Finds Of The Week #4
A list of content I've found while browsing the web, fourth edition
· 9 min read
Well… It’s true that months have passed since the last list of this series, but in my defense, the name of it is “finds of the week.” Nothing says it actually has to be weekly, right? I hope the excuse sticks, thank you.
As always, there’s room for good music, and this time I made sure to include an amazing movie I watched recently that I just couldn’t leave out. More than ever, what I chose reminds me of this series’ main idea: to showcase what can be discovered through the internet, created not just by big creators, and that might not have shown up in your algorithm ruled by social media.
Series
Interface
What’s about: A web animation series with unique style and surreal storytelling.
In the year 1934, an experiment made by the american military leads to a ship disappearing from Philadelphia and reappearing in New York. However, the marines present in that ship come back not the same. Some got meld into the ship shell and one marine transcend its living state. He now not only doesn’t obey to the law of physics as we know, but he also doesn’t depend on the human shape he once used to be more familiar with. From the day of that event, the world would never be the same. New generations, from now on, would experience reality in a different way. Humanity could now see, more explicitly than ever, phenomenons once considered paranormal, and with that, new technology from this new natural source, almost indistinguishable from magic, rises by the powerful Greetings Robotics, selling salvation for governments under this new era of humanity.
The series happens at least 80 years after the military accident, and follows the journey of mischief, that marine who transcended his body in the Philadelphia event, and a man who doesn’t talk, but carries a mysterious past that collides with the life of the marine. Throughout their journey, the series progressively shows what happened at the ship event, what are the objectives of the Greetings Robotics with their most ambitious project, and the past of the mysterious man.
The interface is a web series made by umami, a Canadian artist who not only creates the animation, but also the soundtrack for the episodes. He carries a very distinct style defined by rough 2D digital strokes, mashed with 3D and some record video, all composed in this psychedelic yet melancholic ambiance. His art may feel simple, but it’s effectiveness to bring a story shows how intentional and masterful he is on his own style (which is definitely not an easy one). The magic of his storytelling is held by the unique contemplating scenes he creates. The episodes have few dialogs but what it has, brings depth and reflection not only for the story, but for the messages it tries to convey about our own life. The interface is a story about a being experiencing a forced, broken human transcendence, colliding paths with a man who refuses to die.
This is definitely a series worth checking out. Except for the later episodes of the 21 available, most of them are around 3 minutes and will probably make you want to see more. If you like evangelion, there is a chance you like this series too. It carries many surreal concepts on its display of technology, and also the message inevitably shows that it was all about the human experience, just with some sci-fi tropes.
Boardgame and World building
Trench Crusade
What’s about: A miniature wargame / tabletop game with horror and alternate history elements.
Imagine a world where its history diverges from our own in 1099, around the First Crusade. After capturing Jerusalem, the templars discover a demonic artifact in secret vaults, which corrupts them. They open a gate of hell, unleashing demonic forces. This event becomes known as the First Heresy. Jerusalem is destroyed, and hell bleeds into the mortal realm.
The world is now (in lore terms) in the year 1914, roughly 800 years after that cataclysm. The Middle East, parts of North Africa, Anatolia, Arabia, etc., have fallen to demonic forces or are contested. Terrain is dominated by war-torn regions: trenches, no man’s land, constant conflict. Imagine Warhammer 40k, with a gothic body horror uniqueness. There is a perpetual war between the Faithful (human factions from different religious/faith traditions, creations of humans etc.) and the Heretics / demons / corrupted. The corruption permeates many levels: physically, spiritually, culturally.
The author of this universe, Mike Franchina, who also worked on projects for Warhammer 40k, Path of Exile, Diablo IV and MTG, experiments on concepts that not only shocks you visually but conceptually. It’s not just a war with guns, but a WWI-styled trenches where you face the supernatural, the occult. The tone is grimdark, horrific, with strong religious horror / theological corruption elements. Think grotesque body horror, fanatical orders, martyrdom, prophecies, etc.
