Welcome to HNGN's biweekly top picks, where we gather the best and brightest releases in music, fashion, beauty, tech and pop culture. Come back every other week for more of-the-moment goodness. - Edited by Michael Lello.
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MUSIC
By Michael Lello
David Bowie: Blackstar (Columbia)
Shapeshifting icon David Bowie returns with an album that is wildly experimental even by his standards. On "Blackstar," which comes out Jan. 8 on Bowie's 69th birthday, genre barriers aren't just crossed, they're erased, with free jazz, hip-hop and other diverse flavors melting into one another.
Check out the video for the title track and first single from the album, complete with skittering drums and minor-key Middle Eastern melodies. It clocks in at a whopping nine minutes and 59 seconds (iTunes won't release a single that's longer than 10 minutes).
Rachel Platten: Wildfire (Columbia)
Last spring, Rachel Platten's pop anthem "Fight Song" rocketed up the Billboard charts and became ubiquitous in TV and movies. Now she's about to release "Wildfire," her third overall album but first since signing with Sony and the success of "Fight Song."
The video for the record's second single, the Katy Perry-esque "Stand By You," already has 5.5 million views since it was posted last month. Watch it below.
Busta Rhymes: The Return Of The Dragon: The Abstract Went On Vacation
Hip-hop mainstay Busta Rhymes has released a free mixtape featuring a star-studded cast of guests, including Raekown, Rick Ross, Mary J. Blige, Wiz Khalifa and Chance The Rapper. Also on board is Busta's old group, Leaders Of The New School, formed back in 1989.
Listen and download below.
Radiohead: Rejected Spectre theme
Radiohead revealed that it was asked to compose a theme for "Spectre," the latest James Bond film. While the movie's producers eventually went with a Sam Smith song instead, Radiohead was happy with its attempt and released the sweeping track as a Christmas gift to its fans last week.
Hear it here:
MOVIES
By Cal Setar
The Hateful Eight (The Weinstein Company)
A ruthless bounty hunter carries his precious cargo – fugitive-turned-captive Daisy Domergue – home to Red Rock. Only a harsh winter storm halts their travels and forces them to bed down for the night at Minnie's haberdashery, along with a handful of other unfamiliar, unsmiling faces. Set in post-Civil War Wyoming, this violent romp centers on the shelter-seeking crew as they face death, not from the cold outside world, but from inside Minnie's.
Daddy's Home (Paramount Pictures)
Brad Whitaker (Will Ferrell) is a nice guy who wants nothing more than for his stepchildren to call him Dad. But Whitaker's competition for the role of "Dad" is Dusty Maryon (Mark Wahlberg), the kid's transient papa and the coolest guy you ever knew. With Dusty suddenly back in the picture, Brad finds himself pulling out all the stops to keep Dusty from usurping his position as the head of the household.
Joy (Fox 2000 Pictures)
Jennifer Lawrence stars as the titular character, Joy Mangano, along with Robert De Niro and Bradley Cooper in this unbelievable true story of a family who built an empire on an invention called the Miracle Mop. Only that empire wasn't born out of love and trust. Instead, it was born out of necessity, fear and ambition. Through it all, Joy keeps what grip she can manage on her sanity, her family and her business through a powerful imagination and the certainty that she knows best.
Concussion (Columbia Pictures)
Marie Laskas' GQ article "Game Brain" is brought life in this drama centered on the potentially traumatic repercussions of a lifetime spent playing the game of football. Will Smith stars as Dr. Bennet Omalu, a Pittsburgh-based neuropathologist who discovers the degenerative brain disease called chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), characterized by a mis-folding protein called tau, in the brains of several deceased former NFL players. Omalu's research draws the ire of the NFL and puts him at odds with one of the U.S.'s most powerful institutions.
PETS AND PET LOVERS
By Kimberly M. Aquilina
Eco by Lupine ($9.99 to $14.99)
Inspired by oboist Blair Tindall's memoir, "Mozart in the Jungle: Sex, Drugs and Classical Music," the Amazon original series explores the lives of classical musicians in New York City playing in high-profile groups such as Broadway pits, the New York Philharmonic and more.
The show stars Gael Garcia Bernal, Lola Kirke, Saffron Burrows and Hannah Dunne as well as Malcolm McDowell and Bernadette Peters.
Amazon has the second season available for streaming.
Check out our complete list of movies available for streaming on Netflix this month and see below for more options on Amazon Prime and for purchase at iTunes.
iTunes
• 3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain
• At Granny's House
• Body
• Chi-Raq
• Everest
• The Green Inferno
• Hamlet
• He Never Died
• Heist
• Hotel Transylvania 2
• Indochine
• The Intern
• The Keeping Room
• Listen to Me
• Lost Horizon
• The Martian
• Nasty Baby
• The Perfect Guy
• Physical Evidence
• Rock the Kasbah
• Seems Like Old Times 3
• Sicario
• Sinister 2
• Sleeping with Other People
• The Slugger's Wife
• Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation
• Superbabies: Baby Genius 2
• The Valet
• The Walk
• A Walk in the Woods
Amazon
• An Affair to Remember (available Jan. 1)
• Annie (2014) (available Jan. 1)
• Black Beauty
• Bone Tomahawk (available Jan. 1)
• Breakfast at Tiffany's (available Jan. 4)
• Curly Sue
• The Da Vinci Code (available Jan. 1)
• Dazed and Confused (available Jan. 1)
• Free Willy
• The Gambler
• Hot Tub Time Machine (available Jan. 5)
• I'll See You in My Dreams (available Jan. 1)
• Journey to the Center of the Earth (available Jan. 1)
• Margin Call (available Jan. 4)
• Miracle on 34th Street (available Jan. 1)
• Mozart in the Jungle: Season 2
• Paper Planes (available Jan. 1)
• Planes, Trains & Automobiles (available Jan. 4)
• Pusher
• Serpico (available Jan. 4)
• The Spongebob Movie: Sponger Out of Water (available Jan. 1)
• Stick Man
• Tapes (available Jan. 1)
• Thundercats: Vol. 1 & 2 (available Jan. 1)
