This corporate espionage thriller may skulk around in modern-day New York City, but it's decked out in 1970s cinematic finery. Taking a cue from the paranoia-fuelled films of that decade, Relay stars Riz Ahmed as a fixer who specializes in brokering payoffs for corrupt corporations. He stays shrouded in secrecy partly because he uses a teletypewriter to communicate -- but things get complicated when a potential client played by Lily James contacts him. The film, written by Justin Piasecki and directed by David Mackenzie, premièred at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. Sam Worthington also stars.
TV: With Love, Meghan (Aug. 26, Netflix)
Hate-watchers must be having a heyday. Less than two weeks after the series finale of And Just Like That ... comes season 2 of With Love, Meghan. Both shows have sparked online vitriol, and both have nevertheless garnered plenty of media coverage. The latter lifestyle series -- starring Meghan, Duchess of Sussex -- premièred its first season in March, and it returns with eight new episodes. Guests include model Chrissy Teigen, stylist Tan France, author Jay Shetty and chef José Andrés. A holiday instalment streams in December. If, though, you're not a hate-watcher and you don't genuinely enjoy the show, consider swapping one duchess for four comedy queens: all seven seasons of The Golden Girls will stream on Crave starting Aug. 28.
Music: Kathleen Edwards (Aug. 22)
Billionaire is the sixth full-length album from Kathleen Edwards and her first since the pandemic. The Ottawa-born songwriter offers up 10 tracks on Billionaire, co-produced by Jason Isbell. "After putting out Total Freedom in 2020 then accepting the fact that touring it and promoting it wasn't going to happen, I went back to my coffee shop and worked, I got married, I moved (twice), and I even found myself living in a new country," Edwards said on Instagram. She started writing songs for Billionaire while in Florida in 2023 and released two singles -- Save Your Soul and Say Goodbye, Tell No One -- this past June. Edwards said they "kick off this album sonically the way I had hoped my new record would sound -- tough and cool, vulnerable and honest."
Books: Black Cherokee: A Novel
Antonio Michael Downing -- a Trinidadian-Canadian musician, activist and writer -- debuts his first work of fiction. Black Cherokee is a coming-of-age story set in 1990s South Carolina. It centres on Ophelia Blue Rivers, a mixed-race Black girl growing up in a Cherokee community with her grandmother. Described as equal parts Queenie (by Candice Carty-Williams) and Frying Plantain (by Zalika Reid-Benta), Black Cherokee probes themes such as identity and belonging. Downing published his memoir, Saga Boy, in 2021. The Toronto-based creator also hosts The Next Chapter on CBC Radio.
Anniversary: Bob Dylan goes electric
The shock! The betrayal! The sheer audacity! Sixty years ago this summer, Bob Dylan riled folk purists by trading his trademark acoustic sound for an electric one. On July 25, 1965, at the Newport Folk Festival, he debuted electric instruments for a performance of Like a Rolling Stone -- prompting boos and jeers from the audience. Dylan also sparked fans' ire at his next concert after that, playing electric guitar at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens, New York City, on Aug. 28, 1965. The musical shift is the subject of Elijah Wald's bestselling 2016 book Dylan Goes Electric!, which inspired the 2024 film A Complete Unknown, starring Timothée Chalamet.