By Spencer and Antony. In the internet age, we rarely get true surprises when it comes to our entertainment. It’s a world full of spoiler alerts and leaked Instagram pictures from the set. The music industry doesn’t even try to keep anything under wraps for the most part; any moderately anticipated album is often available for streaming in its entirety some weeks or months ahead of its release date. So U2’s surprise release of Songs Of Innocence on Tuesday—as a free iTunes download, no less!—caught me completely off-guard. As Consequence Of Sound so aptly put it, U2 pulled off a Beyonce and a Radiohead at the same time! Continue reading
Author: Spencer
The Stagediver: The Ryan Adams Album Release Party @ The 9:30 Club, Washington, DC
By Spencer. The tickets sold out in ten seconds. I’ll say that again. Ten fucking seconds. Those kind of expectations are damn near impossible to meet. And Ryan Adams didn’t bother trying. For the official release party and the kickoff to his fall tour, he came to the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC—long considered one of the nation’s top venues—and acted like he was playing a frat party in his best friend’s driveway. The music was loose and the banter with the crowd was even looser, spanning topics from The Amityville Horror 2 to mushrooms to an imaginary cover band called the Dingo Infestation. (Trust me, some of this actually made sense in context). Continue reading
The Futurist: Upcoming Movies For October & November
By Spencer. In this edition of The Futurist we look at some upcoming movies I’m hugely excited about — including Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar — and another one I will be trying my best to ignore. Even if it does have Jennifer Lawrence in it. Continue reading
The High-Fiver: Boston Movies
1. Good Will Hunting (1997)
2. The Town (2010)
3. Gone Baby Gone (2007)
4. Mystic River (2003)
5. The Departed (2006)
Contributed by: Spencer
The Critic: Ryan Adams & The Meaning Of Ryan Adams
By Spencer. Ryan Adams has always been two artists: the hard-mouthed alt-country troubadour and the 80s rock nostalgia junkie. So what should we make of the fact that his latest album is simply named Ryan Adams? Is it a rejection of the duality I just described? Does he think this batch of songs represents the real Ryan Adams? Or after thirteen albums as a solo artist, has he just stopped giving a shit about naming these things? Whatever the answer, Ryan Adams the songwriter has clearly touched on something, because Ryan Adams the album is the first truly great rock record he’s put together. Continue reading
The Professor: Glen Hansard 101
By Antony. When in doubt, begin where you began. I set out to familiarize myself with Glen Hansard’s work with The Frames and The Swell Season because I fell in love with his 2012 solo album Rhythm And Repose. Of course that was about two years ago, and I did nothing. The catalyst for finally doing it was that I saw Glen Hansard at the Hollywood Bowl a few weeks ago. He and his large band—about a dozen people—were fantastic. He overflowed with joy and gratitude, and his storytelling was absolutely charming. In fact, my only complaint was that some backstage miscommunication truncated Hansard’s set—though with a flash of Irish rebellion, he played nearly 30 minutes past curfew.
So in the afterglow of the show, I found the motivation to give some time to one of the finest folk musicians working today. What follows is what I’ve learned. Fair warning: I’m sure my list is heretical to any longtime Hansard follower and that doesn’t bother me one bit. Continue reading
The Editor: August Update
Just a little note to let you know we’re not going anywhere. Sadly, many of us at S&N actually have day jobs, and that’s getting in the way of writing much lately. However, you can look forward to reviews of the new Ryan Adams album (as well as his upcoming record release party at the 9:30 Club); a retrospective look back at the catalog of Glen Hansard (of The Frames, The Swell Season, and the movie Once); a few new Conversationalists on the greatest actors working in film today and the most important albums of the 90s; new Historian pieces on the pre-Code Hollywood era and the best in silent movies (no, seriously); new editions of the Mixologist; and the usual previews and rundowns of current and upcoming movies and albums. So hang tight, and be on the lookout for more to come in the next few weeks and months!
The High-Fiver: SNL Alum Movies
1. Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy (2004)
2. Animal House (1978)
3. Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery (1997)
4. Happy Gilmore (1996)
5. Bridesmaids (2011)
Contributed by: Spencer
The Historian: 25 Years After Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing
By Spencer. Brooklyn, New York and Ferguson, Missouri are 950 miles apart — but it’s a trip that takes 25 years. In the quarter century since Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing premiered in theaters, it feels like we’ve come such a great distance. Today, in Brooklyn, you don’t find race riots or policy brutality; you find hipsters and organic markets. Hip-hop is as common in suburbia as it is in the streets. Public Enemy, whose “Fight The Power” gave the the movie its soundtrack and its soul, is in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Even our choice of president, a man of both black and white heritage, seems to suggest that whatever the racial animosities Spike Lee exposed back in 1989, we’ve long since learned how to get along.
