Latest Entries
Since 2000, Nick Zammuto and Paul de Jong have made music to fit Woody Allen's worst nightmare: a universe expanding, stretched to the point of breaking. [Brady Baker]
Endless Boogie is a little too composed to be AC/DC, a little too garagey and East Coast to be like ZZ Top, too tasteful to be like Foghat and too straightforward and clean to be like Monster Magnet. [Chris Middleman]
The Extra Man is fortunate to boast a distinguished cast, since its story never coalesces into something more concrete than a sketch of eccentricities. [Nathan Kamal]
A wood-fired oven is best for achieving high temperatures, but any regular oven cranked up to 500 degrees gets the job done. [Amanda Jones]
San Diego, CA, 07/22/10-07/25/10 [Rafael Gaitan]
Unlike other Bruce Willis flicks of the '90s, there's a pleasingly absent amount of cutesiness this time around. [Marcus David]
If Farewell doesn't as successfully marry high and low culture elements as Spielberg's Munich, it does do a commendable job of keeping the two sides together, filling hollow spy tropes with feeling and life. [Jesse Cataldo]
"I still like about 95% of my record collection. Except for That Petrol Emotion, that was a mistake." [Stacey Pavlick]
Yes, Rick Ross has a song named "MC Hammer" and it represents everything that works and doesn't work about Teflon Don. [Chaz Kangas]
Spur's sound is definitively '60s; it's difficult to even think of a band this steeped in psychedelic, country, riff-driven rock and pop as existing in any other period. [Nathan Kamal]
That director Todd Solondz is able to make this oppression so palatable in his films is a real skill; neither Happiness nor Life During Wartime feel grating or overbearing. [Morgan Davis]
Sounding more confident and mature than any 24 year-old singer on their first solo outing ever should, Walker takes to his material like a man who knows that what he's recording is a sheer marvel. [Nathan Kamal]
July 2009 Archives
Thursday, Jul 30, 2009
We take a look at a selection of films from this year's Philadelphia QFest. [Allyn Sterling]
Thursday, Jul 30, 2009
Much-hyped Seattlites Talbot Tagora are pretty much as all right as all right gets on Lessons in the Woods or a City. [Morgan Davis]
Thursday, Jul 30, 2009
Lights' new album Rites is by turns psychedelic, bass-heavy dance, sometimes even experimental. Unfortunately, being hard to place doesn't always translate to superior quality. [Nathan Kamal]
Thursday, Jul 30, 2009
There's a good reason Wu-Tang Forever was so successful: sheer quality. It's simply a fantastic album. If it's still overshadowed by the band's monumental debut, that has more to do with Enter the Wu-Tang being a work of immortal genius than any failings from this second effort. [Nathan Kamal]
Thursday, Jul 30, 2009
Funny People continues Apatow's string of successes and even drastically improves on his existing formula. The gross out elements of his first two works are more or less completely excised; the emotional subplot doesn't feel forced, perhaps because the story at the center of the film has much in common with Apatow's own roots. [Morgan Davis]
Wednesday, Jul 29, 2009
The 9:30 Club, Washington, D.C., 06/18/09 [Melissa Muenz]
Saturday, Jul 25, 2009
Birthdays. Ugh. Nothing a little vino can't fix. [Phyllis Anastasia Gasper]
Saturday, Jul 25, 2009
Like an overmatched vice-presidential candidate, Portugal. The Man is throwing everything at the wall in the hopes that something of value will stick. Maybe they can try again in 2012. [Brady Baker]
Saturday, Jul 25, 2009
There's an overarching concept to the album, but the conception of a Soviet-style dance club with guards inspecting faces for entry and fun at gunpoint doesn't ever really take off the ground. [Nathan Kamal]
Saturday, Jul 25, 2009
