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!
Continue reading ‘Ray Davies, See My Friends‘
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.
Continue reading ‘Everything New Is Old Again: Dorian Gray Films, Past and Present’
By Chelsea Spear
Club Passim, Cambridge MA
November 6, 2011
Photo © Kelly Davidson
What has 18 legs, 15 instruments, eight pairs of cat-eye glasses, and one handlebar mustache? No, it’s not the latest electronic edition of Paste or the next Diablo Cody movie, but rather the Michael J. Epstein Memorial Library.
Boston music wunderkind Michael J. Epstein has assembled a chamber ensemble to perform his opulent, melodic cache of tunes. Live performances by the MJEML take the “memorial library” concept to its logical extreme by populating the stage with eight comely lasses in red, black, white, and bifocals, shushing a talkative audience in unison and reminding their listeners that “You might get a ticket for speeding . . . but you won’t get a ticket for reading.”
Continue reading ‘Blinded By Library Science: Michael J. Epstein Memorial Library/Nervous But Excited’
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.
Continue reading ‘John Cale, Extra Playful EP’
By Cait Brennan
Robyn Hitchcock has spent most of the past 40 years creating some of the most inventive, funny, poignant, and pointed songs of our time. From the “psychedelic punk” of his work with the Soft Boys to his clever, lyrical solo albums to the neo-garage Venus 3, few artists have been harder to pigeonhole. He’s produced surreal classics like “The Man With the Lightbulb Head,” “Sometimes I Wish I Was A Pretty Girl,” and “Do Policemen Sing?” as well as spare, melancholy acoustic gems like “I Used To Say I Love You” and “I Feel Beautiful”.
Two recent Yep Roc box sets—I Wanna Go Backwards and Luminous Groove—chronicled his best-loved solo albums and rewarded fans with lavish rarities. But for those new to his work, finding an “easy in” to Hitchcock’s formidable catalog might seem daunting.
Even listing it is daunting: depending on what you count and how you count it, Hitchcock’s body of work includes at least seven albums and EPs with the Soft Boys, 18 “solo” albums (including those with the Egyptians and Venus 3), about 20 “rarities” and live albums, three very incomplete best-of’s, a Jonathan Demme-directed concert film, and countless one-off appearances—all on a wide variety of US and UK labels, and until recently, much of it out of print. Newcomers could be forgiven for not knowing where to start.
Continue reading ‘Robyn Hitchcock, Chronolology‘
By Danny R. Phillips
From the wind-ravaged land known as Chicago, Ministry and its lead freak Al Jourgensen, were key in the creation of the soul-rattling, abrasive form of rock known as Industrial.
FIX, a behind the scenes, eyes wide open look at the band during their 1996 SphincTour, is informative and unsettling all at once. So unsettling that Jourgensen tried to stop its release. Luckily for us fans, he recently dropped the lawsuit.
Continue reading ‘FIX: The Ministry Movie, Directed By Douglas Freel’
By Jemiah Jefferson
Once in a while a full-length album comes out that is nearly flawless; every track is worthy and exciting, the songs get stuck in your head and you don’t mind, and it demands regular re-listenings. Sometimes this is the culmination of an artist’s career, or maybe the opening salvo. With his latest solo record, part of the excitement comes from knowing that this is just another mile post in Rob Crow‘s journey. If his songwriting, vocals, and musicianship continues growing exponentially as they seem to have done over the course of his 18-years-and-counting history of making music, there will be even more joys to discover in the future.
Continue reading ‘Rob Crow, He Thinks He’s People‘
By Chelsea Spear
Writing a negative review of an album like The Speaking Clock Revue is an almost painful thing. The album comes with an impressive pedigree, drawn as it is from a concert organized by T Bone Burnett to benefit arts education. Most of the assembled artists—among them Elvis Costello, Neko Case, the Secret Sisters, and Jeff “Lebowski” Bridges—are almost above reproach. The production is clean and listenable, and the money raised from the sale of the CD goes to a good cause.
All of this is noble and worthy, to be sure. But the well-regarded clutch of artists and the laudable cause aren’t enough to make the whole experience anything greater than snooze-worthy.
Continue reading ‘T Bone Burnett, The Speaking Clock Revue‘
By Megashaun
With the release of its eighth studio album, Heartbeats and Brainwaves, Electric Six shows us its mastery of time, its appreciation of punctuality, and most importantly, its musical relevance.
Heartbeats and Brainwaves introduces us to a different sound than what we’ve come to expect from Electric Six, yet it’s exactly what we should have expected. Whereas Zodiac was gleefully deranged, Heartbeats and Brainwaves sits somewhere between seductive and downright weird (yes, weird even for Electric Six).
Continue reading ‘Electric Six, Heartbeats And Brainwaves‘
The Phoenix, Toronto ON
October 6, 2011
If you haven’t yet heard of The Chain Gang Of 1974, that’s likely to change very soon. Based on last night’s Toronto show at The Phoenix, they’ve got a big future.
Sandwiched between the exceedingly earnest (and exceedingly fresh-faced) White Arrows and New Zealand’s The Naked and Famous, Chain Gang were almost anachronistic. White Arrows sound a bit like The Strokes with a more sunny-California, reggae quality; while they weren’t exactly my cup of tea, they were so obviously thrilled to be on stage, it was fun to watch them. They made their own tie-dyed T-shirts for the merch table and singer Mickey Schiff encouraged everyone to “come talk to us after the show; we’ll be around all night.” It was quite sweet and endearing. I’m sure that The Naked and Famous played a great set, but I didn’t stick around to see it (no offense, guys and gals).
Continue reading ‘Oh Honey Watch That Man: The Chain Gang Of 1974 In Toronto’