Editorial
DOOM Rock Grammar Like The Kumbaya: Honoring The Life & Legacy Of MF DOOM
Source: PYMCA / Getty The news of MF DOOM‘s passing came as a shock to his legion of fans, especially those of us who hoped that he would continue his legendary run of verses for years to come. As the Hip-Hop nation grieves this massive loss, I’ll try to do my best to capture what MF DOOM AKA Daniel Dumile meant to me. As a Hip-Hop fan of a certain age, growing up with the music and culture has afforded me a particular vantage point when observing the culture. As a teenager in 1989, my affinity for Rap music was fanatical and the obsession with the artform most certainly remains. I was one of those fans who copped everything that dropped on Tuesday, the former traditional date of the album and single releases at that time The now-defunct duo of 3rd Bass were anomalies at the time. Two whit...
Cobra Kai Workout Mix: Cast Shares Their Go-To Pump-Up Jams
Cobra Kai and music go together like Daniel and Miyagi. Just think back to all the needle drops: Johnny Lawrence brooding to Foreigner in his Firebird. He and LaRusso singing REO Speedwagon together. The Alan Parsons Project closing out the pilot. These moments are all over The Karate Kid spinoff series, and they always get us pumped up. But, what about the actual cast? What songs get them pumped up? In anticipation of Season 3, which premieres on Friday, January 1st, Consequence of Sound sat down with your favorite heroes of Cobra Kai to hear what they take to the dojo with them. From AC/DC to Meek Mill, their responses extended well beyond the show’s ’80s roots. Peyton List, aka Tory Nichols: “I’m sometimes embarrassed by my music tastes. I feel like it’s a lot of Doja Cat or something b...
Save Our Stages Fest Raised $2 Million for Independent Venues: “This Moment Brought Millions of People Hope”
As our Annual Report continues, we’ll be taking several looks at how live music changed in a year where most of the world was in lockdown. Today, we share our conversation with Save Our Stages Fest’s Stephen Sternschein on what’s being done to preserve live music and venues during this pandemic. The American experience of the COVID-19 pandemic is dominated by unimaginable numbers made real: 300,000 dead, 16 million infected, an estimated $3-$5 trillion hit to the country’s GDP over the next two years. Tucked inside that last figure is another statistic, revealed over the summer, that made the year even darker for music fans: According to a nationwide survey of club owners and promoters conducted by the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) this past June, 90% of independent music v...
Kristen Wiig’s SNL Return Stresses an Uncertain Future for Character Actors
When Kristen Wiig hit the stage to deliver her monologue this past weekend on Saturday Night Live, she said it felt like coming home. She reiterated this point at the end of the show, during the goodnights. In between, she backed up her statements by comfortably re-settling into the rhythms of the show, and reviving two of her many recurring characters: Sue, the woman who can’t handle surprises; and Mindy Gracin, the addled stage star who appears on the game show Secret Word. Wiig still stands among the most beloved centerpiece stars of SNL this millennium, and this week’s episode underlined a major reason why, at least in terms of the popular consciousness: She originated a lot of recurring characters on the show. So many, in fact, that she can reprise two second-string ones like Mindy Gr...
The Accent Police Were Vigilant in 2020
Our Annual Report continues today with a look back on the year’s curious run of accents in film and television. Stay tuned for more awards, lists, and articles in the days and weeks to come about the best music, film, and TV of the year. If you’ve missed any part of our Annual Report, you can check out all the coverage here. Watching John Patrick Shanley’s new movie Wild Mountain Thyme is, in many ways, a picturesque experience. It’s set in the Irish countryside, and stars Emily Blunt and Jamie Dornan, two very attractive people. But as I watched a very odd man played by Dornan buzz around his romantic feelings for a very charming woman played by Blunt, something began to nag at me. Somewhere in the distance, outside the movie itself, I heard sirens. I could tell that the Accent...
What’s Next for Star Wars? The Mandalorian Season 2 Finale, Explained
Disney+ just aired the season finale of The Mandalorian’s second season, and what a finale it was. A big old dust-em-up with all manner of returning characters, some big, surprising (and not-so-surprising) cameos from old friends, and the bittersweet resolution of Din’s (Pedro Pascal) budding fatherdom with “the little green guy.” For all its revelations, though, Chapter 16, “The Rescue,” directed by Peyton Reed, highlights the light and dark sides of the show’s sophomore season: it’s got a clear sense of the sandbox it’s playing in, but can’t keep itself from using the same toys over and over again. Read on to learn more. As always, it goes without saying that there are some major, major spoilers ahead. You must be cautious. What’s the Plan for Getting Grogu Back? <img aria-d...
