Done your VRC activity?Ace one. Now it’s time to relax and get your cultural fix with our selection of the best stuff out there for your eyes, ears and hearts…
Podcast: Sweet Bobby
Remember how good Serial was? Remember how it kept you hooked, and kept you talking, more than any other podcast before or possibly since? (Sidenote: If you haven’t done Serial yet, go ahead and give it one episode now. We’ll see you back here when you’ve finished binging the whole thing.)
Sweet Bobby is the most compulsive True Crime podcast since Serial, and we’re saying you need to download it before someone spoils it for you. Creator and narrator Alexi Mostrous describes the series as ‘a love story’, albeit one filled with ‘death, lies and witness protection programmes.’ It’s all that and more.
Mostrous is definitely right that his seven-part tale is about love - the kind of messy, potentially traumatic love you can leave yourself open to when you fall for someone you haven’t met in real life. Especially if you never meet them in real life.
That’s what happens to the show’s protagonist, radio presenter Kirat Assi. Kirat gets chatting to a nice young man – a man she thinks she kind of knows – while browsing social media. This man, the Sweet Bobby of the title, seems like the kind of person she’s been looking for. Slowly, Kirat and Bobby become closer and closer, and that’s when Kirat finds herself in the middle of a scam that will leave you asking how well you can ever truly know the ones you love.
To say anything else would ruin your enjoyment. The beauty of Sweet Bobby is in following the show’s bizarre, unsettling journey while knowing as little as possible about where it’s headed. Importantly, Mostrous is in that position too; the series unfolds around him as what initially appears to be a fairly simple cyber-crime case gradually becomes anything but.
The thing Sweet Bobby really shares with Serial is the way it makes you care about the people involved as you learn more about their lives. Plus, it drip-reveals information in tantalising chunks that will have you mouthing those four gorgeous words that tell you you’re into something good: Just one more episode…
We really can’t tell you any more about Sweet Bobby. You wouldn’t want us to. The full series is online now – see you on the other side…
Sweet Bobby is available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts now.
Book: How To Write One Song by Jeff Tweedy
You may be a fan of Jeff Tweedy’s constantly-evolving Americana/Country band Wilco. You may be a trainee-songwriter looking for a How-To guide to get things going in the right (write) direction. You may be neither of these things. But, whoever you are, you should definitely read How To Write One Song.
During the (only-just) 150 pages of HTWOS, Tweedy offers a guide to and celebration of the act of creativity, to the joy of making something appear that wasn’t there before. As the title would suggest, Tweedy’s career has mainly been about making songs appear. He’s written loads of them – Wilco have released twelve albums including this year’s Cruel Country – so he probably knows what he’s talking about in terms of music and lyrics. But even if you’ve no desire to pick up a guitar or microphone any time soon, you’ll still find plenty to inspire you here.
For Tweedy, creating is all about disappearing; living inside a moment where you aren’t trying to do or be anything anymore. Where you can ‘spend time in a place where you just are. It’s a very ERC-friendly philosophy, and it’s one you can apply to whatever it is you want to do more of – art, cookery, crafting, gardening, maybe even running.
In an easy-to-read, accessible style that reads like a chat you’re having with a clever mate, Tweedy tells you how to remove self-doubt and other obstacles so you can make time for a little bit of what you fancy. When you’ve made that time, the book offers tips on how to make it work for you, with easy creative exercises designed to free your mind so cool things will follow. One of the songwriting tricks Tweedy uses – recording a conversation with a friend then playing it back to turn the juiciest bits into lyrics – is so simple-but-effective you’ll wonder why he’s sharing it. Does he want us all to be pop stars? you’ll ask.
He probably doesn’t. But what he does want is for us all to get back to being kids, to when we laid on the floor and simply drew a picture. “And you lost yourself in that drawing.” Tweedy says. “And in the end, you absolutely loved that drawing because you made it yourself.”
