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]
August 2009 Archives
Saturday, Aug 29, 2009
Wind's Poem sounds more like a Microphones record than anything Elverum has released since 2003, but also stands as the truest manifestation of the "Mount Eerie" name that he's since taken on.
[Brady Baker]
Saturday, Aug 29, 2009
The Action were not alone during that first flowering of punk to combine soon to be classic rock stylings with a punk edge, and fans of early punk will be happy that the western Canadian record label Sudden Death has chosen to unearth the group.
[Sean Marchetto]
Saturday, Aug 29, 2009
Tractor Tavern; Seattle, WA, 07/14/09
[Chris Middleman]
Saturday, Aug 29, 2009
After only three features, Lucrecia Martel has firmly established herself as one of the most prodigiously talented, critically adulated and most distinctive visionaries of contemporary cinema. Her hypnotic, mysterious and deeply immersive films are wonderfully anti-classical, ignore the rules of cinema, confound audience expectations, fulfill personalized visions and continually attempt to alter the visual language of cinema.
[Teri Carson]
Saturday, Aug 29, 2009
Barbecues are one of the great rituals of summer, but a long season of them can easily lead to a case of grilling fatigue. You can only eat so many burgers/hot dogs/sausages before the magic is lost. But there are other things you can do with a charcoal grill.
[Jesse Cataldo]
Saturday, Aug 29, 2009
When I'm I'm Gonna Explode strives to recreate the nihilism of Pierrot le fou, it just doesn't work.
[James Shelledy]
Saturday, Aug 29, 2009
Humbug may be the album where people can finally turn on the Monkeys, as "new direction" albums so often are. It's a less guitar-driven affair than their previous efforts, with Josh Homme's production smothering the guitars in favor of Alex Turner's voice.
[Danny Djeljosevic]
Saturday, Aug 29, 2009
With the expansion of their repertoire on this quality record, TMTS have shown that growing beyond the lo-fi sound is within their reach.
[Josh Vietti]
Saturday, Aug 29, 2009
The Beatles are the focus of a new feature called PLAYLIST. What if you had to choose the best of the Beatles? Unfortunately, there is just one small parameter to overcome....
Sunday, Aug 23, 2009
If there's any mercy in the world, though, this film will do so poorly we'll finally be saved from any further Woodstock nostalgia.
[Morgan Davis]
Sunday, Aug 23, 2009
With what is essentially a two character chamber drama, it is up to Neeson and Nesbitt to carry the film with their performances. And they do, Neeson in particular.
[James Shelledy]
Saturday, Aug 22, 2009
In this second part, members of our staff put together a list which picks the best science fiction films from 1968-2008, year by year.
Saturday, Aug 22, 2009
In Cartwright's songs, he never gets the girl. If he did, Reigning Sound would only be an awesome-sounding band that nails all the nuances of '60s guitar rock, substituting flab for punk rock curtness; a theoretical feast for vinyl fetishists, perhaps, but a shallow waste of an incredible sound.
[Neal Fersko]
Saturday, Aug 22, 2009
Dark Meat (a shortening of the evocative Dark Meat Vomit Lasers Family Band) has singer and guitarist Jim McHugh and bassist Ben Clack teaming up with a host of cohorts, including singing back-up ladies, the Subtweeters, as well as a raucous horn section. Releasing When the Shelter Came as a taster for a full-length fall record, picks up from their previous Universal Indians.
[Chris Middleman]
Saturday, Aug 22, 2009
It seems there are some things harder to find in Austin than a Republican. How about decent Italian food?
[Phyllis Anastasia Gasper]
Saturday, Aug 22, 2009
Of course an album dubbed Elephant Jokes may not necessarily be intended for listening with an appetite for depth and ideology. What's more to the point is Pollard is at his sonic best since his first post-GBV solo effort, 2006's From a Compound Eye.
[Brady Baker]
Saturday, Aug 22, 2009
VanGaalen is no electronica wizard, but more of a performance artist you'd be embarrassed to listen to. True electronica fans will be disappointed with the lack of workable beats and the average listeners will be asking themselves "What the fuck am I listening to?"
[Josh Vietti]
Saturday, Aug 22, 2009
The Pageant, St. Louis, MO, 06/14/09
[Jason Stoff]
Saturday, Aug 22, 2009
At the core of World's Greatest Dad is a black misanthropic heart that believes some people are just so horrible that their death is a blessing.
