Music Review: Monk Parker, How The Spark Loves The Tinder

By Melissa Bratcher

Monk Parker’s solo debut album How The Spark Loves The Tinder could be filed under alt-Americana, but what it really brings to mind is if an alien recorded an Americana album. Everything is there: harmonicas, strings, horns, guitar, hushed husky vocals, but it’s all a little… off. It’s brilliant. It’s alien Americana.

Continue reading ‘Music Review: Monk Parker, How The Spark Loves The Tinder’

DVD Review: The Salvation

By Less Lee Moore

The Salvation is a Western. It’s not a comedy western, it’s not a horror western, and it’s not a science fiction western: it’s just a Western. It’s about revenge and it stars Mads Mikkelsen, Eva Green, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. It’s also outstanding.

Continue reading ‘DVD Review: The Salvation’

Music Review: The Sword, High Country

By Tim Murr

I was ready for The Sword’s High Country and was initially excited when I heard the first single, “High Country.” While there’s still a lot to appreciate about the album as a whole, I found the overall experience a bit of a let down.

Continue reading ‘Music Review: The Sword, High Country’

Music Review: Wordburglar, Rapplicable Skills

By Tyler Hodg

Rather than indulge in generic, mainstream topics and themes of current day hip-hop, Wordburglar has chosen to write about subjects much more close to home—like hockey players, Canadian issues, and video games—with conviction and humor. But don’t get him wrong, Wordburglar is far from a joke.

Continue reading ‘Music Review: Wordburglar, Rapplicable Skills’

Music Review: Noah Gundersen, Carry The Ghost

By Melissa Bratcher

Noah Gundersen is a seeker. On his follow up to the much-lauded Ledges, Carry The Ghost, he looks inward, questioning the nature and existence of God, of Gundersen’s own chosen means of expression and career, and exploring loneliness and love. It’s a heavy, introspective album.

It’s also startlingly quiet; there are moments that are so deeply felt by Gundersen that his voice, already hushed, trails off to a strangled choke, phrases ending on a breath. Coupled with Gundersen’s tendency toward acoustic guitar and piano, it becomes a journey in which the listener sometimes wonders just what was sung and perhaps one might need one of those fancy ear horns (but mercifully, Carry The Ghost on CD comes with a lyric booklet that is mighty handy, and a fine way to join Gundersen in existential questioning).

Continue reading ‘Music Review: Noah Gundersen, Carry The Ghost’

Music Review: Jackie Greene, Back To Birth

By Melissa Bratcher

Jackie Greene has quite the pedigree. He’s toured with The Black Crowes and Phil Lesh and Friends, played with Levon Helm, and was in an acoustic trio with Chris Robinson and Bob Weir, called WRG. An enormously talented multi-instrumentalist, Greene aspires to be the whole package; musician, songwriter, singer, and on his latest, Back To Birth, he nails it.

Continue reading ‘Music Review: Jackie Greene, Back To Birth’

Music Review: Best Behavior, Good Luck Bad Karma

By Tyler Hodg

Best Behavior showcases their take on surf, punk, and garage rock all at one time with their latest offering, Good Luck Bad Karma. The Brooklyn-based band is a no-frills act, void of musical or lyrical cliches, which isn’t the easiest thing to do when so much has been achieved and repeated in rock music. Despite that respectable feat, Best Behavior’s songs unfortunately only fall into the “good” category rather than “great,” due to the lack of uniqueness in their music.

Continue reading ‘Music Review: Best Behavior, Good Luck Bad Karma’

Blu-Ray Review: La Grande Bouffe

By Less Lee Moore

Towards the beginning of La Grande Bouffe one of the characters states, “Gentlemen, we are not here to have a vulgar orgy.” It is a droll bit of dialogue eventually revealed to be alarmingly ironic.

Continue reading ‘Blu-Ray Review: La Grande Bouffe’

Noomi Rapace Stars In Sci-Fi Thriller Whatever Happened To Monday

By Less Lee Moore

It’s been a while since we’ve seen a Noomi Rapace movie in theaters. She co-starred in last year’s excellent The Drop with Tom Hardy, while another film with Hardy, Child 44, seemed to come and go with nary a whisper, unless you count the dreadful 24 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Continue reading ‘Noomi Rapace Stars In Sci-Fi Thriller Whatever Happened To Monday’

Music Review: Acid Reissues from Cherry Red Records

By Tim Murr

Probably every town has some awesome band the rest of the world will never see. These days, thanks to the Internet it’s easier for some Oklahoma punk band to reach listeners in Japan, but back in 1980, forget it. Victims, perhaps, of the glut of metal bands from all over Europe and the UK, Acid fell through the cracks. There wasn’t a huge metal scene in their native Belgium when they formed, and little in the way of avenues out of the country. So they formed their own record label, Giant, and between 1980 and 1985, when they broke up, released three solid albums.

Continue reading ‘Music Review: Acid Reissues from Cherry Red Records’