The Weekender #12
Your weekend listening, watching, and reading guide has arrived.
The Weekender is a curated listening, watching, and reading experience to give your weekend a sensory upgrade. Subscribe to get The Weekender in your inbox free every Friday.
You can now buy the above Weekender bag at our Gift Shop, along with a vinyl carrying tote and a coffee mug! Paid subscribers to The Wax Museum get $10 off at checkout, and are entered into a monthly signed vinyl giveaway!
This month’s giveaway for paid subs includes two fresh entries: The Hotelier’s 2014 emo classic Home, Like NoPlace Is There on green and white wax, and Gouge Away’s 2024 Album of the Year candidate Deep Sage on baby blue / black mix.
A winner will be chosen on June 14th, and they’ll get to pick their favorite vinyl.
What to Listen to This Weekend
A bunch of records joined the Album of the Year leaderboard in the past few weeks; here’s three of my favorites.
Childish Gambino - Atavista
Get Vinyl: Black (preorder)
Debuts #8 on the Album of the Year Leaderboard
Donald Glover / Childish Gambino’s fourth album 3.15.20 was one of the albums I associate most with the start of the pandemic, alongside Tame Impala’s The Slow Rush and The Strokes’ The New Abnormal. However, the former was lost in the chaos, not just due to Covid circumstances, but the album's lack of traditional release, blank white album cover, and limited song titles.
“People didn’t even know I put it out. I didn’t master or mix it, I just kind of put it out. I was going through a lot, [we] thought everybody was going to die because it was the pandemic.”
Fast forward four years, and Glover is back with a re-release titled Atavista, and it’s a whole new ball game. He’s reworked the tracklist, ditched some songs, trimmed the interludes, and added new guest verses from Lil Nudy on “Little Foot Big Foot” and Summer Walker on “Sweet Thang.” The album no longer feels like a demo tape of random ideas but a smooth, cohesive showcase of Gambino’s R&B prowess. If 2016’s Awaken, My Love! was his Funkadelic tribute, Atavista is Gambino tapping into his inner Prince.
This likely won’t be Glover’s only entry to our AotY leaderboard. He is preparing a tentpole film from his production company GILGA titled Bando Stone in the New World, accompanied by a soundtrack acting as the supposed final album under his Childish Gambino moniker.
Sam Evian - Plunge
Get Vinyl: Water Blue | Red (Autographed) | Black | Discogs
Debuts #12 on the Album of the Year Leaderboard
Sam Evian's fourth album, Plunge, released back in March, is a vibrant splash of spontaneity. Recorded with a posse of pals like Liam Kazar, Sean Mullins, El Kempner of Palehound, and Big Thief's Adrianne Lenker, this album channels the anything-goes vibe of The Beatles' Get Back sessions. No headphones, minimal overdubs, and a whole lot of live energy results in Evian’s finest work yet - a rocking mix of power pop, sparkling guitars, and groovy psychedelia. It was recorded live to vintage tape for a late 60’s, early 70’s vibe that makes it all sound familiar yet fresh.
Jessica Pratt - Here in the Pitch
Get Vinyl: Desert Mallow Red | Black | Discogs
Debuts #22 on the Album of the Year Leaderboard
Another fourth album and another nostalgia blast from the past courtesy of folk singer Jessica Pratt. Here in the Pitch sounds like a long-lost gem from the late '60s beamed straight to 2024. Think Laurel Canyon sound with a dreamy, often haunting twist.
The vocals appear to be processed in mono, with the whole album drenched in reverb, creating a melting and distorting soundscape, like listening to music through a kaleidoscope. It’s the kind of album that begs to be spun on a turntable, exuding a charming, retro warmth.
What to Watch This Weekend
Dark Matter
Stream: Apple
Blake Crouch’s 2016 sci-fi thriller Dark Matter has been gathering dust on my bookshelf since, well, 2016. But a few weeks ago, I found out it’s getting the Apple TV treatment, with an adaptation by Crouch himself and starring one of my faves, Joel Edgerton.