[David Harris]
Saturday, Aug 22, 2009
Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk is just what it says it is- sketches, a diagram of something unfinished. By this point, there's been enough mythology to cover the sadness of loss, but a collection of songs like this makes me more regretful than ever.
[Nathan Kamal]
Saturday, Aug 22, 2009
Traditional Nelson fans have long since ceased freaking out and spilling their water bongs every time the iconic Highwayman dabbles in new musical realms, and for good reason; regardless of the genre, Nelson's vocals never fail to intrigue.
[Marcus David]
Saturday, Aug 22, 2009
Alice and Friends is ultimately somewhat front-loaded; by the time "Necro" and "Ronnie Dean" roll around, the boys' welcome starts wearing a little thin.
[Chris Middleman]
Saturday, Aug 22, 2009
There seems to be a requisite stirring in the soul of the Pacific Northwest urbanite; there's a longing for a pastoral serenity that may or may not exist but certainly can be visited or approximated in song. Whereas the Fleet Foxes' modus operandi is a strangely wonderful meld of madrigals and The Beach Boys, Blitzen Trapper sound much more concerned with the vocabulary of American rock music and the eddies and channels that originally flowed into it.
[Chris Middleman]
Saturday, Aug 22, 2009
Had it been released in, say, 2003, UK trio Band of Skulls' Baby Darling Doll Face Honey would have been greeted with either critical spooge or critical scorn; it's hard to be certain of which. It's easier to say that it would have been issued on a major label. But in 2009, it's barely been noticed.
[Charles A. Hohman]
Saturday, Aug 22, 2009
"The other day in Latvia, folks surprised me by kidnapping me and taking me out to a cabin on the Baltic where we hunted mushrooms, cooked them, swam in the ocean. I had no idea where I was, or where I was going. It was lovely."
[David Harris]
Saturday, Aug 22, 2009
Beeswax is a uniquely cerebral film that lovingly critiques the mysteries of speech. The actresses are fresh and appealing, and Beeswax captures the semi-articulate flow of conversation among a certain social type.
[Teri Carson]
Saturday, Aug 22, 2009
We welcome you into the wonderful world of olives, if you have yet to visit. To celebrate, let's make some tapenade.
[Aimee Herman]
Saturday, Aug 22, 2009
Much like his focus on the actions of his characters, Palfi finds a dark amusement in seeing what exactly he can force his audience to endure, and he's excellent at mitigating the tension of discomfort with the comfort of humor that comes as a by-product of such a scenario.
[Rafael Gaitan]
Saturday, Aug 22, 2009
intuit's most distinct and consistent quality is the lushness of its production; it's a huge-sounding record, elaborately and carefully processed to (presumably) Knopf's idea of perfection. Considering Menomena's wonderfully weird sounds, this isn't particularly surprising, but Ramona Falls' beats and keyboards come with rounder, less abrasive sounds.
[Nathan Kamal]
Saturday, Aug 22, 2009
Too often, Watson's lush vocals are mixed like a supplementary instrument when they should be front and center. The best tracks on Wooden Arms avoid these faults and are downright stunning. Unfortunately, these notable tracks don't carry the whole album.
[Michael Merline]
Tuesday, Aug 18, 2009
In this first of two parts, members of our staff put together a list which picks the best science fiction films from 1968-2008, year by year.
Sunday, Aug 16, 2009
Imagine if the albums that came out during the year of your birth actually had some bearing on your development. As if a record somehow can be inextricably linked to your own lifeline. It's a funny thing to imagine- an album sharing the same age as you.
Sunday, Aug 16, 2009
Transforming Desolation Wilderness into a rock band doesn't meet with a great deal of success. Zwart and company maintain their composure in crafting a convincing sense of place but can't seem to make the next logical step by telling a good story, which wouldn't be a problem if that wasn't what was clearly being attempted.
[Neal Fersko]
Sunday, Aug 16, 2009
There is of course a long history of exaggeration in pop culture, particularly where identity is concerned, but for Amanda Blank it goes a bit beyond that, rooted as she is in the hip-hop aesthetic, a world that has long nurtured sexual swagger as a badge of honor amongst its men.
