June 2012
11 posts
3 tags
There are so many things wrong with this David Brooks column, even aside from his apparent belief that Tupac was from Compton. (You know those gangsta rappers, they’re all the same.) Brooks’ main argument here – essentially, that Bruce Springsteen is popular in Europe because of the geographical specificity of his lyrics – seems fundamentally mistaken to me. People around the world...
4 tags
Brian looks a little lost at first, like maybe he can’t quite believe the Beach Boys are back on the road in 2012, either. Their reunion tour has gone worlds better than it might have, considering all the enmity and sadness that once overtook this most joyous of bands. And tonight at Jones Beach they were fantastic, the very best kind of nostalgia act. “We’d like to take an...
1 tag
Chatting with Rufus Wainwright: Always fun. This time he told me about his summer tour and the movie musical that he’s working on with director Enda Walsh. “It’s loosely based on my life – very, very loose. Perhaps it’s more of a kind of mythic Rufus that he’s trying to create.” Get to anticipating!
2 tags
I also wrote a little thing about Allo Darlin’s Europe, which has only burrowed deeper into my heart since April. Between this and Hospitality, 2012 has been a really great year for indie-pop, huh?
2 tags
A few words on Liars’ cool, creepy new album, including the obligatory Kid A comparison. Hey, it’s not as if copping moves from the greatest album of the 2000s is a bad thing.
3 tags
There were not huge numbers of people at Kitty Pryde’s first real show ever*, but there will be more at the next one, and don’t be shocked if she’s headlining the Garden next year. Mostly kidding about that last part. She definitely has something, though. I walked in guardedly optimistic: liked “Okay Cupid,” enjoyed the EP more than I expected to, had no idea if stage...
4 tags
Glen Hansard is a high-stakes player. It’s never just a gig for him: He appears to venture his full emotional store every time he takes the stage, putting it all on the line for the audience’s benefit. This holds true even at a small show like his solo acoustic engagement tonight at Housing Works, maybe more so. Hansard was in a jovial mood, lots of grinning jokes between numbers, but...
1 tag
Midnite Vultures was the first Beck album I fell for, shortly before going back and devouring Mutations and Odelay. This isn’t that, you can’t go back, etc., but something about the weird sense of humor behind his new Third Man 7” reminded me of those years, all the same. Short take on “I Just Started Hating Some People Today”/”Blue Randy” here.
2 tags
3 tags
Most bands aren’t worth a four-hour bus ride, much less two of them, but Radiohead totally is. Our travels were rewarded last night in DC with a crazy setlist, signaled by the early appearance of “Airbag” despite this tour’s broad post-2000 slant. A few songs later they busted out “Meeting in the Aisle” - yes! - whose relaxed groove was an excellent fake-out...
2 tags
Radiohead’s main set in Newark last night ended with Thom Yorke basically storming off stage after they screwed up “Idioteque” for the second night in a row. Technical difficulties! Even the greatest bands have them. Then Thom came back and sang “How to Disappear Completely,” a shiveringly beautiful song about feeling stressed out on tour, and it was kind of perfect....
