Tag: art

The Best Film of 2026: Sign ☮︎’ the Times

~ Lex Leeson ~ Leave a comment

Yeah, that skinny motherfucker with the high voice released a film in 1987 as well.

Of course, you won’t know my (scientifically correct) opinions on the accompanying album of the same name until the end of year list, but I think it’s fair to say that the March release of Prince’s ninth album had been reasonably well received in 1987. He chose to mark the release with a tour of Europe, which He’d grown attached to since filming ‘Under the Cherry Moon’ in France the year before. Prince never liked long roll outs and advance warnings for tours and gigs, preferring to perform as spontaneously as logistically possible when you’re filling stadiums. This was obviously very fulfilling artistically, but in practice it was a huge pain in the arse for the circle of people around you who were forced to put your insane ideas into practice with little to no notice. Like when you’re tour manager Jeff Mason and Prince has decided He has very specific designs based around the concept of the soon to be iconic record sleeve:

“Prince handed me an 8.5 inch by 11 inch piece of paper with some doodles on it. He was detailing a set. He just tore it from a notebook and said to me ‘Make this'”

Mason in ‘Prince: A Sign o’ the Times’ by John McKie

Shut up already, damn,

who in this house know about the quake?

#25 John Grant: The Art of the Lie

~ Lex Leeson ~ 1 Comment

I’ve got the poise of a newborn giraffe
And I feel like I’ve fallen off the wagon
My moves are quite clearly unchoreographed
My comportment like that of a Komodo dragon

…

You deactivate my defense mechanisms
I think I’m coming unglued, I have emotional whiplash
I cannot brandish my trademark aloof cynicism
I’ve taken up macramé, just to deal with the backlash

Marbles

Oh, what’s that, Alan Sparhawk, you’ve done some experimentation on your new album? Played around with vocal and electronic effects? Crafted something different than what you’ve done previously and embraced a new sonic guise with your new record? That’s cute.

Layan Abd Al-Karim Asaad Al-Dahshan

#36 Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion: Rectangles and Circumstance

~ Lex Leeson ~ Leave a comment

Place in pets.

Night town.

Night town a glass.

Color mahogany.

Color mahogany center.

Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose.

Loveliness extreme.

Extra gaiters.

Loveliness extreme.

Sweetest ice-cream.

Page ages page ages page ages.

Wiped Wiped wire wire.

Sweeter than peaches
and pears and cream.

Wiped wire wiped wire.

Extra extreme.

Put measure treasure.

Measure treasure.

Tables track.

Nursed.

Dough.

That will do.

Gertrude Stein: ‘Sacred Emily’

Did you know Pablo Picasso once did a painting of Gertrude Stein?? That’s some real multiverse of madness shit. I understand that, back in 1906, Picasso was some 25 year old loser that wasn’t much of a draw at all – if you’ll excuse the pun – and Gertrude Stein was just some rich American who was shamelessly culturally appropriating the European art scene, so such a collaboration wasn’t exactly putting butts in seats back then. But Pablo Picasso and Gertrude Stein doing a team up in 2024?? That’s doing business! Box office numbers, and they doing outstanding! Running outta space in their damn bandwagon! Shame that Picasso died from pulmonary edema in 1973. That seems late for Pablo fucking Picasso, doesn’t it? He would have watched the 1970 World Cup. He wasn’t just alive to remember The Beatles, he saw their entire career! He was alive for seven James Bond movies! He only missed the eight, ‘Live and Let Die’, by a couple of months, so never got to experience Roger Moore’s take on the character, which I think we can all agree is the saddest thing about his death. Gertrude Stein though, died in the 1940’s, which seems like a very appropriate era for someone like Gertrude Stein to die. I know what you’re thinking: 1940’s? An extremely notable Jewish figure? I’m pretty sure I know what this is going to be in relation to!

Ahmad Yasser Sabri Abu ‘Abed

11 Protomartyr: Formal Growth in the Desert

~ Lex Leeson ~ 1 Comment

That’s kind of what the Internet or modern life is like. You’re throwing all this stuff—personality, or music, or whatever the hell—into the Internet, and you have no way of really knowing if anybody’s reacting to it. A lot of times you’re just throwing it down a well, or you’re hoping that someone’s hearing you. It’s kind of like people praying to God; it’s the hope that somebody can hear you, but they probably don’t. You especially see it now on Twitter, or X, or whatever the fuck it’s called, you know—the people really kissing the ass of billionaires. (mockingly) “Please, please, look at me!” It’s not a very original thought. But it is weird that people are basically praying to these billionaires now. “Notice me!” That sort of thing.”

singer Joe Casey explains a a line from Let’s Tip the Creator to Tune Glue

And in explaining how the content they have created comments on mindless content creation, the Swamp Rock David Cameron (Joe Casey) both creates content for one website while also leaving themselves open to be quoted by a second website (hello!) to open a post on why the wider content that included twelve separate but intertwined pieces of created content was the eleventh greatest such collections of content in a near arbitrary period.

LAST NIGHT REALLY WAS THE CHERRY ON THE CAKE