Believe it or not, there was a time when we were pretty confident that teachers had all the answers, cops were never crooked and doctors were never wrong about our physical and emotional well being. If your mindset still precedes the '50s, wake up to Shrink where the Biblical proverb, "Physician, heal thyself," takes on a new meaning, and Jesus is no more than a drug dealer. [Jane Hruska]
Saturday, Jul 25, 2009
"We were almost Paper Legs. But then someone said Bird and we were like, that's good." [Aimee Herman]
Saturday, Jul 25, 2009
By the Throat unfortunately suffers in the end from its lackluster beginning and is hampered by its status as an attempted triumphant return of a duo that has been away from the game for too long. [Morgan Davis]
Saturday, Jul 25, 2009
Unfortunately, the conception of this album is exponentially more interesting than the execution. [Brian Loeper]
Saturday, Jul 25, 2009
Though it would have been much more incendiary if released during the Bush years, In the Loop makes the claim that no one but narcissists, morons and children run our governing bodies. [David Harris]
Friday, Jul 24, 2009
Nothing says summer like bad, bloated summer movies. Waterworld is one of the most notorious flops of the '90s and was one of the decade's reliable punch lines. [Lukas Sherman]
Friday, Jul 24, 2009
Somers Town is a work of integrity; a touching, delightful piece of dream-cinema that bristles with spirit and good humor. It's a story about friendship and the joy of being young and alive in the most unlikely of circumstances. From the first frame of this lyrical and enchanting portrait of growing up in a British city, just like its unfortunate heroes, the film wants to be your friend and in turn you want the film to do well. It feels right and you want to go on feeling right along with it. [Teri Carson]
Friday, Jul 24, 2009
Let Go's six songs manage the feat of actually sounding engaging and catchy. Good for you, people. [Nathan Kamal]
Friday, Jul 24, 2009
Bay Area one-man garage explosion Ty Segall has christened his latest collection of songs Lemons, which turns out to be a rather fitting name for its 12 songs. From the scuzzy stomp of "It #1" to the sonic departure of "Untitled #2,"Segall's songs are brief, sour tastes of the kind of racket he can make all on his own in the studio. [Chris Middleman]
Friday, Jul 24, 2009
Doug Fir Lounge, Portland, OR, 06/11/09 [David Harris]
Friday, Jul 24, 2009
Action Figures is a disjointed and inconsistent work, its songs going in opposite directions that don't always mesh as a whole. The debut album from Midwestern-based trio Heavy Hometown, it undoubtedly covers a lot of musical terrain, though that terrain is somewhat sludgy and occasionally leaves shit all over your shoes. [Eric Dennis]
Friday, Jul 24, 2009
The production on the album in general works against Summer Cats, not dirty enough to be considered lo-fi, not fleshed out enough to do the band any favors. Where the guitars should sparkle and punch, they whine; where the drums should have some snap, they whimper; where the vocals should be triumphant and full, they whisper. [Morgan Davis]
Friday, Jul 24, 2009
The one and only chile [Jane Hruska]
Friday, Jul 24, 2009
Though it is admirable that Daniels appears in indie films, he needs to limit his choices to intelligent fare such as The Lookout and avoid the temptation of jumping into the starring role in films like John Hindman's abominable The Answer Man, a romantic comedy that is more or less a poor facsimile of the plot of As Good as it Gets. [David Harris]
Wednesday, Jul 22, 2009
What Dylan has not done is ascend into the sort of ethereal world of Messaien or the Ives of the Universe Symphony. His relaxed, mature pleasures are resolutely earthbound, even as he looks forward, with puzzlement, resignation and curious interest to a personal sort of Elysian Fields. [Franz Nicolay]
Tuesday, Jul 21, 2009
Imagine if the films that came out during the year of your birth actually had some bearing on your development. As if a film somehow can be inextricably linked to your own lifeline. It's a funny thing to imagine- a film sharing the same age as you.
