Adele | timotheories

Discover Their Stories (Women’s History Month)

Posted on March 15, 2017 by Tim Kuefler

Today I wanted to write about some cool cats I know. Well not personally, but nonetheless, individuals who make great art and inspire all of us to be better human beings.

Memes aside, a moment for all of the ladies who make art despite facing incredible challenges every day, is not nearly enough.

I’m doing this in acknowledgement and praise of Women’s History Month. Which is a pretty big deal if you stop to think about it.

This is not going to be a post where I pretend to know the details of women’s history, because quite frankly, I’m not an expert on any kind of history, save maybe art history, and even then I’m not actively thinking about it often enough to claim mastery. No, this is a post for me in which I get to share with you some artists which I think need more attention and why I like them. Not “like” like them, just like them as professionals. Some of them are more known than others, but regardless of stature, these creatives are important and make great art.

Now I should address some hesitations my Canadian readers will likely have first. Yes I live in Canada, and technically that means I should be celebrating this event in October with the rest of my ilk, but quite frankly, I needed something to share this week and we share a border with Americans. And in case you didn’t know they’ve been running this event nationally since 1987, whereas we only picked it up in 1992. Shocking I know.

Insert Privilege Here

It’s a privilege for me to be able to write about these women, primarily because of the internet and a post-secondary education which taught me better. And that is a sad sad thing, so my hope is that you read these little snippets and take some time yourself to learn about these artists.

Marilyn Minter is an American artist who has been active since the 1980s. Her work often features sexuality and erotic imagery. Working in both photography and painting, Minter looks at the various roles of feminism, fashion and celebrity as they relate to idealizations of identity. Having published works in major American magazines and television she is known for being controversial and never loyal to one brand, medium or group. Minter has had exhibitions all over the world including Les Rencontres d’Arles festival in France, shows in Spain and Germany, being showcased in MoMa frequently. She teaches at the MFA department at the School of Visual Arts in New York and recently had a retrospective of her work in 2015. http://www.marilynminter.net/

Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard were musical re-pioneers of what was a defunct form of music now popular once more – folk. The genre was given a boost back in the 1950s, and the duo of Dickens & Gerrard were at the forefront making friends and breaking hearts. Dickens, focused on bluegrass and acted as double bass, while Gerrard, also a singer, played both banjo and guitar, making them rather successful as both solo recording artists and as a pair. Their varied singing styles made use of both Dicken’s high-pitch and Gerrard’s love for crooning and shouting. The pair performed late into their lives but Dickens passed on in April of 2011.

Julie Taymor is an American director of theater, opera and film. She is definitely best known for directing the stage, as she has been responsible for The Lion King musical, which netted her two Tony Awards, a first for a woman at the time. She has also directed broadway musicals for Spider-man and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Taymore has an Emmy Award, a Drama Desk Award and an Oscar nomination, which is how I got to know her work. Directing films like Titus, Frida, and Across The Universe, Taymor has a natural aptitude for theatre which has spread throughout the performance arts. Taymors work on Frida was substantial and got the film two Academy Awards – one for makeup and the other for costume design.

This might seem like a small sampling of professional women to showcase for this post dear readers, but my hope here is to demonstrate that women permeate throughout the arts, and that this is merely a drop in the bucket of talented creatives out there. And these are some of my personal favourite artists too, I could’ve listed off Tracy Emin, Cindy Sherman, Sofia Coppola, Sarah Polley, Debra Granik, Taylor Swift, Ellie Goulding, Leslie Fiest, La Roux, Adele, and tons of others, but then I would just be making lists, and this is about celebrating women.

A privilege in and of itself.

theories Summarized

So where’s the wisdom you ask? Well, I’ll leave you with this quote by Susan B. Anthony and see if you can glean something from it. And I hope for damn sure that it’s absorption rate is quick, thorough and positively altering, and not a wasted theory.

It was we, the people, not we, the white male citizens, nor yet we, the male citizens, but we, the whole people, who formed this Union. And we formed it, not to give the blessings of liberty, but to secure them; not to the half of ourselves and the half of our posterity, but to the whole people — women as well as men.

– Susan B. Anthony

We’re only telling half a story in many cases, but a half does not make us whole.

Tim!

Stone Cold Stunner (Jack Garratt, Phase review)

Posted on February 29, 2016 by Tim Kuefler

It’s just a phase, it’ll pass, I promise. That’s what they tell you when you’re growing up, anyway. Then you learn that adults tell you those things to keep you quiet and to simplify a subject far more complex than their tired minds are willing to handle.

Well no longer, dear readers. This week’s featured artist is all about that phase. In fact, I think he’s embraced the unknown and tackled the obvious to create something interesting. Shall we?

Jack Garratt – Phase
released February 19, 2016
******** 8/10

Jack Garratt is a British singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who just released his debut album.

