Twin brothers Sammy and Johnny Bennett of Deki Alem are a boundary-pushing Swedish electronic and hip-hop duo making propulsive, dark dance music and playing it cool. So cool in fact that I was today-years-old when I found out about these cats (suggestive algorithms are ass and I live on an island full of politicians and sheep, okay)!!
Written for screen, Shot, Edited & Directed by – Broken Int | Talent: Matilda Franzén as Ruby | Natan Gull as Naked man
Listening to “Fun” for the first time and then hitting replay is like getting a mental itch scratched that’s been unreachable for the latter half of the twenty-twenties. Breakcore and Cyber Rave did it for a while, but this feels next; familiar and progressive. Deki Alem, good looking out!
I KNEW IT! Cats are always up to no good, I tells yas!!!
Pure internet gold. That was a mashup of The Prodigy’s classic “Smack My B*tch Up” and Superchunk’s official music video for “Crossed Wires”; the originals of which are embedded below:
The fact I like this furthers my suspicion that this may be what we all suspected the internet was made for:
Well, if smartypants Jeopardy contestant, Babu Srinivasan confirms it, how can it be wrong?
This is an interesting/awesome side-by-side video that will come as no surprise to fans of anime and kung-fu films.
Cool, right? What surprised me most was that there was no mention of Alex Proyas’s DARK CITY. I suppose it was THE MATRIX’s twin film (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_films).
Dark City (1998) vs The Matrix (1999) – On a story basis, they are great entertaining films in their own right and I adore them both; I have some fond memories attributed to these films. But my side-by-side comparison should reveal to you my point of straight visual style copycatting. It’s not a major deal to me or to anyone really, I just like the idea of giving credit where credit is due:
Coincidence?
To sum this lesson in comprehension up; creation requires influence, or, apparently, everything is a remix.
Currently feeling jealous of everyone attending the 2026 Tribeca Film Festival to see Magdalena Bay’s Imaginal Disk movie premiere on June 4th. I want to see it too!
Feature Narrative | United States | 53 MINUTES | English
A cinematic companion to Magdalena Bay’s eponymous album, Imaginal Disk expands its kaleidoscopic world into a bold, visually driven narrative.
After the Premiere: A special stripped-back performance from Magdalena Bay and a discussion with Amanda Kramer.
What cinema goers can expect: This footage was previously only seen on limited DVDs that were shipped to random Magdalena Bay fans in 2024:
My preemptive (ranting) thoughts on what Imaginal Disk could be (beyond being extended music video pieces) are. . .
A fun musical adventure, on the one hand: When music hits, I am an instant fan, and Magdalena Bay have tunes aplenty, sound taste, talent, whimsy, and flares of creative absurdities to keep me entertained and bopping! The director, on the other hand: Goodness and popularity always attract others with talents of an esoteric persuasion, who like to subtly (they believe) insert symbolism among gaudy imagery. Dressing the set in an attempt to distract or confuse, or because they think it’s clever to be coded and pretend normality with outside talent? Once you start noticing the symbolic signs however, you will never not notice them, appearing like repetitive props across all of their projects. Not unlike a watermark, the non-creative blemishes of allegiance appear as eyesores to those discernible minds that, sigh, will still want to watch them communicate.
Expecting a Faustian tale cum MK-Ultra allegory involving a wishful girl who experiences a trauma that causes a dual persona, a journey leading to a symbolic sacrifice, and an eventual metamorphosis into a butterfly archetype over obligatory checkered surfaces with plenty of Saturn references and all-seeing one eyes; I’ll stop myself because you’ve all seen it before (Music Industry folks, amiright? #itisaclubandwearenotinitgoodriddance). I love Mica Tenenbaum and Matthew Lewin, but remain sus about director Amanda Kramer. . . and yet, I’m of a minority audience that esoteric figures dream they knew how to placate to, which is why they attach themselves to cool, talented people in the first place. Like parasites hehe. . . Sorry for the crazy rant! It’s been a long time since I’ve just written stream of consciousness. Happy to be wrong, and weird. 👽
In no small part because of who’s attached, the Tribeca Film Festival has an interesting flick on their hands. No question about it.
Went to the Deftones concert and they were awesome! I’ve seen them live before, from the mosh pit when the Big Day Out music festival was a thing, so being seated this time around with loved ones who weren’t with me back then was a real shared experience treat.
