The glass bottom boat of the cultural press
In the news today: Blur, Spoon, Vinyl, Hopscotch Music Festival, Pavement, Japanese Breakfast, American Football, Siouxsie Sioux, Cruel World 2023, Pavement, American Football, Bridget St John, Yoshiki, Sueños Music Fest, Andy Rourke, The Smiths, Blur, Reunion Tour
A triple bill of underground Goth, led by NYC’s Pawns, transforms Uncle Lou’s into a time machine. Jen Cray did not wear eye makeup, but she did wear a black shirt to the show.
Guitar-slinging, torch-singing sensation Anna Calvi has been lighting up the Western Hemisphere this year in support of a stunning debut album. Steve Stav was lucky enough to witness her act firsthand, and came to his senses long enough to file this report.
Kairos (Dead Oceans). Review by Matthew Moyer.
One of America’s best live bands, Wilco , try not to overextend themselves as they work out the kinks on the first date of their current U.S. tour. Sean Slone caught the beginning of the long, hot trek in Cincinnati.
Apocalyptic sci-fi, Busby Berkeley, and the proto-punk of the Screamers collide head-on in this reissue of Rene Daalder’s lo-fi, hilarious, and terribly sad musical. Is that a twelve-year old Beck making a cameo?
Local Anesthetic (Smooch Records). Review by Scott Adams.
Jen Cray finds herself at a Duran Duran concert in 2008, and missing the AquaNet smell of a zillion emotional teenaged girls.
Matthew Moyer is glad that Holly George-Warren and the other compilers of this coffeetable-riffic collection of punk photos fetishize image as much as he does.
RJ Bowen knows that She Wants Revenge is a dish best served cold at the Club@Firestone in Orlando. Wait, that makes no sense whatsoever…
Kish Kash (XL / Astralwerks). Review by Stein Haukland.
A clothing line based on his tattoos. A new band. A new dedication for his instrument. Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx skips the past and talks about present projects and a future of cracking coconuts on the beach. Gail Worley digs up the dirt.
Cole (self-released). Review by Ben Varkentine.
This fall, Ani DiFranco brought new Righteous Babe labelmate Kristen Ford to Iowa City, where Jeremy Glazier enjoyed an incredible evening of artistry.
This week Christopher Long grabs a bag of bargain vinyl from a flea market in Mount Dora, Florida — including You’re Never Alone with a Schizophrenic, the classic 1979 LP from Ian Hunter.
Bob Pomeroy gets into four Radio Rarities from producer Zev Feldman for Record Store Day with great jazz recordings from Wes Montgomery, Les McCann, Cal Tjader, and Ahmad Jamal.
Bob Pomeroy digs into Un “Sung Stories” (1986, Liberation Hall), Blasters’ frontman Phil Alvin’s American Roots collaboration with Sun Ra and his Arkestra, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, and New Orleans saxman Lee Allen.
Roi J. Tamkin reviews A Darker Shade of Noir, fifteen new stories from women writers completely familiar with the horrors of owning a body in a patriarchal society, edited by Joyce Carol Oates.
Mandatory: The Best of The Blasters (Liberation Hall). Review by Bob Pomeroy.
Feeling funky this week, Christopher Long gets his groove on while discovering a well-cared-for used vinyl copy of one of his all-time R&B faves: Ice Cream Castle, the classic 1984 LP from The Time, for just a couple of bucks.
During AFI Fest 2023, Lily and Generoso interviewed director Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir, whose impressive debut feature, City of Wind, carefully examines the juxtaposition between the identity of place and tradition against the powers of modernity in contemporary Mongolia.
Juliana Hatfield Sings ELO (American Laundromat Records). Review by Laura Pontillo.
