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This Is Our Jam: YACHT “Utopia” / “Dystopia (The Earth Is On Fire)”

YACHT— Shangri-La "Utopia” / “Dystopia (The Earth Is On Fire)"

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Utopia/Dystopia: An Interview with YACHT’s Claire Evans

Jeremy adams.

Photo by Jona Bechtolt

RAIL: YACHT’s most recent LP, Shangri-La , came out in 2011. I know both you and Jona have multiple projects going on, but can we expect a new album sometime soon?

EVANS:  We’re working on new music, but it hasn’t formed into a cohesive album yet. To be honest, as self-navigating, digital-breathing weirdos who like to release work into the aether as soon as it’s finished, to be viewed, shared, and remixed by the greater public, we’re a little bit disillusioned with the “album” as a form—namely the ponderous pace of its production. Jona and I are always looking for a way to inject life into the system.

We’ve been having so much fun recently with eccentric digital releases. We just released a single called “Party at the NSA,” which is a satirical protest song about unwarranted government surveillance, and put it up ourselves online. All the profits from the single are going to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit that litigates on behalf of the public interest against corporations and the NSA. It was a hugely refreshing project, to be totally in control of the presentation and distribution of the song, and to get the immediate satisfaction of the Internet. But of course, that’s a trade-off: the attention span of the web is ephemeral, and something like an album has lasting presence, still, for whatever reason.

RAIL: The band has been releasing music through DFA Records since around 2008. What has your experience at the label been like? How would you describe the environment?

EVANS:  In brief, total freedom. As a label, DFA is really suited for a certain kind of artist: control-freaky independent producers for whom autonomy is crucial. We work in a Southern Californian vacuum, submit our productions to label head Jon Galkin’s terrifyingly impeccable ear, and we draw lots of inspiration from the community of DFA artists who are consistently committed to making really interesting music.

RAIL: On that note, are there any bands—both from your label and elsewhere—that you’re looking forward to checking out at III Points, or would simply recommend to audiences?

EVANS: The III Points lineup is really exciting. We’re especially looking forward to seeing our labelmates and friends—James Murphy [DFA Records’ co-founder, formerly of LCD Soundsystem] and The Juan Maclean. It’s quite rare that DFA artists get the opportunity to gather together. We’re all such autonomous operators.

RAIL: You’ve worked creatively in the music and art fields, and much of your writing deals with our ever-increasing dependence on technology (for better or worse). III Points seeks to combine these three media: music, art, and tech. Is this kind of synergy possible? Can these fields overlap and interact harmoniously? If so, where?

EVANS:  Technology is just a tool. The hammer, the camera, the wheel: these were all just tools, too. How we use them is up to us. On some level, I think it’s my life’s work to find ways to leverage the power of the particular technologies dominating the landscape of modern life—which is to say networked communications, media interfaces, and software—to ask interesting questions.

Anyway, the synergy of music, art, and technology is not only possible, it’s happening everywhere all the time. It just depends on your definition of art. Bands now have to be artful in their use of technology, both in the creative process and in the more complex process of sharing and articulating their work in the public sphere. As do artists, and, as it turns out—literally everyone on the social web, managing, for better or worse, their personal brands. This is the Wild West of identity.

RAIL: What are your impressions of Miami so far, both in general and of the Wynwood Arts District in particular?

EVANS:  I love Miami. There’s no other place like it. Coming from Los Angeles, it feels like an exploded, perverse, joyful, baffling sister city. When I was last in town—for the opening of my solo show, High Frontiers , at Gallery Diet in Wynwood—I couldn’t get enough of the light and shadows everywhere. There’s something about how the tropical sun hits the architecture in Miami. The shadows are insanely dimensional.

RAIL: In 2008, you created a short film about hyperspace with artist Mike Merrill called “OK TO GO,” which is a reference to Carl Sagan’s book Contact . Like Sagan, do you believe in extraterrestrial life?