Yet the events in Ferguson last week can’t help but deflate that kind of confidence. Continue reading
The High-Fiver: Definitive 80s Albums
1. Michael Jackson – Thriller
2. Prince – Purple Rain
3. U2 – The Joshua Tree
4. The Clash – London Calling
5. Depeche Mode – Violator
Contributed by: Spencer
The Consumer: Spoon, Angus & Julia Stone, The Raveonettes, & Jenny Lewis
By Spencer. In this edition of The Consumer, we feature new releases from several old favorites — Spoon, Angus & Julia Stone, Jenny Lewis, and The Raveonettes. Continue reading
The High-Fiver: Essential Lauren Bacall Movies
1. To Have And Have Not (1944)
2. Key Largo (1948)
3. The Big Sleep (1946)
4. Dark Passage (1947)
5. How To Marry A Millionaire (1953)
Contributed by: Spencer
The Futurist: Upcoming Albums For September & October
By Spencer. This month’s Futurist looks at the most interesting music releases coming along in September and October. Heavy on solo albums and side projects, there are a lot of interesting possibilities on the horizon. Which of them will hit the sweet spot? Continue reading
The High-Fiver: Essential Robin Williams Movies
1. Good Will Hunting (1997)
2. The Birdcage (1996)
3. Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)
4. Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)
5. Dead Poets Society (1989)
Contributed by: Spencer
The Conversationalist: Marvel’s Guardians Of The Galaxy & The Future Of Comic Book Movies
By Sumeet & Spencer. This edition of the Conversationalist follows up on Marvel’s surprise hit, Guardians Of The Galaxy, and what it means for the state of Marvel’s on-screen universe and the wider superhero genre.
Sumeet: The Marvel Universe took a big leap this past weekend, adding a new intergalactic set of characters to their more well-known Avengers mix. As many film folks have noted, it was an interesting risk for the Marvel/Disney machine to take on Guardians Of The Galaxy. For those even less in the know than me (I know almost nothing about the comic book characters), the Guardians are a relatively obscure and off-beat superhero team. They appeared sporadically throughout various Marvel comics but only became featured in their own comic series relatively recently. In other words, I’m not the only one that didn’t know much about them before this weekend. Continue reading
The Confessor: Guns N’ Roses In The Use Your Illusion Era
By Spencer. As I wrote in the very first post on this site, S&N promises to take seriously both the artistic and the lowbrow. Hopefully you’ve seen that in some of the songs we’ve included in our Mixologist series, as well as in some of the topics we’ve taken on so far. But with our new series, The Confessor, I want to give our contributors the chance to come clean about some of their favorite guilty pleasures in movies and music. Because let’s face it, the line between bad and good has a funny way of moving around when it’s something you love. Continue reading
The High-Fiver: Worst Makeup Jobs
1. Mickey Rooney – Breakfast At Tiffany’s (1961)
2. Leonardo DiCaprio – J. Edgar (2011)
3. Jim Sturgess – Cloud Atlas (2012)
4. Shawn & Marlon Wayans – White Chicks (2004)
5. Al Jolson – The Jazz Singer (1927)
Contributed by: Spencer
The Mixologist: The Forgotten, Vol. 1
By Spencer. Great bands still make forgettable songs. And forgotten songs, sometimes, can still be pretty damn great. For this edition of The Mixologist, I’m featuring some lesser-known tracks from some of the best bands of the 90s. Some of them were singles that tanked. Some of them were album tracks that were wrongly overshadowed. Some were B-sides that only saw the light of day among the true fanatics. Whatever the case, these are songs that deserve your love, and hopefully when heard in a different context, they’ll get the audience they deserve. Continue reading
The High-Fiver: Songs About Texas
1. George Strait – “All My Exes Live In Texas”
2. Lyle Lovett – “That’s Right (You’re Not From Texas)”
3. Jackopierce – “Texas”
4. Pat Green – “Texas On My Mind”
5. Alabama – “If You’re Gonna Play In Texas (You’ve Gotta Have A Fiddle In The Band)”
Contributed by: Spencer
The Critic: Scarlett Johansson in Lucy
By Spencer. Most movies only use ten percent of their brain. Lucy is one of them.
It’s a dumb person’s idea of what a smart movie should be. I’m setting aside the fact that its most basic premise — we only use 10% of our brain — is a complete myth, because if I started worrying about stuff like that, I’d never be able to go to movies anymore. No, the stupidity of Lucy isn’t just in the science (though there’s plenty of that too) but in the nonsensical plot, the amateurish editing, and the way it interjects shallow armchair philosophy at every turn, like a college freshman on pot trying to impress everyone with how much he learned in his “Intro to Nietzsche” course. That such a moronically executed script happens to be a story about higher intelligence is the final irony, and if director Luc Besson (The Fifth Element, The Professional) were trying to make this film as some kind of a piece of satire on that point, it might have at least been worth the trouble. Sadly, he’s dead serious. Continue reading
The High-Fiver: 90s Hip-Hop Albums
1. Dr. Dre – The Chronic
2. A Tribe Called Quest – The Low End Theory
3. The Notorious B.I.G. – Ready To Die
4. Wu-Tang Clan – Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
5. Jay-Z – Reasonable Doubt
Contributed by: Spencer
The Historian: Smashing Pumpkins Discography, Vol. 4 (1998-2015)
By Spencer. “Everything ends badly. Or else it wouldn’t end.” — Tom Cruise, Cocktail.
