review

HBO series Produced by David Simon HBO’s The Wire, now in its fifth and final season, may be the most critically acclaimed television series nobody knows about. In addition to receiving a Peabody award, the police drama has been rated the best in its genre by The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, TV Guide, TIME,and […]

by Various Authors Here are my favorites of the year. I don’t claim they’re the best, because I obviously can’t read everything. (I do try, though.) Potentially worthy candidates such as Denis Johnson’s Tree of Smoke and Ben Ratliff’s new book on John Coltrane remain on my shelf unread to taunt me into the new […]

by Various Artists Mahler: Symphony No. 9 —Berlin Staatskapelle Orchestra: Daniel Barenboim, conductor. Barenboim has been dogged by accusations of superficiality as an interpreter. I cannot imagine anyone pinning that label on this glorious, blazing performance. Barenboim and this superb orchestra completely get this score, in full sync with the deep, even frightening passion of […]

by Various Artists The most monumental release this year is certainly Rhys Chatham‘s A Crimson Grail, a recording of a piece scored for 400 electric guitars commissioned by the city of Paris. Moving far beyond the actual spectacle of having 400 guitarists playing to an audience of 10,000 in a massive French church, Chatham fashioned […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]