead in the upcoming Lindsay Lohan christmas movie), Malignant may not be a cinematic great, but it's chaotic energy, sassy one liners, fantastical, twisty mystery and unintentional goofiness means that all those who watch it become obsessed.

Yes, that is the girl from the come on, its LA. Were all addicted to drugs video. Viral comedian Rachel Sennott stars as Danielle, a lost, bisexual Jewish woman who attends a Shiva (a week long mourning period observed in Judaism following a death where close relatives of the deceased stay at home whilst friends and family visit and provide comfort). Over the course of the week she bumps into her ex-girlfriend Maya and her current sugar daddy Max as well as his wife and their baby. Sounds very chaotic! The movie is actually an expanded version of a 2018 short film made as part of director Emma Seligmans thesis project at NYU, which also starred Rachel in the lead role.

Described by Polygon as Lord of the Flies in space, Voyagers comes from Limitless (2011) director Neil Burger and stars Tye Sheridan (X-Men), Lily-Rose Depp (The King), Fionn Whithead (Dunkirk), Viveik Kalra, Archie Renaux, Quintessa Swindell (Euphoria) and Isaac Hempstead Wright (Game of Thrones) as a group of teen astronauts in 2063 sent to colonise a distant exoplanet after climate change has made the earth inhabitable. Ten years into their trip though, the horny teens realise theyre secretly being given tablets that make them less, well, horny. Refusing to take them anymore, their hormones go into overdrive, descending the crew into primal, angsty chaos as they are fuelled by their reckless base instincts.

A favourite of Darren Aronfsky the man behind bone-cracking thriller Black Swan (2010) amongst other unhinged titles this psychological Japanese anime has been dubbed the scariest animated film ever by /Film and 25 years later still feels rather prescient. It tells the story of Mima, a member of a hugely popular J-pop girlband, who decides to quit music to pursue acting, changing up her image from innocent and wholesome to channel darker, mor mature vibes. But this change angers one of her former J-Pop super-stans who begins to stalk Mima. At the same time gruesome murders begin happening around her that make her look like the suspect. With all the new stress, Mima begins to spiral, losing her grip on reality whilst attempting to take back control of her life.

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7 unhinged movies to watch after Everything Everywhere All At Once - i-D

The New York-based trio have a sound that takes in glam, psych, indie and shoegaze, but with new album Headful of Sugar they are releasing their most direct, attention-grabbing set to date.

Thematically Headful, due out on May 6, covers the bases from hedonism to life under late-stage capitalism and the American Dream gone sour.

The Guide caught up with frontwoman Julia Cumming via Zoom from a hotel room in Dallas, Texas, as the band were on their way to perform at the music biz bonanza South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas.

Julia is an old hand at the event: The first time I went to SXSW I was maybe 13 years old in my first band, the short-lived Supercute!, and I just busked on the street for business cards.

SXSW runs very deep for me it's a great place to see all the bands you've been waiting to see, see new bands, hear what everyone's been up to... It's a really great time to connect in real life, and those opportunities are more rare than ever these days.

While at SXSW the band play a show dubbed Women That Rock and Julia sat on a panel discussion, Feminism In Rock. While it is arguably sad that these conversations still have to be had, Julia believes it is more important than ever that we have them.

In the music industry right now, there's lengthy plethora of issues which are extremely pertinent, the fact that women's role in music, women's rights within music, visibility, access, being able to have your music heard the fact that that is at the forefront right now, is really important.

I think that every woman or fem-presenting person that's out there creating that visibility just by being themselves... it's a person-by-person effort, and I think right now people are excited to talk about the future.

I see so many cool bands now which have women and girls, fem-presenting people, and it is way more normal than it ever was. I feel that's what everyone was fighting for just to be seen as normal, making music not to be seen as an outsider and to have your perspectives be taken as seriously as a man's or anyone else's.

Even though it might seem annoying we're still having these conversation, to me it's not. The fact we're even having the conversations we're having now, it's worth continuing to fight for that visibility.

These conversations have become even more pertinent to the band recently since their last album, drummer Olive Faber has come out as transgender.

It's not really right for me to speak on her experience, but I am very very glad that someone I love so much gets to be who they are and gets to be true to themselves, and I support her 100 per cent, and so far everything has been really great.

Latest single Roll The Dice is the three-piece at their most immediate, a three-minute critique of the American Dream, with guitarist Nick Kivlen sharing vocals with Julia.

Everything about this song, the fact it's so abrasive, sonically in a unique place with both of our voices, it's really supposed to bring up that uncomfortableness in yourself. Just the global experience of whether you know that these systems you reside in are massively imperfect, you also know that you have to take huge gambles and risks in order to have the chance to succeed within them.

When we sing that part, I just want to win, win, win, win, win, it's both looking at it, but also accepting it within ourselves.

You can critique something while also having to accept that you are every day, coming with these claws to try and figure out how to survive and get ahead of another person. There's so much competitiveness, which we also inherently accept just to survive.

While they are obviously writing as Americans, Julia sees the songs theme as being something more universal.

There's a primal thing about it which is outside the American Dream we are so connected, and we all become more culturally similar all the time due to the access we have to each other.

I do hope that it speaks to everyone in that way, and that people are open to that experience within it.

Previous album Twentytwo in Blue came out in March 2018 to critical acclaim, appearing on numerous end-of-year lists. The band had planned to follow it up long before now, but with the arrival of the pandemic they decided to keep writing, ending up with more than 80 demos for this album.

However, with so much material at their disposal, instead of throwing the kitchen sink at their next release they opted for a lean, taut album.

