Neko Case: “Middle Cyclone”

Where else could one possibly begin a discussion of Neko Case’s sixth album, Middle Cyclone, but with the cover? Picturing the singer perched atop a vintage muscle car, hurtling forward with outstretched sword, it’s an eye-popping image if ever there was one, and, when it was unveiled some three months before the record released, it [...]

P.O.S.: “Never Better”

Upon receiving the Academy’s highest honor for actors– a golden statuette for his portrayal of rea-life gay icon and homosexual rights activist Harvey Milk– leading man Sean Penn used his few seconds in the spotlight to lay out a blistering, blunt indictment of those who would stand in the way of marriage rights for homosexual [...]

With a Shout: Celebrating U2

When Paul Hewson, Dave Evans, Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullen formed a band in the late 1970s, the name they chose for themselves was oddly prescient– The Hype. (This came after their short-lived career as The Feedback, a name chosen simply because it was the only technical term the amateur musicians knew, and before they [...]

Gentleman Reg: “Jet Black”

Jet Black? Try Frank Black. Pop confectioner Reg Vermue brings the glory days of college rock roaring back with his full-length debut as Gentleman Reg—albeit in a quieter, gentler, more accessible fashion than, say, Surfer Rosa or any Pavement album you care to name. Though he’s a pop songwriter through and through, he also carries [...]

A word about the Oscars.

Over at the new CT Movies Blog, I’ve just posted a few quick thoughts about why I’m almost hoping for Milk to take down Slumdog Millionaire– or at the very least, why I’ll be pleased to see either one of them win. I finally had the chance to see Milk last weekend– talk about a [...]

Blog updates– and, a special announcement!

It’s already been a busy year here at The Hurst Review, and things are only going to get busier: March is another big month for new releases, and, of course, I’m going to try to cover as many of them as I am able. Let me take a quick break from regular programming, however, to [...]

Instrumental Round-Up: Nels Cline & Jon Hassell

I’ve been saying it for over a year now, but I maintain that, if you think instrumental music is boring, you must not have heard Marco Benevento’s inspired, outrageously fun record Invisible Baby, released early in 2008. (His new one, Me Not Me, ain’t bad either.) Recently, I’ve been listening to a couple of instrumental [...]

The Soul of John Black: “Black John”

I remember sitting in a college English class one day and reading the work of some poet whose name I have long forgotten, whose poems were written in such a casual, tossed-off fashion, my fellow English majors and I immediately scoffed at the poor craftsmanship, certain that such simplistic, rough-draft poetry was written in one [...]

On Repeat: NASA

Today is a big day for new music– Morrissey, M. Ward, Southeast Engine, William Elliott Whitmore, The Soul of John Black (review pending)– but no new release is bigger, in terms of its scope or the sheer breadth of talent assembled, than NASA’s monstrous hip-hop juggernaut, The Spirit of Apollo. The album’s been burning a [...]

William Elliott Whitmore: “Animals in the Dark”

In Rainbows notwithstanding, it generally takes a few months at the very least for a CD to be pressed and printed, for the cover art to be made and all the pre-release publicity to kick into gear, between the time an album is completed and the time it finally reaches an audience. And therein lies [...]