// Category Archive for: Feminism

Jesca Hoop, The House That Jack Built

By Less Lee Moore

It’s hard to believe The House That Jack Built is Jesca Hoop‘s third proper album. Her last full-length (the excellent Hunting My Dress, reviewed here) came out three years ago, so the artistic growth she demonstrates here is nothing short of astonishing. The mostly acoustic, low-key 2011 EP Snowglobe only hints at the magnificent song craft displayed on The House That Jack Built. I haven’t stopped thinking about it since I first heard it and I want to listen to it over and over again.

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Bird In Flight: Theresa Andersson

By Chelsea Spear

TT The Bears, Cambridge MA
June 17, 2012

It’s no surprise that Theresa Andersson is drawn to aviary lyrical imagery. Live, the singer/songwriter cuts a figure like the birds she evokes on her breakthrough album Hummingbird, Go! A flurry of activity, she plays several instruments and loops her vocals, arrangements, and samples before a live audience, swirling about like a blur in a diaphanous bat-wing blouse.

The thrush had come north to TT The Bears, a careworn bar tucked away on a side street in Cambridge, on a tour to support her latest album, Street Parade. This show marked her first live performance in our fair city, and her hour-long set served as an introduction to both her music and her unorthodox live show.
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Assemblog: June 15, 2012

Peter Paul Rubens and Frans Snyders,
Prometheus Bound

New on Popshifter this week: musings on Rock Of Ages; reviews of Dent May’s Do Things and Unsane’s Wreck; mixtapes and compilations; and Prometheus: A Call For Positivity.

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Assemblog: May 18, 2012

Donna Summer, 1948 – 2012

New on Popshifter this week: Reviews of the remastered reissues of The Bill Evans Trio’s Moon Beams and Thelonious Monk’s Misterioso, plus some righteous indignation about women and guitar culture.

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A Riot Of One’s Own: Women & Guitar Culture

By Kai Shuart

OK now, I’m gonna spout off about something very, very near and dear to my heart. Since I was about thirteen, I have loved guitars. I own a few. I play them. I find them sexy. You want to really see me geek out? Get me in a Guitar Center. I’ve been told I drool. Yet, while I have worshiped guitars from a very early age, there has been something I don’t worship: Guitar culture.
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Taking Aim: Is The Avengers A Chick Flick?

By Lisa Anderson

Jeremy Renner in The Avengers

As fan of comic book movies and of Joss Whedon, this is a great summer for me. I’m thoroughly enjoying all the buzz over The Avengers, which opens in the US at midnight tonight. Every once in a while though, I’ll come across something that I can’t get on board with, even though it’s essentially positive. A recent piece by Bill Gibron at Pop Matters is a good example.
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Chelle Rose, Ghost Of Browder Holler

By Kai Shuart

Ghost Of Browder Holler is the latest release from Chelle Rose, and was recorded using the contributions of many. The album is the product of a bunch of musicians gathering around the table and deciding which of Rose’s songs they wanted to record. Yet for all the collaborative efforts, Ghost Of Browder Holler is extremely cohesive, giving the feeling that the primary artistic voice is Chelle Rose’s alone.
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Theresa Andersson, Street Parade

By Chelsea Spear

Theresa Andersson’s 2008 breakthrough album Hummingbird, Go! was no small accomplishment. Serving as a one-woman band, Andersson spun hummable, soulful tunes brimming with hard-won optimism. The straightforward production and elaborate arrangements became even more impressive once listeners knew that she’d performed all the instruments herself, using effects pedals to create loops. (The video for her song “Na Na Na,” in which she demonstrates her one-woman band setup, attracted 1.2 million views on YouTube.) How do you top a left-field critical and artistic success like this?
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The Red Bird Girls: very first time in true Stereo 1964-1966 (Various Artists)

By Melissa Bratcher

There are few moments that can’t be improved upon by a good song from a girl group. Happiness is magnified, heartbreak is more monumental, a pretty summer day shines with sweet harmonies, “yeah yeahs,” and fantastic hairdos. I’m pretty sure that’s a scientific fact.

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Carole King, Pearls: Songs of Goffin and King

By Emily Carney

Some context on Carole King: This singer songwriter, who is rather unfairly relegated to oldies radio stations in the US, had serious credibility within the world of girl-groups in the 1960s. At age 18, she co-wrote “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” with her then-husband Gerry Goffin, which was performed by the Shirelles. This song was covered beautifully in recent years by the late Amy Winehouse.
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