Weekly Culture Round-up: 8/30 – 9/5
Summertearz — Swedish electronic-pop band Little Dragon have been active since 1996, performing while its three founding members were still in high school no less. They eventually took their bouncy, modal beats in a darker direction, constructing cavernous, driving tracks that carry the soft, idiosyncratic lilt of lead vocalist Yukimi Nagano’s yearning lyrics away into the lightly distorted digital ether that awaits the end of most songs. While they’ve gradually rose in popularity since the release of their self-titled debut album in 2007, the group would be truly recognized as an emergent act in 2010, after collaborating with Damon Albarn on a track for Gorillaz’ third album, Plastic Beach. This significantly boosted their exposure and led to further high-profile collaborations down the line. Earlier this year they released a new album, the laid-back, 80’s lounge-inspired Season High, and are now touring worldwide in promotion. Coming fresh-off of a spectacular performance at Terminal 5 earlier this week, they’re bringing the show to the Apollo Theater, Thursday, August 31.
Apollo Theater 8/31
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Author’s Note: The event page calls them “Little Dragons.” This is a typo.
The Last Picture Shows — Summer offers a lot of extra free time, so why not spend some of it cooling off in a cozy theatrical setting? Film Forum’s annual Summer Double Feature series is wrapping up with its final week of programming, screenings ranging from two of Jean-luc Godard’s classic color films from his New Wave period, A Woman is a Woman (1961) and Pierrot le Fou (1965) to their closing double bill of the Coen Brothers’ slacker comedy The Big Lebowski (1998) paired with Peter Bogdanovich’s somber coming-of-age story The Last Picture Show (1971), both respectively featuring late and early-career performances by American sweetheart Jeff Bridges. It’s two for the price of one, so you’re really getting the most out of your cost of admission. Spend some of that extra cash on Film Forum’s signature, positively delicious banana bread over at concessions.
Film Forum 8/30 – 9/5
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Silent Barn, Rowdy Night — One of Brooklyn’s best community assets has been the Silent Barn, a DIY recording and performance space that originally started in Ridgewood, Queens, and has now been enjoying a revitalizing relocation to Bushwick since 2012. Charmingly dingy, the low-rent quality allows the space to concentrate on bringing new, daring, and unconventional acts to the stage, as well as keep their drinks satisfyingly cheap. Each day this weekend presents a variety of local up-and-coming and independent artists: brisk and buoyant electronic-pop artist Oshwa on Friday, ethereal experimental-pop artist Mutual Benefit on Saturday, corporate abandonware-influenced bitpop duo Love Spread on Sunday, and many more.
Silent Barn 9/1, 9/2 & 9/3
Calendar
Friday Tickets
Saturday Tickets
Sunday Tickets
Far From Insignificance — Nicolas Roeg worked on a number of eminent features during the 60s, acting as a second unit cinematographer for the historical epic Lawrence of Arabia (1962) early on in his career and later assuming the role of DP on late-60s gems such as the Oscar-nominated Far From the Madding Crowd (1967). With the arrival of the 70s, Roeg came into his own after directing the visually astonishing Australian outback survival tale Walkabout (1971) and quickly achieved worldwide recognition after his risqué and formally innovative psychological thriller Don’t Look Now (1973). Nearly all of these remarkable features and more are being screened as part of the Quad Cinema’s “Look Now: The Universe According to Nicolas Roeg” retro, including Roeg’s surreal collaboration with David Bowie on The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) (Bowie’s first starring role and one that would help define his late-70s “Thin White Duke” persona).
Quad Cinema 9/1 – 9/7
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That Gum You Like Is Going out of Style — Mark Frost and David Lynch’s extraordinary odyssey through the wonderful and strange world of Twin Peaks is nearly at an end. Or is it? Much like the cliffhanger finale of the original series some 26 years ago, it’s currently unclear whether this will be the end of the peculiar Pacific Northwestern town’s story, or the last time we’ll see its quirky or unhinged denizens as well. Nonetheless, if you’ve been glued to your viewing platform of choice every Sunday since May, no doubt you’ll be interested in Alphaville bar’s season three finale party. They’re featuring pre and post-show Roadhouse-inspired DJ sets at no additional cover charge. It may never be happening again, so make September 3 a night to remember.
Alphaville 9/3
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