Latest news with #HighFidelity
Wall Street Journal
01-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Wall Street Journal
‘Gustav Mahler' Review: The Music of Angst and Beauty
Leonard Bernstein wrote an influential article for the magazine High Fidelity in 1967 titled 'Mahler: His Time Has Come,' which he later revised and published in his collection 'Findings' (1982). It has more than a dollop of silliness: Bernstein invokes 'the Tweedledum armaments race,' 'the plague of McCarthyism,' 'the Hiss-Chambers travesty' and other banalities, all leading to the proclamation: 'Only after all this can we finally listen to Mahler's music and understand that it foretold all.' This invites parody—did it also foretell the Hartford Circus Fire? But, as is so often the case with Bernstein, underneath the grandiloquence he was on to something important. For several decades after Mahler's death in 1911, he was championed by a cluster of distinguished conductors (Bruno Walter, Leopold Stokowski, Alban Berg and Arnold Schoenberg, among others) but remained largely unappreciated by the public. Then in the middle of the 20th century, Mahler suddenly achieved broad popularity across the world of classical music. Perhaps the frenzied emotional turmoil of the 1960s, or the gradual improvement in stereo technology that could accommodate his huge soundscapes, played a part in this. But Bernstein himself did more for Mahler than anybody had before—including making the first complete recorded set of his symphonies and offering brilliant exegeses on the man and his work for the televised 'Young People's Concerts' on CBS. Suddenly Mahler's music sold out programs not only in New York, Vienna and London but in sophisticated concert series in cities and college towns throughout the world. There have been more than 100 books about Mahler, ranging from 'The Mahler Album' (1995), a handsome collection of every photograph of the composer known to exist, to the encyclopedic multivolume biography by the musicologist Henry-Louis de La Grange (3,600 pages in the original French, published from 1979 to 1984, then trimmed a bit for translation). We now have another, in the form of Stephen Downes's 'Gustav Mahler.' Do we need it?
Graziadaily
31-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Graziadaily
25 Years Since High Fidelity, It's Time To Reevaluate The 'Rob' Dating Cliché
They're men who talk over you during the music round in a pub quiz. Who scoff if you're not well versed in the historic feud between Nas and Jay-Z. The types who can sing the words to 'This Charming Man' by The Smiths and 'Death Kink' by Fontaines DC without a karaoke machine but can't remember your friends' names. All tireless iterations of Rob from High Fidelity, Nick Hornby's seminal novel which was published 30 years ago and adapted for film in 2000. After reading the book for the first time earlier this year, I was struck, nay floored, by Rob both as a character and a product of the male psyche. Rob is of the 'victim of the universe' disposition. A music obsessive running his own record store, Rob is distinctly unsatisfied with his lot in life. After being dumped by yet another girlfriend, the one he lived with who his mother would have loved to see him marry, Rob decides to visit the ghosts of girlfriends past to work out what he's getting wrong. The trouble is Rob continuously fails to understand his part. Even when he admits to cheating on his girlfriend while she was pregnant and then not supporting her through her subsequent abortion, he's got a justification stowed safely up his sleeve. John Cusack Stars in High Fidelity. (Photo By Getty Images) In Rob's attempt to sift through his past loves, he exposes his thinking to the reader and/ or audience. We hear of girlfriends who he never took seriously because they weren't impressive or good looking enough. We hear of girlfriends who were too frigid in high school. We even hear of a girlfriend who was so out of his league that he dumped her to beat her to the chase. 'What am I gonna do now?' Rob, played by John Cusack in the film, asks. 'Just keep jumping from rock to rock for the rest of my life?' He is exactly the type of man waiting on a manic, pixie dream girl to show up at his record store wanting daily sex and no commitment with just enough music knowledge to keep up with him, but not enough to make him feel emasculated. What seems glaringly obvious when reading or watching High Fidelity through a modern lens is the correlation between Rob's encyclopaedic obsession with music and his complete inability to express his emotions and form healthy, lasting relationships. Perhaps if he spent a little less time organising his record collection and a little more refining his communication skills, he would find a suitable rock on which to settle, or even a human being to jump from rock to rock with. This is perhaps one of the many reasons Disney+ and Hulu launched a feminist High Fidelity remake in 2020 where Zoe Kravitz, whose mother Lisa Bonet was in the original film, reimagines the main character as Robyn. The show was cancelled after one season. I wondered, 30 and 25 years after the book and film came out respectively, have things really changed? Do '90s nightmares like Rob still walk amongst us? And are the female versions as omnipresent? 'Whenever I tried to get my ex-boyfriend to talk about his feelings he would say, 'I'm not as complicated as you think I am,'' explains Ellie*. 'That was a hill he was willing to die on, but he was SO passionate about music. Hip Hop in particular – really confessional, emotionally charged rap was all he'd listen to. Which was funny because he went to public school.' Anna* had a similar experience. 