At the beginning of the calendar year, it’s hard to find any music and movies to review, especially with Moab’s movie availability. With that being said, I started writing here at the Sun at the tail-end of the year, thus missing lots of interesting art. So here’s another attempt at capturing a little more of the coolest stuff I’d seen and listened to last year.
“Mercy” by Armand Hammer & The Alchemist
The Alchemist is a hip-hop producer who has been on an insane roll for a while, bringing interesting drum loops and samples to another level. This 2025 collaboration with the art-rap duo Armand Hammer, which consists of rappers billy woods and ELUCID, from D.C. and NYC respectively. They are most famous for their intricately vivid wordplay and flow, like a Lupe Fiasco on acid. The whole album feels like some sort of archaeological dig through the methodologies and histories of avant-garde rap, to create a twisted summary of their experiences behind a backdrop of labyrinthine beats. For a trippy, high-level rap listen, I recommend “Mercy” by Armand Hammer and The Alchemist.
The Smashing Machine
In my last piece, I talked about Josh Safdie’s “Marty Supreme,” a movie that came out of a creative split between the Safdie brothers. So what about the other side of the brotherhood? An emotional sports drama with the opposite angle of Josh’s picture, that’s what. Dwayne Johnson portrays the real life story of mixed martial artist Mark Kerr and his struggles with addiction and fame, with a great supporting cast that builds out the intoxicating world of people professionally hurting each other.
Benny Safdie takes the emotion he put in previous projects with his brother and now fully leans into the introspection that’s been brushed up on in “Good Time.” To get something that takes an auteur-styled approach to the classically emotional sports drama, I recommend “The Smashing Machine,” which is available to rent and soon available to stream at the time of writing.
“Who is the Sky?” by David Byrne
There’s good downer art, but good stuff can also be super joyful, believe it or not. That’s what David Byrne captured this year, working with the Ghost Train Orchestra to bring a playful air to our pretty upsetting modern era. It’s a blend of everything Byrne has been thinking about for the last twenty years of his career, with bright energy blasted through like a slide in a projector. The main thesis of this album though is just to simply stay playful, and that it very much does, with Rube Goldberg-esque sounds throughout. If you want a teacup of cheer in a river of sorrow, I recommend “Who Is The Sky?” by David Byrne.
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