Are needle drops in movies getting good again?

plus: big link ups and sex music for senior citizens

Ciao from Venice, where I’ve seen four films so far (I’m most excited for The Stranger, the French adaptation of the Albert Camus novella, but I don’t see that until next week) and also Jude Law walking by the gelato place where I was getting a double scoop of pistachio and amarena. Five films if you count The Dirt ,which I watched on my laptop at the air bnb at 7pm last night with my hand in a bag of those Torres fried egg flavored potato chips. It feels very me to be at a film festival but in bed watching a horrible music biopic (not in a good way). The casting in that movie is a war crime? Anyway saving that for the pod(s).

I dropped the “TGIF&L” because it was clunky (we grow and we evolve) but here’s the Friday round up:

• Chappell Roan’s “Good Luck, Babe” is in the new Yorgos Lanthimos movie Bugonia. I guess we are post full soundtracks being profoundly important like in the 90s (maybe the closest approximation are Reznor-Ross scores?) but it does seem diegetic needle drops are thriving again? I’m thinking of how Katy Perry’s “Firework” was expertly deployed in Eddington, for example. I was very into that.

• Speaking of Reznor-Ross, there are apparently a couple of Smiths songs (again, heard and discussed by characters) in the new Luca Guadagnino cancel culture film After The Hunt. I haven’t seen it and I’m hearing this second hand but it would make sense given the subject matter and also Chloë Sevigny’s involvement (RIP Smiths night at Sway).

• Also Dean Wareham of Galaxie 500 and Luna has a tiny cameo in Jay Kelly, the new Noah Baumbach movie starring George Clooney and Adam Sandler. He’s a longtime collaborator of Baumbach’s: He and Britta Phillips (as Dean & Britta) scored The Squid and the Whale, Luna contributed music to Mr. Jealousy, and Dean and Britta composed some music for Frances Ha. Noah Baumbach if you want to come do the Galaxie 500 Bandsplain episode you are welcome anytime.

• Lastly on the music in films front, and maybe my favorite so far, is the use of Italian rapper Guè’s song “Le bimbe piangono” in the new Paolo Sorrentino film La Grazia. The song name checks Sorrentino himself (“Sorrentino non avrebbe fatto un ciak migliore” which translates to “Sorrentino couldn't have made a better take”) and basically appears as a sort of characterizing mechanism in the film, in a truly delightful way (Guè himself also makes an amusing cameo). There are also these incredible bursts of crunchy electronic music that did a lot for me. I really loved this film!

• Another crushed single came out. It’s called “oneshot” and to no one’s surprise I think it’s fantastic. I love this band! They make music for walking around a strange city with headphones in your ears and a cocktail of melancholy and hope in your heart.

• Barry from Joyce Manor posted this photo with MJ Lenderman at Canela Party festival and I found it very moving? Dudes rock (these ones anyway).

• I like this band Joyer that I discovered this week by randomly clicking into one of the hundreds of unopened PR emails in my inbox. (I hate email - I once saw an interview with Bill Clinton where he said he doesn’t use it at all and I think it’s the most jealous I’ve ever been of any one person in my life). Their latest single is called “Spell” (the one before,“Cure”, is good too). I don’t need to describe it to you because you have ears and free will but it is in fact indie rock (I am who I am). I will say they have that great brothers singing together thing where the harmonies are really pleasing to the ear. God really snapped when he did that sibling sound trick (see: The Beach Boys, The Everly Brothers, HAIM, The Kinks etc).

• Hayley Williams’ new album Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party is now available on streaming services. It’s very, very good. She has a real gift for transmuting all her grief and anxiety and anger and insecurity into something buoyant, tender, and beautiful.

• I really enjoyed this profile of the writer Patricia Lockwood. I’ve always admired her brilliance and her arch sense of whimsy (borders on quirky but is saved by its sharpness), and this profile only made me like her more. Really excited to read her new book.

• AARP Magazine asked me to recommend newer artists to their readers who are fans of 90s alt rock female songwriters (I am shuffling very slowly off to pasture babe). I will admit that this line from the intro - “Our musical tastes lock in during adolescence, start to decline in our 20s and begin their long nap somewhere around age 33” - is very hello and welcome to Bandsplain. I suggested Blondshell, Wednesday, and Soccer Mommy, as well as Mannequin Pussy, though that last part was not included in the article, presumably because of editorial guidelines of the AARP. You’d think since STIs are rapidly on the rise amongst senior citizens they could handle it but alas it seems not. Personally I’m happy for them (the horny AARP members) even if they are dealing with a lot more chlamydia - it really reminds you that life is often a lot longer than you imagine it to be. I hope some of them fuck to “Elderberry Wine.”

As always all the songs mentioned here live in the Fast & Loose playlist.

Til next week xx