James Oscar Smith, popularly known as Jimmy Smith, died in 2005 and is buried just outside Philadelphia under a headstone that proclaims him to be Continue Reading
Music Dose
The Interior Poetry in Bresson's 'Mouchette'
Mouchette (1967), one of French master Robert Bresson’s many essential films, begins and ends with conspicuous absences. The opening credits roll over an image of Continue Reading
Between the Grooves: Green Day – 'American Idiot'
Before 2004, few people would classify Green Day’s music as particularly sophisticated, intellectual, or thematically mature. Sure, “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life),” with its Continue Reading
The 10 Best Songs of The Band
10. “King Harvest (Has Surely Come)” (The Band, 1969) An anthem for the working class, this song tells the woebegone tale of a poor country farmer, Continue Reading
The Notwist's 'Vertigo Steps' Is Disorienting Even As It Elevates
German indie rock band the Notwist have not released an album of new material since 2015. Although they have been around for more than 20 Continue Reading
'Odd Woman Out' Is a Comedy Sketch-Like Memoir About What's-Her-Name
Not everyone who works in Hollywood is famous, but some actors who work consistently across the decades achieve a level of face or voice recognition Continue Reading
The Notwist's 'Vertigo Days' Is Disorienting Even As It Elevates
German indie rock band the Notwist have not released an album of new material since 2015. Although they have been around for more than 20 Continue Reading
Eve Adams Releases Jazz-Folk Album “Metal Bird”
Singer-songwriter Eve Adams weaves dark folk-noir tales with her spellbinding jazz-folk like last year’s ‘Candy Colored Doom’ or her 2017 debut ‘In Hell’ which featured Continue Reading
'Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President' Portrays an Over-Simplified Man
The latest documentary from filmmaker Mary Wharton (Joan Baez: How Sweet the Sound, 2009) is a love letter to the 39th president of the United Continue Reading
Son Lux's 'Tomorrows II' Has Added Resonance After the Capitol Riot
From Ryan Lott’s earliest work under the Son Lux moniker — several years before touring members Rafiq Bhatia and Ian Chang joined him full time Continue Reading
Divide and Dissolve Release the Demons on 'Gas Lit'
Sometimes it feels good to have one’s head crunched in the morning. Divide and Dissolve do a great job of releasing the demons—not the ones Continue Reading
Armand Hammer Are at the Vanguard of Rap with 'Shrines'
Armand Hammer, a duo composed of rappers Billy Woods and Elucid, are at the vanguard of left-field rap music. In the last decade, they have Continue Reading
Evinha's 'Cartão Postal': Revisiting the 50-year-old Brazilian Pop-Funk Gem
In 2019, music fans around the world fell in love with Japanese citypop due to an algorithmic boost in a Youtube upload of Mariya Takeuchi’s Continue Reading
Between the Grooves: Green Day – 'Dookie'
Green Day’s Dookie was the best rock album of 1994. Scores of critics admitted that, yes, this 14-track album full of speedy pop-punk tunes about Continue Reading
Electropop's Douglas Creates a Stunning World on "Cigarettes"
Douglas is one Amy Douglas White, an American electropop artist raised in Spain who picked up the landscape’s bright vista and infused it into her Continue Reading
Truths Overlap in Jenny Erpenbeck's Memoir of German Reunification, 'Not a Novel'
If you only have time to read one contemporary German writer, it ought to be Jenny Erpenbeck. The author of three novels and several short Continue Reading
Tertia Challenges Stereotypes On “Overly Emotional Women”
Ahead of her forthcoming debut EP, 21-year-old London/Dublin-based multi-instrumental artist, songwriter, and producer Tertia has shared Overly Emotional Women. Fusing elements of her classical training with Continue Reading
Pallbearer's Brett Campbell on Facing the Inevitable
Like all of Pallbearer’s records, Forgotten Days is resonant with arched, dramatic melodies in the classic heavy metal tradition. Conceptually, it insists on confronting hard Continue Reading
'Stealing from the Saracens' Pursues Its Own Broken Crusade
The title of Diana Darke’s 2020 book, Stealing from the Saracens: How Islamic Architecture Shaped Europe, promises the reader that they are about to embark Continue Reading
Elori Saxl Fuses Technology and Nature on 'The Blue of Distance'
The term “The Blue of Distance” comes from Rebecca Solnit’s acclaimed 2005 nonfiction book A Field Guide to Getting Lost. It refers to the phenomenon Continue Reading