[Morgan Davis]
Sunday, Aug 16, 2009
Inglourious Basterds' ace in the hole is its primary antagonist, Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz), who more or less ties each thread together to its eventual gory climax. As Landa (who won Best Actor at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival for the role), Waltz plays against all our preconceived notions of cinematic Nazis; he is almost terrifyingly affable and warm, unceasingly genial while reducing grown men to tears.
[Nathan Kamal]
Sunday, Aug 16, 2009
Recher Theatre, Towson, MD, 06/27/09
[Charles A. Hohman]
Sunday, Aug 16, 2009
Once again the adjectives ghostly, eerie and delicate can apply but instead of the concrete song structures that rein in the most overlong Sigúr Rós experimentations, Riceboy Sleeps strips that equation to the very minimum, removing Birgisson's voice and any rock 'n' roll elements, leaving behind what could be described as formless New Age meanderings.
[David Harris]
Sunday, Aug 16, 2009
Singer-songwriter Dillon Warnek is clearly a talented and poetic lyricist, even if his crystal-clear images of fruitless trees, crippled bandits, drowned lovers and burning churches are borderline excessive, leaving listeners feeling about as jolly as an overcast Seattle sky. There's only so much hunger, loneliness, pill-popping and sorrow a sane person can take, and this 24-minute effort will push most listeners to their limit.
[Marcus David]
Sunday, Aug 16, 2009
A corner café that will make you believe in the little pancake that could.
[Phyllis Anastasia Gasper]
Sunday, Aug 16, 2009
Ying handles both sides with admirable levity for this kind of issue-based documentary. The closest he gets to taking sides is pairing scenes of protesters, trying to refute the existence of the Nanking massacre, with Japanese newspaper clippings of a "beheading contest" between two famed generals.
[Jesse Cataldo]
Sunday, Aug 16, 2009
Fuller's in-your-face artistic precision and interpretation of the contemporary world around him makes Loren Cass a special, almost radical film. He creates an aura of artistic freedom that is infectious and permeates throughout, and, curiously, it's alive in a way that few films are.
[Teri Carson]
Sunday, Aug 16, 2009
On January 23, 2008, rock gods Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White brought their guitars to a Warner Brothers soundstage and for two days they discussed their music, their influences, their styles and what helped them develop along the way. And, oh yes, they jammed.
[Teri Carson]
Sunday, Aug 16, 2009
An undercurrent of the supernatural plays throughout Ghosted, but it toys with the idea, never quite committing to the directions it takes.
[Nathan Kamal]
Sunday, Aug 16, 2009
Sold American has aged like fine wine, growing in stature with the passing of time. Its topics, from school shootings to a drastically shifting national consciousness, are as relevant as ever, while its religious and heart-broken overtones speak to ageless themes.
[Marcus David]
Sunday, Aug 16, 2009
Repetition is both the Cave Singers' strength and crucial flaw on Welcome Joy. It works well individually; guitarist Derek Fudesco's lines are beautifully sparse and stark, wholly distinct but the needed progression from debut to sophomore album is oddly absent.
[Nathan Kamal]
Sunday, Aug 16, 2009
The finished product is forgivably uneven, given the subject matter he attempts to cover, yet is critically weakened by the songs themselves. With few exceptions, the album is one mid-tempo, strummy love song after the next.
[Brian Loeper]
Saturday, Aug 15, 2009
The 27th Annual Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, 07/09/09-07/19/09
[Teri Carson]
Saturday, Aug 15, 2009
Thirst is half a remarkable, well-crafted redesign of the tired vampire story and half a thoroughly unremarkable but stylish continuation of that tired vampire story.
[Morgan Davis]
Saturday, Aug 15, 2009
Wonder Ballroom, Portland, OR, 06/20/09
[Lukas Sherman]
Saturday, Aug 15, 2009
Watch Me Fall's beginning is easily one of the most exciting runs this year and it isn't too surprising that the momentum generated by it is impossible to maintain over the course of an entire album. After all, Reatard has always been an artist more interested in the world of singles, his energy perfectly suited to the creation of self-contained explosions of garage pop goodness.
[Morgan Davis]
Saturday, Aug 15, 2009
The Ruminant Band isn't in the business of breaking ground. This is a record meant be enjoyed simply, like a sunny day with fruit punch and a lawn chair.
[Brady Baker]
Saturday, Aug 15, 2009
Hand-drawn animated features are a rarity these days, which is regretful. Computer-generated animation puts too much stress on making elements appear "real" and have substantial, consistent physical presence when the roots of animation were all about literally stretching those physical boundaries.