Monday, Jul 20, 2009
In Deadgirl, Marcel Sarmiento and Gadi Harel have crafted what may just be the most hideous, unimaginative, shameful film of the decade, horror or otherwise. [Morgan Davis]
Monday, Jul 20, 2009
Rather than rehash old themes or remaking Compost for the second time in a year, Bibio instead pushes not only the boundaries of his sound but dares the listener to buy into an album that juggles both indie-folk and electronica. [David Harris]
Monday, Jul 20, 2009
The biggest problem with The Seaside EP is that Owen's music has matured years beyond these B-sides. [Brian Loeper]
Monday, Jul 20, 2009
Berbati's Pan, Portland OR, 06/15/2009 [Nathan Kamal]
Monday, Jul 20, 2009
The service is bad, but, oh, the food! [Andrew Cray]
Sunday, Jul 19, 2009
Levy-Hinte should have tapped into his editing talent and deleted some of the telephone fretting, some of the stage building, as well as other uninteresting footage and added more in-depth conversationsand a lot more musical performances. [Jane Hruska]
Sunday, Jul 19, 2009
Henry Marsh, the British neurosurgeon and subject of Geoffrey Smith's The English Surgeon, has been making an annual trip to the Ukraine for past 15 years to aid a Ukrainian colleague in modernizing Kiev's medical practices. [David Harris]
Sunday, Jul 19, 2009
Oneida has made music with this record that's a soundtrack for stress or for too much caffienation. Like Tangerine Dream, this is taciturn music for a very specific, perhaps dour mindset. [Chris Middleman]
Sunday, Jul 19, 2009
Oddly, this version omits the brief title track, which would've been especially timely, as it contains the line "When Michael Jackson dies/ We're covering 'Blackbird.'" [Lukas Sherman]
Sunday, Jul 19, 2009
Wonder Ballroom, Portland, OR, 06/06/09 [David Harris]
Sunday, Jul 19, 2009
As different as it may be for them, FF find sun-drenched lounge-rock a comfortable style. The album's opener and title track weasels its way into your head, with its hoedown beats and Eleanor's exclamations to a bothersome lover lingering through the album's remaining 12 songs. [Michael Merline]
Sunday, Jul 19, 2009
Like much of the current crop of such performers, Blue Roses sounds firmly rooted in the female singer-songwriter tradition that stretches from Joni Mitchell to Joanna Newsom, with Groves reminiscent of such checkpoints without being redundant. [Eric Dennis]
Saturday, Jul 18, 2009
I'm a big fan of the series and familiar with all the intricacies, and I have absolutely no idea what is going on in Fire Walk With Me. I pity the fool who gets suckered into watching it without having seen the TV version. Actually, I feel for anyone who gets suckered into watching it. [Bryan Kerwin]
Saturday, Jul 18, 2009
Juan (Diego CataƱo) crashes his car into a telephone pole outside of town, we don't know how or why, but he isn't fazed by it; he goes into town to try and get it fixed. The town is an embodiment of loneliness and all of its denizens seem equally longing. [Andrei Alupului]
Saturday, Jul 18, 2009
"Ah-vit. Avery. Apparently, Bruce Springsteen has a station on Sirius and he guest DJs every once in awhile. He played "Go to Sleep" and said he said, 'Now, the Avery Brothers.' There's many different pronunciations and ideas of what the name is. It's Avett and a good way I like to tell people to remember it is it's like a corvette." [David Harris]
Saturday, Jul 18, 2009
By avoiding many pratfalls into oblivion, Molina's concept album emerges as an exciting and complex success story. As a tribute record it is truly stirring and as a comeback album it's eye-opening. [Neal Fersko]
Saturday, Jul 18, 2009
Until the Earth Begins to Part is a remarkable first outing by a band that hopefully has much more in stock. [Nathan Kamal]
Saturday, Jul 18, 2009
Using the tired notion of random lives intersecting, director John-Luke Montias ends up turning his back on a topic that could have been poignant and visceral. [Jane Hruska]
Saturday, Jul 18, 2009
Using the freshest ingredients possible will bring out the low-key vibrancy of this summery staple that simply screams Mediterranean. [Phyllis Anastasia Gasper]
Saturday, Jul 18, 2009
In The Kills' Alison Mosshart, however, Jack White may have found someone to share it with. Her seductive rasp and throaty howl bring a sexual edge to Horehound that White alone could never deliver. The raw energy of the record hangs in balance between the two born-rock stars; Mosshart's modern blues-punk punches up White's idiosyncratic take on blues-rock history, resulting in an album that's both oddly familiar and provocatively new. [Brady Baker]
