😈 please allow me to introduce myself
This Week:
- 📺: What’s old is newclear
- 💽: Smooth psychedelics
- 🦸: Stylistic variety
- 🎥: War! and Sasquatch!
I’m not going to waste anytime up here because I’m too jazzed about our new banners!
You can read a bit more about them in this mostly pointless blog post and this one that shows them all off with credits to each designer!
📺 New Shows
⛵ Conan O’Brien Must Go S1 (HBO) — Thursday
It’s another celeb travel show, but it’s Conan so maybe it’ll still be good. I feel like the world is still searching for the next Anthony Bourdain. While Conan is definitely not that, he’s probably a fun hang.
☢️ Fallout S1 (Amazon) - Thursday
This might be the show that readers here are most excited for (spoiler: not me). With that being said, I think we will get something pretty crazy no matter what and that’s a good thing. Jonathan Nolan is following up Westworld with this and given the nature of the games and his pedigree, buckle up.
🇺🇸 Franklin S1 (Apple) — Friday
I’m not sure about this one, but I’ll definitely be checking it out. This feels like a make or break year for Apple and all the big budget / big name stuff they are pumping out. However, a lot of their shows, especially the historical ones, have felt a bit stale.
🏙️ Good Times S1 (Netflix) — Friday
It’s animated and has JB Smoove. With Curb officially wrapped, I need some Smoove in my life and this reboot of the old sitcom will have to do.
🕵️ The Sympathizer S1 (HBO) — Sunday
This is the big release of the week for me. Based on the acclaimed novel about a spy during the Vietnam War, starring Robert Downey Jr. and Hoa Xuande. We even get three episodes directed by Park Chan-wook. Don’t miss this one.
🪓 The Jinx: Part Two (HBO) — Sunday
I didn’t realize Part Two was a thing until just now, but you can color me intrigued. I found the first season of this fascinating and obviously the ending was quite news breaking. I wonder how they can possibly plan to live up to that.
Tuesday
- Shōgun (Hulu) 1:8
Wednesday
- Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Disney) 3:12
- Palm Royale (Apple) 1:6
- X-Men ’97 (Disney) 1:5
- Loot (Apple) 2:3
Thursday
- The Girls on the Bus (HBO) 1:6
- A Gentleman in Moscow (Showtime) 1:3
- Conan O’Brien Must Go (HBO) 1:1
- Fallout (Amazon) S1 [Entire season]
Friday
- Manhunt (Apple) 1:6
- Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show (HBO) 1:3
- Sugar (Apple) 1:3
- Franklin (Apple) 1:1-3
- Good Times (Netflix) S1 [Entire season]
Sunday
- Last Week Tonight (HBO) 11:8
- Parish (AMC) 1:3
- The Sympathizer (HBO) 1:1
- The Jinx: Part Two (HBO) 2:1
💽 Release of the Week
🎷 A LA SALA by Khruangbin
I don’t think I can ever not love a Khruangbin release. I love the soulful, jazzy, funk rock instrumentals that they do. It’s always delightful and we don’t get enough music like it these days—especially from bands that have broken into the mainstream.
Runner-ups
📦 Package, Pt. 2 by Gustaf
Art punk at it’s finest. The vocals get you pumped along with the driving drums and rhythmic bounce that echoes throughout the record. Squid meets Mannequin Pussy. Hell yeah.
🪵 Country by Medium Build
A fun alt-country meets indie pop punk album? This was the biggest surprise for me. The album is super well paced as you go through a rollercoaster of sounds and tempos that keep it feeling fresh the entire way through.
🗣️ Hey Gary, Hey Dawn by Caleb Landry Jones
Another solid release for CLJ. He never blows me away with anything hugely exciting, but there’s something about his progressive, baroque, art pop style that I dig. It also has this British sounding vibe to it which is nice. He’s from TX though…
🌩️ Only God Was Above Us by Vampire Weekend
With every release, Vampire Weekend seems to get a little bit less fun and more ballad-y. It’s not a bad thing necessarily, but it seems to gel less with my tastes. I think it’s still a solid album, but it doesn’t quite hit those high points of previous releases for me on first listen.
❌ Might Delete Later by J. Cole
Only including this since he already back-tracked on his Kendrick diss. Literally went back and “deleted” that sentiment later.
It was a pretty great week of releases so here are a few more I thought were good:
- Mantras by Katie Pruitt
- All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade by The Libertines
- HOTEL HEAVEN by Yellow Days
- angeltape by Drahla
🦸 No. 1s
🖼️ Uncanny Valley (BOOM) #1
Tony Fleecs has been building quite the bibliography of late as he follows up the Feral #1 a couple weeks ago with this book. He’s joined by artist Dave Wachter who is pulling out all the stops to make something that looks very cool as the protagonist has powers that result in all sorts of different art styles ending up on the page.
🦹 Deadweights (Ahoy) #1
A new book from people pretty unknown to me. Ahoy tends to put out some pretty cool stuff and this one focuses on some unlucky henchmen in a super hero world. I’m getting Jupiter’s Legacy meets The Fix vibes, which is a pretty great mixture.
🐀 Rat City (Image) #1
I keep trying to get into the world of Spawn. I even bought a humble bundle recently, but have been too busy to dive in yet. If Spawn is your thing though, this will be up your alley.
🦹 New Releases
🧨 Napalm Lullaby (Image) #2
I didn’t think the first issue completely crushed it, but there was enough there to paint a larger picture. Hoping this issue delivers a bit more now that some of the world has been established. It’s Rick Remender after all so I have faith.
👻 Phantom Road (Image) #10
I still feel like this subtle sci-fi western is going under the radar too much. Lemire and Walta continue to kill it.
🧸 Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees (IDW) #5
This book is truly great. You should definitely pick this up. Immediately. Surprising considering it’s from IDW. Hopefully some of IDW’s recent strife doesn’t effect this book getting published…
More!
- GLEEM (Drawn and Quarterly)
- Ultimate X-Men (Marvel) #2
- Transformers (Skybound) #7
- Thundercats (Dynamite) #3
🎥 New Movies
🪖 Civil War
The big release of the week from writer/director Alex Garland of Ex Machina and Annihilation. I don’t think he’s ever hit the highs of his directorial debut, but he’s tried. This also feels like a huge swing given the moment it’s coming out. Add in Nick Offerman, Kirstin Dunst, and Jesse Plemons and you’ve definitely got the workings for something cool. But I’m nervous.
🧌 Sasquatch Sunset
Limited, full release next week. So we will talk more then!
That’s a wrap. hope you dig the new look.
Stay sane,
—humdrum
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