Decasia: The State of Decay (DVD)

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With his non-narrative film trilogy, Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi and Naqoyqatsi, Godfrey Reggio used documentary-style footage to create a metaphoric wake-up call for humanity, portraying a dangerous global imbalance between nature and civilization. The late Stan Brakhage also eschewed formal storytelling, manipulating the physical medium to make movies about film itself. Bill Morrison’s remarkable Decasia falls somewhere between these approaches. Using remnants of decaying film stock culled from archives, Morrison places images from disparate sources together, combining badly damaged cowboy movies with eroding ethnographic footage of whirling dervishes and carpet weavers. But the original context of the images is not as important...  read more

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The Cardigans - Long Gone Before Daylight

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Listening to The Cardigans’ catalog, one might get the impression the Swedish group has a horrible case of Attention Deficit Disorder...  read more

Found in: Music, Reviews

Kate Jacobs - You Call That Dark

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Man, I miss Iris DeMent. Ever since she decided making guest appearances on other artists’ albums proved more satisfying than recording her own...  read more

Found in: Music, Reviews

Al Stewart - Year of the Cat

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With the odd exception here or there, there’s not much room on the airwaves dedicated to adventurous lyrics. But that wasn’t always the case...  read more

Found in: Music, Reviews

Chris Whitley - Weeds / War Crime Blues

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Enigmatic singer/songwriter Chris Whitley has weighed in with not one but two new albums, both stripped-down solo efforts showcasing him accompanied only by his guitar and a stomp board...  read more

Found in: Music, Reviews

Cerveris - Dog Eared

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Better known as the star of such Broadway productions as Tommy and Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Michael Cerveris undoubtedly surprised a few listeners...  read more

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Jesse Skyes and The Sweet Hereafter: Jesse Sykes and The Sweet Hereafter - Oh, My Girl

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Leave it to a band called The Sweet Hereafter to discover musical reincarnation. The late, great Sandy Denny might be my favorite female vocalist...  read more

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Rachael Yamagata: Rachel Yamagata - Happenstance

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If ever a recording’s title belied its contents, Rachael Yamagata’s Happenstance would be it. Through 14 exquisitely crafted, meticulously plotted pop gems...  read more

Found in: Music, Reviews

James McMurtry & The Heartless Bastards

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“I used to think I was an artist … come to find out I’m a beer salesman,” croaks James McMurtry to a lively Nashville crowd in his dry-as-dust deadpan...  read more

Found in: Music, Reviews

The Faces - Five Guys Walked Into a Bar

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In a perfect world, the notion behind compiling a box set by a seminal artist from the rock ’n’ roll canon is as follows: to present the argument for why that artist is truly essential...  read more

Found in: Music, Reviews

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