Father John Misty: Fear Fun

Father John Misty’s secret weapon: Dimitri Drjuchin’s bright, mystical eye candy

This content appears in ALARM #40. Subscribe here to get your copy!

Born in Moscow, NYC-based painter and illustrator Dimitri Drjuchin creates bright, mystical eye candy that reads like a riddle. You may recognize his surrealist work from gig posters for comics Marc Maron, Jim Gaffigan, Eugene Mirman, and Hannibal Buress — or, more recently, you might have spotted his mind-bending cover for Fear Fun, the debut album from Father John Misty.

Converge’s Jacob Bannon in “Rungs in a Ladder”: “I’m not ready to find that peace yet”

Converge: All We Love We Leave BehindConverge: All We Love We Leave Behind (Epitaph, 10/9/12)

Vocalist Jacob Bannon, frontman of Converge, balances a career of music, fine art, and business. His raw vocals belie a depth, beyond the bleeding paint and canvas of tattoos, explored in the short documentary “Rungs in a Ladder.”

A twelve-minute meditation on life, meaning, and intention, “Rungs in a Ladder” is an eloquent creative manifesto — the musings of someone fighting insecurity, staying active, and dealing with being out in the open when he really just wanted to “be a bass player or a drummer…to be completely anonymous.”

Check out “Rungs in a Ladder,” directed by Ian McFarland.

Inside Llewyn Davis

Watch the Coen brothers’ trailer for Inside Llewyn Davis, an ode to 1960s American folk

Filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen have always used music effectively in their films, with 2000’s Oh Brother, Where Are Thou? arguably responsible for a resurgence of interest in bluegrass. It’s unsurprising then, that for their next film, Inside Llewyn Davis, they’ve chosen to chronicle the life of fictional singer-songwriter, Llewyn Davis, loosely based on Dave Van Ronk.

Kurt Braunohler

Funny Shit: Kurt Braunohler on his anti-game show, Bunk

This interview appears in ALARM #40. Subscribe here to get your copy!

Editor’s note: Since this interview was conducted, IFC canceled Bunk.

Kurt Braunohler looks like the enthusiastic dad next door teetering on the edge of sanity. And it’s all intentional — he wants to creep you out. His is the deranged humor reminiscent of long-time comedy partner Kristen Schaal, and in a blink, normalcy segues to unhinged comic surprises.

This summer, Braunohler launched an anti-game show on IFC called Bunk, where fellow comedians compete in inane challenges to win…nothing, essentially. But with categories such as “Shame That Puppy,” “Lie to a Child,” “Dong Swap,” and “Who Can Slap Gabe the Hardest?” you’ll wish that you could compete for an alien probing too.

Andrew Schoultz: Fall Out

Exploding flags, Persian miniatures, and slave ships: Artist Andrew Schoultz’s Fall Out

Artist Andrew Schoultz has an idea of America. And it isn’t one you’ve seen before.

Inspired heavily by “German map-making from the 14th Century and Persian and Indian miniatures,” Schoultz’s work is a clash of collage, mixed media, and imperialistic intrigue; gilt-leaf drips down American flags and exploding brick walls are overrun by all-seeing eyes and stamping horses. It’s a whimsical, disturbing amalgamation of the modern and historical, captured in a time capsule for an era that hasn’t happened yet.

Check out some of the pieces below, and if you’re in Culver City, CA, head over to the Mark Moore Gallery to see Fall Out, up through February 9, 2013.

Doug Stanhope on subversive comedy, NFL aesthetics, and music snobbery

This content appears in the iPad-exclusive ALARM 39. Download it for free and subscribe to our new print edition.

Doug Stanhope: Before Turning the Gun on HimselfDoug Stanhope: Before Turning the Gun on Himself… (Roadrunner, 3/6/12)

Few comedians are as inspired by sociologist James Loewen as by abortion jokes. But Doug Stanhope, in case you haven’t noticed, isn’t your everyday comic. Yes, most of a set might be devoted to Japanese nether regions, odorous urine, and ripping on Dr. Drew. Underneath the sophomoric exterior, however, is an educated everyman: someone as taken with the hacktivist group Anonymous as with football-jersey aesthetics.

Following the release of his second album for the Roadrunner Comedy imprint, titled Before Turning the Gun on Himself…, we caught up with Stanhope during a massive UK tour — including a stop in Wolverhampton, ranked fifth on Lonely Planet’s “Cities You Really Hate.”

Hive mind: Ex-Battles looper Tyondai Braxton does the Guggenheim

Tyondai BraxtonTyondai Braxton is not one to let the grass grow under his feet. The former Battles loop guru / singer has worked with Philip Glass, performed his 2009 record Central Market with orchestras worldwide, and has written commission pieces for artists including Kronos Quartet and Bang on a Can All-Stars.

Now Braxton is taking over the Guggenheim. His new piece, Hive, which is part art installation / part music performance, will have its world premiere on March 21 in New York.

Britny Jo

Living the Thugxwife with tattooed Tumblr ceweb Britny Jo

“It began with my mantra: I’m a weed-smoking white girl, and I really fucking like being naked.”

Clearly, photo blogger Britny Jo knows the recipe for success. The 26-year-old Canadian turned LA transplant has amassed more than 100,000 Tumblr and Instagram followers in only four months, due in no small part to the second half of that mantra.