Type-A college grad Ryden (Alexis Bledel) comes up short in the job market, moves back in with her parents and generally learns that life and relationships and stuff are really hard. It’s pretty tedious and predictable, I know, but Post Grad has the good sense to fill out its wan storyline with zany and droll […]
review
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Jessica Rhaye
New Brunswick’s darling Jessica Rhaye could be the next Jewel. With catchy hooks and pop sensibility, her latest album, Good Things, is an ode to what could be. “Shining Star” reminds listeners to look up and take in the night sky, though it’s Rhaye who shines on “Rose Coloured Glasses.” Fans of Nina Gordon’s solo […]
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Jenocide
Although this six-song EP was named after Jen Clarke’s bicycle accident (hence the bruising and the healing power of hair accessories), it perfectly sums up Jenocide: even as that throbbing electro-thrash pop socks a mighty punch, you go along for the ride, mesmerized by the glitter. Clarke struts, preens and shouts like a gentler cousin […]
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Modest Mouse
This assemblage of b-sides from Modest Mouse’s last two studio LPs (2004’s Good News For People Who Love Bad News and 2007’s We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank) sounds the part. Songs like opener “Satellite Skin” and “Autumn Beds,” while pleasant, are bland and unmemorable. But then there’s showstopper “King Rat,” which opens […]
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Inglourious Basterds: the Palermo review
Every Quentin Tarantino movie is an event. The best moments of Inglourious Basterds translate his love of cinema into thrilling pulp. The weakest get off on comedic slaughter. With clashing tones, the pieces never quite fit. The historic context of renegade Nazi hunters is problematic action movie fodder. Moral inquiry may, as he’s stated in […]
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Mad Men reborn
Don Draper (Jon Hamm) may have returned home at the end of season two, but judging from the opening scene of season three—a theatrical reenactment of Draper imagining his conception and birth—he’s no less troubled. And, as we learn when he and darling Sal (Bryan Batt) take a business trip together, Draper still can’t resist […]
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Electro Chiac Therapie
With neon-pink covers and the initial pressing on lavender vinyl, this split seven-inch between locals ECT and Saint John’s Reclusive Mute doesn’t lack for colour, either in the presentation or the eletro-punk-experimental sounds. ECT’s Lindsay Sue’s vocals are only moderately intelligible between the shrieky volume and the fact they sing in the Acadian Franco-Anglo mash-up […]
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Ryan Dahle
The singer-guitarist behind Limblifter returns to the accelerated rush that’s often distinguished his sound. Right off the top, “Chop Chop” hits you. “Shutdown” and “Awfulizing” repeat the effect. Dahle’s arrangements have always made room for solid, propulsive rhythm, which he gets from drummer brother Kurt and Megan Bedfield on bass. Ballads “Agoraphobe” or “Eek It’s […]
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The Cliks
With heavy-rock riffs and Lucas Silveira’s cocksure vocals, The Cliks are a good kind of dirty. The title track opens with a surf-style riff and climbing bass notes. Relationships are tough, especially on the road —“Not Your Boy” alludes to a flailing love affair. “Henry,” “We Are Wolverines” and “Career Suicide” kick up the rock […]
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Amanda Blank
We all know how humid it’s been, but damn, this album is like, all hot and shit. Nestled between Lil’ Kim and Peaches on the raunchy female MC spectrum, Blank’s I Love You is a summer party album oozing with sex appeal. Backed by reigning electro/hip-hop kings Diplo & Switch (Santigold, MIA), help from Spankrock’s […]
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Gomorrah
This film follows five lives knotted up in the power-dynamics and displays of power put on by the Camorra, the mafia in contemporary Naples. As with Traffic, The Departed (Martin Scorcese executive produced Gomorrah) and City of God, the individual stories range from the little guy to the big players. The lives of the main […]
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The problem with time travel
The success or failure of a paranormal-tinged drama lies in how seamlessly the supernatural elements can cradle the melodrama. In 1991, Truly, Madly, Deeply’s ghost story was able to do this, and, from the sublime to the ridiculous, 2006’s The Lake House was able to compliment its love story with the inherent suspense in dual […]