Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs turns ten years old this summer, and for many people, it wasn’t worth batting an eye. But to others, if it feels like it’s been longer than ten years, than the album has done its job. Having released not one, but two (!!) era defining records within a decade of each other, The Suburbs solidified the band as one of the biggest and best in the world.
The last time I listened to an entire Taylor Swift album was 2008. My family was spending the summer in Chicago and Fearless was the only CD in my sister’s car. So, naturally, it wore many repeats on its sleeve. I don’t listen to Taylor Swift, and I never have. I have heard her music, but never gone out of my way to do so. But this, more importantly, meant that she’s simply always been “there” in my life, always lurking, much like any sitting U.S. President or Kanye West. (Although we see who’s having the last laugh now.)
Continue reading “Yes, We’re Writing About Taylor Swift’s ‘Folklore,’ Because It’s that Relevant”
Every once in a while, The Guardian or Rolling Stone will put out a list of the “100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time” or something along those lines. The Wire, more often than not, always lands near the top. It was ranked 1st on Entertainment Weekly’s list, and the WGA ranked it as the 9th greatest show ever made. However, it won zero Emmys, was always dwarfed in ratings by HBO’s other darling The Sopranos, and very much like the oppressive nature within the show, it struggled and fought to get renewed each year. But it’s the only show I know of that tackles real world problems in the landscape of urban development.
Continue reading “How ‘The Wire’ is Still the Most Pertinent Show Nearly Twenty Years Later”
Last month, a tweet sent out by (of all people) Hank Azaria spawned an online conversation that got people flipping through their mental rolodex.
For the past few weeks, we at Era of Good Feeling have been struggling to put into words our thoughts regarding society’s status. To be honest, we’ve never taken any sort of political stance and often times have avoided doing so. It has never been our nature to side with political viewpoints. But the silence from us has lasted far too long, and the public dissolution going right now is only fueled by it. That being said, we stand with our black and LGBTQ friends who have made us better people and the world a better place, and who continue to fight for their lives and what they believe. We are here for you.
In the next wave of Brooklyn bands to break out of the borough, Vern Matz will be neither the ones following, nor leading. By way of Yale University, they’ll be off to the side, observing the patterns and tropes that come with such a scene and turning them inside out. Their music surfs on rhythm supported melodies, where the percussion is merely a vessel to carry such. They do not give philosophical credence between their music, videos or live shows, because they are all one and the same. It’s the content that is king. Everything they output has been imbued inside of them since their formation, thus defining a signature, unified aesthetic.
Continue reading “Meet Vern Matz: “Not Cool Enough for Brooklyn” – The Six Feet Apart Interview”
Last week, we published an article about what the world was missing in the void of live music. Immediately following that, Coachella released their 20 Years in the Desert documentary featuring never before seen footage, thus adding to the stress unalleviated by the only outlet that could relieve such a thing. The twenty-first installment of the Coachella Music and Arts Festival would have taken place these past two weekends, and just earlier this week, it was announced that live music events probably won’t return until Fall 2021 “at the earliest.” Well fuck us then. Sadly, it is not merely a switch that we can flip on and off at our convenience, much to our dismay. As a result, we’ve compiled a list of the best concert films ever made to watch from quarantine. Surely this won’t last you until Fall 2021, but it’s a start. Here are our top 10 concert films of all time.
I have never seen a shooting star. I have never been to the Grand Canyon, nor the Great Wall of China. I have never heard a lick of Swahili spoken, nor have I eaten shark. I have, however, seen Nick Cave run across an audience held up by their hands. I’ve seen Jonny Greenwood tear up a violin bow on a guitar Jimmy Page-style, and Kanye abduct an entire audience like a UFO atop of a floating pillar. These are all monolithic markers for which we attribute our universality to. You may not have seen them, but maybe your best friend has, or your teacher, or your parents. They are landmarks and sights we recognize, a single universal point we all focus on in awe.
Continue reading “What Can We Look Forward to in a World Without Live Music?”
Many people slept on Birth upon its release back in 2004, which is a shame because it’s arguably one of the most underrated films of the past 20 years. Jonathan Glazer has only done three features throughout his career (so far) – 2000’s Sexy Beast, 2004’s Birth, and 2013’s Under the Skin. Interestingly enough, Glazer makes his career possible by sustaining himself through music video and commercial productions, putting his cinematic touch on just about every game-changing music video (see Radiohead’s “Karma Police,” “Street Spirit (Fade Out),” and Jamiroquai’s “Virtual Insanity”). Given that it took him ten years to develop Under the Skin due to its numerous rewrites and novelty camera technology, it was Birth that took his career more toward the surreal.
There’s a plethora of artists forging a following through social media, but only a few have become true subjects of fascination by just staying silent.
Continue reading “How Projecting a Shade of Mystery Leads to Becoming an Object of Obsession”