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We here at WildKat will be recommending 5 items that we have found inspiring, educational or enjoyable recently. Every Monday, a member of WildKat will recommend an Album, a Livestream or Concert, and three other items that mean something to them. We will also be including links to everything in their descriptions below. Be sure to check back each week as we will be sharing a new list of recommendations!
This week, we have our US Senior PR Manager Hannah Goldshlack-Wolf sharing her recommendations!
Album
DAMN. – Kendrick Lamar
‘I’ve been listening to this album since it was released, but I’ve had it on heavy rotation in recent months. This is one of those albums that gets better every time I hear it. Each song works on its own, but the album also flows together as a whole entity the same way a song cycle of Schubert or Schumann does. The words, the production, the melodies, and Kendrick’s performance are all unbelievably nuanced and speak to the African-American experience (which I will never fully understand but which I’ll never stop learning about) in a beautiful, biting, honest, elegant way. This album was released in 2017, but it is more relevant now than ever. ‘
Livestream
Metropolis Ensemble’s House Music
‘Twice a week, Metropolis Ensemble releases a really short solo concert by one of its members who performs newly commissioned, classical, or contemporary pieces. I also read that all composers and performers are paid for their work, which is so important right now while live performances are being put on indefinite hold. Everything I’ve seen from them is ridiculously cool!’
Book
The Overstory by Richard Powers
‘There have been maybe a handful of books that I’ve read in my lifetime in which I cried on the last page because I didn’t want it to end, and this is one of them. Richard Powers is an astonishing writer and story-teller – no easy feat to be so adept at both – and it aligned with my quarantine experience in a unique way. The Overstory uses trees to connect the stories of several individuals who have a deep kinship for flora. I live in Queens, NY, and since the lockdown happened in early spring, I’ve had the opportunity to notice, for the first time in my ten years living here, the incredible biodiversity of this region on my daily walks with my one-year-old son. He loves to be lifted out of his stroller to look closely at the different kinds of bark, leaves, and branches, and then we look them up to find out the tree’s variety and learn a little about it. It’s our own vignette in The Overstory, in a way.’
Buy The Overstory on Amazon.com
Movie
Midsommer
‘I’m a sucker for the horror genre, and while I could argue that it’s because effective horror requires an incredibly skilled filmmaker, really, I just love having the bejesus scared out of me for whatever twisted reason. Midsommer is probably the last great horror movie I’ve seen. It’s a slow burn, and then it smoulders. It’s remarkably well made, yes. And it scared the bejesus out of me.’
Website
goodonyou.eco
Sitting around at home for months on end means almost all my shopping is now done online. Lately, I have been wondering about how ethical, or not, my go-to retailers are, and goodonyou.eco is a wealth of information on thousands of international clothing brands, addressing a company’s climate impact, treatment of factory workers, and animal welfare policies. It’s also a great resource for finding lists of black-owned businesses, brands which support good causes, brands which are finding innovative ways to be good citizens during the crisis, and a lot more. This website has definitely made me re-evaluate the way I shop…and I’ve found a lot of great items as well!’