Is the new Kurt Cobain documentary “The Montage of Heck” any good?

There’s been a hype on the internet throughout the spring about this new Kurt Cobain documentary. It’s made a lot of us crave to watch it, probably even those who barely know of Kurt Cobain. It all sounds so good in the trailer and in the sources that the director/writer, Brett Morgen put together for the film.

As a documentary enthusiast and Kurt Cobain fan, I was a bit skeptical about the documentary, given that a lot of Nirvana fans that I know have always criticised the biographies and such. However, to be quite frank the film is worth a watch. Everything in the film from aesthetics to information is laid out impeccably well. The information is put into good use throughout the film and the music is not overused, but at the same time it isn’t underused. It all plays up to its appropriate moments and the interviews are surprising, given that even Kurt Cobain’s ex-girlfriend Tracy Marander is present in the documentary. It is also very surprising how they even managed to get actual sections of Kurt’s journals and drawings to incorporate into the film. This just proofs legitimacy of the film being a success in the eyes of the fans such as myself.

The film is available in the cinemas, and if not then for purchase at your nearest video shop place. It’s a really moving and thought-provoking documentary on the life and fame of the front man of Nirvana. The best part about the whole documentary is that it gives perspective of how Kurt was from many different aspects, even in home videos. He’s shown throughout the documentary as a family man, a happy being, an adorable child, confused teen, and a misunderstood rockstar. There is evidently an element of truth in this documentary that must be seen.

New Mac DeMarco Release!

It’s been quite a wait ever since Mac’s latest 2014 release “Salad Days”, but the wait is now over! The Canadian singer/songwriter has said to be releasing his new ‘mini LP’ called “Another One”. It features eight songs and it will be released via Captured Track on August 7th.

The first song released from this new album is titled “The Way You’d Love Her” featuring a snazzy guitar solo and Mac’s signature ‘drawling’ vocals. Nothing’s changed, Mac is still cool and his guitar riffs are still irresistibly narcotic.

What is vaporwave and what is vaporwave?

Perhaps you have heard of the song ‘420’ by Macintosh Plus from the 15th studio album ‘Floral Shoppe’, if not then most likely you’ve come across their aesthetically pleasing album cover with a faceless statue, making it appear super ‘avant-garde’.

Just like many other aesthetically pleasing album covers that you may come across when looking for some Macintosh Plus on youtube, you will find that this is all part of a genre called ‘vaporwave’. The name vaporwave derives from the marketing term ‘Vapourware’, which gives vaporwave it’s purpose of uprising against Capitalism. In a nutshell, vaporwave’s looped tunes that are taken from other artists, but are later unrecognizable tunes after the intensive editing that each sample undergoes, can either be catchy, kill your braincells, or make you laugh. Just like other bizarre genres such as seapunk and witch house that were allegedly a thing at the start of the 2010’s, this is also just a fad brought to us (and it is rude to generalise) by a bunch of hipsters sitting behind their computer screens and moaning about being born in the wrong generation.

However, there is something increasingly appealing about vaporwave. Despite it being optimised music for musty and empty shopping malls, its looped synthesised samplers combined with a handful of commercial jingles from the 80s and 90s in every song create a certain feeling of nostalgia, even if you weren’t exactly walking in the 80s. It may not be the most ‘original’ music at first sight, but something about the fact behind its production raises awareness of how sick today’s consumer society is. The only skeptical thing is the ‘vintage’ samplers that are repeated in almost every song without (or with little) vocals, of course all taken from some underrated 80s artist or Japanese commercial.

If you haven’t noticed already, vaporwave is all about the aesthetics, without the aesthetics vaporwave would not be the same. It is true that some songs may drive you insane with their ‘soulless’ messages to go against Capitalism, but some songs are pretty rad. There are actually good vaporwave musicians who don’t just make a living out of the vintage-anime-like aesthetics of their music, Saint Pepsi (AKA. Skylar Spence) is one of these good artists with good vaporwave music.

This ironic genre vaporwave, is worth a try and worth a laugh. It’s somehow an indication to anyone sitting in front of their computer screens to go out and experiment some samples on their own laptop and just try to be as creative as possible in between the lines of vaporwave and some revolutionary/ fashion statement.  Personally, I don’t listen to vaporwave too often in fear that it might devour my soul, but a bit of vaporwave is relaxing to have in the background. There’s been a number of people on the internet saying that vaporwave has changed their lives, to an extend it is agreeable that vaporwave is pretty awesome, but then again sometimes it is in need of some originality.

Just for some laughs. Lol.

This meme wins it all