Where Do I Begin?
Woozy Belgian jazz fusion, the ancient origins of a hit video game, and what I've been reading online this week.
Welcome to the inaugural edition of Attenuator, my tiny corner of the internet where all the images and links should be operational (just don’t touch that API). If you’ve found this in your inbox without any warning, I’m sorry. I hope you’ll stick around to read this week’s issue and have a look at what’s in store. And if you’re not already subscribed, please hit that button!
Cued Up: Bandler Ching - Coaxial
When I come across a band name like “Bandler Ching” while scrolling through new releases, I try to temper my internal eye-rolling and feel some sympathy for young musicians that are just trying to find an attention-grabbing, not-already-used moniker for their group. There’s a finite number of great band names in existence, and I can almost understand the urge to simply swap some of the letters in the name of a ‘90s sitcom character and run with it.
Far from being a Rembrandts tribute act, Brussels quartet Bandler Ching wrap the expressive melodies of saxophonist Ambroos De Schepper around swelling synths and taut, hip-hop-inflected rhythms. Much of the group’s debut album, Coaxial, falls somewhere between the atmospheric jazz fusion of The Comet is Coming and the genre-fluid electronica of fellow Belgian acts like BeraadGeslagen and ECHT! (whose bassist, Federico Pecoraro, is also a member Bandler Ching). The record also reminds me of Tortoise’s Standards, an album that found the Chicago ensemble embracing synths and taking its instrumental compositions in unexpected directions, like the space-age R&B of “Monica.”
There’s a similarly restless energy present in Coaxial, a record that rarely settles into a single groove across its runtime. Shifting from the spacious sax balladry of “Dag na Naamdag” to the undulating dance beat of “Smooch,” Bandler Ching’s brand of jazz fusion gleefully sends musical ideas and styles crashing into one another, sometimes in the span of a single track. That dynamic spirit is what makes Coaxial one of my favorite records I’ve heard in 2023, thus far — and a great point of entry to the thriving Belgian contemporary jazz scene (including labels like Sdban and W.E.R.F.) that this group grew out of.
Derivative Delivery
I rolled credits on Hideo Kojima’s immortal mailman simulator Death Stranding a couple of months ago and I still find myself pondering the meaning behind its convoluted-yet-captivating plot. If you asked me to explain the video game’s narrative to you, I’d probably start yammering about a networked afterlife, black goo, Egyptian iconography, high-tech handcuffs, and a baby trapped in a sci-fi fish bowl. Kojima’s games are infamously exposition-heavy and the hours of cinematics (rife with uncanny digital renderings of Norman Reedus and Léa Seydoux) are packed with concepts and details that I think I may have only grasped while in the flow state of playing the game.
But someone was able to connect the dots and uncover the unacknowledged inspiration behind the story the game tells — nearly three years after its release in 2019. In a recent Kotaku article, author John Kloosterman lays out a convincing case that Death Stranding is a mechanical exoskeleton-clad retelling of the ancient Japanese legend of Queen Himiko. You can read all about the very specific parallels between the two tales in Kloosterman’s piece (and an earlier blog post covering the same topic), but I was particularly tickled by the fact that Kojima included exactly 29 unaffiliated post-apocalyptic shelters in Death Stranding, corresponding to the 29 Japanese communities that Himiko purportedly united to form her kingdom circa ~200 AD.
As far as I can tell, notorious screenshot retweeter Kojima hasn’t yet acknowledged (let alone confirmed) this reading of Death Stranding. He’s been too busy asking Optimus Prime to transform and listening to Måneskin. It’s also possible that he’s just trying to avoid spreading potential spoilers for the game’s forthcoming sequel, which Kloosterman has some theories about, based on the fate of Queen Himiko.
After reading Kloosterman’s piece, I was reminded that Kojima isn’t the only acclaimed director to transpose a tale of ancient Japanese warriors and royalty to a decidedly futuristic setting. George Lucas essentially adapted Akira Kurosawa’s 1958 Japanese epic The Hidden Fortress in his original Star Wars script, switching out samurai swords for lightsabers and peasants for droids. Lucas has openly acknowledged the huge influence that Kurosawa’s film had on his work — according to Michael Kaminski’s book The Secret History of Star Wars, Lucas even pondered purchasing the rights to The Hidden Fortress while writing drafts of the Star Wars screenplay (he eventually assuaged his guilty conscience by co-producing Kurosawa’s 1980 film Kagemusha).
Fortunately for Kojima, ancient Japanese legends are firmly in the public domain and just waiting for someone to retrofit them with unexpected details, like grenades made with urine and feces.
A Fist Full of Links
On Bandcamp Daily, George Grella profiled Ohio musician Brian Harnetty, who combines archival recordings and contemporary composition in mesmerizing ways. Hearing Harnetty’s work as a teenager shifted my perception of what music can communicate. His entire catalogue is worth a listen.
For Polygon, Joshua Rivera examined the latest season of The Mandalorian, which has seemingly devolved into a show about a devout cultist atoning for sins that can only be explained by digging through pages of dense Star Wars lore. We really were spoiled by Andor, a show created by a guy who wasn’t a fan of Star Wars.
My friend Leor Galil wrote the cover story for this week’s Chicago Reader, examining the increasingly tenuous state of life as a touring musician through the experiences of several Chicago bands and artists.
Pitchfork staffer Marc Hogan presented a pretty thorough list of ways to fix concert ticketing and prevent future debacles on the level of Ticketmaster’s Taylor Swift presale meltdown — or even the hefty fees that were stacked on top of relatively cheap tickets to The Cure’s upcoming tour.
In a world of heroes with names like John Wick, James Bond, and Jack Ryan, Demetria Glace attempted to figure out why so many action movie / TV show protagonists happen to have names that begin with “J” in a piece for Slate.
Yours truly made some Lollapalooza lineup predictions for Time Out Chicago. As has been the case in recent years, you can expect to find lots of pop stars atop the 2023 bill when it’s officially announced on March 21.
That’s all for now. Thanks so much for reading the very first issue of Attenuator — I’ll be back next week with more. If you know of someone else who might enjoy this newsletter, please share it with them!