“Chaos is a Dancer II” is about relationships and about seeing the Planet Earth as one single organism. Nothing is destroyed, everything is transformed.
Sometimes the failure is imminent, there is nothing to be done in those cases but continue to fight the tide or give in to grow strong and fight another day. Each path requires that we look in side ourselves and ask that we commit to that decision. But surrender is an especially arduous task because it forces us to sacrifice the hope of success, if only momentarily.
This short film pits the energies of dancers in a tension that results in a beautiful film but also begs them to submit to each other in their movements and in pose. It is a captivating reminder that art can be not only aesthetically powerful but poignant as well.
If you haven’t been keeping up with the artist formerly known as Breezy Lovejoy you might be overdosing on sleeping pills. Thee multi talented singer/rapper/drummer/producer now personified as Anderson Paak is here to guide your ears on a refreshing journey through his hometown on his new album “Venice”. The record floods with many genre’s, never taking you too deep into the “Venice” oceans w/o giving you a life raft in the form of an infectious melody or catchy hook of some kind. I love albums that sound like places. “Venice” provides a soundtrack to a backdrop where most feel is just hippies and drum circles, but rather introducing you the actual scene that most don’t see. This record is more of a well rounded full day and night experience on the shore of the beautiful and trippy. “Venice” the album much like the city is pretty and quite accessible. At no point is Anderson trying to out swim you, he would rather take you w/ him… Enter “Venice”
The drums welcome you on the album opener and true banger “Milk N’ Honey”. No lie this one shows up drenched in distorted bass and tickled w/ a lil bit of New Orleans bounce to it. Produced by DJ Nobody this joint puts the keys in the albums ignition w/ a story detailing a clever black male being black mailed by his own desires.
This leads us to thee next sight for your eyes and ears the cerified slapper “The City”
If it sounds familiar, it might be Minnie Riperton’s “Inside My Love” (The sample appears @ 3:07) previously flipped on Tribe’s “Lyrics to Go”. Anderson glides smoothly proclaiming his love for his city over the chorus with an open invitation to vibe with every element present in the picturesque portrait.
“The City” ends w/ a nice string accent that leads you to back the water. As you let thee waters splash at your feet you go in your pocket and pull out thee next song which is thee perfectly rolled joint “Might Be”. Click thee link to thee song. You won’t at all be disappointed, I even made the link open in another tab so you don’t have to stop reading this write up.
“Might Be” brings us to the Paak self produced “Miss Right”. This gem hits you right in the chest w/ it’s brightened up chords and bassline with a mind of it’s own.
This song is thee first exhibit a more live organic feeling. The baseline seems to be having the most fun.
It’s a cold groove you can’t seem to say no to. You can have one but you need the right one. Watch thee vid below.
By the time I get into the bittersweetness of “Put You On” I’m starting to notice every single movement feels kinda like a single moment. Chorus’ and verses are starting to get blurry and I like it! Lo_Def steals the show once again.
Staying within the organic section of the record the acoustically driven “I Miss That Whip” is every artist w/o a car but a real woman that holds him down w/ that transportations anthem. It’s not so much about thee girl behind the wheel as it is the experience of the ride. No matter how far they might have drifted apart on their hearts GPS’ the memory of thee journey is what’s missed most.
I can see him starting every set w/ this one. The key driven melody drives you to that front row crowd surf feeling.
Bring through smooth quotables
“If it’s love then it’s love
and if it’s not love
than its all love”
Even the juke section @ 1:50 that takes you to new heights if you let it.
I can confidently say that “DRUGS” is top 5 club songs I have heard in thee past full year. “DRUGS” is a really really fun night out that ends with you projectile vomiting on that really attractive person you went home with. Wild, yet memorable. Hands down or hands up there is no way any DJ plays this song and you don’t lose their minds. Even with the club drug subject matter Anderson find a way to let his writing shine through with quotables like ::
“No love is greater, in this whole world we made up
This love is made-up, it’s made-up, it’s made-up, it’s made-up, it’s made-up Your friend ain’t cute but my n*gga’s a trooper, he’ll take the L I’m high as fuck and you high as fuck so we parasailing”
I find it amazing that this song wasn’t placed earlier in the album.
Next “Luh You” is that super danceable 120 bpm banger that every KCRW DJ is looking for between the hours of 12-3 am.
It is a positive groove and has single tatted on it’s forehead.
Rounding out the album, we have my favorite joint on thee entire record “Right There” Produced by Austrialian super producer Ta-Ku
It feels so free and honest yet you could hear this on a dance floor somewhere sweating out your yesterdays.