That was all the motivation I needed to finally dive into the book, which I finished this week and can heartily recommend. It’s the ultimate page-turner, the kind you can devour in an afternoon.
Now, the first three of nine episodes are currently streaming, with new episodes dropping every Wednesday until the finale on June 26th. Here’s the trailer—but skip it if you plan on watching, because, you know, spoilers.
Conner O’Malley: Stand Up Solutions
Stream: Free on YouTube
If you’ve ever stumbled upon Conner O’Malley’s comedy, whether it’s his manic YouTube videos or his writing on Joe Pera Talks With You or How To with John Wilson, you know his brain operates on a whole different wavelength.
His latest performance art, Stand Up Solutions, is also his first hour-long standup special. Conner steps into the shoes of Richard Eagleton, a corporate visionary pitching us (potential angel investors) his groundbreaking invention: the first AI-powered comedian. What ensues is the wildest TED talk you’ve ever seen.
Conner’s gonzo performance is a sight to behold. He never breaks character, delivering social, political, and cultural criticism wrapped in a hilarious fever dream. It’s not for everyone, in fact, it’s not for most people, but if you’re craving a fresh and unique take on standup, give it a try.
What to Read This Weekend
‘Has this guy ever made a movie before?’ Francis Ford Coppola’s 40-year battle to film Megalopolis by Steve Rose for The Guardian
There is no movie I’m looking forward to more than Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis, currently screening at Cannes to both boos and a 10-minute standing ovation.
Coppola, age 85, last had a film in competition at Cannes 45 years ago with Apocalypse Now, which snagged him his second Palme d’Or, five years after The Conversation won it. Like Apocalypse Now, which went $18 million over budget and took 283 days to finish, Megalopolis is gaining a similar reputation.
Coppola poured $120 million of his own money (by selling some of his Coppola winery) into this sci-fi retelling of the Fall of Rome set in a modern day American city, and there are some wild behind-the-scenes stories.
The crew member sometimes found Coppola’s approach exasperating: “We had these beautiful designs that kept evolving but he would never settle on one. And every time we would have a new meeting, it was a different idea.” When the crew member insisted they needed to do more work to determine how the film was going to look, they say, Coppola replied: “How can you figure out what Megalopolis looks like when I don’t even know what Megalopolis looks like?”
A lot of time was, apparently, wasted. A second crew member recalls: “He would often show up in the mornings before these big sequences and because no plan had been put in place, and because he wouldn’t allow his collaborators to put a plan in place, he would often just sit in his trailer for hours on end, wouldn’t talk to anybody, was often smoking marijuana … And hours and hours would go by without anything being filmed. And the crew and the cast would all stand around and wait. And then he’d come out and whip up something that didn’t make sense, and that didn’t follow anything anybody had spoken about or anything that was on the page, and we’d all just go along with it, trying to make the best out of it. But pretty much every day, we’d just walk away shaking our heads wondering what we’d just spent the last 12 hours doing.” As a third crew member puts it: “This sounds crazy to say, but there were times when we were all standing around going: ‘Has this guy ever made a movie before?’”
Reviews out of Cannes run the gamut from masterpiece to Megaflopolis, however, everyone seems to agree its indescribable, bonkers, and unhinged.
This is not a joke—at one point in the screening, Jason Schwartzman literally appeared on stage with a microphone and started delivering live dialogue opposite Adam Driver’s character on the screen. What?? How will this play out in theaters? Will the stoned concessions guy come in and read lines? What if there’s a script placed under a random seat and that person must recite dialogue? Now that’s how we get people back to the cinema!
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The Jessica Pratt album was interesting. I'm not sure I'm fully on board with the way the vocals are mixed; but it does make for a nice mellow morning vibe.
Loving all of your descriptions! Can't wait to listen to it all!