Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Disney/Mike Judge (King of the hill); Disney/Sarah Shatz (Furious); Dusan MartinceK/Prime Video (Ride or Die); Colin Remas Brown/HBO Max (Stuart Fails to Save the Universe); BET/Paramount+ (Diarra From Detroit); Everett (Snake eyes)
Music1. Listen toMusic, Fashion, FilmNever gonna stop.Atlantic Records, July 24.Longtime fans of Charli XCX know you cannot get her to commit to any particular bit much longer than a year, so it should come as little surprise that the architect of Brat is not here for a rerun. Early tastes of the follow-up tilt toward the pop-rock panache of 2014’s Sucker but also the self-deprecating smirk of The Moment,her Brat tour fever dream of a mockumentary
TV2. WatchFuriousIt’s killer.Hulu, July 27.Liz Meriwether created a millennial-defining sitcom (New Girl), a life-affirming death comedy (Dying for Sex), and a biotech-eviscerating limited series (The Dropout). Next up, a drama about an FBI agent (Emmy Rossum) chasing a female serial killer (Lola Petticrew); of course, the two have more in common than they think. In nearly every other way, the exceptionally written and acted show will keep you guessing
Books3. Go toNew York City Poetry FestivalThey’ve got rhythm.Governors Island, July 18 and 19.New York’s poets have gone underground; you’ll find them reading in bathhouses, nightclubs, dive bars, and their friends’ apartments. For a change, this festival — basically Lollapalooza of words — offers two days of (free!) en plein air performance on an island. Institutions like the Nuyorican Poets Cafe appear alongside young writers and poet royalty
Opera4. SeeCosì Fan TutteandThe TempestArioso for the people.La MaMa, July 16 through 19.Opera can range in scale from pocket performance to arena spectacle, but even on the miniature end of the spectrum, ambitions and standards run high. That’s the case for Teatro Grattacielo’s new season, which has Mozart’s Così Fan Tutte alternating with Joseph Summer’s musical interpretation of Shakespeare’s The Tempest
Comedy5. SeeBroad StrokesSing your heart out.Lucille Lortel Theatre, July 14 through September 5.If you’re familiar with the world of cabaret-adjacent New York alt-comedy, you may already think of Cat Cohen as one of the most famous people in the world. If not, let her introduce herself! Cohen’s self-deprecating act influenced everyone from Rachel Sennott to Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. Here, she gets a showcase in the form of a solo performance built around the story of “a stroke at 30 caused by a literal hole in her heart.” —Jackson McHenry
Comedy6. SeeDukesA deadpan double act.Soho Playhouse, through August 2.Speaking of people influenced by Cat Cohen: Jane Wickline, who regularly baffles some SNL viewers with her deadpan piano playing, and Liva Pierce, a comedian known for their manic musical-theater-inflected TikToks. They share a certain throwback showbiz sensibility; now, they’ve put together a double act “about desire, lust, and dreams.”
TV7. WatchKing of the Hill Season 15Long live Ladybird.Hulu, July 20.Having situated the Hills in modernity with last season’s revival, the animated sitcom jumps right back into the swing of things. Adult Bobby navigates his relationship with Connie and lands a spot on a reality cooking show, while Hank and Peggy continue to grapple with life as empty nesters — and maybe adopt a new dog
Movies8. SeeThe PianoComing unstrung.Lincoln Center, July 24 through 30.Holly Hunter and Harvey Keitel have one of movies’ great dark romances in this 1993 Palme d’Or winner as a mute Scotswoman sold into an arranged marriage in New Zealand and a retired sailor who attempts a seduction by using her piano as leverage. Jane Campion, you will always be famous!