'I was dating someone once and we'd go to gigs and stuff and he wouldn't ever give his emotions away. Like, he would look bored and miserable and stand in the corner of the venue but afterwards say he loved it.' While Emma* claims she dated someone who 'could only express himself through writing music rather than listening to it', but lo and behold, could never express himself with her. As in High Fidelity, this behaviour might manifest itself through the romantic play of recommending an album or song or creating a playlist for the person they're dating. 'There's something emotionally stirring about a well written song that would be difficult to convey with words alone,' offers Rose*. 'I think many guys realise this. It's harder to convey exactly what you feel by simply stating it.' Bobbie* agrees. He weighed in to say expressing yourself through music 'takes the pressure off', especially for men who find 'expressing their feelings verbally difficult'. 'It could also be that he is simply trying to seduce you,' he admits. This was true of Gemma's* experience with a man she met on Hinge. 'I was dating this guy for several months and he showed me a lot of new music and made it feel like it was a shared experience. Then I found out he had a girlfriend the whole time and had been playing her the same songs too, probably so he didn't get us confused. After things ended, I saw them together at a concert we said we'd go to.' Perhaps time doesn't heal all wounds – and neither does music. Robs still exist in their droves in the modern dating scene. It's even a theme that cropped up in Lena Dunham's new Netflix show, Too Much. Never mind the protagonist Jessica's new boyfriend Felix, a tortured musician with dirty fingernails and a lot of baggage, who incidentally went to public school too, but there is one iconic scene where her ex-boyfriend Zev throws a tantrum because Pitchfork didn't publish one of his reviews. Textbook Rob behaviour. John Cusack and Iben Hjejle in High Fidelity Photo: Melissa Moseley/SMPSP Touchstone Pictures Of course, it shouldn't be entirely ridiculed. It's no secret that (a lot of) men struggle to express their emotions, especially when compared with women, and this behaviour is most likely a result of societal repression. If swathes of men grow up without knowing how to healthily express their emotions and fear vulnerability as a weakness, then it's no wonder they might be prone to shutting the world out with their headphones on. But, from where I'm standing, this behaviour is hard to distinguish from the viral and now widely lambasted 'main character syndrome' that sees individuals relentlessly overestimate their own importance and minimise other people's. Men using music as an outlet to work through their mental health and emotions is positive only if it extends to their real-life relationships too. If you know the track list for Channel Orange like the back of your hand but struggle to tell your friends you love them or to text a girl back after a third date then, just like Rob, there's still plenty of work to do. Luckily for him, it worked out ok in the end. Maybe if he stopped imagining his life as a music video it could have been even better. The names used in this article have been changed.
Buzz Feed
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
Underrated Canceled TV Shows
For every show that feels like it majorly overstayed its welcome, cough — Grey's Anatomy — there always seems to be another show that studios prematurely axe at exactly the same time. Hundreds of television shows fail to catch the attention of general audiences year after year and ultimately get cancelled after a slew of poor ratings and lack of fanfare. However, some of these shows are genuine hidden treasures and don't deserve to be buried by the algorithms of popular streamers. In our current cultural landscape that is so obsessed with nostalgia and reboots, I've ranked 10 shows that I believe deserve their turn on Hollywood's reboot ride. Some you probably haven't heard of (or, more likely, watched) some of them. However, I highly recommend taking a day to binge. House of Anubis (2011 to 2013) Many Gen Z'ers will understand why this show is on the list, but for those who don't, just know that House of Anubis was Nickelodeon's best venture into the mystery genre. Some would argue it's Are You Afraid of the Dark? or that one scary episode of SpongeBob SquarePants where he gets stranded in that town and can't leave, but it's really this show. The perfect blend of mystery, British accents, and impeccable uniforms. It is a must-watch and due for a reboot! High Fidelity (2020) A reboot within a reboot — what's not to love? High Fidelity is the 2020 reboot of John Cusack's 2000 film of the same name, and it was the best TV show I watched that year, and I watched a lot during lockdown. It also has a Black female lead, played by Zoë Kravitz, who gave an absolutely amazing performance. So, to me, I think Hulu TV execs need to give it a second, I mean third, chance! Fear Itself (2008) A victim of underwhelming ratings that deserved better. Fear Itself is a masterful anthology horror series that had some really unique episodes and deserved to have multiple seasons. It didn't even get to air all of its episodes that summer on NBC. I'd give an arm and a leg for this one to come back from the dead. Harper's Island (2009) Another underrated gem that CBS canceled. The greatest whodunnit television series of all time, and there was definitely some plot left to continue the show for at least two more seasons. We, the fans, were robbed, and we want our show back! 1899 (2022) From the creators of the groundbreaking, jaw-dropping