March 2014 Reviews

Scene from Anne Émond's Nuit #1

These are the 
reviews and 
other pieces
I'm working 
on this 
month.

Line Out: Stone Jack Jones's Third Album, Ancestor, Is a Haunting, Mesmerizing Piece of Work, Animator-Musician Chad VanGaalen Raids the Vaults to Illustrate New Video, Guto Pryce of Super Furry Animals Forms New Band, Releases Single, and Preps Full-Length Debut, They Got Him on the Run: Alien Boy Documents the Short Life of a Portland Music Figure, The Ghetto Ghouls Have Loudness in Their DNA, Eleven Minutes of Guitar Bliss from Wyrd Visions, A Look at London Quintet Polar Bear's Latest Experimental-Jazz-Pop-Dance Conglomeration, Bluesman Gary Clark Jr. Joins Soul Singer Cody ChesnuTT for a Somewhat Unexpected Collaboration, "Last Summer" (Featuring Kevin Shields) Exemplifies Composer Brian Reitzell's Maximal Approach to Minimalism, Director Bill Morrison and Composer Bill Frisell Remember The Great Flood of 1927, Switzerland's Confusingly Named Klaus Johann Grobe Is a Duo (and Their New Song Is Terrific), Helium's Unstoppable Mary Timony Has a New Band and a New Video (Co-Starring Ian Svenonius), East Coast Guitar Bands Woods and the War on Drugs Make New Fans by Re- fining Their Strengths, and Ass-Kicking Atlanta Trio the Coathangers Win Over the Seattle Crowd at Friday's Sold-Out Show.  

Line Out/Slog Music post count: 521 posts since 2011.  

Seattle Film Blog: Vic + Flo Saw a Bear and Enemy.

Video Librarian: 400 Miles to Freedom, Danchi No Yume - Dreams of the Projects, From Nothing, Something, Melvin & Jean - An American Story, Muscle Shoals, Romeo Romeo, Running for Jim, 

Sister, Young Lakota, Girl Rising, Miss You Can Do It, Nuit #1, 

and Pussy Riot - A Punk Prayer.

Image from K Films Amerique/Adopt Films.  

February 2014 Reviews

Cover of Habibi's self-titled debut (1/28 release date)

These are the reviews and other pieces I'm working on this month.

Amazon: Going forward, I'll be providing database support, but no further DVD or theatrical reviews, since Amazon won't be offering exclusive editorial content anymore (I've been writing music and movie reviews since 2000). Once I'm caught up with current assignments, I plan to pursue other opportunities.

Still playing (or yet to open): August - Osage County, The Hunger Games - Catching Fire, The Invisible Woman, and The Past.

Line Out: Habibi Bring "The Moves" to Their New Single, Rock and Booze: Suicide Squeeze Issues a Compilation and a Namesake Beer, Stone Jack Jones' Spare, Spectral "Red Red Rose," September Girls Make a Fine Racket on Their First Full-Length, Cursing the Sea, Beverly Is Not a One-Woman Band, Quilt Channels Traffic on "Tie Up the Tides," The Notwist's New Single, "Kong," May Be Their Most Upbeat Song to Date, The Perfect Song for Your Next Seance: Portland Two-Piece the Body's "Hail to Thee, Everlasting Pain," The Blank Project, Neneh Cherry's First Solo Album in 18 Years, Is Her Best Yet, Get "Caught Up" with Detroit Combo Jessica Hernandez & the Deltas in Their Latest Video, The Mind Massage of Doug Tuttle's Debut, Elysian Fields Use "Cat" Ploy to Reel in Listener, Austin's Tele Novella Are on the Move with a Single and a Record.

Still playing: Jobriath A.D. Also, some of my words about Tough Age's "Sea of White" appear in their latest press release: "With its echoey vocals, fuzz guitar, rubbery bass, and thundering drums, it plays like a cross between Rocket from the Crypt's 'On a Rope' and Loop's 'Straight to Your Heart,' as incongruous as that combination may seem—and the louder you turn it up, the better it sounds."

Seattle Film Blog: long-delayed review of The Great Beauty. 

Video Librarian: Free China - The Courage to Believe,  
Harvest, My So-Called Enemy, Orange Witness, Tokyo 
Waka, How I Live Now, Mr. Nobody, and Bomb It 2.

Habibi cover image from Burger Records. 

January 2014 Reviews

Tahar Rahim, Bérénice Bejo, and Ali Mosaffa in The Past

These are the reviews and other pieces I'm working on this month.






Amazon Theatricals: Ralph Fiennes' The Invisible Woman 

(with Fiennes and Felicity Jones) and Asghar Farhadi's The Past.

