Arcade Fire’s USP is a kind of neurotic ecstasy: everything’s terrible (especially the internet), let’s dance. Their muscular opening number, Age of Anxiety I, is proof of concept. Win Butler plunges into the crowd while […]
Cassette culture may now seem like some quaint hipster affectation but, for a generation growing up in East Germany in the years before the fall of the Berlin Wall, it was the prime medium for […]
Peasant legend meets cinematic folklore in “The Tale of King Crab,” the first fictional feature from a pair of young Italian filmmakers — Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis — whose reverence for the […]
What would happen if the smart, sexy 30-ish woman at the center of “Anaïs in Love” stopped moving — rushing from place to place, temptation to temptation, responsibility to responsibility? From frame one of French […]
There’s an instructive comparison to be made between the title of Let’s Eat Grandma’s third album and that of their debut. Released in 2016, the latter was called I, Gemini, which seemed to fit perfectly. […]
Professor Brian Cox, CBE. Photo Credit: Mark Harrison On April 26, “Horizons: A 21st Century Space Odyssey,” starring Professor Brian Cox, CBE, was fascinating and exhilarating. It took place at the iconic Beacon Theatre in […]
As Low walk on stage, there’s the usual air of anticipation from fans, but with it a sense of tentative concern. How is this band of two married Minnesotans and a bassist, on a spacious […]
Clad in a Scarface T-shirt, slick with sweat, Fontaines DC singer Grian Chatten slams his microphone stand down on the stage repeatedly, as though punishing the floor beneath him. The stage, however, is blameless. Formed […]
The drum is central to powwow music. Singers beat in unison on its skin as their voices overlap with vibrato-laden syllabic sounds. No specific language is sung; instead powwow music is a spiritual communication that […]
Othmar Schoeck’s song cycles, some with piano, others with instrumental ensemble or full orchestra, represent one of the last great flowerings of the romantic lieder tradition. Outside his native Switzerland at least, his music is […]
For a band with a such a storied career as Metallica, it is rather surprising that the longtime active members haven’t ventured off into various solo projects. That said, if we were to have wagered […]
Does anyone (on TV right now) walk the walk better than Natasha Lyonne as Nadia in Russian Doll? I mean this in terms of swagger, and I keep rolling around that question in my head, […]
Over the past decade, the prolific and versatile British saxophonist/composer Trish Clowes has written for ensembles as substantial as the London Sinfonietta and the BBC Concert Orchestra. But since 2016, probably her favourite setting has […]
Traveling (when I can afford it) is one of my favorite things to do. I absolutely love jetting off to different locations and embracing the style that’s there. But let me tell you, traveling with […]
When Kanye West dramatically pulled out of his headline Sunday slot just two weeks ago, without a reason, few people could have predicted his replacement. A landmark rock act, perhaps? An unexpected pop maven? Nope, […]
Shania Twain and Harry Styles duet on Friday at Coachella 2022. (Kevin Mazur / Getty Images) Harry Styles dances like someone alone in his bedroom — only the bedroom is the enormous main stage at […]
There have been several attempts to create Android-based game consoles, but none have really gone to plan. The Ouya, for example, was a high-profile Kickstarter success and a disastrous commercial flop. Nvidia’s streaming-focused Shield, meanwhile, […]
The War on Drugs are a band made up of visible mechanisms and processes, like a giant skeleton watch or widescreen MRI scan. Tonight, the band’s linchpin, singing guitarist Adam Granduciel, lurches around inside a […]
Everyone stares at each other a little too long in “The Girl and the Spider,” the new whimsically offbeat meditation from Swiss twin brothers Ramon and Silvan Zürcher. With yearning eyes, the ensemble cast wanders […]
Bob Vylan’s second album doubles down on their no-holds-barred social commentary, taking aim at not-so-Great Britain and plotting the gulf between wealth-hoarding leaders and skint citizens doing what they can to get by. Amid energy […]