Ólöf Arnalds: Innundir Skinni and Olafur Arnalds: ...and They Have Escaped The Weight Of Darkness
Iceland’s Next Top Musicians Olöf Arnalds and Olafur Arnalds are not the same person. Sure, they share some blood as first cousins, they are both making waves in the contemporary music scene of their Icelandic homeland and they are both releasing sophomore albums. Their names are similar enough to inspire confusion in any conversation, but their music speaks individually: the plodding instrumental chamber music of Olafur’s newest effort and the lilting, songbird folk of Olof’s each offer something different.... read more
Found in: Music, ReviewsBig Audio Dynamite: This Is Big Audio Dynamite: Legacy Edition
Let bygones be bygones When Mick Jones was kicked out of The Clash in the early ‘80s, he formed Big Audio Dynamite, a group that melded Jones’ pop sensibilities with his earlier band’s punk ethos. This new edition of their 1985 debut, This Is Big Audio Dynamite, comes as a two-disc set featuring several remixed tracks, including “E=Mc2” and their first single “The Bottom Line.” On the first disc, the songs appear in their original form, showcasing Jones’ catchy hooks, experimental spoken-word phrasing and music/women/drugs lyricism. It’s iconic ’80s fare, as frothy and over-the-top as teased bangs and acid-washed... read more
Found in: Music, ReviewsJimmie Vaughan: Blues, Ballads, and Favorites
Blues vet needs to step up his game The last time Jimmie Vaughan released a solo album, Barack Obama was a little-known state senator from Illinois and the dot-com bubble had just burst. Though much has changed over the past nine years, the blues remains the same. In 2010, Vaughan is unfashionably fashionable as ever, but something is lacking in these 13 songs—urgency, perhaps? It certainly doesn’t bode well that this comeback album is a collection of covers. Blues, Ballads, and Favorites is full of lean, brassy selections that focus on taut, swinging grooves, wiry riffs and grunting baritone sax,... read more
Found in: Music, ReviewsElliott Smith: Roman Candle, From a Basement on the Hill
Roman Candle: 8.5 From a Basement on the Hill: 6.8 Elliott Smith’s 1994 debut and his 2004 swan song aren’t his best or most popular albums, but both are crucial to understanding the shape of his sadly truncated career. Showcasing Smith’s formative sound and quietly devastating songwriting, Roman Candle may be his most underrated work, and the austere “No Name #3” and “Condor Ave” hint at the greater triumphs of his next two albums, Elliott Smith and Either/Or. By contrast, From a Basement on the Hill (incomplete at the time of his death but finished by producer Rob Schnapf... read more
Found in: Music, ReviewsSoapbox: Chillwave of Mutilation
Chillwave is a nebulous descriptor, which might explain why the genre has no real identity... read more
Found in: Music, FeaturesEars We Trust: Justin Gage of Aquarium Drunkard
Based in Los Angeles, Gage is the founder of Autumn Tone Records and the influential music blog Aquarium Drunkard. He is also the host and program director for the weekly Aquarium Drunkard Show on Sirius XMU. Here’s what he’s listening to and loving.... read more
Found in: Music, FeaturesTexts, Tweets and Rock ’n’ Roll: How Social Media Saved the Sunset Strip
Tonight, The Roxy hosts the second annual Zombie Prom... read more
Found in: Culture, FeaturesVarious Artists: Can You Dig It?: The Music and Politics of Black Action Films 1968-1975
Compilation collects sound of aninfamous genre In 1971, Gordon Parks’ low-budget shoot-’em-up Shaft grossed $12 million and ushered in a new genre: Black Action. By 1976, the 50-odd films directed, acted, produced and scored by black professionals had been dubbed “Blaxploitation” by the NAACP and sparked so much protest from the Congress for Racial Equality that Hollywood essentially stopped funding them. African-American academia had good reason for shunning flicks like Shaft, Super Fly and Foxy Brown. Featuring black dealers, prostitutes and vigilantes as protagonists, the films peddled hard-boiled hustler stereotypes and luxuriated in the very myths they created. Pushers drove... read more
Found in: Music, ReviewsMatthew Dear: Black City
Texas DJ kicks out the words, tunes, jams Despite his well-earned techno pedigree, Matthew Dear is as much a singer/songwriter as a DJ icon. At first he commingled his dual identities, most brilliantly on the 2003 anthem “Dog Days,” but on 2007’s Asa Breed he put the words and tunes front and center, showcasing appealing tics derived from Bowie and Byrne. His new album’s opener, “Honey,” is a dirge à la Talking Heads’ “The Overload,” but that’s a red herring. Black City overall is lean and upbeat, and Dear’s gift for making an arrangement jump within snug confines continues... read more
Found in: Music, ReviewsBest of What's Next: Zoe Lister Jones
Zoe Lister Jones was understandably hesitant to share intimate details of her love-life with movie-goers... read more
Found in: Movies, Features
