Film Break: “Funny People”

I am, it seems, in the minority: I don’t think Judd Apatow’s new movie, Funny People, is an epoch-defining masterpiece, nor do I think it’s all that profound. It is an impressive film on many levels, and there is much to appreciate in the writing, the acting, and the direction. But, while its soul-searching is [...]

Maxwell: “BLACKsummer’s Night”

Plenty of young rockers cite Radiohead as an influence these days, but an R&B crooner like Maxwell? Hearing him namedrop Yorke and Co. raises an eyebrow, especially when it turns out that he’s not kidding. On his new album BLACKsummer’s Night, Maxwell constructs soulful swirls in much the same way Radiohead creates their music: With [...]

Joe Henry: The Producer

My friend Andy Whitman recently wrote that Joe Henry just might be the Artist of the Decade. That’s no small compliment after a decade that’s given us landmark recordings from Radiohead, Outkast, and Tom Waits– to name just three– but who am I to disagree? As Andy notes, Henry’s released three albums over the past [...]

Debating the Dead Weather

The staff of Stereo Subversion recently held an “internal debate” over The Dead Weather’s new record, Horehound, and I was happy to join in; turns out, I was one of the band’s most enthusiastic supporters. You can read the whole thing here, but if you just want my bit:
Jack White’s latest joint contains more references [...]

Film Break: Five Favorites of 2009 (So Far)

With the blockbuster season ending and the Oscar race gearing up– and with a few of the year’s best pictures still in theaters, at least for another couple of weeks– this seems like a good time to offer a few quick, official recommendations: My five favorite movies of the year, chosen at the halfway point [...]

Joe Henry: The Blog

This is going to be fun: My friend David Kennedy has begun what is– to my knowledge– the world’s first Joe Henry blog. He’s just getting started, but there’s already some great content there, with much more sure to come.
By the way, starting next week, I’ll be beginning some serious Joe Henry coverge of my [...]

Film Break: “The Brothers Bloom”

Some filmmakers are totally in love with words; for others, it’s the view from the camera. Rian Johnson seems particularly enamored with both, and I’m head-over-heels for his new picture, The Brothers Bloom. Johnson proved himself a masterful stylist and an auteur to keep an eye on with his savvy, endlessly inventive noir Brick, but [...]

Major Lazer: “Guns Don’t Kill People… Lazers Do”

Dancehall is a musical idiom with its roots in Jamaica—a fact that you’d almost be forgiven for forgetting in 2009, after several years of British and American producers and DJs planting their own colonial flags on the genre’s turf, and importing much of it back to their own homelands. A simple form at heart, dancehall [...]

Ian Hunter: “Man Overboard”

“Well don’t try pulling me down to your level/ There ain’t nothin’ worse than a phony-ass rebel!” And there you have it: A few weeks after his 70th birthday and a few weeks before reuniting with his old band Mott the Hoople, Ian Hunter remains one of the crankiest, meanest hombres in rock and roll. [...]

Film Break: “The Hurt Locker”

If you’ve yet to see an Iraq War film that you’ve really loved, or even liked– well, you’re not alone; politically-charged war movies have been notoriously disastrous in the 00s, perhaps because moviegoers get enough Middle Eastern conflict on the nightly news, but probably because most of the movies have sucked. Personally, I hadn’t seen [...]