Saturday, Jul 18, 2009
While Cage's lyrics remain well-crafted and informative, with his latest, he's attempted to go with a more guitar and synth-oriented sound, which comes off as extremely hit or miss, particularly when the tracks are more guitar oriented. [Rafael Gaitan]
Saturday, Jul 18, 2009
Berbati's Pan, Portland, OR, 05/26/09 [Lukas Sherman]
Thursday, Jul 16, 2009
Like other Lynch films, the story amplifies the darkest, kinkiest, seediest sides of humankind giving the director a terrific opportunity to create psychopaths and absurdly grotesque carnival-like characters that dash in and out of the escape route of the highly passionate lovers. [Jane Hruska]
Wednesday, Jul 15, 2009
(500) Days of Summer is a perfect date movie, or even just for a fun night out with a friend, and definitely is light and breezy enough to be enjoyed on a summer day if you want an alternative from robots punching robots or wizards wizarding. [Rafael Gaitan]
Tuesday, Jul 14, 2009
It was a much more physically demanding thing to be in Hot Snakes or Drive Like Jehu. It's much easier to be in Obits, physically. You would sweat buckets and be out of breath by the time you were done. Obits is a much more relaxed thing. [Morgan Davis]
Tuesday, Jul 14, 2009
On sophomore album Salvation is a Deep, Dark Well, the band continues to play acoustic music with the fury of punk, the elemental power of old blues and the communal spirit of a hoedown. What stands out is the bristling energy and forward momentum of this music. [Lukas Sherman]
Tuesday, Jul 14, 2009
Killingsworth is unlikely to send fans in the direction of Possum or Waylon; it's just as likely to confirm their longstanding prejudices towards the genre. [Charles A. Hohman]
Tuesday, Jul 14, 2009
See, I've heard almost hyperbolically good things about Podnah's (pronounced like an old Texan slurring "partner") and had a deep fear that their famed pork short ribs would be sold out. [Nathan Kamal]
Tuesday, Jul 14, 2009
Though Humpday will probably have a hard time living down its conceit- two straight guy friends who decide to make a porno together for art's sake- there is really much more to this film than the gay panic comedy most people will remember it for. [David Harris]
Monday, Jul 13, 2009
In the newest cinematic interpretation of J. K. Rowling's beloved series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince offers us the sleekest, smartest and, yes, sexiest installment of them all. [Sarah Anderson]
Sunday, Jul 12, 2009
As Discovery, Miles and Batmanglij have woven together 10 tracks with an impressive degree of variation: auto-tune here, a skittering synth line there, some vocoder and 8-bit sound effects that would make Dan Deacon proud. [Brady Baker]
Sunday, Jul 12, 2009
The Higher are not different enough to be taken seriously, and they're not offensive enough to be written off completely. They find a radio-friendly balance. The problem is that they're middling; they do not have a strong enough identity to instigate any real conflict. [Rafael Gaitan]
Sunday, Jul 12, 2009
Doug Fir Lounge, Portland, OR 06/06/09 [David Harris]
Sunday, Jul 12, 2009
Our re-evaluation of '70s Stones continues as our traditionally grouchy writer listens to It's Only Rock 'n' Roll and smiles. [Lukas Sherman]
Sunday, Jul 12, 2009
Listening to these vivid descriptions of northern life, it's not hard to visualize lonely fields, smoky foundries and the people who inhabit both. [Michael Merline]
Sunday, Jul 12, 2009
Amazing Baby is yet another band to come out of the much slobbered-over Connecticut scene that has given us MGMT, Boy Crisis and Chairlift. This Brooklyn quintet may be rubbing shoulders with these bands, but they are not really cut from the same musical cloth. [Josh Vietti]
Saturday, Jul 11, 2009
The Ottobar, Baltimore, MD, 06/08/09 [Charles A. Hohman]
Saturday, Jul 11, 2009
True to his restlessness, Catacombs shows McCombs toning down much the reliance on modern electric guitar that defined his previous efforts and instead focusing on a swaying style of music that stretches far past his own lifetime. [Neal Fersko]
Saturday, Jul 11, 2009
With only one song under five minutes, Onna allows the songs to breathe rather than fit a traditional pop song structure or conventional song aesthetics. [Danny Djeljosevic]
Saturday, Jul 11, 2009
A Woman is a Woman remains one of Godard's most energetic, romantic, spirited and likable films. [Lukas Sherman]
Saturday, Jul 11, 2009
