The coming-of-age story is one of the best movie genres. The Way Way Back has a terrific cast—Toni Collette, Allison Janney, Steve Carell, Maya Rudolph, Sam Rockwell—and Oscar-winning writer-directors—Nat Faxon and Jim Rash—and a teenaged lead with just the right amount of slouchy, toe-scuff insecurity—Liam James, whatup Jack Linden!—but for whatever reason just never gels. […]
Tara Thorne
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Tegan and Sara’s pop cult
“All I wanna get is a little bit closer,” sings Tegan Quin on “Closer,” the first single from Tegan and Sara’s synth disturber of a record, Heartthrob. “All I wanna know is, can you come a little closer?” It’s about a person, seemingly, but it could also be considered a thesis statement from your favourite […]
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Lemuria
The third LP from this Buffalo trio sounds like it was written at Java Blend in 1996. Ramshackle girl-boy vocal tradeoffs, quiet-loud dynamics and driving guitars are the key elements in this 13-track indie-pop gem, packed full of surprise touches, like breath lines, a choir, ping-pongy synth parts. The rallying cry “Paint the Youth” demonstrates […]
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Orange is The New Black
Netflix’s foray into series production has made for mixed results, from awful (Hemlock Grove) to merely polarizing (Arrested Development). But the streaming service has its first true, undisputable creative triumph in Orange is the New Black, based on Piper Kerman’s yuppie-in-jail memoir and guided to the screen by Jenji Kohan (Weeds). “Taylor Swift-ass motherfucker” Taylor […]
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R.I.P.D.
Ryan Reynolds and Jeff Bridges aren’t exactly the purgatory version of Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy, stars of the other cop buddy movie set in Boston this summer, but they’ve got a similar wiener vs. renegade vibe. Reynolds is a cop murdered by his partner (Kevin Bacon, firmly stuck on Smarm) who upon ascending is […]
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Steel yourself
The prolific folk singer Owen Steel has just released a new album, Time Machine Blues, which sounds like it was pulled out of the attic of an old Prairie house, all jangly strings, leisurely delivery and kitchen singalongs. The bulk of it was recorded in one 10-hour session at Echo Chamber, followed by an evening […]
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Natalie Maines
Wondering where the Dixie Chicks leader has been since winning a truckload o’ Grammys back in 2007? Jamming in Ben Harper’s garage, apparently. On Mother, Maines takes a deliberate step away from the successful music that afforded her a six-year break and wanders through the adult alternative section. It’s nearly all covers, including one of […]
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Savages
A blistering wall of anger, Rat-pedal basstone, head/sex games and Brit buzz-band hype brings Savages crashing onto the shores of North America, sending all the keyboards and Macbooks flying. Led by the deep-voiced Jehnny Beth, the quartet blasts through 10 songs (and one two-minute noise piece) with precision, force and zero sense of humour. “I […]
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Frances Ha
Indie power couple Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach wrote Frances Ha together. She stars, he directs. It’s basically a long-form Girls episode (and Adam Driver is even there), wherein lost dancer Frances bumps around New York apartments, an ill-advised weekend to Paris and a complicated relationship with her best friend (Mickey Sumner). Shot in black […]
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A country Rose
It’s a good year to be a girl making country music, from Kacey Musgraves and Ashley Monroe challenging genre conventions to Rayna Jaymes and Juliette Barnes singing through the drama on Nashville. “I think there’s something of a revival happening right now, and I hope it’s not a trend,” says Whitney Rose, calling from the […]
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Summer of Resolutes
There’s a darkness in EB Anderson’s songs, a whiskey-soaked, dusty-booted throwback vibe conjuring Johnny Cash and Townes Van Zandt. It’s classic country music. “I think there’s a lot of honesty in that kind of music—people are going back to it a little bit more, but almost playing dress-up,” the Trenton native says in his weathered […]
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The Wind-Up pitch
“To be honest after the last one was such a drawn-out process, we didn’t want to take that route this time,” says Marc Kiely of Wind-Up Radio Sessions. He’s talking about Yeti Sounds, the folk-rock EP WURS made in just three days with Blinker the Star’s Jordon Zadorozny. “After the last one, we were like […]