Jack is something of a musical swiss-army knife: dubstep, garage rock, ballads, dance, R&B, dream pop, trip hop, electronica, indie pop, gospel, acoustic, and blues all fuse together. Garratt says it best himself.

Pick apart the pieces you left
Don’t you worry about it, don’t you worry about it
Try and give yourself some rest
And let me worry about it, let me worry about it

At just 24 years old, he’s managed to make a name for himself already, touring with Mumford and Sons last year, and winning both the BRITs’ Critics’ Choice Award and BBC Sound of 2016 poll this year. Which is something that recent Oscar winner Sam Smith, Ellie Goulding and Adele have all accomplished too. This should tell you something right out of the gate, this artist is making pop music that is both in the present and oddly experimental.

I’ve read a few other reviewers compare him to Ed Sheeran and describe it as generic pop, albeit more rough around the edges, a confusing oxymoron. And while I “kinda” like that Ed Sheeran comparison, I think a better one is this – dubstep sprinkled electronica meets proper pop production.

You see, Garratt has an incredible voice which is demonstrated very clearly in the closing track My House Is Your Home. And then applied in interesting ways on both Weathered and Surprise Yourself. Where I get excited is when he starts to combine this ability with his sampling and production talents.

Then we get to experience the life-giving opener Coalesce (Synesthesia pt.II), Worry, and Chemical, the last of which I’ve taken the liberty of including some sample lyrics from below. We get excited for the dichotomy he is creating between raw blues and refined electro pop.

My love is chemical, shallow and chauvinistic
It’s an arrogant display
So don’t try to reason with my love

Well shit. That’s good right?

What is so surprising is that a sound so rich and varied in it’s musical sources would be backed by a label like Island Records. It’s not often that artists get to break ground and create self-contained musical systems in these types of environments, but again, like Sam Smith, Ellie Goulding, and Adele before him, Garratt is epitomizing the shift in pop music culture. Maturity and craft are the order of the day, we are entering a renaissance for this kind of sound.

And maybe that’s where the generic sound comes in? He is simultaneously defining and perpetuating a sound.

Granted, the album is not perfect. Sometimes the sounds don’t mesh well together, but holy Moses, when they do, like a puppy dog that’s torn up your garbage can or a charming lover that ate your last ice cream, it’s easier to forgive Garratt and celebrate his experiments. And if Ellie Goulding is gonna cover his songs, he has to be at least worth a listen or two…

So check out Weathered, Breath Life, and Chemical dear readers, and don’t you worry about it, Jack Garratt’s got phasers set to stun.

I hope Jack Garratt isn’t just the flavour of the week, and all my theories on him pan out. But either way, this is a fun and enjoyable record and I think you’ll get a lot out of it. And even if it’s just a phase, this too shall pass and give way to another review.

Tim!

Lollipop (Grimes Art Angels review)

Posted on December 21, 2015 by Tim Kuefler

I’m gonna tell you a little secret dear readers, while I don’t own any of their albums, I’m a pretty big fan of CSS.

This is probably because when I was in my early 20’s they were “cool” and “weird” and something hipsters were into, but I think my favourite thing about them was that they had a song called Art Bitch and another called Let’s Make Love and Listen to Death From Above.

I’ve always been a fan of pop music, and if the music and lyrics were engaging, you had my money.

Which is why today’s review is kind of awesome, because this feels like a throwback and something completely original at the same time. Also, anything with the word art in the title has to be good, right?

Grimes – Art Angels
released December 11, 2015
********* 9/10

Claire Elise Boucher, better known as Grimes, is a Canadian singer/songwriter, music video director and record producer. This is her 4th studio album release and the most chart-topping example of her unique vision to date.

I have had a lot of fun listening to this album. It changes dramatically throughout, and even varies inside of specific tracks. I think some the most euphoric experiences with it have been listening to the CD in the car on my way to and fro.

But while this album is incredibly well crafted, I’m not entirely sure it qualifies as easy-listening for the more timid listener.

For instance, while I gravitated to the content almost immediately, both my girlfriend and one of my brothers couldn’t quite place the music the first time listening through themselves and as a consequence they both wanted to move on quickly.

It’s the kind of album that perfectly encapsulates the era we are living in, it pulls from a plethora of influences and captures them in fantastical and dreamlike ways. There are celtic parts, dreampop moments, psychobilly screams, spoken word in other languages, horror-movie inspired progressions, and audio samples that I’d swear came out of a video game from the 64 bit days or earlier.

Wikipedia has tried to summarize her identity by taking other summaries and mashing them together, which I find hilarious, by the way. And oh so relevant to what Grimes represents.

This quote from The Guardian says it well –

By sounding a little like everything you’ve ever heard, the whole sounds like nothing you’ve ever heard.

