Breaking Down the Walls
NEW YORK, NY — December sure can do a number on us, with end-of-year existential accounting and the often-inverse relationship between time spent with extended family and feelings of goodwill. My folks are on the other side of the Pacific, and ultra-long-haul flights leave ample…
This is London Calling
NEW YORK, NY- “This is London Calling” — these words were the BBC World Service‘s opening for broadcasts to occupied countries during World War II. For those living abroad, the radio tagline must have felt like a beacon of light, providing a connection to…
Joseph Arthur’s achingly beautiful album explores beginning again
BROOKLYN, NY — Human experience is far more nuanced than the binary of happy and sad. We can be filled with wide expanses of unhealed geography and yet be whole. Augusten Burroughs explores this concept in “How to Live Unhappily Ever After,” and his…
Dancing in the Doom Days
NEW YORK, NY- Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater was cloaked in darkness as the fog machines kicked in. The only source of light was the eerie red gleam emanating from the screen behind the stage and the soft glow of neon bracelets worn by front-row…
Belle and Sebastian’s Undeniable Charm
BROOKLYN, NY — Our memories begin at a microscopic level — at the scale of molecules. We hear a song, and our brain’s auditory cortex transforms the sound waves into electrical signals. Chemicals are released across synapses. A rush of hormones lends color to the…
The Raconteurs Are Back
NEW YORK, NY — Some of the lucky concertgoers jammed into the postage-stamp-sized venue were hashtagging the show #roconteurs, but we can give them a pass for the misspelling. This audience was, after all, better versed in the White Stripes than in Old French,…
Mapping Memories: Death Cab for Cutie’s “Thank You For Today”
QUEENS, NY- A silhouette on Dyes Inlet, lit by moonlight. The corner record store turned into a block of luxury condos. Adrift on the open seas, no lighthouse in sight. A sense of dislocation permeates Death Cab for Cutie‘s ninth studio album, Thank You for…
Jenny Lewis Is About The Granular Details And Splashes of Psychedelic Aesthetics
CLICK HERE To Go Back To The Main Article QUEENS, NY- “…The evening at Forest Hills Stadium opened with the iridescent Jenny Lewis, whose history with Gibbard reaches back to the early aughts collaboration in Postal Service (Gibbard’s electro-pop project with Jimmy Tamborello). Lewis’s crazy-impressive cast…
A More Perfect Reunion
SPICEWOOD, TX- The word “reunion” conjures up the juggernaut of extended family gatherings. “Reunification” has a somewhat different valence — the bringing together of East and West Germany, for instance, or immigration policy that allows family members to rejoin each other. In either sense of…
Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Stardust
NEW YORK, NY — On a recent night outside Irving Plaza, lines of concertgoers stretched down the block, past vendors hawking David Bowie memorabilia and fans hunting for extra tickets. With no opener, the venue filled up early, front-row fans sporting VIP lanyards and comparing…