EVANS:  Yes, absolutely. The history of science is a series of demotions. We used to believe that we were the perfect center of the solar system; now we know we’re on the cold edge of an inconsequential galaxy, one of billions and billions, isolated by incomprehensible stretches of interstellar space from the rest of the universe. We used to believe we were made by God to rule the Earth. Now we know our life is just a consequence of squicky biological randomness. Even the self, the sense of “I” we hold onto so dearly, is a lesser fraction of the brain’s daily operations. As a rule of thumb, I believe that any sense of specialness we have, as a species, is destined to be proven wrong—and tremendously at that. Believing in extraterrestrial life isn’t a “woo-woo” thing; it’s a question of probability, humility, and awareness that the universe is far weirder than we have the tools to comprehend.

RAIL: If aliens did exist, where do you think they’d hang out in South Florida?

EVANS:  Are you kidding? They’re probably already camped out at Coral Castle right now.

RAIL: Some science fiction—and contemporary art—can be decidedly bleak. But the message that often comes through in YACHT’s music, especially from songs like “Utopia,” is one of positivity and self-empowerment. With all of your knowledge of music, art, science, and technology, do you think things are looking up?

EVANS:  There’s a difference between what I think intellectually and what I hope to promote creatively. It’s difficult to look at the facts, to sense the world, and come away with much optimism about even the most basic, pragmatic aspects of our future on Earth. Will we have enough water? Will the poor be taken care of? Will religion ever loosen its death grip on the delicate weirdness of human life? Will we stop plundering our own planet into oblivion? Can we ensure a basic quality of life for more than just a select few?

And yet—there’s no use in propagating cynicism through art. There will always be illuminated people, great ideas, love, music, and pockets of strangeness in the world. We should celebrate the good.

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YACHT – Utopia / Dystopia (The Earth is on Fire)

“utopia” and “dystopia (the earth is on fire)” were filmed in los angeles, california, at mad.

“Utopia” and “Dystopia (The Earth is on Fire)” were filmed in Los Angeles, California, at Mad Dog Video. They were conceived & directed by Rene Daalder, and edited by Aaron Ohlmann. The special effects were animated and composited by visual artist Pascual Sisto, and the geodesic grid animation at the end of Utopia was created by Michael Young. John Allen was the director of photography, with additional camera by Gabriel Noguez, while Josh Pangell acted as key grip. J. Scott Teeples was the Art Director. Icarus designed the sets, and Benjamin Ralston dressed them. Props were provided by Michael Sehnert. The inimitable Megan May Daalder was the production assistant and psychedelic mascot. Marissa Micik catered. All of this was produced by Rene Daalder & Aaron Ohlmann. Shangri La is currently out now!

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A little bit arty, a little bit metrosexual, Yacht have been round in some form or other for nearly a decade, so while their aesthetic might seem achingly hip and oh-so-now, it helps to remember that they’ve been doing it longer than most. Centred around the core duo of Jona Bechtolot and Claire Evans (Evans joining Brechtolot in what was previously a solo act in 2008), their live show expands the ranks to become a fuller five piece band.

Although having released albums on smaller independent labels in the past, Yacht are now part of the DFA stable, and fit very neatly into that label’s bracket of electronic rock, wearing those particular disco-meets-punk and electronica influences on their sleeve. Their recent live shows have seen them cover both the B-52’s “Mesopotamia” and Judas Priest’s “Breaking The Law” both of which make sense for different reasons. I gotta admit that I was not much of a fan of Yacht in the past, but this new album has taken me by surprise. It’s pretty damn good, and contains a few really cracking tunes, such as “Love In The Dark”, “Beam Me Up” and “Tripped And Fell In Love”. 

Worthy of particular mention though are the album’s two opening tracks, “Utopia” and “Dystopia (The Earth Is On Fire)”, which lay out Shangri-La ‘s themes of dualism from the get go. Although they are two separate tracks, they have been both comped into one video, which is quite the novel idea and makes me wonder if it has been done before? Either way the video is great and definitely worth a watch - it may be cheap but it is very well done. However, if you are not a fan of triangles, you might want to look away…

Yacht - “Utopia” / “Dystopia (The Earth Is On Fire)”  

  Yacht - “Love In The Dark”  

  Yacht - “Tripped And Fell in Love”  

  Shangri-La is available to buy here .