Music9. Listen toEmotional JunglistHeartsick beats.HIJINXX/Island Records, July 24.The sophomore album from London-based musical multi-hyphenate Nia Archives connects her with Gorillaz, Fontaines DC, and Jessie Ware collaborator James Ford to deliver the heartsick breakbeat bangers promised in the album title
Art10. SeeJulian SchnabelBoth here and there.Pace Gallery, through August 14.Schnabel has always made paintings that are as much objects as images. Here, shattered plates become light, leaves, and atmosphere. Up close, the works threaten to dissolve into crockery and paint; from afar, they become majestic trees. Schnabel reminds us that figuration and abstraction are one material entity
TV11. WatchStuart Fails to Save the UniverseThey’re at it again.HBO Max, July 23.After Young SheldonandGeorge & Mandy’s First Marriage, you may feel like there’s no more juice left to squeeze from Big Bang Theory spinoffs. Incredibly, the producers are going back to themic-book guy Stuart Bloom has to undo the apocalypse
Books12. ReadRise AboveLife after death.Random House, July 21.On Christmas Eve 2021, writer (and former Vulture staffer) Matthew Schnipper and his wife endured an unbearable tragedy: the death of their 22-month-old son, Renzo. Half a decade later, Schnipper writes about living in the immediate aftermath. It’s a gorgeous memoir about grief, art, music, and existence taken a day at a time
Music13. Listen toBeardMidsummer is delivering.Free Lunch/Warner Records, July 17.Fans of the Odd Future–affiliated R&B-and-thereabouts act the Internet will perk up at the boon of new albums from former bandmates Steve Lacy and Syd on the same summer Friday. Syd’s third full-length one-ups her acclaimed 2022 album, Broken Hearts Club, diving deeper into throwback sounds at no cost to the bespoke feel of her early career highlights
Movies14. SeeSnake EyesAs part of a Brian De Palma series.Museum of the Moving Image, July 18.When it was released, this frantic, over-the-top De Palma thriller with Nicolas Cage as a flamboyantly corrupt Atlantic City detective who must solve an assassination at a boxing match was considered a dud. It’s now slowly (and correctly) becoming recognized as a near masterpiece
TV15. WatchRide or DieBecause we’re never getting aSpysequel.Prime Video, July 15.You can’t escape the opposite-attract trope, can you? Hannah Waddingham and Octa share a major secret: Judith’s an assassin. Once Debbie learns the truth about her friend and Judith messes up a job, the two go on the run across Europe
Books16. SeeGloria SteinemAhead of a forthcoming memoir.Minetta Lane Theatre, July 14 and July 16.In a 1970 column, Steinem, once a regular contributor to this magazine, spoke of the “frayed-nerve disease” of the city’s summer heat. Almost 60 years later, she will reflect on the chapters of her life, including her career in journalism, through the only medium she believes “can capture time present”: a live performance
Music17. SeeThe Ocean Etched in the ForestAn act of preservation.Alice Tully Hall, July 24.The Shanghai-born, New York–based, Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Du Yun draws from the deep well of Chinese folk culture, including children’s renditions of Jino folk songs, for an utterly cosmopolitan musical-theater work
Books18. ReadYellow PineBy the author ofGold Fame Citrus.Riverhead, July 21.Claire Vaye Watkins’s latest is an environmental novel through and through, taking place in a small Mojave Desert town that is vulnerable to predatory development precisely because of how off the grid it is. Rose, the book’s reclusive protagonist, reconnects with a boyfriend from deep in her past just as she and her neighbors begin a fight for an imperiled patch of land nearby
Theater19. SeeThe SaviorsChildren of God.Atlantic Theater Company, through August 8.Playwright Bubba Weiler and director Jack Serio, who collaborated on the gentle Americana grief drama Well, I’ll Let You Go,which just played a return engagement Off Broadway, reconvene for a new play about two altar boys whose church provides refuge to a “lost young man.”
Music20. Listen toOh yeah?More than the soundtrack to your scroll.RCA Records, July 17.The singles out so far from the third album by singer-songwriter and producer Steve Lacy suggest he’s easing off the catchiness of 2022’s chart-topper and TikTok smash “Bad Habit” in favor of softer, more soulful fare. That song showcased only a sliver of the creative breadth in Lacy’s sophomore effort, Gemini Rights.Oh yeah? should be a treat
TV21. WatchDiarra From Detroit Season TwoSnooping around.Paramount+, July 29.This crime comedy follows the titular school teacher–slash–amateur detective (Diarra -Kilpatrick) as she investigates another case that turns to be far more dangerous than anticipated. Kilpatrick also created and writes the series, which walks the line betweenVeronica Mars, Deli Boys,andRap Sh!tin a satisfying way
Classical22. HearChamber Music Society of Lincoln CenterPart of the Summer Evenings series.Alice Tully Hall, July 25.You may know Benjamin Franklin was the inventor of the glass armonica, but you might not be aware that he (purportedly) composed a string quartet — a rarity that even the website of the Franklin Institute describes as “well, odd.” The Calidore String Quartet uses it to open a wide-ranging concert that concludes with excerpts from Wynton Marsalis’s At the Octoroon Balls. —J.D.
Music23. Go toNu JazzExperimental composer Ohyung also performs.Nightclub 101, July 25.The city’s best current incarnation of the “Fuck you — anything goes” spirit of No Wave celebrates the release of their sophomore album. Fronted by the snarls and yowls of Deli Girls’ Dan Orlowski, and featuring trumpet, modular synths, and a punk-style rhythm section, this sextet marries free improvisation with screamo energy and a dubby sonic queerness
Art24. SeeJacopo PaginIt’s a mind-set.Long Story Short, through July 26.Luminous figures, strange objects, and shifting landscapes hover between memory and hallucination in these paintings. Every image seems on the verge of becoming something else. This artist doesn’t tell stories so much as summon states of mind
TV25. WatchPompeii: Out of TimeNarrated by Tom Hiddleston.National Geographic, July 22.You may assume that there are no more new stories to tell about Pompeii. But that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be cool to have Hiddleston describe what happened. Why does the guy who plays Loki, known for his ability to mess around with time travel, need to half-pretend he’s Loki while telling us about Pompeii? Maybe it’s just fun, okay?
- agenda
- new york magazine
25 Notable New Releases Over the Next Two Weeks
