Yorkton This Week’s editorial staff takes readers on an explorative journey around the Internet, searching out the best in videos, podcasts, webcomics, music and anything else that catches their collective eyes which might interest our readers.
My relationship with popular music is very much a love-hate affair.
At its best, I think pop music can be the purest distillation of strong, simple emotions. I think about the overriding positivity of Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky,” or the whistfulness of Clean Bandit’s “Rather Be,” or the raw drama of Kanye West’s “All of the Lights,” and I’m reminded of pop music’s power.
Pop music’s access to big stars, top-shelf production, and wide reach make it an ideal vehicle for expressing broad, universal messages. Pop music can move mountains.
But at its worst, pop music is the worst media in the world. It can be bloated, tired, cliched, and dull. I think about dreck like “Havana,” “Gucci Gang,” or the Chainsmokers’ collective output, and I’m filled with disgust for pop music’s bottomless failures. Pop music can be junk food without any flavour.
Clearly, I run hot and cold on pop music. But if there’s one artist who revels in the best and worst of the genre, and shows its endless potential, it’s Neil Cicierega.
Cicierega is an Internet comedian, musician, and minor celebrity. He created the hugely popular “Potter Puppet Pals,” along with the musical act Lemon Demon. But Cicierega’s best works are his mashup albums.
Mashups, quite simply, are songs made out of other songs. Mashups were incredibly popular in the early-2000s, as the Internet and meme-culture began to grow. Artists such as Girl Talk made huge hits by combining classic rock songs with gangsta rap lyrics.
Usually, mashups are simple, dumb fun. They involve a well-known song overlaid with different lyrics. But Cicierega’s mashups are anything but average.
Cicierega smashes countless 90s and 2000s songs into singular, monstrous tracks. He turns mashups into joke-filled goof-fests. He warps familiar songs into bizarre headtrips.
Cicierega’s “Modest Mouth” combines Smash Mouth’s “All Star” with indie-darlings Modest Mouse’s “Float On” into a twisted, yet still-catchy, rocker. “No Credit Card” turns Huey Lewis’s “Power of Love” into an ode to credit cards. “Wallspin” merges Oasis’ “Wonderwall” with Dead or Alive’s “You Spin Me Round” into a peversely enjoyable dance song.
The list goes on and on. To describe more of Cicierega’s mashups would spoil the fun of discovering his outstanding work. If you want music with an absurdist sense of humour and genuine catchy hooks, check out his songs.
Cicierega’s three mashup albums (Mooth Sounds, Mouth Silence, and Mouth Moods) can be found on his website, http://www.neilcic.com/. They are free downloads.
- Sean Mott
British crime weirdness
Being a fan of a number of British detective shows it is a natural to try new ones when I come upon them.
So on a very random search through Netflix one afternoon when I had a day off, I found River.
River is a six-part British television drama series, created and written by Abi Morgan and starring Stellan Skarsgård and Nicola Walker. It premiered on BBC One in Oct. 2015, and internationally on Netflix in November the same year.
The series revolves around John River as your usual brilliant police inspector. That is typical enough of a police drama, but River is far from a typical show.
River may be very good at his job, but he also has a deep flaw. He is a man haunted by the murder victims whose cases he must lay to rest, including his murdered partner Jackie ‘Stevie’ Stevenson.
The six episodes revolve around River unravelling the case, dealing with multiple voices, he actually sees the people and talks to them, dealing with unresolved emotions.
The show could have come off as just dumb, but it avoids that with a cast of bang on performances, starting with an outstanding effort by Stellan Skarsgård as River.
Nicola Walker is ‘Stevie’ as a ghost and the veteran actor handles the quirky role nicely, although among River’s voices Eddie Marsan as Thomas Cream stands out the most.
Adeel Akhtar as Ira King, River’s new partner has the biggest hurdle, accepting the way River is without being silly in the attempt, or merely condescending. Akhtar pulls it off perfectly.
Finally, Lesley Manville as River’s superior is outstanding too.
The overall cast, quirky approach, and ripping good mystery puts River in my top-three British dramas too-date. Well worth searching out.
— Calvin Daniels