Deftones’ setlist:
1. Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)
2. Swerve City
3. Diamond Eyes
4. Feiticeira
5. Digital Bath
6. Tempest
7. milk of the madonna
8. my mind is a mountain
9. Beauty School
10. Sextape
11. Rocket Skates
12. Rosemary
13. Around the Fur
14. Entombed
15. Hole in the Earth
16. Change (In the House of Flies)
17. Genesis
18. departing the body
19. infinite source
(with “souvenir” outro)
Encore:
20. Cherry Waves
21. My Own Summer (Shove It)
22. 7 Words
If post concert depression has you down like Mordecai, then this full 1hour33mins recording of Deftones’ live performance in Auckland on Wednesday night might help (person’s arm must be really sore):
Concert from different angles: stage front / mosh pit
Sound quality in all recording devices do not compare to being there in person, so I recommend not missing an opportunity to see a live performance.
Interpol also performed and they were awesome, as well! Their set was stripped down to just dynamic lighting, adding to their smart aesthetic and appeal. Interpol’s sound was loud and crisp, fitting of the stadium arena packed with people with refined taste in good sounds, and those younger audience members who don’t have the luxury of curated late night music television, or an eclectic radio host informing them of what music to seek out beyond repeat radio friendly singles or TikTok challenges. Interpol are legit musos, and them opening for the headliner was so cool.
Interpol’s setlist:
1. Pioneer to the Falls
2. Evil
3. All the Rage Back Home
4. See Out Loud
5. Obstacle 1
6. Wings on Fire
7. The New
8. Roland
9. PDA
Had my fingers crossed for Rest My Chemistry and The Heinrich Maneuver, but it’s all good.
Deftones frontman, Chino Moreno tripped during Hole in the Earth—ironic in context of the song title—but he immediately barrel rolled into recovery like a parkour pro, and even shared a momentary chuckle with an audience member who must have been out-of-breath in hysterics. I won’t post the fall because I’m not a dick, but the footage is there.
There have been past performances when the Deftones have fumbled on stage intoxicated, but on Wednesday night, they were at the peak of their live performance career. For context (and levity) purposes; here’s what Deftones weren’t:
SY3 (pronounced ‘sigh’) is a new project from LA-based Chinese-American artists Kelly Guan, Alex Ho, and Phil Cho. The trio started working on music together in 2023 after connecting over a shared love of Hong Kong New Wave cinema, Cantonese pop songs, r&b, and melody-driven dance music.
ANREALAGE AUTUMN/WINTER 2026-27 COLLECTION Designer: Kunihiko Morinaga / Show Direction: Shige Kaneko / Stylist: TEPPEI / Makeup: UDA (mekashi project) / Hair: Kiyoko Odo / Nail: Hiro / Global Press: PR Consulting / Production: Eyesight / Casting Director: The frame / Invisible LED Wall + LED Product: LED TOKYO / LED Look System Development: MPLUSPLUS / Print: Kyocera Document Solutions Inc. / Coordinator: Hiromi Otsuka / Collaboration: GHOST IN THE SHELL / 攻殻機動隊
A little self-promotion, because I’ve always loved fashion and the future: I wrote a short-story that includes a section about a character wearing a jacket laced with technology:
Art imitating art imitating art, or just a neat idea shared by multiple dreamers? I don’t recieve a royalty, but should you wish to own a copy: https://a.co/d/00pPbK4p
Perfume, iconic for blending electronic-dance music with precise choreography, high-tech live performances, and futuristic fashion, has a documentary set for release May 15.
It centres on the group’s last live arena performance before their public announcement to take a “cryosleep” hiatus from it all, at a defining crossroads in their career:
Perfume announced in an official statement last September 2025 that in 2026, they would take a temporary break to concentrate on their personal lives:
The center of all Perfume activities lies in our live shows.
We have given out everything to share that time and place together and resonate with you. Every show, we went up on stage thinking this might be the last time the miracle happened and ignited our hearts.
Time spent with you means the world to us.
“Marking our shining legacy in history”. This has always been one of Perfume’s dreams.
To capture this moment that we can proudly call a “shining legacy”, we have decided to put Perfume to cryosleep starting 2026.
No matter what shape or form, as the three of us, we will forever be Perfume. To spend many more years together, to become better and more sophisticated Perfume, to face new challenges, we have decided to pause our milestone.
We have continued to improve and polish ourselves every day for the past 25 years so we are always ready to go as Perfume and this break will be the time that we, for the first time, will face our lives as individuals to find the new us. We have never experienced a time like this, nor have we never even thought about something like this so we will probably start with rehab. LOL But the three of us all agreed that we are ready to face that challenge.
Many beautiful landscapes we created together will continue to push us forward and if we ever feel down, we’re sure that they will keep shining upon us. We appreciate every one of you who has supported us thus far, from the bottom of our hearts.
Since we came this far without taking a break as Perfume, we hope you support our decision to give ourselves little break time. Please continue to lend us your support as we chase our new dreams.
