Music In Review

by Various Artists Jose Gonzales, In Our Nature.Argentinean singer/songwriter who was raised in Sweden and sings in English delivers a haunting, spare recording, with songs that revolve around war. It’s the sound of this record, with only Gonzalez on vocals and acoustic guitar strummed in an uniquely unorthodox manner that draws the listener. Beautiful. Handsome […]

Book by Luc Sante YETI Books Sixteen years ago Luc Sante’s first book, Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York, explored the the sheer weirdness and teeming danger of life on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in the 19th and early 20th century, conducting a vividly impressionistic tour of a world of […]

CD by Citay Dead Oceans/Important Records Originally spawned as a studio-only project by Ezra Feinberg and Tim Green of the Fucking Champs, Citay quickly garnered critical acclaim within independent music circles with their 2006 self-titled debut, a release well noted for its warm and vibrant tones, lush harmonies and discerning compositions. It is a formula […]

DVD, directed by Jennifer Baichwal Mongrel Media In some ways watching Manufactured Landscapes made me think of another famously slow documentary, Baraka. But at least in that 1992 film — a montage of stunningly rich moving images of the modern world — director Ron Fricke (cinematographer for Koyaanisqatsi) uses a combination of time-lapse photography and […]

CD by Rivers Cuomo Geffen Records Rivers Cuomo, the frontman of Weezer, once famously remarked that to be a true fan of his band, you have to hate it. Weezer injected a much-needed sense of playfulness to the grunge era with Weezer ("the Blue Album")(1994) and Pinkerton (1996). In fact, the fresh-faced earnestness of those […]

Live, Dec. 15 at the Logger Bar This show reminded me why I try not to go to shows at bars. Came home from work, tired. Took a shower and ate to replenish my energy. Then I went to Mosgo’s to see Ash Reiter (Feist, Rilo Kiley-ish, singer songwriter from Santa Cruz). The show started […]

Book by Alex Ross. Farrar, Strauss and Giroux "Nothing in the annals of musical scandal — from the first night of Stravinsky’s ‘Rite of Spring’ to the release of the Sex Pistols’ Anarchy in the U.K. — rivals the ruckus that greeted [Arnold] Schoenberg early in his career." From any other critic, that statement might […]

CD by Levon Helm. Vanguard Records. Levon Helm, drummer and one of the vocalists with The Band, has ended his musical dormancy with Dirt Farmer, his first album of new material in 15 years. It marks a return to the southern roots that his former band encapsulated so well. This is Helm’s first album since […]

Plays by August WilsonTheatre Communications Group ‘Tis the season of the boxed set, but this one has more significance than the usual holiday gift repackaging. This is the first physical embodiment of a singular achievement — 10 plays, each set in a different decade of the 20th century, which together tell a long story of […]

Directed by Jeff Krulik and John HeynFilm Baby On May 31, 1986, amateur filmmakers John Heyn and Jeff Krulik pulled into an arena parking lot outside of Washington D.C., unpacked their equipment, and proceeded to shoot footage and conduct interviews with the scores of fans who had gathered to prepare for that evening’s Judas Priest/Dokken […]

BBC/Warner Home Video In terms of cultural impact, Dr. Who is the British Star Trek and Star Wars put together. The BBC-TV series about a dapper two-hearted alien traveling through time and space in what looks from the outside like a blue police box, first went on the air in 1963 and ran continuously until […]

Soundrack featuring various artists Columbia/Sony Director and writer Todd Haynes’ new film, an unusual, eccentric biopic of Bob Dylan entitled I’m Not There, stars six different actors, including Cate Blanchett, Richard Gere, Christian Bale and Heath Ledger, portraying the enigmatic singer/songwriter in different stages of his life and career. With the wide release of at […]