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Utopia or dystopia? In these books, it’s complicated.

For a while, it seemed as if the only stories anyone wanted to tell were dystopian, but as our own world has grown increasingly grim, people seem a bit tired of dreadful worlds full of misery. “Where are the utopian stories?” I often hear people ask. But as five new books show, utopia is always in the eye of the beholder, and paradise is a messy business at best.

Take “ More Perfect ” by Temi Oh, a feverishly inventive novel set in a world that sounds ideal. Almost everyone has a brain implant connected to the internet, so nobody ever needs to be alone and people can even share memories, which contributes to a society with almost no crime. But a young hacker, Orpheus, realizes that the government is feeding him “patriotic,” saccharine dreams of a family he never had. And the police are arresting innocent people for illegal acts that an algorithm predicts they’ll commit.

Every time you think you know where “More Perfect” is heading, Oh makes you guess again. She expertly shows why people love being endlessly connected and how our technology can heal us, while slowly revealing the downside. Through it all, she finds time for a haunting love story and an exploration of trauma. The ending doesn’t entirely make sense, and the journey of the too-aptly named Orpheus has overtones of Greek mythology that feel unnecessary. But all in all, “More Perfect” is nearly perfect.

“ The Great Transition ” by Nick Fuller Googins appears more straightforwardly utopian. In the near-future setting of Googins’s novel, humans have averted the worst of climate change, reached net-zero carbon emissions and transformed half the globe into a nature preserve. But the struggle to save the planet has left scars, both physical and psychological, on everyone. Teenage Emi is torn between a father who’s keen to move forward and a mother, Kristina, who dwells on the hardships of the past and is convinced that those who broke the Earth will try to start over. After Kristina goes missing, Emi finds herself caught in a war that never ended.

Googins writes inspiring, vivid depictions of people putting aside their differences as they work to restore damaged habitats and put out massive forest fires in the novel’s past. But “The Great Transition” shines especially in its nuanced exploration of generational trauma and denial.

Speaking of kids, children’s television shows are a special kind of utopia, where the young can safely daydream and create their own worlds. Kiersten White’s latest novel, “ Mister Magic ,” tells the story of a long-canceled TV show whose former child stars are reuniting as adults for a bizarre podcast.

Trust White, a master of complicated darkness, to find the creepy underbelly of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” — or, at least, a fictional program very much like it. From the start, it’s obvious something terrible happened to the kids who appeared on the show. But White still conveys how alluring its fantasy world was and how happy the former participants believe they were. She summons up the candy-colored nostalgia that so many of us feel for our childhood entertainment, even as she demonstrates how hard it is to grow up and face the ugly truths that shadowed our younger years.

“ The Water Outlaws ” by S.L. Huang is an addictive action-adventure novel and one of the most straightforwardly utopian books in ages. In this feminist retelling of the famous Chinese novel “ Water Margin ” (which dates to the middle of the last millennium), a female-led bandit community fights for justice and steals from corrupt officials. Lin, a martial arts instructor who is dishonored and imprisoned after she rebuffs a powerful official’s advances, finds herself living in a rebel outpost she slowly comes to defend with her very life in the face of an ultimate weapon created by her former best friend.

Huang has worked as a Hollywood stuntwoman, so it’s no surprise that her action scenes rock. But “The Water Outlaws” also features a small army of memorable characters whose sisterhood (and occasionally brotherhood) is both highly spiritual and believably coarse. In the conflict between bandits and officials, both sides believe they’re building an ideal world, and Huang’s sensitive exploration of the conflict between law and justice is as exciting as the most spectacular airborne kick.

