TGIF&L: I curated a collection for the Criterion Channel
Plus new Hayley Williams, new crushed, Addison Rae went on a date, and Billy Corgs went shopping
Happy Friday. Yes that’s right, it did not occur to me until today that the name of this weekly round up should be TGIF&L, thank you for asking. My mind is not a branding one, nor is it a writer’s mind, but perhaps some secret third thing (I heard my work described recently as “surreally fetishistic”).
Speaking of my own fetishes…
In my ongoing pursuit to upset the film bro community (hoes mad), I am pleased to announce I have curated a collection for The Criterion Channel, of 90s movies with great soundtracks. The trailer for this is very fun in my opinion. My greatest sadness was that it was not possible to include Romeo + Juliet (amongst a few others). My greatest joy is that I got Judgment Night onto the Criterion Channel for a brief shimmering moment. I’m sorry about Angus. I hope people continue to yell at me about what they think I left out well into 2026.
Also Fast & Loose readers can get 15% off a new annual subscription to the Criterion Channel with the code SAYYES or directly through this link. I also may be presenting a screening of one of the films in London this month even though the channel is not available in the UK (sorry! I know you guys fuck with VPN though). If I do, I’ll bring some Criterion gift bags and figure out some sort of contest or potato sack race or pub scavenger hunt or something.
What else?
The gorgeous and brilliant and hilarious Miranda Sawyer has launched a brand new podcast called “Talk ‘90s To Me.” The tagline: Diving deep into a wild decade of chaos, creativity and hedonism – from Oasis to ‘Friends’, from grunge to girl power, from Kate Moss to alcopops to ‘Trainspotting’ and beyond. Join award-winning Observer journalist and Smash Hits graduate Miranda Sawyer as she meets the people who were really there for the decade of Cool Britannia, Cantona and the Chemical Generation. Obviously I am in (and maybe on, you’ll have to keep listening to find out).
In other podcast news, a show I deeply love, Lena Dunham and Alissa Bennett’s ‘The C-Word’ Podcast has been acquired by Audacy which is good for them but also great for us because it means every episode will be re-released for free, one at a time, each week. The first three are up now on Spotify. My favorite is the two part Lil Kim episode but honestly they’re all fab. I deeply admire Alissa Bennett’s creative mind and cultural lens and despite not having watched Girls (I know! I know) I’m a longtime Lena Dunham fan. I love her essays.
On Monday Hayley Williams surprise dropped 17 songs on her charmingly retro looking personal website that I believe nobody knew existed until that day, requiring a code that could only be procured via purchasing a limited edition hair dye called “Ego” from her company Good Dye Young. Pretty brilliant cross-promo (she clearly has a better branding mind than me). I was traveling so I didn’t get a chance to hear them and as of today the songs are gone and the website just reads “thank you for listening.” I did however see multiple 17-25 post long threads on x dot com breaking down the meaning of each song and I’m not saying that’s why they’re gone but I’m also not NOT saying that (more likely something legal to do with a label if I had to guess).
You can hear one of the songs, “Mirtzapine,” which Hayley debuted at Newport Folk Fest with the band Bleachers, HERE. I love it. I don’t know if it’s jangle pop because of the set up of the instrumentation at this particular fest or if that’s the intended sound, but I hope it’s the latter because it’s giving that bittersweet subject vs sound twist I enjoy so much. (Mirtzapine is the name of an antidepressant). I also really liked the two solo albums Hayley put out before this, particularly 2020’s Petals For Armor. I hope she does more. These new songs have been archived in various places on the world wide web but out of respect I will not link them here. I believe in your abilities though.
I wrote the two paragraphs above earlier this week and I am too lazy to rewrite them but as of today another one of the songs, “Disappearing Man”, is on streaming. “My final act of love was surrender” is a really fucking good lyric.
Addison Rae and 20 year old musician Sombr (aka Shane Michael Boose, we talked about him on here a few letters ago, good songs!) were spotted on what appears to be a date. From the photo I can tell they were at Laurel Canyon restaurant Pace. One of my favorite places to eat in LA - sit at the bar and order a glass of wine and the shrimp in white bean tomato stew appetizer with a side of bread and olives, it’s perfect. I love her little outfit, especially the flirty peep toe moment. Anyway it’s a slow summer for gossip so I will happily take this - it’s much better than Katy Perry eating lobster with Justin Trudeau (though this is potentially some sort of galaxy brain act of war on Canada?).
crushed put out a new song and surprise, surprise, bitch, it’s really good. Bre Morell has an untouchable voice but I like when Shaun Durkan sings too; there’s something uniquely haunted about this melody paired with his vocals. I love a male female duo where both of them sing, it’s so charmingly retro in the coolest way.
And last but not least, Billy Corgan went to the Margiela store in Milan. Ciao!
Be sure to check out the Fast&Loose playlist.
xx
Hayley and Bleachers also covered Modern English at Newport https://youtu.be/fjcfWI8Q15M?si=BPUKzQhWLgOQjBUW
Listening to Talk 90s to Me now, thanks for the rec!