Maybe, with Tweedy’s help, we can all get back on the floor and start loving our creativity again. What you create is up to you (like we’ve always said, you can do anything as long as you do something) but your path to creating it may run a little smoother if you start with How To Write One Song.
How To Write One Song is published by Faber & Faber.
Music: Rachel Chinouriri - Better Off Without EP
Rachel Chinouriri describes her inspirations as “indie, early 00s pop and African a cappella.” You’ll hear a bit of all three on Better Off Without, the South London singer’s second EP.
It’s a record to get you ready for summer, but also one to listen to at the end of August if your holiday romance doesn’t work out as planned. Chinouriri’s lush hooks and poppy beats are hiding some pretty relatable tales of heartbreak and loss, but there’s often real beauty in the sadness. For example, the first words you hear on the EP go like this: “Somewhere beneath the surface/I wanna find out if you’re the problem or the purpose.”
Those lyrics may well remind you of ERC’s musical obsession from last month, The Weeknd, and All I Ever Asked, the EP’s lead track, suggests that Chinouriri may have the tunes to offer Toronto’s finest some serious competition in the sad-banger stakes.
But that’s not the genre she’s aiming to conquer: “Black girls can make indie music too” reads the Pinned Tweet on Chinouriri’s Twitter feed. She loves Coldplay, and has a similar way with a melody that could one day lead her into playing the same arenas as Chris Martin and the other three.
So why not check out Chinouriri before she becomes huge? See you back here when her debut album drops.
BETTER OFF WITHOUT is in record stores and on streaming services now.
Book: The KLF: Magic, Chaos and the Band Who Burned a Million Pounds by John Higgs
Harry Styles is a great pop star, and he has very good hair. But can you ever imagine him firing a machine gun into an audience of music-biz millionaires at the Brit Awards? Or flying a load of journalists to a remote island to pray to a wicker man? Or burning a million quid?
Those are all things the KLF did during their very brief stint as the most exciting band in Britain. They also managed to sell over a million albums, and most of their tracks still stand up pretty well.
But it’s the burning of a million pounds that people tend to focus on, perhaps understandably. Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty, the two maverick geniuses behind the band, really did set fire to piles and piles of cold hard cash in what was billed as a ‘performance art action’. It was either the ultimate grand artistic statement or a foolish mistake of epic proportions, depending on your point of view. Actually, it’s possible it was both things at the same time.
And Drummond and Cauty have never been able to explain why they did it. In his enthralling book about the music world’s most famous agents of chaos, John Higgs tries to figure it all out. His journey takes him across the world, and includes lessons on conspiracy theory, art history, magical thinking and what to do if you get sued by ABBA.
That sounds like a lot, but we promise you it’s worth the journey. At its heart, this is a story about two men who just decided to do what they wanted, and didn’t let anyone stop them. To be fair, now you need to have sold a million albums to be able to afford a tank of petrol, the KLF probably wish someone had stopped them burning all that money. But still, the message is one worth thinking about. As Drummond himself says, “If you want to do something, don’t wait for permission. Just go ahead and do it.”
The KLF: Chaos, Magic and the Band Who Burned a Million Pounds is available in book shops now.
Book: Rules for Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson
Sometimes, a Wednesday night feels right for a little beach-reading, doesn’t it? Even if you’re not actually on a beach, you want to unwind with the kind of book you’d pack in your suitcase if you were headed somewhere sandy. You want to relax.
And what could be more relaxing than a series of grisly murders? Peter Swanson’s Rules for Perfect Murders brings you quite a few of them, as bookshop owner Malcolm Kershaw finds someone may be re-enacting his list of the eight best killings in crime fiction in real life.
This is clever, fast-paced stuff. Swanson’s writing is full of realistic characters and the kind of suspense that’ll see you race through the pages like you’re running towards a hotel buffet. Our advice? Don’t try and figure out whodunnit. Instead, just lose yourself in the atmosphere of a Boston bookstore and the bad things that happen to the people who work there. Like Harlan Coben, Swanson is brilliant at capturing the feel of a place, so if you’re staying home this summer, pick up Rules for Perfect Murders and let it transport you far away. And scare you with all those murders. It’s a mixed bag.