I’m gonna tell you something that might seem crazy, but really shouldn’t be. The reason why Grimes’ music is so awesome is not because she is a trendsetter in a sea of pop music, and as a result her music is as high of a caliber as the likes of Lorde, Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Adele, and Ellie Goulding, among others, but because she sets trends by controlling her oeuvre and making music that is interesting and has intent. This is what pop music should sound like. Authentic music by artists that suit their personalities and tastes.

Claire Elise Boucher is inviting us into her reality, as opposed to trying to work in the reverse.

Kill V. Maim is a song from the perspective of Al Pacino in The Godfather pt II, California addresses her new hometown (a play off of Taylor Swift’s Welcome to New York?), REALiTi a love song that features insanity, and Butterfly is a send-up to Mariah Carrey and environmentalism.

If you don’t believe she is electic, and seeing is your truth, check out these music videos for Flesh without Blood/ Life in the Vivid Dream and REALiTi for a visual treat and a sample of her music directing skillz.

It is an incredibly rich and diverse offering, and I like it. But my major complaint is that it doesn’t dovetail with the same explosive and powerful quality that it opens with in the first track, laughing and not being normal. But if you are looking to shake up your pop roots, this is the one for you.

Art Angels is a fantastic entry from a really great artist who is embracing her weirdness and producing something original. Like CSS, she has made a fan of me, but unlike CSS, I’m gonna keep to my word and continue to buy her records. You should too.

See you tomorrow for a movie review, have a good night folks!

Tim!

timotheories 30 (Adele, 25 review)

Posted on November 30, 2015 by Tim Kuefler

I bought the third studio album by English singer/songwriter Adele at 30 years old. This post is titled as such because it is a reflection of the time of my life and frame of mind I was in when I wrote this post.

The post contains content which features some of my humour and musings, my thoughts on Adele and her record, and the occasional pop culture reference.

So I guess I’ll start of by saying “hello, can you hear me?” No? Can you hear me now?

Adele – 25
released November 20, 2015
********** 10/10

After she released her second studio album 21, Adele took something of a break from music. That break ended up being five years long. This is because while Adele had initially planned on using the hiatus to spend time with her son, when she did get back to work she wasn’t happy with the studio sessions and rescheduled several times before she finally found the material she needed to make something she was proud of. This happened in 2013, so it follows, that as per Adele’s previous two efforts, the album is dubbed 25. The content is thematic.

The album is incredibly focused, which is something we’ve come to expect from the singer at this point. She has become the queen of melancholy, and owns it rather vigorously.

The themes presented in the album can’t be said any better than by Adele herself.

My last record was a breakup record, and if I had to label this one I’d call it a make-up record. I’m making up with myself. Making up for lost time. Making up for everything I ever did and never did. But I haven’t got time to hold on to the crumbs of my past like I used to. What’s done is done. Turning 25 was a turning point for me, slap-bang in the middle of my 20s. Teetering on the edge of being an old adolescent and a fully fledged adult, I made the decision to go into becoming who I’m going to be forever without a removal van full of my old junk.

I read that statement and knew exactly what she meant. Having gone through my mid-twenties already and on the cusp of a new decade of life, not wanting to regret anything, but wise enough, humbled and imbued with experience from my 20s, her heartache resonates with me on a very personal level.

I read a review on vox.com before sitting down to write this one, and in it, the author said that “By the time I finished listening to 25, Adele’s first new album in almost five years, I’d completely forgotten that I’d been listening to it.” I originally thought she was going to pull the old bait and switch and demonstrate that Adele’s theme is so therapeutic, you forget about it afterwards, which would have been clever.

I disagree and believe that Adele WAS being clever.

The album showcases that she is more mature and aware of the passage of time, with literally every song providing commentary of some sort. If you want a record to inspire you to make art about the concept of time, then this is great source material.

The painful clarity behind a breakup as it happens is powerful in All I Ask, and the somber thoughts of youth characterize Million Years Ago so well. Hello is the first single, and a reminder that just because you’ve ended a bad relationship, it doesn’t mean that there isn’t anguish and guilt that can follow.

I Miss You is a beautifully arranged tune that highlights the ache of being in love and how your heart can be afflicted with fear of separation even while in the same room. Listening to tracks like River Lea and When We Were Young remind me of how complicated emotions are and the challenges associated with perception.

Adele has a powerful and nuanced command of her voice and no matter what your favourite track, you will enjoy this one. I just hope the next record is called 30 and is released within 3 years.

I’m thankful to hear that Adele has joined the ranks of Neil Diamond, The Doors, Louis Armstrong, The Beatles, Oasis, Lionel Ritchie, Simon and Garfunkel and countless others with her take on greeting the world.

I hope you enjoyed today’s review my friends. See you tomorrow with a movie review about family.

Tim!