The Sound of Silence 🔊
Shuffle Sundays #2 • Jan 10, 2021
Hello and welcome to the second issue of Shuffle Sundays! This week we'll be following the journey of a drummer who is losing his hearing, listen to contemporary Brazilian music, dive into the history of the African-Brazilian people through art, music, politics, and social events, and much more.
My name is Leo Mascaro and you are receiving this email because you signed up for Shuffle Sundays, a weekly curated list of content I thought was worth sharing with more people. If this email was forwarded to you, click here and subscribe!
🎬 • Sound of Metal, by Darius Marder
{something to watch • movie, 120 min}
This is one of those rare films that 120 minutes feels like half an hour and I wanted to see even more of the story and all the complex characters. Sound of Metal follows the journey of Ruben (amazingly performed by Riz Ahmed), a rock drummer that is losing his hearing and needs to juggle in between finding a solution for his problem and learning how to live this new life. I absolutely loved how they use the sounds (or the lack of them) to situate you in the story, a lot of times making you feel as lost and desperate as Ruben. One of the best movies of last year. {available on Amazon Prime}.
🎙 • Jardim Entre os Ouvidos, by Saudade
{something to listen to • album, 26 min}
Saudade—the artistic name of Brazilian musician Saulo von Seehausen—is also known to be one of the most famous Brazilian words that don't really have a translation in other languages. It's a mix of missing, longing, with a touch of nostalgia in the bag. And that's exactly what you'll find at Saudade's debut album "jardim entre os ouvidos", released on November 19th and one of my favorite albums of 2020. It sounds fresh, but at the same time it sounds like a lot of different things we've heard before, and that's a great thing. the album has only 26 minutes, but it's so well executed that it's easy to understand why Saudade chose not to include some of his other previously released singles. By the end of the hearing, my first impression was that I had just sat through a 26-minute long single, instead of an album, and that's not something easy to find nowadays. The artwork, created by Vinicius Tibuna, is also one of the most beautiful I've seen recently. {available on Spotify}
📰 • Lauryn Hill Explains Why She Never Made Another Album After 'The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill'
{something to read • article}
After a successful career with Fugees, Lauryn Hill went solo to release one of the best albums of all time(according to Rolling Stone) and chose to never release another full-length record after that. The reasons remained a mystery to me until I came across this article. {via complex.com}
🎬 • Emicida: AmarElo - It's All For Yesterday
{something to watch • documentary, 90 min}
When I’ve heard that this historic concert was going to be released on Netflix I got super excited with the idea of being able to watch the live version of AmarElo, one of the best albums of 2019, by Emicida. But turns out that little I knew that the experience of learning about the stories behind the songs (and much more) would make the whole experience ten times better! A history of the African-Brazilian people through art, music, politics, and social events. It’s exciting, it’s powerful, it’s sad, it’s shocking, it’s all of that and much more! So important, so necessary, and more current than ever. {available on Netflix}
🕹 • My Friend Pedro
{something to play • video game}
A relatively short but ultra stylized game that will have you totally hooked from the first minute. It's as casual or as difficult as you want, and I love games that let you enjoy at your own pace (or skill level). It's cool, imaginative, often surrealistic, funny, and definitely doesn't take it seriously. The "bullet-time" effect also reminded me of Katana Zero, one of my favorite games of 2019. Just pure fun to play! {available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows}
💽 • Some new music released this past week
{new music releases}
Two new albums that caught my attention by singer-songwriter Passenger and R&B singer Jazmine Sullivan. Also new tracks by rockers Kings of Leon, 100gecs remix of Linkin Park's "One Step Closer", and new singles from Rhye, Normandie, London Grammar, and Brazilian rapper Criolo.
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