thriller, Dark, there's another mind-bending, altogether bonkers show whose time was cut too short. It's a good sci-fi with an international cast and should have been given more room to breathe. I Am Not Okay With This (2020) It ended with a frustrating cliffhanger, and fans never got an answer, so yeah, this one needs to be uncanceled immediately. And while I know they're older and grown adults adults, I want the OG cast! Rome (2005-2007) Great show. High production costs. So, of course, it ended up canceled instead of landing on lists like Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad. But Rome absolutely deserves to be in that tier, if not above it. HBO needs to cease with the GOT spinoffs and bring back this historical masterpiece. The Wilds (2020) A feminine take on Lord of the Flies and an even better (dare I say) version of Yellowjackets. Of course, it only had one season; if it kept going, it would have been too powerful. But jokes aside, this show was good and the actors equally as much — a fun watch and would make for a great multi-season show. Generation (2021) A funny, teen show that, in my opinion, had the best depiction of the average Gen Z'er. It didn't last long, but my memories of laughing out loud from this show did. Just absolute fun, and that's what we all need now more than ever. Let's hope HBO Max is listening... And Grand Army (2020) The greatest teen drama show of the past decade. Grand Army may have lacked high ratings, but it made up for it with its rich, authentic storytelling. A very diverse cast, all of whom deserved better, and frankly so did the show's marketing. Which recently canceled show would you dig back up from the grave? Share all your thoughts in the comments!
The Herald Scotland
21-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
The 2001 album hailed as a 'dizzy, magical voyage of self-discovery'
THERE'S a nice scene in the 2000 film High Fidelity, in which John Cusack's engaging character, the owner of a Chicago record store, murmurs confidently to a colleague: 'I will now sell five copies of The Three EPs, by The Beta Band'. He then slides a disc into the CD player: the opening track, Dry the Rain, fills the store. Customer: 'Who is that?'. Cusack: 'The Beta Band'. Customer (nodding approvingly): 'It's good'. Cusack (sagely): 'I know'. Back then, The Beta Band — Steve Mason (vocals/guitars), John Maclean (samplers/percussion), Robin Jones (drums) and Richard Greentree (bass) — were in vogue, having been championed by the music press and finding favour with a large and enthusiastic fanbase and with such influential musicians as Noel Gallagher. In 2001 they were invited to support Radiohead on a US and Canada tour. They had three top 20 albums between 1999 and 2004 before going their separate ways, but recently announced a reunion tour. It gets underway in September. The band, who first came together in Fife and Edinburgh and fully blossomed in London, released a debut EP, Champion Versions, in July 1997, on a small indie label, Regal Recordings, a Parlophone imprint. It opened with Dry the Rain, which as of today has chalked up some 42 million hits on Spotify. As Mojo magazine's Jim Irvin would say of it, the EP 'made a refreshing change from standard indie fare, displaying an acute awareness of feel and dynamics lacking in most nascent bands'. Two other EPs followed in 1998: The Patty Patty Sound, in March, and Los Amigos Del Beta Bandidos, four months later. In October all three materialised on a CD, The Three EPs – the one referenced by Cusack in High Fidelity. 'What makes The Beta Band such a powerful proposition is their ability to pervert the traditional campfire ballad in myriad ways, without appearing contrived … or losing its kernel of warmth', Keith Cameron wrote approvingly in the NME. 'Collectively, these 12 songs leave you gasping, not only at the frenzied sense of enterprise but also the combustible emotional depths therein'. One New Zealand critic noted: 'When Beck made pop fizzy again, The Beta Band inhaled big time. In this collection … folk, hip-hop and the hazy psychedelic dub aesthetic of Primal Scream joyously elope in the whacked-out world of the avant-garde. Unconsciously addictive, this is an album whose halcyon overtones super-glue the listener to the speakers …' Interviewing the band at the time of its release, Mojo's Irvin brought up the common use of the descriptions ''stoned' and 'lo-fi', which had studded more than a few reviews of the original EPs. 'Drugs are just ridiculous', Mason responded. 'We're interested in making music so good that drugs become irrelevant. And all this 'lo-fi' nonsense is just a farce. When we're recording we're trying to get the best sound possible'. Read more Beta Band: 'You know, I find it offensive, the music business and most of the records being made in this country', he added. 'It makes me angry. Especially because people are taken in by it and led to believe that anything different is strange and weird and should be avoided. There's a horrible normality being fed to everyone'. Live, the quartet were an engrossing and unpredictable act. In September 1998, the Independent's Ben Thompson witnessed them at a gig in the capital and pronounced them – with not a little justification – as the most exciting new British band to emerge in the last year-and-a-half by a country mile. 