Editorial Picks: The Best of July '24

Editorial Picks: The Best of July '24

- By Ramon Gonzales

From Gojira's subversive showing in Paris, to Marvel's return to glory, to Childish Gambino's standout indie rock entry on his final album, here's what you might have missed last month.

Photo by Maurice Nunez

Reviving our monthly recap, the Knotfest editorial squad has chimed in to create a shortlist of assorted stuff that surfaced in recent weeks - a sort of month in retrospect. Looking back on the month of July, our staff sources of the goods you might have missed and well worth revisiting. 

Check the Knotfest Editorial Picks for the month of July below. 

GRAPHIC NATURE - WHO ARE YOU WHEN NO ONE IS WATCHING?

 

Created in the aftermath of frontman Harvey Freeman becoming the victim of an unprovoked attack on a train, Graphic Nature’s latest effort is a nail-bitingly raw take on trauma. Taking nu-metal to its most intense and atmospheric heights, each track hits like a freight train. Crushingly disorientating riffs and throat-shredding vocals leading the way, it’s unlikely you’ve heard anything more grippingly vulnerable this month. - Maddy Howell

GRIFFIN HANSBURY - SOME STRANGE MUSIC DRAWS ME IN 

 

Set in the summer of 1984 in Swaffham, Massachusetts, this absolute gem of a book gives a fresh approach to the ‘coming of age in a small town’ story. From listening to Patti Smith’s Horses through library headphones to reckoning with gender identity whilst living in a bigoted town, it’s a beautifully written story about self-discovery and the everlasting power of music. - Maddy Howell

KING CRIMSON - LARK'S TONGUES IN ASPIC 

Following Blood Incantation's announcement of their forthcoming new album, Absolute Elsewhere, I've been down the rabbit hole of the music and book that have (at least partially) influenced them.

Firstly, there's the band the album is named after, Absolute Elswhere, who were a prog group featuring Bill Buford of King Crimson/Yes on drums. I adore Buford's period in King Crimson, particularly Red and Larks' Tongue In Aspic. Absolute Elsewhere's 1976 album, In Search of Ancient Gods, is cool but not as gripping as that Crimson material. But I look forward to seeing how this expansive, synth-driven album informs Blood Incantation's new one. - Dan Franklin
 

ERICH VON DÄNKIEN - IN SEARCH OF THE ANCIENT GODS

Following the same thread, I then ordered in a second-hand copy of Erich von Däniken's 1973 book In Search of Ancient Gods, which Absolute Elsewhere named their album after. (Still following me?) This is my first foray into the murky world of paleocontact/ancient astronaut theorising. I'm not sure how to feel about it.
I find the undermining of ancient civilizations' achievements by saying aliens helped them out fairly repellent, but the book is packed full of pictorial evidence for von Däniken's arguments, which is fascinating in and of itself. The consistency with which cave paintings and steles from across the world and across millennia contain images of figures wearing what look like space helmets is... pretty weird!
It will have you looking twice at perfect geometric slabs of granite found on mountaintops, too. von Däniken's most well-known book is Chariots of the Gods? but this lean little book is a good primer on the mad ideas that still fuel speculation today. And inspire certain death metal bands. I look forward to looking at the photography in this one and blasting Blood Incantation when it's out this October. - Dan Franklin

CHILDISH GAMBINO - LITHONIA


Just another example that genres don’t matter to Childish Gambino. We’ve seen this dude do hip-hop, soul, dance, and now we hear him flex his rock side. A heavy guitar riff and a chorus that repeats, “ Nobody gives a f*ck!” makes for a song you want to listen to loudly as you drive your car over the speed limit. - Harris David

DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE - MARVEL STUDIOS

I will admit, as popular as the movie seems to be, it’s definitely not for everyone. It was made for the fans (people who still think dick jokes are funny) so people don’t drag your unassuming partners to this movie if they don’t know what’s going on. With that said, I loved every second of this movie. There were tons of scenes that made the whole theater laugh but I found myself laughing to a lot of gags on my own which made me feel special. It had everything comic book fans want; cameos, references to other Marvel IP’s, and the constant bashing of Disney and 20th
Century Fox (RIP). - Harris David

LONGLEGS - NEON 

Few films in recent memory have been as divisive as Longlegs. There is no middle ground here, either people feel it's the scariest film in a long while or far misses the mark. Whether you like the film or don't, what the reaction suggests is that the run-up to the release was especially effective in creating expectation. In reading how director Osgood Perkins and Nicolas Cage took cues from the androgyny and excess of the glam rock era to create Cage's unsettling appearance, his haunting transformation became a major source of anticipation. The film's viral approach to marketing was a stroke of genius, opting less for the involuntary reaction of an explicit jump scare scene and allowing the unease to fester from what you don't see. - Ramon Gonzales

GOJIRA -  XXXIII OLYMPIC GAMES OPENING CEREMONY PERFORMANCE

 
While it is a big deal that Gojira is now the first ever metal band to to perform on such an far-reaching, global platform as the Summer Olympics, the fact that they were the first seems to eclipse something more important. The band could have easily played it safe and found a way to concoct a more approachable variation of what they do and didn't. Rather finding some heavy variation of Dad Rock that would suffice, Gojira emphasized the carnage of the French Revolution with a towering performance of "Ah, Ca Ira" - melding the pride, rebellion and history of their French lineage in a way that position heavy music as high art.
Gojira, blared from the side of a fucking castle with amid bursts of towering flames and was introduced by the headless Marie Antoinette as part of the opening ceremony for the Summer Olympics before an international audience of millions.
Brilliant and ballsy. - Ramon Gonzales
 
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