Moral ambiguity pops in each concept art you see. Even the “Faithful” have fanatic extremes; There are heretics who aren’t just “evil” but complex. Brute guns, painful modifications and dark rituals remind you that in this world, war is the reality and its laws are built on survival through violence, no matter what side you’re on.
And I’m not even suggesting you to play the game. I haven’t played it. The project is already worth by the concept art and world building itself, and story of its universe is being written by the creators right now.
References: Wargamer, Trench Crusade
Music
Book Club Radio
What’s about: a local collective in NY making music events and broadcasting on the web their unique manifesto.
A group chat of five friends who every weekend would meet together decides to record their sets just like they would see their favorite channels on YouTube. Their videos brought so much public to the channel that the project grew up to be an event collective making intimate parties with themes, well curated setlists to match it, and most of all, a manifesto to stablish how this local collective can exist and grow healthy, having the care to nourish the rave culture while bringing new people to the parties.
- Come for the music
- Be open to unfamiliar music and sounds
- Respect one another
- Face each other instead of the DJ
- No phones allowed on the dancefloor
- Dress to express yourself
- Dance your heart out
Their YouTube channel is filled with different themes and music styles from Y2K trance, 2010s EDM, to latino beats and goth hard techno. It might be a matter of time for you to play one of their videos, and eventually (and for you, right now) know all the other wildly different sets they play.
References: edm.com
Dengue Dengue Dengue
What’s about: a artist duo of electronic music from Peru;
This duo initially caught my attention by the big masks displayed on thumbnails of their live performances. It didn’t require much to stay for the music I started to listen to. Dengue Dengue Dengue is composed by the Lima-born musicians and designers Rafael Pereira and Felipe Salmon, and what they’re doing is exploring how latin and afro-peruvian rhythms can inspire the electronic means of psychedelic music.
Wearing livid masks during performances and taking as much visual care as their music, this duo brings thick deep beats carried by percussions rooted from amazonian cumbia music. Also known as psychedelic cumbia, this subgenre is born in Peru around the 60s. It varies from the Colombian cumbia as it uses electric guitar instead of acoustic guitar and accordion, influence of the country living an era of rock production during the 60s and 70s. Dengue Dengue Dengue is an authentic presence on the electronic scene and it’s defining their own style that some even start to call future cumbia.
Movie
Milk & Serial
What’s about: a found footage horror movie that you can watch right now on YouTube
Milk & Serial is a film about two influencers, Seven and Milk, who run a prank channel. The story starts with Seven planning with his crew a prank for Milk’s birthday. A prank of very bad taste that sets the tone on how unhealthy their dynamic is for the sake of online content. After that prank, weird events happen and you lose reference on what events of life are worth Milk’s worry, or they’re just a prank. A creepy neighbor knocks their door complaining about the noise of the party, gets inside the house with no permission and yet, Milk can’t take it seriously while every other one in the room is frightened.
The movie is extremely smart on using the channel narrative to fit the found footage subgenre, always leaving a critic to the influencer lifestyle every time it makes us aware of the camera by the character asking “Are you recording?”, “why are you recording?”, giving a bad taste in your mouth when wondering if you can trust any of your partners who eventually exploit your trust for a viral content.
The movie is directed and produced by Curry Barker, who also play as Milk. He and Cooper Tomlinson run “that’s a bad idea”, a comedy skit channel on YouTube that’s also where the movie is. If you give a try on their skits, it gets clear how their storytelling is good on giving an unsettling felling to their jokes, and a comedic style to theirs horror films. The movie has much more than what I summarized. And it is so well-rounded on telling the story that I would consider one of the best found footages around, as it’s so dynamic to change points of view and yet, being coherent to the found footage nature, something I feel it’s not easily seen on other movies of the genre, so expect to even be surprised, or should I say, pranked? HAAA