Line Out: After Two Years in Berlin, Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks Unveil Wig Out at Jagbags, Morgan Delt's Kaleidoscopic "Obstacle Eyes," That Time Morvern Callar Author Alan Warner Wrote About Can's 1971 Album Tago Mago, What Happens When the Black Lips Get the Blues (and Break Out the Leather and Chains), Protomartyr's "Scum, Rise!" Revives the Scuzzy Noise Rock of the Reagan Era, Angel Olsen Revs Up Her Sound on New Record, Web of Sunsets Herald Their Debut on End of Time Records with a Lovely New Song, Ben Chasny and Donovan Quinn Celebrate Old Drunk America on First Full-Length, Forget the Title: Boston Trio Quilt's "Tired & Buttered" Is One of Their Finest Songs to Date, The Coathangers Throw Things, Deface Record Covers, Release a New Song, and Hit the Road, Neneh Cherry's Genre-Defying "Everything," and Jobriath A.D.

Video Librarian: Old Dogs & New Tricks - Complete Seasons 1 & 2, Cliff Richard - Still Reelin’ and A-Rockin': Live in Sydney [Blu-ray], George Thorogood & the Destroyers: Live at Montreux [Blu-ray], Consumed - Identity and Anxiety, Follow Me Down - Portraits of Louisiana Prison Musicians, The Lower 9 - A Story of  Home, They Think I'm Chinese, Sample This - The Birth of Hip-Hop, Sister (with Léa Seydoux), and Tiger Eyes.

The Past image from Sony Pictures Classics.  

December 2013 Reviews

These are the 
reviews and 
other pieces 
I'm working 
on this month.













Amazon Theatrical: August: Osage County. 

Line Out: No Chance of Smog: Mick Turner and Bill Callahan at
Neumos, Mutual Benefit's Debut Album, Love's Crushing Dia-
mond, Is a Low-Key Gem, The New La Luz Video for "Big Big Blood" Has Creepy Fun with Horror Movies, Step into the Static with TV Ghost, Seattle Musicians and Authors Pay Tribute to Lou Reed and Sub Pop on Two Separate Evenings, Jack Name Takes His Glam Rock to Outer Space, Bay Area Trio Terry Malts Go Minimalist in the Stark, Black & White Video for "I Was Not There," Mutual Benefit's New Video Takes Inspiration from Danish Bad-News Classic The Celebration, Magik Markers Invite You to Surrender to the Fantasy, The Gourds: A Film, a Song, and a Few Thoughts, Burger Records' (Mostly) Painless Holiday Mix, One-Man Band Morgan Delt Brings Undiluted Psychedelia to His Debut, Nasimiyu Murumba Lights Up the "Dark," and Spartan Poster of the Week Contender.

Video Librarian: Black Label Society - Unblackened [Blu], It's
a Girl, Trash Dance, James Morrison - The Wizard from Oz, Anti-
gone 34 [three-disc set], Move Me Brightly, Springsteen & I [Blu], Buying Sex, All the Labor, Dream Theater - Live at Luna Park.
 
Image from Other Music Recording Co.

November 2013 Reviews

Adèle Exarchopoulos in Blue Is the Warmest Color

These are the reviews and other pieces I'm working on this month.

Amazon Theatricals: Abdellatif Kechiche's Blue Is the Warm-
est Color (with Léa Seydoux), Alex Gibney's The Armstrong Lie, and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (with Jennifer Lawrence).

Still playing (or yet to open): Blue Jasmine, The Mortal Instru-
ments - City of Bones, The Way, Way Back, and We're the Millers.
 
Line Out: Doc Pomus: Writer, Raconteur, Humanitarian, The Great Cate (Le Bon) Abandons Wales, Embraces the U.S., and Falls in with a Bunch of Yanks, Morgan Delt's Album Preview, "Beneath the Black and Purple," Will Take Your Mind for a Ride, Wot's Up with Mike Donovan's Debut, A Transformative Night at the Northwest Film Forum in Tribute to Loud Reed, Quilt Gets Back to Nature in "Arctic Shark" Video, Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me Is a Heartbreaker, Hear Mmoss's David Tuttle Get His Neil Young On, Barbara Trentalange's "Same Illusion" Is a Moody Thing (with a Haunting Video), Limiñanas' Irresistible Costa Blanca, and RSD's Black Friday Includes T-Shirts, Too, Like This Big Star Model. 

Seattle Film Blog: Claire Denis's Bastards.