[Danny Djeljosevic]
Saturday, Aug 15, 2009
Here is a recipe for muffins. No, you don't have to be in Brooklyn to make them.
[Aimee Herman]
Saturday, Aug 15, 2009
Time has a way of taking the luster off a release, and Oh Mercy is no exception. Now 20 years since its release in 1989, the album hasn't aged particularly well. Lanois' swamp-murk production shoulders a large part of the blame; it fails nearly as often as it succeeds, with "Political World" and "Most of the Time" suffering from the producer's quirks and idiosyncrasies and sounding too manufactured for their own good.
[Eric Dennis]
Saturday, Aug 15, 2009
Barcelona pop-quartet Delorean's new EP, Ayrton Senna, is equal parts bubbly summer cheer and carefully designed pop smoothness- more remarkable than the infectiousness of the former is the appeal of the latter.
[Nathan Kamal]
Saturday, Aug 15, 2009
Radio Wars is kind of a loud record, though one gets the sense that it's not because the band's music is dependent upon volume but seems instead, to be evidence of overcompensation for a desperately-sought sense of atmospheric drama.
[Chris Middleman]
Tuesday, Aug 11, 2009
It's hard to imagine any malicious motive behind Flaherty's direction, but considering him an innocent naïf with no idea of what he was doing here is equally unfair. Despite a spotty record with the truth, his intention was never to sensationalize but to entertain, an innocent fascination with outmoded ways of life that left him as a cipher.
[Jesse Cataldo]
Tuesday, Aug 11, 2009
Green Living is not dissimilar from the scratching, echo-y ethos that marked so much of the indie scene in '90s America, but that's where its charm resides; it's not a work of polish, it's a work of affection.
[Nathan Kamal]
Tuesday, Aug 11, 2009
The simpler and more digestible approach behind Sian Alice Group's playing is also their strongest card in the deck. Going for crashing highs and lows like the Twilight Sad would negate Ahern's subtle consistency which comes in under each instrument sonically.
[Neal Fersko]
Monday, Aug 10, 2009
Aladdin Theater, Portland, OR 06/28/09
[David Harris]
Monday, Aug 10, 2009
District 9, an allegorical tale camouflaging the evils of South African apartheid under the shell of a sci-fi action film, contains a 15 minute sequence that could be one of the most original and compelling in recent years. Unfortunately, that amazing 15 minute sequence comprises the film's opening scenes, an incredible first salvo the rest of the film is unable to follow.
[David Harris]
Monday, Aug 10, 2009
Paper Heart is a sweet little film made by weird people who know they're weird as opposed to a weird film made by normal people who think they're clever.
[Danny Djeljosevic]
Sunday, Aug 9, 2009
If Cold Souls sounds a bit Charlie Kaufman-esque, well, it's really not. It lacks the imagination, and the willingness, to really explore the meaning of its premise.
[Andrei Alupului]
Sunday, Aug 9, 2009
Eliminator is the last classic record released by ZZ Top; their remaining releases sunk too far into glossy productions or were workmanlike blues rock recordings. For a brief time in the early '80s, it seemed like this bizarre, imposing, bearded duo with their tiny drummer could have been as big as Bruce or as omnipresent as Madonna.
[Chris Middleman]
Sunday, Aug 9, 2009
The sound of jj is ultimately too thin, too uninspired to warrant the attention the group has received, forcing one to wonder if the hype really is just because of the mysteriousness surrounding the ensemble.
[Morgan Davis]
Sunday, Aug 9, 2009
Floating Action is all about dub, Caribbean pop and Bossa nova, filtered through the mind of a Southern white boy who played just about everything on the record himself.
[Chris Middleman]
Sunday, Aug 9, 2009
Situated in the lush Garden District and a 20 minute trolley ride along St. Charles Street from the French Quarter, Pascal's Manale is the creator of the New Orleans-style barbecue shrimp.
[Tara Pierson Hoey]
Sunday, Aug 9, 2009
Reminiscences represents the home movie recontexualized; scenes of ordinary, everyday action that ultimately suggest what has been lost, not only for the director but those victims who never got to have a homecoming.
[Jesse Cataldo]
Sunday, Aug 9, 2009
I Sell the Dead, arrives in theaters with less life than the stiffs and the living corpses Arthur and Willie wrangle in its mercifully brief 85 minutes.