The Stand, Explained: We Need to Talk About Harold
Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Play | Radio Public | Stitcher | RSS At long last, Stephen King’s epic novel The Stand hits CBS All Access. Languishing for years in development hell, the journey from page to screen has been almost as long and arduous as the cross-country treks taken by its characters. Yet, it’s hard to think of a more perfect timing for this story of destruction and renewal than amidst a global pandemic. Beyond the pandemic parable, larger themes of taking a stand against persuasive evil are central to this story as well. The series opens with a dire warning and call to action from an unseen Mother Abigail (Whoopi Goldberg) that not only fits King’s story, but could easily be interpreted as a message to vi...
Saturday Night Live Has Officially Moved on from the Election to the Pandemic
Since taking several post-election weeks off, following a record-setting six live shows in a row, Saturday Night Live has been in a period of relative calm. Things seem back to normal even: They’re two shows into their usual three-show December lineup; the set was decorated for the holidays this week; and next weekend sees another alum-hosted episode — an unofficial pre-Christmas tradition. What’s more, Jim Carrey, Alec Baldwin, and Maya Rudolph have been MIA for two weeks in a row, and those labored debate sketches are a thing of the past. In a sense, SNL has felt almost like comfort food. In lieu of room-temperature political takes, the show has re-shifted its focus over the last two episodes to the ensuing pandemic. It’s an understandable pivot, seeing how December has seen some of the ...
Does Mando Still Believe In the Creed? The Mandalorian, Explained
After the absolute barrage of announcements that came out of Disney’s Investor Day yesterday, including the confirmation that 10(!) new Star Wars properties are coming out in the next few years (two Mandalorian spinoffs among them), it feels almost quaint to check back in with what The Mandalorian is up to this week. And yet, Chapter 15, “The Believer”, written and directed by Rick Famuyiwa, reminds us why Disney has so much confidence in Star Wars as a brand and a franchise. The penultimate episode of the season can often be a lighter, more disposable affair, setting up chess pieces for a climactic showdown in the finale. Sure, this week does that in spades, but also manages to weave that among a few clever cinematic homages, an incredible return appearance from Bill Burr, ...
Boba Fett Returns! The Mandalorian, Explained
If The Mandalorian Season 2 were a feature film, this week’s episode, “The Tragedy”, would set us firmly in the mid-point — that moment where all is lost, doom befalls our heroes, and the audience wonders how they’re going to get out of this particular pickle. It’s one of the shorter episodes in the season at 33 minutes, but a lot goes down in that jam-packed half hour: Boba Fett! Baby Yoda The Child Grogu gets Jedi-napped! Of course, all these developments are packed tightly into an action-heavy chapter courtesy of director Robert Rodriguez, filled with nail-biting developments, shocking twists, and more than a few Easter eggs (as per usual). So let’s strap on our jetpacks and dive in. Again, it goes without saying that there are some major, major spoilers ahead. You must b...
Hollywood Will Never Stop Loving the Music Biopic
This past week saw the release of Stardust, a biopic about David Bowie’s first trip to the United States. If you’ve seen any piece of media related to the film, you probably know that the movie was received poorly — to say the least. This isn’t surprising, though. When the film’s first trailer dropped months ago, the film was immediately scorched online for being a very blatant and very poorly executed attempt to piggyback off the recent success of other musical biopics such as 2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody and last year’s Rocketman. Whereas those two films at least had the wherewithal to secure the rights to their stars’ likeness and discography, Stardust opted out of either of those things. Even so, the film chugged along on the strength of its premise alone, but mostly because it’s a musical...
Who’s Ahsoka Tano? What’s Baby Yoda’s Real Name? The Mandalorian, Explained
The gift of the Thanksgiving gods smiles upon us this day, as we awaken from our turkey-and-stuffing-induced comas, slide over to Disney+, and find another episode of The Mandalorian awaiting us, “The Jedi”. Finally, after half a season of standalone adventures, we finally make some progress in Din Djarin’s (Pedro Pascal) mission to bring Baby Yoda back to his people, the Jedi. Along the way, we meet yet another old friend from the animated shows, an even older friend from ’80s genre classics, and learn perhaps a bit too much about Mando’s adorable young charge. Let’s go over everything we learned, and a few things non-animated show watchers might not know about this week’s special guest. Of course, it goes without saying that there are some major, major spoilers ahead. You must be ca...