It's very lean, agrees Julia, 11 songs in 35 minutes and that was definitely intentional. When we made this record we were very clear on our intentions.

We wanted to make something that was very grounded and tangible, yet psychedelic. We wanted to live in the real world, have it be about the real world and about real things. And we wanted it to be powerful and fun.

While we haven't thought of it as a "pandemic record", there's darkness around all the time and a lot of the themes on the record are dark, but we wanted to kind of play into that sugar element.

When it came to choosing what made it on we went back to the ethos of keeping it fun, keeping it light.

Are any of those other songs likely to be released elsewhere?

Yeah, all this music exists, so I hope a lot of it will see the light of day.

It's such a great thing to have. I never would have imagined to have that much time to try so many different things. Its very cool to have this much material.

The circumstances of the last two years also gave Julia the chance to get involved in two really cool pandemic collaborations with experimental musician Yves Tumor on his latest album Heaven to a Tortured Mind, and with Manic Street Preachers on the single The Secret He Had Missed from their chart-topping album The Ultra Vivid Lament.

Nicky Wire of the Manics has previously praised Twentytwo in Blue in interviews as one of his favourite albums of recent years, and the band contacted her about working together.

I knew they were writing and they told me about that song, we talked about the inspiration and the lyrics, the sound, and it was a really cool opportunity to be part of their legacy.

It's the first number one record in the UK I've been part of, and it was really awesome to get to know them, and they have remained so passionate and excited about new music. They don't have to do that - they don't have to do anything, so the fact they listen and get excited and share that experience with me, it was definitely a highlight of the pandemic.

I was supposed to sing it with them at Wembley, but Omicron happened, so it got cancelled.

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Sunflower Bean have a Headful of Sugar and they're heading to The Wedgewood Rooms | Interview - Portsmouth News

Danya Taymors production of Daddy A Melodrama has a huge exuberance: a tour de force in itself, it's also a scintillating introduction to the work of Jeremy O Harris. The young American dramatist earned considerable attention, and acclaim for the acuity of his investigation of race issues, for his 2018 Slave Play, but it's this earlier piece, written when Harris was in his mid-twenties, that reaches London first (after a two-year Covid delay).

The music, lighting, movement and sheer dramatic craft not least the stage-front swimming pool in which a fair part of the action takes place has an energy and style thats a wake-up in every sense. Harriss text seems a more multifarious thing though, excelling when its at its tightest, especially sharp (and funny) in its satire, but losing something in a second-half prolixity that comes to feel protracted.His lead characters are Franklin, a young black artist not long in Los Angeles, preparing for his first show and Andre, an older white man whose apparently European origins remain as unspecified as those of his wealth. The action takes place on the terrace of the latters luxurious Bel Air villa, a scene thats infused with a Hockney hedonism, with a formidable collection of contemporary art adorning the living space behind. The sense of plein air California is very nicely realised in Matt Saunderss design.

Theres an anxious frisson there from the very first touch we witness between the two men as we encounter them in a morning-after moment. As Franklin, Terique Jarrett really does look young, but he's hugely expressive in his facial expressions, catching the changing nuances of the pair's interaction as it develops. Harris is accomplished in telescoping that developing attachment through his first act, with Andre pushing a balance that swings between possession Be mine! hes soon urging his protg, offering a support that veers between the paternalism of the title and the control of a sugar despot and interdependence (Franklin learns to manage that balance too, the power working both ways). The Danish actor Claes Bang plays Andre with an assurance that may leave you pondering if the script could have offered him more.

Theres a parallel for their relationships element of possession, of course, in the art world itself, and ideas about ownership, and how it can change an artwork, ripple intelligently through the play. Despite his youth Franklin shows himself the intellectual equal of his lover/partner he has the instinct of a natural, whereas Andres tastes are as much cultivated by the dealers who must court him. (In a nice touch, the post-interval set shows that the pictures have been rehung, a revision of the collection that must be the younger mans work.)

The arrival of Franklins gallerist (Jenny Rainsford) allows Harris to develop these themes further, as well as hone his satire to heighten the absurdities of this artistic world. Its a wickedly funny streak that hes shown earlier when Franklins best friends, Bellamy (Ioanna Kimbook) and Max (John McCrea), set up court as poolside loungers. Harris catches their vapidity with devastating acuity, though somehow it's not finally cruel.

But all this LA surface shallowness needs ballast, and it duly comes in the unforgettable form of Franklins mother Zora, whos first seen linked into the action by 'phone and linked herself to a trio of gospel singers, a kind of melodic chorus that becomes increasingly involved in proceedings (their stage presence is absolutely winning). Zoras appearance in the flesh in the second act really raises the temperature: gothically splendid in both voice and attitude, Sharlene Whyte comes close to stealing the show, but her presence fuels "Daddy" with a welcome sense of conflict. Zora and Andre may prove worthy opponents as they stake their respective claims on Franklin, but it turns out that he has much more to face.

As that maelstrom comes on, Taymor exploits the always inventive work from lighting designer Isabella Byrd, as well as Lee Kinneys sound and composition, to surreal effect (plaudits throughout, too, for movement director Anjali Mehra). Are we caught up in this emotional climax, or does it risk becoming precious? Like the art that hangs on Andres walls, its a matter of taste. Whatever Harriss subtitle may proclaim, I came away with a sense that less might have been more. The intensity of that less can be caught most of all in the face of Terique Jarrett, whos a real discovery in this production. His youthful trepidation is indelible in a way that outlasts all the fireworks.

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'Daddy' A Melodrama, Almeida Theatre review - production exuberance carries a new play of promise - The Arts Desk