[David Harris]
Sunday, Aug 9, 2009
Wonder Ballroom, Portland, OR 06/18/09
[Lukas Sherman]
Sunday, Aug 9, 2009
Lightning Dust is the side project of Joshua Wells and Amber Webber, both members of Black Mountain; it seems like that particular group can't stop itself from birthing permutations. Their second album, Infinite Light, is a collection of alternately delicate and rousing songs, grounded in simple but compelling instrumentation and Webber's own fragile voice.
[Nathan Kamal]
Sunday, Aug 9, 2009
That's right: there's a Yes cover. It's eight minutes long and the ballsiest thing about this otherwise obvious, unnecessary, unchallenging, repulsively reverent album. It's also twice as awful as the Yes original, which makes it all the more impressive.
[Charles A. Hohman]
Saturday, Aug 8, 2009
Playtime was Tati's third film featuring Hulot, following the acclaimed Mr. Hulot's Holiday (1953) and the Oscar-winning Mon Oncle (1958). However, he's not really the main character here and this film would prove to be Tati's most ambitious and difficult. Filmed over almost two years with a cast of close to 1,000, much of the "city" was built on the outskirts of Paris, which was dubbed "Tativille."
[Lukas Sherman]
Saturday, Aug 8, 2009
For those looking for depth and historical context, Not Quite Hollywood is not the movie for you. If you want to see nudity, low-budget stunts, gore and Tarantino professing his love for every low-brow movie ever to come out of Australia, then buy yourself a ticket.
[David Harris]
Saturday, Aug 8, 2009
"In skateboarding they often say that once you become a skater you never truly leave it and hardcore seems to go hand in hand with that. I often picture skateboarding and hardcore crystallizing my mind as if I was 'carbon frozen' like Han Solo was in Star Wars."
[Nathan Kamal]
Saturday, Aug 8, 2009
Apple's Acre is an intriguing depiction of the sound one imagines Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks were attempting to achieve all those years ago, filtered through the lens of someone who has only heard the root inspiration through an act separated from it by nearly half a century. It is alien but still comforting in its closeness to home.
[Morgan Davis]
Saturday, Aug 8, 2009
On a very superficial level, Soft Black sounds to playing very straightforward rock tunes that could've been on the radio for the last 25 years; a closer listen reveals that this pop landscape- and Cacchione's psyche- are haunted by the monsters of trash culture.
[Chris Middleman]
Saturday, Aug 8, 2009
Want to know what a Beatle drank?
[Jane Hruska]
Saturday, Aug 8, 2009
You, the Living is a tragic comedy or a comic tragedy, depending on your sensitivities, and not a depressing, black reality tour of human nature. Roy Andersson fully understands that living is so complicated to most of us that the only thing that saves us is our sense of humor.
[Teri Carson]
Saturday, Aug 8, 2009
9:30 Club, Washington, D.C., 06/21/09
[Melissa Muenz]
Saturday, Aug 8, 2009
Hospice is a staggering, nuanced and near-perfect record whose triumphs and tragedies are never trivial or melodramatic; an album of mourning that nevertheless allows flickers of promise to shine through.
[Eric Dennis]
Saturday, Aug 8, 2009
Change Remains, while not a bad album, is best when considered a stepping stone on the road to something more.
[Melissa Muenz]
Thursday, Aug 6, 2009
AFI Silver Theatre, Silver Spring, MD, 06/15/09 -06/22/09
[Brian Loeper]
Thursday, Aug 6, 2009
Ulrich Seidl's Import/Export opens with a shot of a motorcycle stalled in a snowy parking lot, its throttle pumped again and again, the engine never quite starting. It's a fitting summation of the film, which plays out in antiseptically colored Soviet-era structures and is full of similarly circular visual cues: a whirling dance, looped audio of babies crying, security guards training by running in a ring.
[Jesse Cataldo]
Thursday, Aug 6, 2009
Friends and Interpol drummer Sam Fogarino do make recording appearances - but they're clearly here as additions to Banks' concept, not creative forces of their own. Skyscraper manages to sound at once full-bodied and lush, yet often soulless, as solo pet-projects often do.
[Michael Merline]
Thursday, Aug 6, 2009
This year's Sleepover is a well-coordinated mix of veteran K acts and up and comers, with headlining slots from Mirah, Kimya Dawson, and Calvin Johnson himself as well as earlier performances by much-hyped groups LAKE, Desolation Wilderness and Karl Blau.