Everyone has their own definition of utopia, but one key aspect must be collaboration in the name of the common good. That’s why “ Thornhedge ,” a novella by T. Kingfisher, is refreshing. In this “Sleeping Beauty” retelling, the slumbering princess is not what she seems, and she’s guarded by a diminutive girl named Toadling, who will do anything to keep her from awakening. When a knight named Halim arrives to break the curse and free the princess, you expect bloody conflict. Instead, you get … friendship.

“Thornhedge” is a true comfort read, in which gentleness endures despite outrageous cruelty. Kingfisher is not afraid to twist the knife, showing the sacrifices Toadling has made and the ill treatment she’s suffered, but the story keeps coming back to kindness — which could be the best possible antidote to dystopia.

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Magnify Boards Neo Sora’s Venice-Bound Japanese Dystopian Film ‘Happyend’ (EXCLUSIVE)

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Magnify has acquired global and U.S. sales rights to Neo Sora ’s near-futuristic film “Happyend” ahead of its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival . The movie will play in the Horizons section and is being handled by Magnify outside of Japan and Singapore.

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“Happyend” was produced by Albert Tholen and Aiko Masubuchi at Zakkubalan; Eric Nyari (“Black Box Diaries”) of Cineric Creative; Alex C. Lo (“The Settlers”) at Cinema Inutile; and Anthony Chen (“The Breaking Ice”) at Giraffe Pictures. Executive producers are Kaoru Hayashi, Douglas Choi, Robina Riccitiello, and Ema Ryan Yamazaki. The key crew includes cinematographer Bill Kirstein (“Mean Girls”), editor Albert Tholen, composer Lia Ouyang Rusli. Leading Japanese distributor Bitters End, which previously handled “Parasite” and “Drive My Car,” will be distributing in Japan theatrically starting Oct. 5.

“In Tokyo-set ‘Happyend,’ Neo captured a unique and surreal portrait of modern youth navigating earthquakes, mass surveillance, and friendship within a changing world,” said Magnify SVP of global sales Lorna Lee Torres. “We are thrilled to champion this bold, artistic, and timely vision addressing existential questions that take on a new urgency, which we believe will deeply resonate with a global audience,” she continued.

The movie stars newcomers Hayato Kurihara and Yukito Hidaka, alongside distinguished veterans Ayumu Nakajima, Makiko Watanabe (“37 Seconds”) and Shiro Sano (“Godzilla 2000”).      

“Happyend” joins Magnify’s lineup, which includes Cannes Director´s Fortnight selection “Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point” directed by Tyler Taormina, which sold to IFC for North America; Taiwanese fencing thriller “Pierce” that took home best director for Nelicia Low at Karlovy Vary, among others.

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Leninsky District, Moscow Oblast

Leninsky District is an administrative and municipal district, one of the thirty-six in Moscow Oblast, Russia. It is located in the center of the oblast just south of the federal city of Moscow. The area of the district is 202.83 square kilometers. Its administrative center is the town of Vidnoye. Population: 172,171; 145,251; 74,490. The population of Vidnoye accounts for 33.0% of the district's total population.

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Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leninsky_District,_Moscow_Oblast

Coordinates 55°33'25.739" N 37°42'31.371" E

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'Concrete Utopia' Review: Forget 'Squid Game: The Challenge,' This Is the Thriller to See

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The Big Picture

• Concrete Utopia , directed by Um Tae-hwa, is a compelling work of dystopian cinema that explores the capacity for violence in humanity.
• The film delves into themes of interpersonal and socioeconomic struggles amidst the spectacle of the end of the world, creating a layered and thought-provoking narrative.
• With great production design, compelling performances, and a dark sense of humor, Concrete Utopia is an honest portrayal of a broken world.

When Concrete Utopia , the latest from South Korean director Um Tae-hwa , was one of the films to show at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival , it was a work I put as one of my most anticipated of the entire event . Where many others on that list proved to be just okay despite commanding performances , this one that the director co-wrote with Lee Shin-ji feels like it was more than worthy to have gotten that spot looking back on it all these months later. With great production design, compelling performances all around, and a sufficiently layered script, it asks more soaring questions about humanity's capacity for violence when pushed to the brink just as it builds its broken world from the ground up.

