The Weekender #21: Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat
Recommendations on what to watch, read, and listen to this weekend.
The Weekender is a curated listening, watching, and reading experience to give your weekend a sensory upgrade. Subscribe to get The Weekender straight to your inbox. All previous editions of The Weekender can be found here.
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Thanks for the support and please enjoy the first Weekender of 2025!
What to Listen to This Weekend
Asian Glow - 11100011
Stream: Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple Music
Get Vinyl: Winter Grey
Well, folks, just a few days into 2025 and we've already got our first great album of the year. Asian Glow, aka Gyn, a multi-instrumentalist mastermind from Seoul, drops 11100011, a thunderous fusion of electronica, shoegaze, and emo that’s as chaotic as it is captivating.
If you're a fan of Parannoul, you'll notice Asian Glow applies a similar "why have one crescendo when you can have six?" philosophy, packing track after track with build-ups that’ll send your speakers into conniptions.
There’s so much going on in here. Like that Mark Twain quote about New England’s climate, “If you don't like the weather, just wait a few minutes” — this is like that, if you don’t dig what you’re hearing, something else is right around the corner that’ll hit your sweet spot.
David Lynch - The Big Dream
Stream: Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple Music
Get Vinyl: Clear
We lost one of our most original filmmakers yesterday in David Lynch. The man's influence was so profound, we even have an adjective named after him — Lynchian — to describe not just cinema, but everyday things like a diner or a red lamp.
But let’s not forget, Lynch was also a hell of a musician. His third and now final album, 2013’s The Big Dream, is as enigmatic as the man himself. Eleven of the twelve tracks are originals, with the lone cover being a wildly unique version of Bob Dylan’s "The Ballad of Hollis Brown." And there's a bonus track with Lykke Li that’s an absolute gem.
One of my favorite Lynch videos is a supercut of him saying and doing hilarious things, but the last 2-3 minutes are surprisingly practical and inspirational, and I return to them often. Rest in peace to a true legend.
The Best Songs of 2025 Playlist
Stream: Spotify | Apple Music
We’ve officially wiped the slate clean of 2024 and we kick 2025 with a bang, curating 20+ fresh tracks to start your ear off right. This lineup is stacked with heavy hitters like Japanese Breakfast, Panda Bear, Youth Lagoon, Hamilton Leithauser, Lucy Dacus, Florist, Blondshell, Dirty Projectors, and so much more.
What to Watch This Weekend
Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat
Stream: Kanopy
Buy: Blu-ray
I just watched Soundtrack to a Coup d'État, and wow — this documentary is like reading a dense political treatise and listening to free jazz all at once. Clocking in at a relentless 150 minutes, it's a wild ride through animated graphics, archival footage, and political theater, all centered around the Congo’s struggle against colonialism during the Cold War.
Director Johan Grimonprez orchestrates a dizzying intellectual symphony where jazz legends and the US State Department collide in a tragic and all-too-relevant commentary on global power dynamics. Think Oliver Stone’s conspiracy-laden paranoia meets Ken Burns’ historical depth and Adam Curtis’ hypnotic visuals. The editing and art direction alone are jaw-dropping and worthy of awards. And the best part: you can watch it for free on Kanopy with your public library card. No excuse not to.
Goose’s New Year’s Eve Show
Stream: Youtube
Longtime readers of this newsletter know my love for the jam band Goose; I recently awarded them the prestigious Waxy for best live album of 2024. Well they continue their dominance with a three hour NYE set available free on YouTube. Don’t miss the magic around the two hour mark, when the midnight balloon drop is synced to a cover of Thelma Houston’s 1978 disco anthem “Don’t Leave Me This Way.”
Severance Season 2
Stream: Apple TV
Apple TV’s best show Severance is back for its highly anticipated second season — and let’s hope it’s worth the wait. Created and written by Dan Erickson and directed by Ben Stiller, this season took over three years to bring to life, but early reviews are glowing. The ten-episode season will drop weekly, with new episodes rolling out every Friday until March 21st.
If you’re a little fuzzy on the first season (guilty as charged), this video is the perfect refresher.
What to Read This Weekend
I’m gonna do something different in this space this week and briefly shine a spotlight on a few books I’ve recently read that are worth your time.
The MANIAC by Benjamín Labatut (2023)
The MANIAC by Benjamin Labatut takes us into the mind of Hungarian polymath John von Neumann, told through the eyes of those who knew him best. Labatut weaves a chilling narrative, exploring the dark side of human ingenuity — where math and science go from revolutionary to catastrophic, whether it’s the creation of the atomic bomb or the rise of modern AI. Labatut’s writing is soaked in dread, building a sense of impending doom that lingers long after the last page. It’s a fascinating, terrifying read that leaves you questioning just how far we should push the boundaries of knowledge.
Night of the Grizzlies by Jack Olsen (1969)
Speaking of impending doom, Night of the Grizzlies by former Sports Illustrated editor Jack Olsen tells the chilling true story of how two grizzly bears killed two women in two separate areas of Montana’s Glacier National Park, an area that had never seen a fatal bear attack in its 57-year history. Olsen masterfully builds dread as each ignored warning leads inexorably to the tragic, unavoidable attacks. The odds were staggering — one in a million for a single attack, yet two occurred within four hours; Olsen attempts to figure out why.
Someone Who Isn’t Me by Geoff Rickly (2023)
Thursday frontman Geoff Rickly trades the mic for the pen with his debut novel, Someone Who Isn’t Me, a quasi-memoir chronicling his real-life battle with heroin addiction and the loss of everything — including his band. Hitting rock bottom, he heads to Mexico to detox using the psychoactive and potentially lethal plant ibogaine.
A modern reimagining of The Divine Comedy, the book draws on Rickly’s experiences with music, drugs, and recovery, written years after he cleaned up, got his life together, and even reunited his band. This fever dream of a novel is poetic, raw, vulnerable, and often laugh-out-loud hilarious — an unforgettable, hallucinogenic ride.
Hey, thanks for stopping by The Wax Museum! As always, feel free to reply to this email or drop a comment in the Substack to keep the conversation going.
Did you go to the Goose show? Bet it was a blast!💥
So many great recommendations here! Thanks!