Rather than slogging through a lake of reviews to find something you’re just going to put down after 30 minutes, Cult of Mac has once again waded through the iTunes store to compile a list of the best new movies, albums and books to come out this week.
Enjoy!
Best Albums
Patterns – Waking Lines
Patterns broke into the British music scene in late 2011 thanks to their brokenhearted single Induction but rather than quickly releasing their debut album the group has been slowly crafting one of the best albums we’ve heard all year. Maybe that’s not saying much seeing how it’s early January, but the band’s theme’s of late-night hallucinations and dream states are filled with chilly/wavy sounds that remind me a lot of Youth Lagoon.
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – Wig Out At Jagbags
The new year has only just begun, meaning most artists are still waiting til the holiday season settles before releasing new tunes, but Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks released the first album to really get me excited with their sixth effort – Wig Out At Jagbags. If you’ve been hungry for a solid new alternative album filled beautiful guitar riffs, tonal shifts and a stream of witty lyrics, snap this up.
John Newman – Tribute
I’m not going to lie, when I quickly glanced at this album title, my CES-addled brain thought it was a musical tribute to Paul Newman. It’s not. Then I saw John Newman play his single Love Me Again on Jimmy Fallon and, holy moley, this dude can sing and perform like no other. The album has been out in the U.K. since October, but U.S. listeners can finally grab it from iTunes this week.
Best Books
Why I Read: The Serious Pleasure of Books
by Wendy Lesser
Reading more is one of the most popular New Years Resolutions which makes Wendy’s Lesser’s book, Why I Read, so timely and the perfect book to motivate you to read more. Wendy Lesser explores literature in all forms – plays, poems, essays, and more – as she examines the works from perspectives like “Character and Plot,” “Novelty,” “Grandeur and Intimacy,” and “Authority.” If this book doesn’t spark your desire to read you might as well give it up entirely.
iTunes – $11.99
The Secret History of Las Vegas
by Chris Abani
I just spent the last five days slogging through the horrors that CES has to offer in Vegas this year, but unfortunately I never had time to actually explore the city. Chris Abani’s book takes readers on a crazy ride through Sin City as Las Vegas detective Salazar is determined to solve a recent string of murders in this offbeat crime novel packed with explosive prose.
iTunes – $9.99
Belle Cora
by Phillip Margulies
Belle Cora is loosely based on the life of a 19th-century prostitute of the same name. It’s written as a two-part memoir by one of San Francisco’s wealthiest old women who inherits a fortune from her deceased husband. The book travels through the heroine’s story of her rise and fall, from living on a farm, working in mills to eventually bumping shoulders with the elite of New York before being drawn to California in the gold rush.
iTunes – $9.99
Best Movies
Blue Jasmine
Woody Allen is old. He’s made tons of movies. Like 71 total. You’d think by now he’d just start sucking harder than a Hoover vacuum, but Blue Jasmine is proof that the 78-year-old director from Brooklyn has no plans of slowing down with this excellent tale starring Cate Blanchett as a troubled New York socialite looking for a fresh start in San Francisco.
Inequality For All
The widening income gap between the mega-wealthy and all the rest of us is starting to become the hot button topic in politics as the U.S. barrels toward mid-term elections this year. Former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich takes the issue head-on in his new documentary Inequality For All as he looks to raise awareness of the country’s widening economic gap and the consequences it will have on democracy itself.
Bad Grandpa Uncut
Johnny Knoxville and the Jackass crew have been making me laugh since I was in high school. You’d think their inappropriate stunt humor would be stale by now, but Johnny’s managed to mix it up just enough with some new twists by suiting up in his grandpa costume to take on the persona of 86-year-old Irving Zisman who takes a trip from Nebraska to North Carolina to take his 8-year-old grandson, Billy, back to his father.
