Top Picks: The 'Independent Lens' film 'The Homestretch,' Dwight Yoakam's 'Second Hand Heart,' and more
Dream weaver
Jane Weaver has such a beatific voice that Coldplay sampled it on its latest album. On , the British keyboardist sails her voice through trancelike electronic soundscapes that unfurl like Mandelbrot images. It doesn鈥檛 always sound somnolent. 鈥淭he Electric Mountain鈥� samples a thrusting Hawkwind guitar riff. 鈥淎rgent鈥� hydroplanes along a Motorik groove. And the dream pop of 鈥淢ission Desire鈥� should appeal to fans of indie group School of Seven Bells. Throughout, Weaver鈥檚 voice is as welcome to the ear as a downy pillow.
Young and homeless
The 鈥淚ndependent Lens鈥� film follows three homeless Chicago teenagers striving to finish high school and make better lives for themselves. They navigate the turbulence of their own emotional growth even as their home lives constantly shift beneath them. The efforts of the teachers and adults helping the teens to succeed is inspiring. The film premi猫res on PBS April 13 at 10 p.m.
Noah鈥檚 art
, who is Jon Stewart鈥檚 successor to host 鈥淭he Daily Show,鈥� is a South African who speaks five languages. In his 2013 stand-up special, 鈥淎frican American鈥� (streaming on Netflix and available on DVD), Noah is also fluent in the international lingua franca of comedy. The mixed-race comedian, who mimics accents better than Meryl Streep, makes PG-13 observations about cultural differences between Africa and America. For example, Noah asks his audience, 鈥淧lease explain to me how the abbreviation for pounds became 鈥榣bs.鈥�?鈥澨�
Rugged rockabilly
On his latest,听, released 30 years after his debut, Dwight Yoakam鈥檚 hillbilly rock swoops and soars with honky-tonk guitars and powerful vocals. The 10-song set includes the stomping 鈥淟iar,鈥� a raucous cover of 鈥淢an of Constant Sorrow,鈥� and the catchy, wistful opener, 鈥淚n Another World.鈥� Yoakam鈥檚 voice, reminiscent at times of Elvis, Roy Orbison, and Chris Isaak, matches his rockabilly sensibilities. And when he sings, 鈥淲ith every hurt that ached so long, in another world they鈥檒l all be gone,鈥� he sounds like he means it.
Mathematical beauty
A new 鈥淣OVA鈥� program explores all things math 鈥� from its importance in music to its presence in the design of a sunflower. Astrophysicist Mario Livio explains how integral math is to every day and ponders whether math is man-made or whether we happened upon it. airs on PBS on April 15 at 9 p.m. It鈥檚 also available on DVD.