Video Librarian: The Mortal Instruments - City of Bones, On the Riviera, Alfredo's Fire, The Genius of Marian, Here One Day, The 
Hill, More Than Honey, The Price of Sand, Caro Emerald in Con-
cert [Blu-ray], Drug War [Blu-ray], Stuck in Love, and Kindred -
The Embraced: The Complete Vampire Collection [three-disc set].

Blue Is the Warmest Color image from IFC.  

October 2013 Reviews

Claudia Lennear (Mad Dogs and Englishmen Tour)

These are the reviews and other pieces I'm working on this month.

Amazon 
Theat-
ricals: Haute Cuisine (with Catherine Frot) and Romeo & Juliet (with Douglas Booth).

Still playing (or yet to open): Blue Jasmine, Jobs, The Mortal Instruments -
City of Bones, The Spectacular Now, The Way, Way Back, and We're the Millers.  

Easy Street Blog: Line Out review of the new Dirtbombs.

 

Line Out: Bill Callahan, Circuit des Yeux's Haley Fohr, and
the Art of Selecting an Opening Act, The New Limiñanas Song,
"My Black Sabbath," Recreates the World of the Swinging Sixties Jetsetter, David Novick's Lovely, Hazy "Undo the Knot," Jacco Gardner Releases a New Song and Video ("The End of August") and Hits the Road, Claudia Lennear's Lone Solo Record, Phew!, Rocks Hard, Defies Expectations, New Quilt Song: Anything but Cold or Dangerous, Jacco Gardner: Bringer of Grace and Charm, Dirty Three Guitarist Mick Turner's New Bag of Tricks Includes a Veteran Australian Vocalist, Alex Cuervo Trades the Garage for More Treacherous Spaces on Spooky New Project, Jason Pierce Returns to Spacemen 3 Roots on Reworking of Cut Copy's "Free Your Mind," Cate Le Bon Guests on Kevin Morby Song, Bella Musica from Italian Duo Satelliti, Boardwalk's Debut: A Mixed Success, Grass Widow Bassist Hannah Lew Is Cold Beat,
and Tim Presley's White Fence Gets "Filthy" for a Friend. 

Video Librarian: Where Heaven Meets Hell, Santana & Mc-
Laughlin – Invitation to Illumination: Live at Montreux 2011 [Blu-ray], Willy DeVille - Live in the Lowlands [Blu], Portnoy Sheehan Macalpine Sherinian - Live in Tokyo [Blu], UB40 - Live at Montreux 2002 [Blu], Bob and the Monster, Awkward - Seasons 1 & 2 [four-disc set], Stuck in Love, and Big Star - Nothing Can Hurt Me.  

Claudia Lennear image from tour photographer Linda Wolf.  

September 2013 Reviews

These are the reviews 
and other pieces I'm 
working on this month.

Amazon 
DVDs and
Theatricals:
None. 

Still playing (or yet 
to open): Before Midnight, Blue Jasmine, Jobs, The Mortal Instruments - City
of Bones, The Spectacular Now, Turbo, The Way, Way Back, We're the Millers.

Line Out: His Electro Blue Voice: These Italians Do It Better--and a Lot Louder, Tough Age's New Single Will Wake the Dead, MORE from Alexis Georgopoulos's Arp, The Dirtbombs Recreate the Bubblegum Era with Ooey Gooey Chewy Ka-Blooey!, Sun Getting You Down? Unlikely, but Just in Case: The New HSY EP Will Cure What Ails You, The Julie Ruin: A Super-Sized Sundae with Chocolate Sauce, Brazilian Quartet Boogarins Release Summery, Sunlit Video for "Lucifernandis," On Nobody knows., Willis Earl Beal Trades the Studio Apartment for the Recording Studio, Photographer Jamel Shabazz Captures (and Continues to Capture) New York Cool, "Living for the Future," the Spooky New Video from One-Man Factory Revival Band Vex Ruffin, In the First Single off Their New Album, Tim Heidecker and Davin Wood Ask, "What Else Is New?," CAVE's Ghostly "Shikaakwa" Video In-
tegrates Vector Rescanning and Raster Manipulation.  

Video Librarian: Shameless - Seasons 1 & 2 [four-disc set], 
Ain't In It for My Health - A Film About Levon Helm, Change,  
Carbon for Water, Ethiopia Dances for Joy!, How to Lose Your Virginity, Love Hate Love, Our Fires Still Burn - The Native Am-
erican Experience, Price of Gold, Enlightened - The Complete 
Second Season [two-disc set], Grey’s Anatomy - The Complete 
Ninth Season [six-disc set], and The Idolmaker [Blu-ray].  

Arp image from Smalltown Supersound.