// Category Archive for: Reviews

Movie Review: Every Everything: The Music, Life, And Times Of Grant Hart

By Chelsea Spear

At first glance, the afterlife of Hüsker Dü illustrates the cliché “History is written by the winners.” In the quarter-century since the legendary power trio disbanded, drummer and co-songwriter Grant Hart frequently gets depicted as a hapless figure whose drug problems and personal woes overshadow his considerable creative efforts. Every Everything, director Gorman Bechard’s latest documentary, shines a light both on Hart’s heyday and his surprisingly eclectic post-Dü career.

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Music Review: The Howlin’ Brothers, Trouble

By Melissa Bratcher

Sometimes I get albums that are so firmly in my wheelhouse I suspect they were made with me in mind (because I am very humble). The latest from The Howlin’ Brothers, Trouble, is one of those records. Trouble, described by multi-instrumentalist Brother Jared Green, is a gumbo. From bluegrass to cajun swing to reggae (!), this extraordinary trio plays with style and charm.

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Music Review: Glen David Andrews, Redemption

By Melissa Bratcher

Glen David Andrews’s Redemption is an album about a man who is on a journey. Having gone to rehab and still in the process of recovery and turning his life around and rebuilding his career, Andrews has documented this with the deeply personal and revealing Redemption. And while an album about recovery could be a heavy, less than fascinating listen, Andrews and his producer Leo Sacks turn up the funk, gospel, and goodness to make a very compelling record.

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Music Review: The Dramatics, Greatest Slow Jams

By Paul Casey

The Dramatics had the funky, harder sound. Then they had the smooth and low-down sound. That falsetto by Ron Banks put them in that category of magical 1970s Soul with The Delfonics and The Stylistics. L.J. Reynolds brings some of that rougher and gruffer vocal love. This Greatest Slow Jams compilation grabs a bunch of the sweetest and sexiest tracks from 1971-1976, excluding the group’s collaboration with The Dells. It also includes the L.J. Reynolds single “Tomorrow” from his 1987 album Tell Me You Will. This would sound great next to a James Ingram track or Between the Sheets-era Isley Brothers or hell, something from The Dramatics’ reunion album from ’85! Out of print, yes, but placed next to the very 1970s sound of the rest of the songs, it breaks the mood. And with slow jams, the mood is everything. If you have to stop having sex, that playlist needs to be tweaked, pal.

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Movie Review: Meetings With A Young Poet

By Less Lee Moore

The account of a fictional young poet’s ongoing friendship with one of the world’s most treasured writers could be delightful and illuminating or dreadfully dull. Unfortunately for Meetings With A Young Poet, it’s the latter.

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DVD Review: Wrong Cops

By Less Lee Moore

There are people who will love Wrong Cops. Others will probably cringe with embarrassment and/or confusion. Some might even run from the room screaming. These are all normal reactions to a Quentin Dupieux movie. His absurdist humor is certainly not for everyone.

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Music Review: Odonis Odonis, Hard Boiled Soft Boiled

By Less Lee Moore

“Keep your halo tight until you choke us/But I would like to carry on”
—”Alexa Wait”

If you’ve been following the career of Toronto’s Odonis Odonis, Hard Boiled Soft Boiled will be a mild revelation. It’s way heavier and louder than the band’s previous releases. The Surf Goth tones of Hollandaze and the Better EP are almost completely gone, or perhaps just sublimated within all those layers of noise. Yet, under the distortion and grime, there are brutally gripping melodies. Relying more on guitars and bass than synths, Hard Boiled Soft Boiled is a nightmarish vision of jangly, reverbed dream pop.

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VHS Visions: Robot Ninja

By Brad Henderson

What if I said that Robot Ninja is one of the most important films in the history of cinema? I would be full of shit, but I can tell you that it’s my favorite J.R. Bookwalter film and probably the most fun you could ever have with a title like Robot Ninja.

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Blu-Ray Review: The Pawnbroker

By Brad Henderson

I first witnessed Sidney Lumet’s work when I was a young kid and saw 12 Angry Men. It was the first non-horror black and white film that I saw and I’ve loved it ever since. Sidney Lumet has made some great films: Dog Day Afternoon, Network, Deathtrap, Serpico. When I heard that Olive Films was releasing The Pawnbroker (a film I hadn’t seen) I was stoked because Lumet hasn’t disappointed me yet.

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Music Review: Bobby Rush With Blinddog Smokin’, Decisions

By Melissa Bratcher

On his new release Decisions, bluesman Bobby Rush is not only joined by the band Blinddog Smokin’ but also by longtime friend Dr. John, the latter providing piano and vocals on the lead single “Another Murder In New Orleans.” While tracks like “Another Murder In New Orleans” and the titular song “Decisions” are straightforward, serious songs, the bulk of the record is composed of much lighter, sillier fare. It’s an interesting combination.

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