If this documentary doesn't entirely make it clear what Nollywood cinema is all about, it at least tells us this: it is the most influential form of cultural self-representation that Nigeria has. [Andrei Alupului]
Saturday, Jul 11, 2009
The Beaches of AgnĆØs is the fetching and haunting story of a filmmaker seen through the eyes of a filmmaker. [Teri Carson]
Saturday, Jul 11, 2009
This tasty marinade that takes just a few minutes to prepare and delivers fantastic flavor to any meat, poultry or fish you desire. [Tara Pierson Hoey]
Saturday, Jul 11, 2009
Moby may have started his career on the dance floor, but it doesn't look like he's going back there anytime soon. [Michael Merline]
Saturday, Jul 11, 2009
Musician Richard Skelton is more of a minimalist than a performer. On any of his seven releases, the listener is treated to variety of sounds, from ambient to neo-classical, all given to some sort of lazy Sunday afternoon effort. Box of Birch could be considered more of the same: four lengthy songs, the shortest just under eight minutes, take the listener on a dark musical ride down a cloudy river, going wherever the flow leads. [Josh Vietti]
Thursday, Jul 9, 2009
Mos Def hasn't been astray for too long, so it might be a bit of a misnomer to call The Ecstatic a return to form, a weirdly positive term that implies that an artist is best when not experimenting with his art. [Danny Djeljosevic]
Thursday, Jul 9, 2009
Far offers a newer and more downbeat perspective on the type of music that it's safe to wager Spektor will always write successfully, a growth in self-reflection in lieu of an expansion of tricks and talents. [Neal Fersko]
Thursday, Jul 9, 2009
Boston post-hardcore outfit Therefore I Am, after five years of self-releasing a multitude of singles and EPs, has finally released their debut full-length, The Sound of Human Lives. Apparently, five years is more than enough time when all a band can come up with are five chords on the entire album. [Cameron Mason]
Thursday, Jul 9, 2009
Stop Making Sense is one of the most highly regarded concert films ever made, and with good reason. Part of that is the concert's sheer focus, filmed over three days in 1983, but so seamlessly edited that it feels like a single flowing whole. [Nathan Kamal]
Thursday, Jul 9, 2009
While Borat at least had the impetus of meeting Pamela Anderson to propel him across the world, Brüno's travels come off as an episodic patchwork of scenes rather than a focused narrative. [David Harris]
Wednesday, Jul 8, 2009
Humanity is disgusting, folks, and Jennifer Lynch is here to rub our faces in it. [David Harris]
Wednesday, Jul 8, 2009
In this first part of a new series, members of our staff put together a list which picks the best rap albums from 1984-2008, year by year.
Tuesday, Jul 7, 2009
To say that El Modelo is a New Mexican institution is to minimize its value -- the Modelo is a national treasure, an historic landmark. [Jane Hruska]
Tuesday, Jul 7, 2009
"The band is Welsh, even though we're not Welsh, which I know is very confusing." [Morgan Davis]
Tuesday, Jul 7, 2009
Life on Earth feels too labored over and repetitive for its own good. With most songs adopting similar musical and vocal structures, they eventually blend together into what sounds like a single long piece with minor variations. [Eric Dennis]
Tuesday, Jul 7, 2009
At the heart of Posthumous Success is a good album. Brosseau's voice is fittingly pleasant and occasionally dramatic, while the music is often engaging enough to distract the listener from the thoughtlessness of the lyrics. [Brian Loeper]
Tuesday, Jul 7, 2009
Jets Overhead draw obvious comparisons to acts like Stars or Two Hours Traffic. All incorporate the same guitar-driven shoegaze pop; however, this Juno Award-winning band has a little more edge to their sound. [Josh Vietti]
Tuesday, Jul 7, 2009
The Crystal Ballroom, Portland OR, 06/06/2009 [Nathan Kamal]
Sunday, Jul 5, 2009
As a Nanni Moretti film, the comedy is incredibly understated, as Moretti must play his character with dignified sadness, and thus more often than not plays the straight man than the jokester. Rather than take a conventional route, Quiet Chaos ends up an episodic character study with vague neorealist trappings. [Danny Djeljosevic]
Sunday, Jul 5, 2009
The group's simplicity is ultimately what seals the deal. The guitar work of vocalist Adam Thompson and cohort Michael Palmer is fluid, streamlined and catchy as all hell without being flashy. Rather than the instrumental mindlessness of Coldplay or the atmospheric jagged work for which The Edge used to be known, Thompson and Palmer revel in thin, bright rhythmic exchanges that recall Snow Patrol's early work. [Morgan Davis]
