Thomas Dolby, A Map Of The Floating City

By Jemiah Jefferson

It’s somewhat startling to realize that this is Thomas Dolby’s first album in twenty years. Since the 1992 non-success of Astronauts & Heretics, his last album of originals, Dolby busied himself in Silicon Valley, inventing and patenting applications involved in ring tone technology. This is the sort of thing that the cerebral, nay—pointy-headed—Dolby would do when the music industry started to bore him. But what happened after the man created his patents, got rich, got bored (again), and went home?

Once a musician, always a musician. Dolby began touring again, solo, several years ago, and to his audiences, dropped teasing hints that he was working on new music. A Map of the Floating City, in all its forms, is the result of that lengthy process, revealing painstaking perfectionism that occasionally gets in the way, but mostly creates a multilayered experience that develops in complexity with every revisit.
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Portlandia, Season One DVD

By Danny R. Phillips

It seems that in some circle, including my own, cracking on hipsters has become somewhat of a sport. With their tragic coolness, bland color scheme in housing and clothes, poor music choices (does anyone REALLY like Bon Iver?), black eyeglasses, and Zach Galifianakis facial hair, the genus Hipsteris toocoolius has become a prime target for sarcasm and satire. And no show does it better than IFC’s Portlandia.
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The Stooges: Head On, By Brett Callwood

By Less Lee Moore

The Stooges are legendary, but that word implies events from long ago, where the facts are less important than romantic myths. At this point in time, Iggy Pop is famous, while The Stooges have always been more infamous than anything else. But even if your mom has heard of Iggy Pop, she may not know much about The Stooges. Brett Callwood’s book, Head On, seeks to enlighten those who don’t know much about the untold history of this essential and influential Detroit band who came into being well before the so-called punk movement of the mid-1970s.
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The Jesus Lizard, CLUB DVD

By Ann Clarke

Filmed in Nashville in July of 2009, this DVD is a one-night glimpse into what was a reunion-ish tour that I really wish I’d had a chance at seeing (no shows came anywhere near me). But luckily someone had the sense to capture it (and capture it well, I might add!)

I had seen Jesus Lizard live footage before, but regrettably I have never seen them live. I had a good idea of what to expect, and what is captured on this DVD lives up to my expectations.
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Arkham City: World Of Echo

By Paul Casey

Arkham City, released October 21, is an important Batman story. While perhaps not as unexpected as its predecessor, Arkham Asylum, Rocksteady have turned in a Batman game that builds on that one’s many successes. As someone who has been obsessed with Batman for a couple of decades, with changing degrees of intensity, Arkham City is literally a dream come true.

To have an interactive slab of Gotham City with such extremely detailed and well observed parts of Batman’s long history concealed for your own brand of detective work . . . well, it makes me feel both old and lucky to have been around this long. That the game is actually a wonderful, expertly paced, physical experience is something else entirely. As with Arkham Asylum, it still seems quite unusual to have a great comic book like Batman finally tap into why video games are such an exciting medium.
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The Smile Sessions

By Paul Casey

As Paul Williams said in 1997—prematurely as it turns out—upon the release of 30 minutes of the SMiLE music on the Good Vibrations box set, SMiLE is Done. The release of The Smile Sessions by EMI and Capitol Records on November 1, 2011, is the end of a long strange journey. You can read my thoughts on the phenomenon of SMiLE in my other article, but this one is purely about the music.
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The Explorers Club, The Carolinian Suite EP

By Cait Brennan

The Grand Hotel is still under construction . . . but your complimentary suite is ready.

It’s been three years since Charleston, South Carolina’s pop revivalists The Explorers Club released Freedom Wind, a peach of a debut record that sounded for all the world like a Great Lost Beach Boys masterpiece. I’ll never forget the first time I heard that album’s “Last Kiss”—speeding down the 101 through Hollywood, right as the Capitol Records tower came into full view, all sunshine and blue skies and ocean breezes. The perfect soundtrack to a perfect day. Somewhere, Brian Wilson was smiling.
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Ray Davies, See My Friends

By Ann Clarke

I truly love and adore Ray Davies—always have, always will—but his latest album See My Friends, wherein he collaborates with a roster of some popular musicians is rather . . . intolerable!
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Everything New Is Old Again: Dorian Gray Films, Past and Present

By Lisa Anderson

I recently re-read The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde’s novel about a beautiful but debauched young man whose enchanted portrait takes the brunt of both his years and his misdeeds. Soon afterwards, I got together with a group of fellow horror fans and watched two film adaptations: the1945 Albert Lewin version with Hurt Hatfield in the title role, and the 2009 direct-to-video version with Ben Barnes starring as Dorian. Not surprising in light of the time between them, both movies approach the source material in very different ways. Each deviates from the novel in different ways, and has its own strengths and weaknesses. The variations between the book and each film can be illustrated by discussion the tone of the films, and two pivotal incidents in the story.
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John Cale, Extra Playful EP

By Emily Carney

Before the passing of Serge Gainsbourg in 1991, it was said that the French singer-songwriter-total badass didn’t need to die before he achieved immortality. John Cale—of the Velvet Underground and solo fame—is one of those artists as well (although John will hopefully be with us for a very long time).

John Cale was already a legend prior to turning 30; now, his legend has extended into myth. At age 69, he shows no signs of stopping with his new EP, appropriately titled Extra Playful. The man showed up to his Order of the British Empire award ceremony dressed like a dustbin man with rooster-red hair. What is not to love about Cale? Oh, yes, there is plenty to love, as this new selection of songs shows.
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