The Locust Tues Aug 5 Nocturnal An Albatross Mon Aug 4 Nocturnal In the June 29 issue of the New York Times Magazine, writer Jonathan Dee coined 2003 the “Summer of Screamo”–a label used for the groundswell of bands like the Used, Glassjaw, Thrice, and Thursday, who to me sound as dully rejected and painfully […]
Jennifer Maerz
Posted inMovies & TV
A Klutzy Dancer
Malkovich: Graceful Actor, Clumsy Director
The Dancer Upstairs dir. Malkovich Opens Fri May 9 Various Theaters Set in an unnamed Latin American country, The Dancer Upstairs attempts to be a timeless story of a good cop stuck in a bad system, set against a background of guerrilla terrorism and beautiful cinematography. Adapted from the book of the same name by […]
Posted inMusic
The Unspoken Truth
Wendy Case Lives to Sing About It
The Paybacks Tues April 1 Blackbird Certain singers’ voices tell their story before you even begin to hear their lyrics. A trembling, stuttered presentation warns of a life spent drowning in broken hearts and lost hopes. An old man’s blues demeanor can tell of hardship turned to hardened determination, and a voice that grinds its […]
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Square Roots
Buck 65 Breaks Up with Hiphop
Buck 65 Mon Jan 20 Berbati’s For years, Buck 65 (aka Rich Terfry) has been plagued with the same reoccurring dream of losing all his teeth. This dream is not uncommon, though, as other musicians have admitted to having the same toothless nightmares. While it’s impossible to give a scientific analysis of what’s happening in […]
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Shock Waves
Hint Hint’s Hot Electro-Punk
Hint Hint Sat Jan 4 Blackbird Pete Quirk, the frontman for Seattle’s Hint Hint, delivers lyrics like each line is a tortuous thought, wrestling them with the passion of someone fighting a lover’s quarrel. At times he doesn’t carry his tunes as much as he unravels them like heavy loads come undone, moving around in […]
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Racing Past Monotony
Dillinger Escape Plan Shred and Shit on Stage
Dillinger Escape Plan Tues Oct 8 Crystal Ballroom Plenty of bands talk shit on stage, but it takes balls the size of a Honey Bucket to actually take a shit up there–and throw your work at the crowd. That’s exactly what happened when spazcore/metal act Dillinger Escape Plan opened at England’s prestigious Reading Festival earlier […]
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Trash
Suck Home Alasucka More Like It
Sweet Home Alabama dir. Tennant Opens Fri Sept 27 Various Theaters If you’re thinking about watching Sweet Home Alabama–and I assume the thought crossed your mind if you’re reading this review–I’d like to suggest some alternative uses of your time. Sharpen all the pencils in your collection and stick them through your eyes. Pull out […]
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So Lowbrow, It’s Highbrow
The Punk Tour to Shake Your Shit Up
Oops! The Tour w/ The Locust, Arab on Radar, Lightning Bolt, Blood Brothers, Get Hustle Sat August 3 Meow Meow The more mainstream punk homogenizes, the more underground punk splits into demented fragments. For every pre-packaged act that keeps every chord in its place, there’s a more interesting ugly kid brother running around, noisy innards […]
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I Walk the Line
Swearing at Motorists Impress
Swearing at Motorists w/ My Morning Jacket, The Forty-First Fri March 8 Blackbird The first time I saw Swearing at Motorists was at a small house party in Austin. The Dayton, Ohio two-piece set up in a stifling room off the kitchen and proceeded to rock the place with sonic convulsions and emotional breakdowns, as […]