We’ll finish the review with the novel’s first line: “The front door opened, and I heard the stamp of the FBI agent’s feet on the doormat.” Rules for Perfect Murders doesn’t let up from this moment on. Whatever the weather, it’s time to get your beach-read on.
Rules for Perfect Murders is available in book shops now, including the ones in Boston. Probably
TV SHOW: TED LASSO
Here’s the thing with Ted Lasso: it’s less a TV show, more a guide to How To Live Well. How do you live well? The answer, it seems, is to Be More Lasso.
Your TV Guide will tell you Ted Lasso is about an American sports coach with an ‘interesting’ moustache who’s hired by Premier League Richmond FC to help them avoid relegation. So it’s a show about football, then?
Except, it’s not really a show about football at all. Ted Lasso is really a show about human beings, in all their dysfunctional, traumatised glory. It’s a show about what happens when those human beings find each other and find themselves, as well as finding ways to cope with the fast pitches and curveballs life can throw at us all sometimes. I know we’re mixing sports references here, but remember, this isn’t really a show about sports.
It is, however, a show that gets the sports stuff right. Ted Lasso doesn’t skimp on football action, and that action feels real, a rare feat for on-screen soccer. And you get to see the things you suspect would really happen in the day-to-day running of a Premier League club – sponsorship deals, media briefings, the massaging of egos. The more you see, the more you fall for the team. By the end of the season, you’ll be cheering for Richmond to win.
You’ll definitely be cheering for Roy Kent. Replace that surname with ‘Keane’ and you have Roy’s closest real-life counterpart. He’s a tough-talking, even tougher-tackling veteran who, at first, frowns and growls rather than talk or, God forbid, express an emotion. Gradually, though, Roy’s character arc sends him from journeyman cliché to three-dimensional actual person whose happiness genuinely matters to you, showing just how good Ted Lasso’s writing team really is.
You’ll be crushing on Roy Kent pretty quickly, but here’s the really good news: the show’s got a whole squad full of proper characters you’ll fall in love with too. And, just to warn you, you will fall hard for Ted himself. Let Ted in, and let his kindness guide you forward to the point where a handwritten sign – simply the word BELIEVE on yellow notebook paper – will mean as much to you as Ross and Rachel getting together, or finding out who H was.
So it’s time to become a fan. Time to Be More Lasso. Time to, in the words of the great man himself, “Be curious, not judgemental.”
Time to BELIEVE.
Ted Lasso is streaming on AppleTV now.
FILM: TURNING RED
Remember how it felt when you were growing up? Remember the dodgy fashion choices? Remember the ‘unusual’ haircuts? Remember turning into a giant red panda whenever you got overemotional?
OK, maybe not that last one. But I’m pretty sure that at some point you felt like you stuck out, didn’t fit, looked weird. Because we all felt that way. Some of us still do. And those feelings are at the heart of Turning Red, the latest slice of animated goodness from the folks over at Pixar.
Thirteen year old Meilin just wants to fit in, and she wants to go to concerts with her friends. She feels like both dreams may be just out of reach. And then, to complicate things even further, Meilin begins turning into…you guessed it, a giant red panda.
Turning Red follows on from the equally marvellous Encanto in showing Disney’s commitment to representation; to heroines who don’t look like your stereotypical princess, who wear glasses (Encanto’s Mirabel was the first ever bespectacled Disney protagonist, Meilin is the second) and who even (whisper it) get their period.
I know, it isn’t really that big a deal. But it also kind of is. To see Disney - a company once so scared of the human body they installed guidelines on beard-length for all male employees at their theme parks - embracing the realities of puberty is, in its own way, revolutionary. And just think what it all means to the kids encountering their own personal red pandas for the first time, struggling with the kind of emotional and physical changes that Meilin goes through. This will be their film.