Concrete Utopia

Survivors from a massive earthquake struggle for a new life in Seoul.

Now that it's getting a wider theatrical release, South Korea’s Oscar submission feels like a sturdy gem of the season that shouldn’t be slept on even as it could far too easily be. Instead of watching a poor imitation of a South Korean filmmaker like Squid Game: The Challenge that jettisons all the narrative and thematic interests from the work it is drawing from, anyone would be better served with a film like Concrete Utopia. Not only is it an often thrilling work of dystopian cinema, but it also effectively explores a more classically sinister story of interpersonal and socioeconomic struggles amidst the spectacle of the end of the world.

What Is 'Concrete Utopia' About?

Set in Seoul, the film throws us into the aftermath of a massive earthquake that has decimated everything as far as the eye can see. Every building has collapsed, and it seems like there is little hope left for humanity to survive this disaster. That is, except for the Hwang Gung Apartments. Where everything else has fallen, it has somehow remained standing. Things are still incredibly dire, with the reality of limited food and resources looming over everything, though the residents soon begin to create a life for themselves. All of this is captured in simple scenes that still pack a bunch with one particular use of montage, eliciting a grim chuckle. The thematic core to it is that this world is soon built on the suffering of others. Firstly, it involves kicking out anyone who is not a resident, which is already a flimsy designation from the start and only becomes even more pointedly meaningless throughout the film. They get sent out into the world, seemingly dooming them to death, while the “residents” stay behind and live in relative safety by comparison. However, it is soon apparent that not everything is what it seems in the community and their desperate attempts at salvation might be built upon a deception that calls the whole thing into question .

In many regards, Concrete Utopia feels it would make a great double feature with this year’s hilarious and horrifying paranoia-filled satire We Might As Well Be Dead . Both are built around people living in an apartment building that is supposedly the last refuge out there and the way the residents can quickly turn on anyone else, including each other, out of fear. Most critically, neither let their characters off the hook for this as much as it sets out to understand them. The speed with which violence and persecution can take hold of their minds serves as the point. In this film’s eyes, humanity is always on the edge of such a descent.

There is also a darker humor to both films that, while more sharply focused in We Might As Well be Dead , also rears its head at key moments here. In one of the early massive confrontations outside the apartment where residents try to evict people who “don’t belong there” with them, which goes about as poorly as one could expect, there is something darkly absurd about how everything falls apart with people scrambling in the chaos. When the dust settles, this only makes it all the more terrifying to see it give rise to a leader in Yeong-tak, played with increasingly quiet menace by Lee Byung-hun , who is clearly not the best person for their community and everyone else’s long-term survival. It all cuts a bit deeper while remaining what could be best called a crowd-pleaser. Nobody likes to believe they would place their faith in a fascist dictator, but this film lays out all too clearly how alluring this can be.

In the End, 'Concrete Utopia' Is Both Honest And Optimistic

As the film becomes about the conflict between a handful of key characters, it takes on the machinations and trappings of a psychological thriller surrounding a mystery of sorts that we already know the answer to . What grounds it is the couple of Min-sung ( Park Seo-joon ) and Myung-hwa ( Park Bo-young ) who find themselves occasionally on opposite ends of the situation while still deeply caring about each other. As they must either decide to work alongside Yeong-tak or confront him before charting a potential new way forward, the film navigates that push and pull between their two perspectives. We begin to increasingly see how half of the duo is deluding themselves and the other is beginning to drift away as a result.

The dehumanization that leads to violence can poison any society because people are often fearful and, while they will also pay dearly for their fears when things inevitably collapse on them as well, it is everyone else who must bear the cost. There is a slimmer of hope that it finds in the rubble of this broken world that, much like our own, is often made worse by those living in it, making it all the more valuable to cling to when all else has been lost.

Rating: 8/10

Concrete Utopia is playing in select theaters in the U.S. starting December 8.

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