Studies Suggest: Vol. 1

Jun 1

Jun 1 Studies Suggest: Vol. 1

Studies Suggest showcases nice things that should be worth your time. It is a list of media I enjoyed recently or that I found interesting. There are no set rules for this. Maybe it’s a movie, an album, an interesting article or basically whatever I like.

Kankyō Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music 1980-1990

In case you are a fan of minimal or ambient music in any way shape or form, you need to listen to this beautifully curated collection of Japanese ambient compositions from the 80s. Visible Cloaks member Spencer Doran dug deep in the catalogs of Japanese record labels and unearthed an array of super interesting pieces. As most of them were originally used as in-store background music or advertising tunes, they are easier on the ears than Ryūichi Sakamoto’s Async for example. Most of them are like a sip of spring water. To some, it might seem bland but to me, the sounds feel refreshingly fluid and uplifting. Brian Eno - the godfather of ambient - wrote in the liner notes for his legendary Music for Airports album: “Ambient Music must be able to accommodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one in particular; it must be as ignorable as it is interesting.” Kankyō Ongaku - which can loosely be translated to environmental music - definitely fulfills these requirements.

slowthai - Nothing Great About Britain

I remember slowthai posting and promoting his first songs in the infamous UK streetwear Facebook group The Basement. He has come a long way since then. After a handful of promising EPs this debut album put him on the map as one of the most intriguing young voices in music. Nothing Great About Britain is unconventional, multifaceted, and merciless. Sound-wise, lead producer Kwes Darko serves up everything from romantically soulful samples to aggressive post-punk (assisted by Mura Masa) and certified grime bangers. Over this versatile collection of beats, slowthai delivers raw, honest, and sometimes funny lyrics. Numb flexing seems to be the most important topic for most of his contemporaries, but he is also delivering an opinionated - often political - message with substance. He denounces classism and tells first-hand stories about social injustice and poverty. It is encouraging to see young artists tackling these subject matters and being successful with it. And while the concept of authenticity might be quite blurry or even played out at this point, nobody can deny this album its abundance of authenticity.

Roma

Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma is a heartfelt tribute to his own nanny and a delicately sober comment on classism. Also it is the most atmospheric and beautifully shot movie I have seen in a very long time. Roma portrays the society of Mexico in the 1970s through the lens of a maid working for a middle-class family - a fascinating world which I honestly never really thought about before. In general, it is a very deep film. Deeply poetic image compositions, deeply human drama, deeply harsh truths; all of it can be found in almost every scene of this magnificent movie.

mid90s

After the probably most expansive and exhausting media run done for an indie movie in recent years, I think everybody with internet access knew how massively important his directorial debut was for Jonah Hill, as it was a love letter to skateboarding and thus an ode to his own youth. Naturally, I was really skeptic - even after the confident trailer. Luckily, mid90s proved my doubts to be wrong - very wrong. Besides the pretty standard coming of age plot in which young Stevie finds his tribe in a group of skaters and tries to sort out the complicated relationship with his older brother, there is essentially not much storytelling in mid90s. Amazingly that is not a big problem at all. This movie lives through its humanity and the feelings it is able to create and transport. Realness is one of the major appeals of mid90s since it was executed flawlessly. If you were part of any youth subculture you will recognize many situations or moments shown in this film and fondly think back to those days (hopefully). Teaching skaters how to act instead of teaching actors how to skate was definitely one of many right moves in the production process. The star-studded soundtrack is immaculate as well. Additionally, the film is jam-packed with references for music, streetwear, and skateboarding nerds to discover. From posters in the sets to video games, t-shirt graphics, and other iconic clothes. Overall mid90s is like a hug for anybody who is just marginally interested in skateboarding - or any youth subculture. It is one of those movies that I will probably watch over and over again. At least the glorious scene of Stevie and Ray - impressively played by pro skater Na-kel Smith - skating down some street as the sun goes down.

Isle of Dogs

The second stop-motion feature after Fantastic Mr. Fox realized by Wes Anderson is everything you want it to be. Isle of Dogs features an all-star cast of (voice) actors and is brimming with Wes Anderson’s typical playful charm and meticulous attention to detail. The latter was achieved through collaboration with a huge team of craftsmen and animators who created beautiful set pieces and characters. To get a glimpse of just how much work goes into such an ornate stop-motion project you can check out some of the making-of material. Plot-wise, the story of Atari, a young boy searching for his disowned dog might seem quite childish. Underneath the multi-layered storytelling, the script which was co-written by Wes Anderson himself and Tokyo legend Kunichi Nomura reveals strong plea against racism and xenophobia.

After Life

After a pretty disappointing stand-up comedy special in which Ricky Gervais basically read aloud confrontations he had on Twitter, he returns with a strong new series. After Life emphasizes his core competence of brutally dark jokes. Tony - played by Gervais - lost all hope after losing his wife. The only reason he does not commit suicide is that someone needs to feed the dog. He moves through his world deeply embittered, as a personified “fuck you” to everybody. The humor in this series is very bitter, very cynical but more importantly brutally honest and therefore profoundly human. Rarely have I watched something where the balance between movingly touching scenes and inappropriate, line-crossing jokes was so well paced. While the first five episodes are pure gold, the season finale, unfortunately, demolished many parts of the foundation built before. I hope the second season will not continue on that note. Nonetheless, After Life is worth checking out if you like dark British comedy at all.

Thumbnail image: mid90s still
Source: Mid90s Twitter