[Morgan Davis]
Tuesday, Aug 4, 2009
Devil's Den is extremely cool. In a literal sense, it's relatively dark and den-like, exactly what I wanted after my walk as the rest of Philly jostled for tables at outdoor cafes. Figuratively, it's a haven for local hipsters, often jam-packed on weekend nights and during happy hours.
[Tara Pierson Hoey]
Tuesday, Aug 4, 2009
Hollywood Palladium, Hollywood, CA, 06/27/09
[Jory Spadea]
Tuesday, Aug 4, 2009
Wye Oak have followed up If Children with an even better showing, showing more depth to their musicality and dropping a gem in our laps. If this is a sign of how good this band can be, then we may be witnessing the growth of an indie monster.
[Josh Vietti]
Tuesday, Aug 4, 2009
Imagine Oprah being forgotten 60 years from now. Well, that's exactly what happened to Getrude Berg. Her name rarely gets mentioned as a pioneer, yet as Yoo-Hoo shows, she can lay claim to having invented the sitcom with her popular show.
[Teri Carson]
Monday, Aug 3, 2009
Loosely based on Jean-Pierre Melville's remastered Army of Shadows, Flame & Citron portrays the true stories of two heroes (from eye witness accounts) who were among the fighters in the Holger Danske resistance group during World War II.
[Jane Hruska]
Monday, Aug 3, 2009
Yaghoobian disappointingly lacks faith in her subjects and her audience, seemingly attempting to frame the film in a way that would please the lowest common denominator with its Real World style of camera work and its reduction of its characters to stereotypes.
[Morgan Davis]
Monday, Aug 3, 2009
"I'm not really a rap guy like that, you know? I wake up, I have breakfast, I make eggs, maybe some cereal, and I take my daughter to school."
[Morgan Davis]
Monday, Aug 3, 2009
Serengeti & Polyphonic have made an album about the difficulty of belonging. Serengeti's multiple personalities keep the lyrics fresh and diverse, really serving to draw the listener into a multi-part conversation with the same man, while Polyphonic's vibrant production acts as a point and a counterpoint.
[Rafael Gaitan]
Saturday, Aug 1, 2009
This film is about sex. Not simulated, but actual, graphic sex. If you're looking for porn, you might get some gratification, but porn is not the goal of this movie. Letting director Michael Winterbottom get his artistic rocks off? You bet.
[Josh Vietti]
Saturday, Aug 1, 2009
One often gets the feeling that the Dardennes consider themselves explorers, probing their films with the same combination of observation, speculation and inquiry they inspire in their viewers.
[Teri Carson]
Saturday, Aug 1, 2009
Elverum is not crafting the tale of stagnant depression that such a sentiment may imply. He accepts it as a crucial detail of the human condition; difficult to fight and perhaps worth embracing. In this light, the apparent contradiction between the album's namesake and its thesis is resolved. From the darkest human emotion Elverum does his best to find brightness; his new perspective breaks like the light of a new day.
[Brady Baker]
Saturday, Aug 1, 2009
Covers albums are tricky because of their very nature; one artist tries to transform someone else's poetry into their own emotions. EPs are tricky because of their length; more than a single, less than a full length, could they have space enough to say anything of significance? Doubly refreshing, then, is Yim Yames's (the peculiar pseudonym of My Morning Jacket's Jim James) new Tribute To EP, a six-track selection of George Harrison songs.
[Nathan Kamal]
Saturday, Aug 1, 2009
Anyone who's had good Indian food becomes a life-long convert; there's some kind of alchemy at play in the fresh-ground spices used in dishes like Saag or Vindaloo.
[Chris Middleman]
Saturday, Aug 1, 2009
The Cove is most effective when O'Barry or the dolphins are on-screen. The subject is enthralling enough that we don't need to be sold on a Bourne style adventure to fill up the empty space.
[David Harris]
Saturday, Aug 1, 2009
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, Portland, OR, 06/23/09
[David Harris]
Saturday, Aug 1, 2009
See Mystery Lights feels like something the old ZTT label would have put out circa 1980: a little bit Was (Not Was), a little Art of Noise and throw in some modern nods like LCD Soundsystem and you've pretty much got the idea.
[Morgan Davis]
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