Huge Concert News

New winter music and arts festival boasts killer concert lineup: 5 entertainers we don't want to miss

Free Press Houston — known for organizing the massive annual music event, Free Press Summer Fest — has announced an incredible lineup for this winter's Day For Night, a two-day experiential art and music festival featuring superstar acts on par with those at the summer event.

With headliners ranging from hip-hop sensation Kendrick Lamar and '80s rockers New Order to minimalist composer Philip Glass and R&B star Janelle Monáe, the event, which takes place in and around Silver Street Studios on December 19 and 20, is sure to rock Houstonians' expectations of future music festivals.

Not only will Day For Night feature world-class musicians, but also leaders in various disciplines of digital art. The festival environment will be specifically designed around merging technology and sound and the way audiences experience them together.

Although the entire lineup is astounding, here's a breakdown of a few of the can't-miss artists:

Kendrick Lamar

Hailing from Compton, 28-year-old Kendrick Lamar has risen to become a hip-hop superstar in just the last few years. His major-label album debut in 2012 with good kid, m.A.A.d city propelled Lamar to stardom, giving him three Top 40 tracks, including "Swimming Pools (Drank)," "Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe" and "Poetic Justice."

In March, Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly debuted atop the U.S. Billboard 200 chart and established Spotify's global first-day streaming record with 9.6 million listens. Stunners like "King Kunta" and "Alright" showcase his talents for writing and delivery.

New Order

New Order's appearance at Day For Night is beyond significant as the famed English rockers haven't performed in Houston since playing at the Southern Star Amphitheater at AstroWorld on April 21, 1989. Formed in 1980, the group consists of the surviving members of legendary band Joy Division — Bernard Sumner and Stephen Morris — as well as Gillian Gilbert, Phil Cunningham and Tom Chapman.

With immediately recognizable 80s hits like "Blue Monday," "Bizzare Love Triangle" and "Age of Consent" — as well as their latest album, Music Complete, released just last month — this promises to be one of the best performances in Houston this year.

Philip Glass Ensemble

While the festival features renowned artists of many genres, the inclusion of Philip Glass and his ensemble is perhaps the most welcome surprise of all. One of the most influential musicians and composers of the late 20th century and known for his signature minimal, repetitive stylings, Glass will perform on keyboard with his namesake ensemble that he founded in 1968.

He is widely recognized for his film scores, including Academy Award-nominated compositions for Kundun, The Hours and Notes on a Scandal.

Death Grips

This experimental hip-hop group from Sacramento has had its fair share of ups and downs — including a temporary disbandment and canceled concert tours — but has managed to soldier on and continue to produce music unlike any other. After garnering attention for the 2012 album The Money Store, which includes popular tracks like "I've Seen Footage" and "Get Got," Death Grips has become notorious for noisy, bass-heavy tracks that feature lyrics with spitfire delivery.

Their album Fashion Week was released in January and Jenny Death dropped on YouTube in March, leading fans to believe the group is certainly poised to continue their upward trajectory. With wild live performances that are often known to include the destruction of instruments, it is one the most anticipated Day For Night offerings.

Dan Deacon

As an impressive electronic musician known for frequently incorporating large-scale audience participation in his performances, Dan Deacon is the perfect choice for an experiential festival like this.

Deacon, who came to notoriety with 2007's Spiderman of the Rings, honed his interactive live shows at smaller DIY spaces before launching at large venues. He performs on floor level within the audience with his musical devices set up on a table as he's completely surrounded by the crowd. Deacon even created a smartphone app that synchronizes with the live show, usually used during the song "True Thrush."

With such a wonderful platform for interactive performances, Deacon's performance is one you'll want to catch at Day For Night.

Check out the full lineup for all the musicians and artists performing at the festival.

Dan Deacon.

survivingthegoldenage.com

Dan Deacon.

festivals music

Movie Review

Avatar: Fire and Ash returns to Pandora with big action and bold visuals

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios

Oona Chaplin in Avatar: Fire and Ash.

For a series whose first two films made over $5 billion combined worldwide, Avatar has a curious lack of widespread cultural impact. The films seem to exist in a sort of vacuum, popping up for their run in theaters and then almost as quickly disappearing from the larger movie landscape. The third of five planned movies, Avatar: Fire and Ash, is finally being released three years after its predecessor, Avatar: The Way of Water.

The new film finds the main duo, human-turned-Na’vi Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and his native Na’vi wife, Neytiri (Zoë Saldaña), still living with the water-loving Metkayina clan led by Ronal (Kate Winslet) and Tonowari (Cliff Curtis). While Jake and Neytiri still play a big part, the focus shifts significantly to their two surviving children, Lo’ak (Britain Dalton) and Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss), as well as two they’ve essentially adopted, Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) and Spider (Jack Champion).

Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), who lives on in a fabricated Na’vi body, is still looking for revenge on Jake, and he finds help in the form of the Mangkwan Clan (aka the Ash People), led by Varang (Oona Chaplin). Quaritch’s access to human weapons and the Mangkwan’s desire for more power on the moon known as Pandora make them a nice match, and they team up to try to dominate the other tribes.

Aside from the story, the main point of making the films for writer/director James Cameron is showing off his considerable technical filmmaking prowess, and that is on full display right from the start. The characters zoom around both the air and sea on various creatures with which they’ve bonded, providing Cameron and his team with plenty of opportunities to put the audience right there with them. Cameron’s preferred viewing method of 3D makes the experience even more immersive, even if the high frame rate he uses makes some scenes look too realistic for their own good.

The story, as it has been in the first two films, is a mixed bag. Cameron and co-writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver start off well, having Jake, Neytiri, and their kids continue mourning the death of Neteyam (Jamie Flatters) in the previous film. The struggle for power provides an interesting setup, but Cameron and his team seem to drag out the conflict for much too long. This is the longest Avatar film yet, and you really start to feel it in the back half as the filmmakers add on a bunch of unnecessary elements.

Worse than the elongated story, though, is the hackneyed dialogue that Cameron, Jaffa, and Silver have come up with. Almost every main character is forced to spout lines that diminish the importance of the events around them. The writers seemingly couldn’t resist trying to throw in jokes despite them clashing with the tone of the scenes in which they’re said. Combined with the somewhat goofy nature of the Na’vi themselves (not to mention talking whales), the eye-rolling words detract from any excitement or emotion the story builds up.

A pre-movie behind-the-scenes short film shows how the actors act out every scene in performance capture suits, lending an authenticity to their performances. Still, some performers are better than others, with Saldaña, Worthington, and Lang standing out. It’s more than a little weird having Weaver play a 14-year-old girl, but it works relatively well. Those who actually get to show their real faces are collectively fine, but none of them elevate the film overall.

There are undoubtedly some Avatar superfans for which Fire and Ash will move the larger story forward in significant ways. For anyone else, though, the film is a demonstration of both the good and bad sides of Cameron. As he’s proven for 40 years, his visuals are (almost) beyond reproach, but the lack of a story that sticks with you long after you’ve left the theater keeps the film from being truly memorable.

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Avatar: Fire and Ash opens in theaters on December 19.

movies film