HIGHLY RECOMMENDED W/ SEX MACHINE OCTOPUS
* Providing the A's to the 5 HIGHLY RECOMMENDED Q's today is Sex Machine Octopus — a group of music-makers out of Montreal whose nice new album ‘Plastic Scenes’ is out on Bandcamp now (and you can catch the track ‘Mother’ in the HI54 Mix CD ‘NOT LOST / NOT FOUND’). // Photo by manvs
#1 - WHAT IS THE ONE ALBUM (OR EP OR SONG) THAT YOU THINK SHOULD BE THE VERY NEXT MUSICAL THING THAT EVERYONE PRESSES PLAY ON THE NEXT TIME THEY FIND THEMSELVES THINKING “WHAT SHOULD I LISTEN TO NOW”?
For us, it would have to be “Antidotes” by foals. We’ve been listening to their first LP for years and years and it just never seems to get old.
Every time we hear it again, we find something new to hang on to. For some reason, it just stays fresh to our ears. Probably not the case for everyone, but we find it’s kind of like a clean and controlled mess of catchy riffs, awesome vocals and just all-around great songwriting.
#2 - WHAT IS THE ONE MOVIE OR TV SHOW THAT YOU THINK SHOULD BE NEXT IN EVERYBODY’S NETFLIX QUEUE (OK, DOESN’T HAVE TO BE NETFLIX, WE’RE ALL INTERNET ADULTS HERE AND KNOW HOW TO FIND ANYTHING ONLINE, ONE WAY OR ANOTHER)?
We all loved “Tu dors Nicole” which was directed by Stéphane Lafleure. It’s a beautiful movie about what it’s like to be lost and bored on summer vacation in Quebec.
Watching it, brings such a warm feeling of nostalgia that hits close to home, and right in the feels. Also, there’s a band in it, dealing with creative struggles, and THAT, we know all about.
#3. I (AND BY “I” I MEAN “THE PERSON THAT IS READING THIS”) AM GOING TO THE LOCAL BOOK STORE (OK, MAYBE THE LOCAL LIBRARY FIRST) TO FIND THE VERY NEXT BOOK THAT I WILL BE PUTTING SOME EXTREMELY VALUABLE ‘ME-TIME' ASIDE FOR. WHICH BOOK WOULD YOU GET, IF YOU WERE ME (AND, I SUPPOSE, YOU HADN’T ALREADY READ WHAT YOU’RE ABOUT TO SUGGEST)?
“La femme aux cartes postales” is a graphic novel that we liked a lot! It has two distinct and very different stories that are beautifully linked together (we cannot say more about that because…spoilers!!!). It’s mostly settled in Montreal in the 50’s, and there is a real intention the author Jean-Paul Eid to merge his fiction into a real universe that was the city at that time.
Also, it talks about music, complex relations with other people that you share your life with and has a lot of clever references to Montreal’s landscape.
#4 - WHAT IS THE ONE WEBSITE (OR JUST ANY OLD INTERNET THING: APP, GIF, SERVICE, WHATEVER) THAT YOU WOULD GET REALLY DOWN IN THE DUMPS ABOUT IF IT WERE TO SUDDENLY GO AWAY?
It would definitely be “Bandcamp”. It’s a platform that is very user friendly and lets people listen to music almost always for free!
It’s a great way for musicians to massively share their music (because…its free), and for the people to listen to it without doubting if you’ll like it or not.
#5 - AND FINALLY… PLEASE GIVE ONE COMPLETELY UNAIDED RECOMMENDATION THAT YOU THINK EVERYONE SHOULD START DOING / USING / WATCHING / EATING / THINKING / QUITING / ETC-ING TO MAKE THEIR LIVES A LITTLE BIT MORE BETTER AND/OR BEARABLE.
Everybody definitely needs to start listening to IDLES. It’s super relevant to everything going on around us. They’re a smart bunch doing some real great stuff.
Plus, they got amazing songs that make you feel badass, what’s not to like.