We are doing all this just to come back as “new Perfume.” We all want to be more powerful than ever so we would be delighted if you could kindly look forward to that day when we meet again.
Rest is a healthy and good thing to want, and having a documentary to bookend a long and successful career is a neat thing for the fans.
Ending this post with “Spring of Life” (2012) seems appropriate.
Ginger Root is the indie music project of singer-songwriter and instrumentalist Cameron Lew, who describes the sound of Ginger Root as “aggressive elevator soul.” I feel it. I took a deep dive into this cat’s YouTube page and holy wow, his creative output has been phenomenal from the jump. Dylan Hovis on bass and Matt Carney on drums join Cameron Lew when performing live, making appearances in videos as well.
SHINBANGUMIreleased on 13 September 2024, and coinciding with the release of each single was a narrative-driven music video, conceived as a serialised story.
Presented in a classic CRT television 4:3 aspect ratio and washed in VHS fuzz, SHINBANGUMI follows the exploits of a young music supervisor in 1987 Shōwa era Japan, being fired, going independent to start his own TV company—Ginger Root Productions—and gaining popularity, while his former employer—JubanTV—tries to thwart his rising success.
It is very entertaining, funny, and cool.
I am un/fashionably late to the Ginger Root party, but here is SHINBANGUMI lovingly compiled into a single short film, freely presented for our listening and viewing pleasure:
Neat, huh? Great casting! It has since been picked up by Adult Swim, and aired on Toonami. My next opinion may sound like shade and/or high-praise, but it’s really an observation: Ginger Root’s SHINBANGUMI is better than Gorillaz’s “The Mountain, The Moon Cave and The Sad God.” I said it. Scope. Effort. Execution. Entertainment. Many hands make light work special. I love seeing people as characters give a performance.
A few prelude segments missing from the movie above:
Had fun discovering these, one video at a time. Can see his interest in aesthetic was present in the early stages of Ginger Root. Personal favs: “Weather” & “Mahjong Room”
Gyu Beats recreates electronic tracks to discover their secrets. He describes his latest exploration delving into FSOL’s Papua New Guinea as “Unrepeatable Genius.” Listen why:
90’s to early 2000’s British electronic music is considered by many to be the golden era of techno, dance & rave culture music, and 1992’s release of Papua New Guinea definitely added to that sterling reputation. 4mins version / 6mins version :
The Future Sound of London (often abbreviated FSOL) is a British electronic music duo composed of Garry Cobain and Brian Dougans. If you ever come across a copy of FSOL’s third album, Dead Cities (1996), grab it!
As a hobby, I would make electronic tracks, this was before I got into blogging, and it just so happens that I was born in P.N.G. so, insert self-promotion: You can listen to a few early examples of my audible stuff @ my neglected bandcamp page, created for archival purposes.
The world of Gorillaz has been brought to life in an 8-minute animated film, an homage to the aesthetic of animated features from the 1960s, the golden era of 2D animation.
“If particular visuals couldn’t be achieved in that era, then we didn’t do them. We processed our digital pencil work to mimic photocopy degradation. We scanned real paintings at high resolution and finished the details digitally. It was about capturing the tactile quality that only real materials give you.”
[…]
“In a time of AI overload, this is our love letter to craftsmanship. We’re chasing the feel of pencil on paper. Paint on board. And all the imperfections that come with it.”
-Max Taylor
And to think, we could have had a full-length Gorillaz animated film in 2023 had Netflix not cancelled it.
Throwback to 2018 where The Line studio handled animations for Gorillaz music video “Humility” featuring Jack Black:
This short tidbit of information might trip some fans:
Perfume’s ふめつのあなた / Fumetsu no Anata is a beautiful song, paired with a beautiful music video. Released on Valentine’s Day, Fumetsu no Anata is a fragrant love letter and, in my humble opinion, Perfume’s magnum opus:
I’m not crying, you are! 😭 You can read more takes on that music video by clicking the link below:
Serendipitously co-aligning with Perfume’s surprise drop marking this year’s Hallmark occasion, predictively almost; a massive J-Pop fan with a cool blog who makes J-Pop audio mashups created this sweet R&B throwback using Perfume “Chocolate Disco” (2007) and Destiny’s Child “Cater 2 U” (2005), and it works:
🎼 SONG CREDITS “Chocolate Disco” Written by Yasutaka Nakata Produced by Yasutaka Nakata Performed by Perfume ℗ 2008 AMUSE Inc. | “Cater 2 U” Written by Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland, Michelle Williams, Rodney Jerkins, Ric Rude, Robert Waller Produced by Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins & Ric Rude for Darkchild.com & Beyoncé Knowles for Music World Productions, Inc. Performed by Destiny’s Child ℗ 2004 SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT
🎭 