On Repeat: Elvis Costello

Elvis Costello’s latest album, Momofuku, spent several weeks clouded in mystery; not only was its existence confirmed not too long after Costello swore off recording, and not only was it initially set to be released on MP3 and vinyl, not on CD, but… well, it’s called Momofuku, which was initially thought to be a not [...]

Kathy Mattea: “Coal”

Both of Kathy Mattea’s grandfathers were coal miners. She says as much in the liner notes of her new album, Coal, but you could’ve figured it out without her help. Though she didn’t pen a single track on this record– in fact, they’re all covers of traditional tunes by Mere Haggard, Hazel Dickens, and Jean [...]

Vetiver: “Thing of the Past”

The cover image says it all: A young woman sits surrounded by vinyl, cradling an LP in her hands and seemingly oblivious to anything else that might be going on, lost in the world of music. Vetiver has always been a band head-over-heels in love with music, but their latest album, Thing of the Past, [...]

Film Break: “Step Brothers”… take two!

My review of Step Brothers has been posted at CT Movies. For my earlier, much briefer comments, see here.

Dennis Wilson: “Pacific Ocean Blue [Legacy Edition]“

The untalented Beach Boy? Don’t believe it. Dennis Wilson’s legacy as the resident hack of the Wilson family– a lousy musician whose mama made his brothers include him in the family band– has become so well-documented over the years that it seems even the most positive reviews of Wilson’s music begin with back-handed compliments expressing [...]

Film Break: “Step Brothers”

Will Ferrell has found the perfect project with Step Brothers– it reunites him with the director who gave him his funniest movie (Adam McKay, Anchorman, it rekindles his volatile chemistry with John C. Reily (Talladega Nights), it gives him a producer (Judd Apatow) who unleashes him to be as silly, as outrageous, and as R-rated [...]

On Repeat: Loudon Wainwright III

In honor of Recovery, which comes out in just a few weeks, here’s a very young Loudon Wainwright III performing a very old “Say That You Love Me,” one of thirteen vintage songs he re-imagines on the new record.

On Repeat: Barry Adamson

Barry Adamson was a founding member both of the seminal art-punk band Magazine and of Nick Cave’s ragtag gang of Bad Seeds, but he might be best known for composing the soundtrack for David Lynch’s film Lost Highway. And that’s just the beginning of his soundtrack work; throughout his solo career, Adamson has returned to [...]

Film Break: “The Dark Knight”

Elevating the comic book movie into epic tragedy and high poetry, Chris Nolan’s The Dark Knight doesn’t just better its predecessor and steal its title as the greatest superhero movie ever made– though it certainly does that, it does so much more. Make no mistake, it’s a comic-book movie through and through– action-packed and funny [...]

Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis: “Two Men with the Blues”

Willie Nelson is undoubtedly one of the great songwriters in all of country music– so why is it that his commercial breakthrough, Stardust, is an album of jazz standards, not original compositions? To this day, the album is not just one of Nelson’s most enduringly popular works, but also one of the clearest and most [...]