You’ll be glad to know that Turning Red gets all the more traditional Disney stuff right too, especially (again, like Encanto) the music. 4*Town, the boy band Meilin and her friends are obsessed with, perform songs written by Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas, and they’re every bit as catchy as you’d imagine.
More than anything, Turning Red is a film about being yourself. It’s about finding your team, that gang of mates that allow you – no, encourage you – to be yourself, and love you for it. It’s about celebrating that love. It’s a film for anyone who is, will be or has ever been a teenager. Or a giant red panda. Or both.
Turning Red is streaming on DisneyPlus now.
FILM: PREY
People will tell you this is a Predator movie that doesn’t need the Predator. That the story of Naru, a young Native American girl desperate to prove herself to the male elders in her tribe, is strong enough to carry the movie on its own without the need to bring in the expert hunter that first gave Schwarzenegger hassle back in 1987.
The truth is that Prey needs the Predator like Jaws needs the shark. In the same way that you’d watch Brody, Hooper and Quint chat and sing on the Orca for two hours, you’d happily enjoy Naru competing against her brothers and other toxic boys for the same amount of time. But when you’ve got a compelling baddie with a great look, why not chuck them in the mix too?
Toxic boys, Prey suggests, were pretty much the same in the 1700s as they are today, and it’s great to see a female protagonist showing them up in this, the latest entry in a film series that’s long been dominated by sweaty fellas calling themselves a “goddamn sexual Tyrannosaurus”…whatever that means. Naru doesn’t compare herself to any dinosaurs; in fact she doesn’t say much at all, letting her movements and expressive eyes do the talking. As a character, she’s never less than captivating, and that’s largely due to the acting chops of Amber Midthunder, who – on this evidence – needs an action franchise built around her, and soon.
Midthunder plays Naru as Prey’s version of Chief Brody from Jaws – the character that was right about the threat all along and, ultimately, the only character that can go one-on-one with the enemy. There are many other nods to Spielberg’s masterpiece along the way, not least in the way that Dan Trachtenberg’s direction keeps the monster as hidden as possible for as long as possible. This builds suspense superbly and, in doing so, makes the Predator a boss-level bad guy again. Prey renews the fear we need to feel for a character that’s got a little lost in all those shoddy sequels.
By the time the credits roll you’re left feeling very pleasantly surprised, and wondering if they can keep this going in more Predator-in-history movies. Maybe a sequel in World War One, with soldiers being stalked by a Predator in the trenches? Or how about Samurai Predator? The possibilities are endless.
Overall, Prey feels like the second best Predator movie. But, to be honest, it’s pretty damn close.
Prey is streaming on DisneyPlus now.
TV SHOW: ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING
You know that game where you pick the famous people you’d invite to a dinner party? Watch Only Murders in the Building and tell me your choices aren’t Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez. The trio are such marvellous company you’ll want to binge every episode, then invite them all round for tea and a game of Uno.
Actually, you’ll definitely want to go round to their place. Martin, Short and Gomez play Charles, Oliver and Mabel, who all live in the Arconia apartment block in New York City – a huge, gorgeous complex that’s the ‘Building’ of the title. You know, where the ‘Murders’ happen.
Those murders bring the trio together to record a true-crime podcast discussing the dangers lurking behind that beautiful brick façade. In doing so, they form a friendship that’s touching, funny and real. With no wasted time and only the very finest dialogue, Only Murders races through a whole lot of story in the two seasons currently streaming on Disney+. Much of it feels like that warm hug you’ve been needing, but the show doesn’t shy away from meatier issues either. There’s plenty on the dangers of social media, and the moral quandaries of creating entertainment off the back of a serious crime. And there’s a great episode about a hearing–impaired character that goes out of its way to put the audience in that character’s position. Because Only Murders is a show about empathy. It’s a show about the importance of the relationships we form with those we end up living next to, or working with.
Sure, some of those people might end up being murderers, and the show still works perfectly if you just enjoy it as a compelling whodunnit. But it’s the people you’ll keep tuning in for. And when those people are Martin, Short and Gomez, did you ever expect anything else?