In a day and age of short attention spans and EP’s, I’m always in support of an artist digging deep and bringing a fully thought out conceptual body of work.
If you are still on the fence like mehhh I don’t even like going to the beach much less Venice as entire city itself, Anderson even covered one of my favorite written songs EVER Postal Services’ “Such Great Heights”
The funny thing about each of us is that in little ways we all see things differently. It could be our height or our vision, but it is not exactly the same. Doug Smith wanted to take the chance at capturing the world as he see’s it on a daily basis.
What he came up with is an artistic film that shows us a little bit of another person’s point of view.
Natalie Neal was born and raised with 5 sisters in rural Oregon, where she started photographing at the age of 14. Upon graduating from Brigham Young University with a degree in Photography, she wrote and directed her first short film “Rose and Sophia” that had its world premier at the 2012 Slamdance Film Festival.
Her music and fashion videos have premiered on Nylon Magazine, Material Girl Magazine, Ladygunn, been featured on Promo News, and received Vimeo Staff Pick. In 2014 publisher Number 04 released an artist book of Natalie’s film stills, screenplays, and selected photographs. Her most recent short film “Seashells” premiers this week at the Oaxaca International Film Festival. Natalie shares her thoughts on puberty and her new film with Citizens of Culture .
“Seashells” is a coming-of age story created for anyone who has ever had a rough time with puberty, but I especially made it for men and women who were young-ish in 1998, when the film takes place. In the film, fourth grader Valentina reluctantly takes her first steps into womanhood: she receives her first training bra. She is aided in her attempts to cope with her embarrassment by her mom, the Spice Girls, and her mermaid Barbie.
I first got the idea to make this project in 2012. In the years leading up to that, I had become really interested in how living an adult life , especially as a woman, is impacted constantly by the pressure to change your decisions based on how your body affects other people, or based on how you are treated because of your body. In my opinion that struggle it totally linked to the onset of puberty when you first need to make a real decision about how you feel about your physical state. When writing the script I got a lot of ideas from one of the earliest times I was uncomfortable with my body. I collected first-bra-stories from a bunch of women I know and pull all my favorite parts together for the script. I was excited to write something that explores how a physical growth mirrors emotional development, and also to address the uncomfortable fact that society is sending mixed messages about our body’s relationship to shame.
Citizens Of Culture gathered thirty individuals from the Los Angeles community to participate in an evening of social experiments. Through a series of games guests were challenged to self-organize, problem solve, compete, and communicate non verbally in an effort to reveal some insights as to our basic behavior.
If we can recreate and mimic basic social dynamics in a controlled environment, what information can we gleam about how to tackle some of our biggest problems? The evening proved to be telling on a personal level for the attendees, and revealing from a research standpoint.
After summarizing the experience, the group reflected in a round table format on their feelings from the night.
A few highlights from the comments :
TURTLE (Group 2, #2) – “It was interesting to see how we self organize and filled the small cups first and came to a consensus. ” from FILL UP
PARROT (Group 4, #4) – “Terrible , I felt horrible for fucking up Chamelons life with Zebra. They looked so cute together.” from Black JACK GOLD
BUTTERFLY (Group 1, #2) – “Bruh, I’m lost as hell. I was triggered and had to fill up the coffee heater.” from TRIGGER
ZEBRA (Group 3, #3) – “Initially all got our colors. Had blue, it was stolen for purple but didn’t mind it. Not sure whether personal attainment or group attainment was the goal.” from SWATCH
BEETLE (Group 5, #3) – “We got another group member, We are all playing hardball! Very competitive.” – from BLACK JACK SILVER
It is so rare that you come across story where you actually get to hear the president curse. This is a pretty funny story and some what of a mystery. Finally uncovered to the man in film.
A short stop motion film about the relationship between man and his shadow.
“The Narcissism of small differences draws from existential themes such as Jungian psychology, alchemy and metaphysics to relate how we blindly exaggerate and suppress internal issues in the effort define our unique self…”
“Acknowledging the problematic dualities of identity the film evolves in a restless psychological space as the two characters struggle through increasing degrees of conflict to the resolution they are one and the same.”
Animation & Direction: Darryl Hutchison
Production & Editing: Rony Erez
Sound Design & Music: John Lemke
Executive Production: Edinburgh College of Art
It is no secret that we are often driven by the things that we want. But what determines what we want in the first place? This film Gold And The Chocolate Ice Cream asks us to look at the differences between those desires of spiritual and material wealth.
It is a simply shot clip that walks us through this process. So often we make this decision without thinking about it. It is time we take a moment to acknowledge our behavior.