Gallant: How The New R&B Saved My Life

Published on June 12th, 2015 in: Current Faves, Music |

By Paul Casey

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Brainwaves living in stills / Your nightmare’s just floating on film, babe
You found it in the white lies, back of your mind
You know it’s not the same reel that you dusted off before
So set it in a tape deck / Put it in a VCR / Show me how you got in this predicament
Did the Devil let you down? / I could tell you it’s the apex / I could tell you it’s the Alhambra
Take another shot of your adrenaline / Pray you’ll get that far
Gallant, “Manhattan”

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iZombie Is Another Entertaining Win For The CW

Published on June 12th, 2015 in: Comics, Current Faves, Feminism, Horror, Pop Culture News, TV |

By Tim Murr

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Throughout its first season, The CW’s iZombie has managed to be more entertaining than the last three seasons of The Walking Dead, which devolved from a must-see gory character drama to boring misery porn that suffers from hideous pacing. (And yes, I haven’t missed an episode and yes, some episodes were very good.)

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Jaws Stalks Theaters Again This Summer

Published on June 12th, 2015 in: Horror, Movies, Pop Culture News, Upcoming Events |

By Tim Murr

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I’d guess I have about ten films that are deeply important to me on an emotional level. They’re not necessarily all deep movies, but they are all films that represent very specific times and very specific situations, both good and bad. They are films that I can watch over and over and be transported back to a time and place and vividly relive a certain state of mind and/or heart.

Jaws is one if those films. I was four when I saw Jaws and Jaws 2 on cable. I watched it multiple times before I turned five, which is when my parents divorced. So for me, watching Jaws always takes me back to a time when the world didn’t feel like it was ending everyday. (A feeling that never went away, but evolved from fear to anger to bitterness.)

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Music Review: Little Richard, Directly From My Heart (Best of the Specialty and Veejay Days)

Published on June 5th, 2015 in: Current Faves, LGBTQ, Music, Music Reviews, Reissues, Retrovirus, Reviews |

By Hanna

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With so many musical legends gone, it’s amazing that Little Richard is still with us. Now, his status as one of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll stars is firmly established. Even contestants on RuPaul’s Drag Race have imitated him (Kennedy Davenport won this season’s Snatch Game with her Little Richard impersonation), so that all parts of his career, including his part in LGBT history, are being celebrated.

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Music Review: Husky, Ruckers Hill

Published on June 5th, 2015 in: Current Faves, Music, Music Reviews, Reviews |

By Melissa Bratcher

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Australia’s Husky have made one of the best albums I’ve listened to this year. Ruckers Hill is transporting, moving, and packed with glorious, goosebump-inducing harmonies. Vocally, frontman Husky Gawenda bears more than a passing resemblance to Paul Simon, and as a result, many of the harmonies reach that Simon and Garfunkel sweet spot. There’s a retro feel to Ruckers Hill, but with modern sensibilities. The songcraft is as tight as the harmonies.

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Music Review: KaiL Baxley, A Light That Never Dies

Published on June 5th, 2015 in: Current Faves, Music, Music Reviews, Reviews |

By Melissa Bratcher

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While KaiL Baxley has interesting autobiographical details about which a book could be written (Golden Gloves champion, as a child held dance offs with his neighbor James Brown), what is the most fascinating is his new album A Light That Never Dies. A follow up to his 2013 debut Heatstroke/The Wind And The War, his latest is a genre-bending masterpiece, an album with many layers, all shot through with Baxley’s fascinating voice. A Light That Never Dies just gets better on repeated listenings. It’s definitely a “headphones on” sort of record; there are rich nuances and instruments buried down in the mix, and Baxley’s voice is swoon-worthy.

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Music Review: Ella Squirrell, Loop EP

Published on June 5th, 2015 in: Current Faves, Feminism, Music, Music Reviews, Reviews |

By Tyler Hodg

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Soulful. Seductive. Satisfying. Sound appealing? If so, Ella Squirrell is the artist you’re looking for. In her first release, an EP titled Loop, Squirrell’s music embodies the aforementioned descriptions while feeling impressively progressive at the same time. There is a sense of folkiness in the tracks, most notably found in her lyrics, but the incorporated pop elements, like the polished production and vocal melodies, carry a heavier weight. When listening to it, Loop is over before you know it and does a successful job of convincing you that much more of it is exactly what you need.

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Blu-Ray Review: Da Sweet Blood Of Jesus

Published on May 29th, 2015 in: Blu-Ray, Culture Shock, Current Faves, DVD/Blu-Ray Reviews, Movie Reviews, Movies, Reviews |

By Less Lee Moore

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In 1972, African-American writer, director, and actor Bill Gunn was given free reign to make a film that would capitalize on the success of Blacula. The result was the bizarre yet beautiful Ganja & Hess, his rumination on addiction, religion, and African-American culture, which would thrill audiences at Cannes, only to be savaged by critics upon its eventual release. The producers re-edited and repackaged Ganja & Hess as Black Vampire and the film was mostly forgotten.

But Bill Gunn never forgot. In 1973 he wrote a scathing letter to the NY Times, which said, among other things, “Your newspapers and critics must realize that they are controlling black theater and film creativity with white criticism.” Sadly, Gunn died in 1989, after making only one more film, 1980’s Personal Problems.

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Music Review: Todd Grebe & Cold Country, Citizen

Published on May 29th, 2015 in: Current Faves, Feminism, Music, Music Reviews, Reviews |

By Melissa Bratcher

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Hailing from Alaska, Todd Grebe & Cold Country make good, old-fashioned country music. Their newest, Citizen, has the feeling of a classic, with witty lyrics, outstanding music, and Grebe’s unconventional voice. Produced by David Ferguson (known for working with Johnny Cash), Citizen has a crisp, brisk sound, in which every instrument sounds brilliant.

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Music Review: Doomsquad, Pageantry Suite EP

Published on May 29th, 2015 in: Canadian Content, Current Faves, Feminism, Music, Music Reviews, Reviews |

By Jeffery X Martin

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“You review music! That must be a dream job,” everyone says to me, and that is how I know the person talking does not review music for a living. While I agree that reviewing music for a living is a sweet gig, and I do get to hear a lot of cool tunes before the general public does, there are times when it provides just as much frustration as any other job.

The latest Doomsquad release is one of those frustrations. Their last album, Kalaboogie, was a Tantric trip back to the cradle of civilization and beyond (review). That’s a pretty heavy description, but it was a great record, filled with thunder and mystery, giving us only hints about where the trio was going next.

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