Sunday, Jul 5, 2009
Person To Person isn't a perfect album, but it does show the band augmenting its arena-ready sound with a few subtle shifts: insistent melodies, tight harmonies, tempo changes and lyrics that will allow listeners to form their own misguided interpretations. [Eric Dennis]
Sunday, Jul 5, 2009
This stripped down sound isn't a back to basics approach, since this record is pretty far from the compelling energy of where The Bats started. It doesn't gel with their songwriting, which hasn't really expanded or contracted during the band's lifetime. [Neal Fersko]
Sunday, Jul 5, 2009
At first glance, The Firemen's Ball is a simple physical comedy on the level of a Jim Carrey farce. But taken on a deeper level, it can be seen as a swipe at the mindless beast of Communism, where the group's welfare is put before the individual, at least according to the rhetoric spewed by the members of the brigade. [David Harris]
Sunday, Jul 5, 2009
Someone should tell director Nowrasteh that a movie that smacks the audience over the head with a message is the equivalent of giving someone a present with a very large price tag. [Teri Carson]
Sunday, Jul 5, 2009
Pressure by both Capitol Records and lead singer Mike Love for Brian Wilson to steer the band back to their wholesome beginnings makes this album a seemingly corrupt bargain that would be, ironically, a Trojan horse to test denser studio tricks and more psychedelic songwriting. [Neal Fersko]
Sunday, Jul 5, 2009
Upper Air marks a subtle step forward for the band. While Bowerbirds again incorporate heartstring-grabbing melodies, the album branches out to encompass themes that were only hinted at throughout Dark Horse. [Eric Dennis]
Sunday, Jul 5, 2009
Larry Jon Wilson is a weathered old poet, a true man of song for whom this record is a triumph. [Chris Middleman]
Sunday, Jul 5, 2009
The Mars Volta attempts to fine-tune a hybrid between their characteristic sound and a new path. [Jory Spadea]
Sunday, Jul 5, 2009
Wonder Ballroom/Portland, OR, 05/17/09 [Lukas Sherman]
Saturday, Jul 4, 2009
Belle & Sebastian fans need not despair, as the album feels and sounds like a B&S album, albeit with mostly female vocalists. [Lukas Sherman]
Saturday, Jul 4, 2009
Lewis preoccupies himself with the unconquerable topics of life and love, often through the universal prism of humor. His loose, ramshackle band (The Junkyard is the perfect name for these guys) instills his heartfelt songs with both energy and tenderness, easily capable of conjuring acoustic punk and droning atmospherics. [Jason Stoff]
Saturday, Jul 4, 2009
On Two, the vocals are flat, monotonous and without life. [Morgan Davis]
Saturday, Jul 4, 2009
One of the most striking things about The Hurt Locker, almost certainly destined to be the best action movie of this summer, is its simplicity. Kathryn Bigelow's dual commitments to precision and realism allow her to make full use of the tension inherent in her scenarios, which mostly center on soldiers waiting around during intense situations. [Andrei Alupului]
Saturday, Jul 4, 2009
Once tasted, never forgotten; it's like crack to tequila lovers and a curse to the glutton. [Teri Carson]
Thursday, Jul 2, 2009
"Okay, is Melbourne the capital of Australia? No? Fuck! Brisbane? FUCK! What is it?" [David Harris]
Thursday, Jul 2, 2009
These instrumental studies of electronic sounds and evolving melodies find a voice in the organic movements of their structure, yielding the character and depth vocals can often provide, without straying from Tortoise's established sound. [Michael Merline]
Thursday, Jul 2, 2009
Recorded entirely on analog equipment, the Raleigh, North Carolina quintet's sophomore Uncanny Valley is a record whose pleasures aren't necessarily obvious on the first listen. Keep listening. [Chris Middleman]
Thursday, Jul 2, 2009
Grace Around The World is a collection of remarkable footage about one of the great losses of the '90s, a musical decade already steeped in tragedy. However, it reveals a character more layered than idolization or mythology would lead one to believe. [Nathan Kamal]
Thursday, Jul 2, 2009
The Windmill Movie pulls no punches in laying its subject bare. That all of this footage exists and that the revealing insights it offers were the creation of its subject is both precisely and beside the point. [Andrei Alupului]
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