'You know that magical feeling when the music sounds so strange it feels like a secret', he enthused, 'and you look onstage to the people who are making it and then offstage into the faces of the audience, and you realise that hundreds of people are getting the secret at the exact same time? That's what the atmosphere tends to be like when The Beta Band play live'. The 'strange, surging, pagan, deceptively simple music' was a shot in the arm of the 'prone form of the four-piece pop group', he added; the band filled entire evenings with a 'warped and wonderful hybrid of great music, terrible poetry, and alarming videos of strange rituals on Scottish hillsides'. Expectations surrounding the 1999 debut album, The Beta Band, were therefore high, but it turned out to be more unfocused, and perhaps unfinished, than anyone had foreseen. In an episode that came to be much-quoted, the band even dismissed the album out of hand. Mason informed NME: 'It's definitely the worst record we've ever made and it's probably one of the worst records that'll come out this year…But we can always do better. Next time. … It's got some terrible songs on it, our album. None of them are fully realised or fully even written. Half-written songs with jams in the middle'. The Radiohead tour in 2001 allowed The Beta Band to showcase material from their second album, Hot Shots II. 'We never liked the idea of supporting people', Mason told Rolling Stone, 'but I think playing with Radiohead is a really good opportunity for us. All these bands from Britain have been touted as this amazing new thing that was going to save rock & roll. But I think our band and Radiohead can justify, not the hype, but the excitement that's around us in America.' Hot Shots II is a consistently fine album, full of beguiling moments, from the opening tracks, Squares, and Al Sharp, onwards. Human Being samples Carole King's classic, It's Too Late. Gone is one of their enduringly poignant songs. There are layered vocals, and delicate sonic flourishes. It remains the high point of their career. The band were happy with it – certainly, much more so than with the debut album – and it showed. The album narrowly missed out on a top 10 placing in the UK charts. The New York Daily News summed it up thus: 'While the Scottish foursome's music has the dreamy quality of ambient music and the sexy dub bass of trip-hop, it's far more song-oriented, graced as it is by conventional tunes, hooks and choruses'. The Guardian's Alexis Petridis was another admirer, writing after an admittedly uncomfortable interview with the band (the quartet had a reputation, back then, as occasionally 'difficult' interviewees): 'By contrast to their debut, this year's follow-up, Hot Shots II, is fantastic. It boasts incisive songwriting, crisp production from R&B veteran C-Swing [Colin Emmanuel], and a thrilling attitude to sonic experimentation … They have finally produced an album they are proud of. They may well be among the best groups in the world. Yet despite all this, in Britain, Hot Shots II has sold no better than their debut'. Then there was this, from Rolling Stone magazine (which had found the debut album chaotic and unwieldy): "Hot Shots II does its best to return to the epic soundscapes of The Three E.P.'s; the long grooves and easy melodies are back, and the band's tendency toward the diffuse has been reined in. "The group's new self-control is evident on the gorgeous 'Gone', a minimalist ballad featuring only cooing vocals, lilting piano, and a quiet guitar and bass. 'Human Being' is an archetypal Beta Band number, tossing in horns, turntable scratches, harmonica, acoustic strumming and chant-like singing before devolving into a squealing guitar and organ rave-up. It's a heady, eclectic mix, and, like the best of the band's work, as satisfying as it is unique". NME also welcomed the Beta Band back into the fold: "Despite its gung-ho name, 'Hot Shots II' is a dizzy, magical voyage of self-discovery - concise where its predecessor was unfocused, immediate where the pop urge was once lacking. The album's original first single, 'Squares', is still trumped by I Monster's incandescent 'Daydream In Blue', but beyond that, this sounds practically peerless". Uncut magazine, for its part, was struck by the "monk-like close harmonies", which gave the impression of having been sculpted in three dimensions: "the way they soar, arc, cluster and braid is breathtaking". The album was sharply produced in a fully contemporary sense — ultra-glossy, big-sounding, with huge bottom end and tuff beats". The Beta Band would go on to release an equally acclaimed third (and final) studio album, Heroes to Zeros, in 2004, before breaking up. They embarked on a farewell tour that year, the last gig taking place at Edinburgh's Liquid Room on December 5. For all the critical acclaim that had come their way, actual commercial success had proved elusive. Read more On the Record: In a revealing interview with the Guardian's Dave Simpson that November, Mason revealed that the band had subsisted for years on 'McDonald's-type wages' and had their domestic phone lines cut off. 'I asked the accountant how much money was in the band account and he said 'Absolutely nothing',' Mason added. The debt to the record company stands at £1.2m. 'I always imagined we'd be as big as Radiohead,' he continued, 'but it hasn't happened. I still can't understand why'. Mason went on to enjoy a solo career; Maclean made his name as a film director (Slow West, a western starring Michael Fassbender, and 2025's acclaimed Tornado); Jones has worked on set design and costume for various films; Greentree turned his hand, successfully, to carpentry. Twenty one years after the band's demise, Beta fans — and there are many — are delighted that the quartet is re-uniting for a series of gigs in the UK, the US and Canada. 'Sold out' notices have gone up at venue after venue. The first two shows are at the Barrowland, on September 25 and 26. The Three EPs is being reissued on heavyweight double vinyl this summer, too.
