Thursday, November 11 2010
Tired Pony: The Place We Ran From
A stellar group of backing musicians, including members of R.E.M., Belle and Sebastian, Editors, and She & Him, isn't enough to overcome bland songwriting on this disappointing effort led by Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody.
Tuesday, May 18 2010
Walked in Line: The Musical Disciples of Joy Division
If any band is heir to the musical path Joy Division laid out, it would be the Cure, quite possibly the second-most influential band of the post-punk era.
Monday, December 14 2009
Editors: In This Light and on This Evening
Band buys Casio in attempt to shake unshakeable comparison. Fails. Film at 11.
Friday, October 17 2008
Global Bollywood by Anandam Kavoori and Aswin Punathambekar, Editors
What is Bollywood all about? And why did the multiplex near my hometown, in a field on the outer suburban ring of Chicago, reserve one theater just for Bollywood movies?
Wednesday, October 15 2008
Christopher Hitchens and His Critics: Terror, Iraq, and the Left by Cottee & Cushman, Eds.
How could a critic of empire, a loyal friend to the Palestinians, and the bane of Henry Kissinger ally himself with the Bush administration and its push for imperial adventures in the Middle East?
Monday, October 13 2008
Electronic Tribes: The Virtual Worlds of Geeks, Gamers, Shamans, and Scammers by Adams & Smith, Eds.
This interesting collection of essays discusses how we love, hate, and mate in the 21st century.
Wednesday, January 30 2008
The Art of Free Cooperation by
The cynic in me desperately wants to make fun of this book. Can someone throw out the word “utopia” again?