By 1998, the Smashing Pumpkins were already falling apart. Their drummer, Jimmy Chamberlain — whose frenetic style had been a long-underrated X-factor in the band’s success — was gone. The famously frosty relationship between Billy Corgan and his bandmates, James Iha and D’Arcy Wretzky, was only getting worse. And for the first time in their musical career, they seemed spent. With every release bigger than the last, a bubble had been created, and bubbles always burst. It’s a tribute to the Smashing Pumpkins that, in such a time of turmoil, they created their most intimate, their most personal, and their most mature album. Continue reading
The High-Fiver: Horrendous Movie Accents
1. Kevin Costner – Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves (1991)
2. Nicolas Cage – Con Air (1997)
3. Keanu Reeves – Much Ado About Nothing (1993)
4. Cate Blanchett – Indiana Jones & The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull (2008)
5. Kevin Costner – Thirteen Days (2000)
Contributed by: Spencer
The Stagediver: The 2014 Buckle Up Music Festival, Cincinnati, OH
By Jeremy. “That’s what I think country music sounds like, Jason Aldean, and you can tell him that I said that!”
This was the proclamation of Ketch Secor, co-founder of the Old Crow Medicine Show, near the end of their one-hour set at the first annual Buckle Up Music Festival. On this evening it was a tale of two cities, or rather a tale of two countries – music that is. At its home on Pete Rose Way, The Great American Ballpark was hosting contemporary country music stars Jason Aldean, Miranda Lambert, and the Florida Georgia Line. And a few blocks away from that, hugging the banks of the Ohio River, Sawyer Point Park served as the backdrop for a three-day festival celebrating a different kind of country music. While only a short walk separated these venues, an apparent schism existed between the mass popularity of country-pop and the diverse representation of the Buckle Up Music Festival. Continue reading
The Critic: Richard Linklater’s Boyhood
By Spencer. When you write movie reviews, there’s nothing more boring than finding new ways to heap praise upon a picture. So I’m sorry to say that Boyhood isn’t just the frontrunner for the Oscar this year; it’s one of the finest films ever made. The premise is simple: Richard Linklater (Dazed And Confused, Before Sunrise) filmed the life of a child (Ellar Coltrane in a star-making role) a little each year over the course of 12 years, capturing for the first time in movie history a truly realistic coming-of-age story. That’s the gimmick. But Boyhood is so much more than that. Continue reading
The Historian: The True Genius Behind Metallica’s Ride The Lightning
By Jason. Thirty years ago, the battle for the best in thrash metal was just getting started. Megadeth recently formed; Anthrax released their debut album, Fistful Of Metal; and Slayer was only a few years from releasing Reign In Blood. But on July 27, 1984 — exactly thirty years ago this Sunday — four California metal heads effectively ended the competition as it was just getting started with the release of their band’s second studio album, Ride The Lightning. Metallica was on the path to becoming synonymous with metal music. And they would never look back. Continue reading
The High-Fiver: Movie Versions Of TV Shows
1. The Fugitive (1993)
2. Maverick (1994)
3. Wayne’s World (1992)
4. Mission: Impossible (1996)
5. The Addams Family (1991)
Contributed by: Spencer
The Mixologist: Spin The Bottle
By Spencer. Bartenders used to be “bartenders” — now they’re “mixologists.” So it’s appropriate that we devote an edition of The Mixologist to the joys of alcohol.
Like a lot of benders, it starts with a headache (“Hangover”) followed by a rallying cry (“Let’s All Go To The Bar”). There’s tall boys (“Cheap Beer”), hard stuff (“One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer”), bottles of the finest bubbly (“Pink Champagne”), and even a brown bag special (“St. Ides Heaven”). And because it happens to the best of us, it closes with the usual questions (“Why Don’t We Get Drunk And Screw”), consequences (“Too Drunk To Fuck”), accusations (You only kiss me when you’re “Drunk”), and grand exits (“Lived In Bars”). All in all, it’s an entire night out in just sixteen songs. Continue reading
The Futurist: Upcoming Movies For August & September 2014
By Spencer. Today, we’re kicking off another new feature on S&N: The Futurist — a look at upcoming releases we’re excited about (or, in some cases, ones we’re dreading). August and September are typically a studio dumping ground wedged between the more exciting summer blockbusters and the Oscar fare of autumn. That said, there are a few noteworthy releases for those who might be desperate for a weekend diversion. Continue reading
The High-Fiver: Albums That Should Only Be Listened To At Night
1. The XX – xx
2. Radiohead – Kid A
3. The Smashing Pumpkins – Adore
4. Miles Davis – Kind Of Blue
5. Depeche Mode – Violator
Contributed by: Spencer
Shadows & Noise 