Miami Herald
18-06-2025
- Automotive
- Miami Herald
Volvo's Abbey Road Mode Turns the EX90 Into a Personal Music Venue
Music is an essential part of driving, whether through your car's radio, on physical media, or a streaming service like Spotify or Apple Music. Some of us have that special mixtape, burnt CD, or mixtape full of the essential tracks meant to lift the spirits on the morning commute, the drive home, or a long drive somewhere far away. One of the bands I grew an unhealthy, obsessive fixation over when I was a kid was The Beatles, and ironically, one of those songs on one of my driving playlists is Drive My Car. Though we know the words and notes of our favorite songs by heart, the most discerning ears know that there are wildly different and noticeable differences when we listen to them in our cars, our headphones, and through various types of speakers. Nothing can compare to the experience of attending a live performance or being in the room with artists as they record. However, if you're a Beatles fan like I am, you might need a time machine to experience that era. But while time machines and flux capacitors remain the work of fiction, Volvo's latest software update has a cool new feature that may be the next best thing: a way to bring you closer to one of the most iconic studios in the world. After teasing this feature last year, Volvo has officially introduced what they call the "Abbey Road Studios Mode" in an over-the-air (OTA) update for its all-electric EX90 models equipped with the optional Bowers & Wilkins High Fidelity Audio system. This innovative digital audio experience has been crafted in collaboration with audio engineers from the actual Abbey Road Studios in London and high-end audio experts at Bowers & Wilkins. In essence, Abbey Road Studios Mode was made to replicate the distinct sound and acoustic character of the Abbey Road recording rooms inside the Volvo EX90. In its quest to explore the limits of the in-car music listening experience, Bowers & Wilkins worked closely with the same audio engineers who obsessed over the minute, fine details for a wide range of music artists to create a series of digital soundscapes that could bring the studio alive in the big Volvo EV's ultra-quiet cabin. Though other expensive brand-name high-end stereo systems in other cars allow you to tweak, tune, and mess with various equalizer (EQ) settings like the balance, bass, treble, and even focus the sound on passengers or drivers, Volvo says that the Abbey Road Studios Mode is different. The mode comes with some special presets that "provide a selection of sounds, optimised for different listening styles," as well as a special "Producer Mode," which "allows you to engineer your own sound" by adjusting between retro-style warmth or modern, crisp depth, and even shifting the simulated acoustic environment in the same way George Martin would've done. "The Abbey Road Studios Mode brings the unique sound of our spaces and equipment to the Bowers & Wilkins system in the Volvo EX90 for the first time," Abbey Road Studios GM Jeremy Huffelmann said in a statement. "We are hugely proud of this collaboration, and excited for Volvo customers to experience this landmark technology." The Abbey Road Studios Mode is a nice addition to the EX90, which already features a Dolby Atmos-capable, 1,610-watt Bowers & Wilkins system with 25 speakers placed throughout one of Volvo's quietest interiors. As a music fan, words underestimate the kind of songs that were recorded at Abbey Road. We're talking 190 of The Beatles' 210 song catalog, Lennon's Imagine, the entirety of Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of The Moon, modern hits like Lady Gaga's Born This Way, Frank Ocean's Pink + White, and even the scores of Oscar-winning movies like Gravity and The Shape of Water. Although it may seem like a bit too much of a niche "if you know, you know"-type of deal, I feel that given the studio's rich history in modern music, the 'Abbey Road mode' is the ultimate form of an audiophile's stamp of approval, which can sway at least some music-loving buyers towards the Volvo. At least for me, it could make "Drive My Car" sound true to the original recording. Copyright 2025 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
