970 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
(08/29/06 6:00am)
A summer of laughs, tears and the mutant X gene has come and
gone, and now it's time for you to return to your boring life at
what's not even the nation's No. 1 party school any more. Here's a
fond remembrance of those happier times. Can it really have been
just a week ago? Or was it all just a dream...? Most Pathetic,
Self-Indulgent Swipe at Critics Disguised as a Movie: ""Lady in the
Water"" ""Lady in the Water"" is stupid enough to begin with, with
nefarious grass creatures that can only be seen in a mirror's
reflection and a little boy who becomes suddenly clairvoyant after
reading cereal boxes. (You have to see it to believe it.) But it
gets worse when it becomes clear that ""Lady in the Water"" is
nothing more than a childish jab at the critics who assailed ""The
Village."" Shyamalan's hubris has been growing exponentially since
""The Sixth Sense,"" but this is the first time it has manifested
itself so completely into one of his movies. Shyamalan takes
special glee in the scene in which the villainous movie critic
character gets viciously killed by a grass creature, despite the
fact that, even more than the rest of this mess of a movie, it
doesn't make any logical sense. ""Lady in the Water"" is a
baffling, astonishing failure that even the ample talents of Paul
Giamatti can't salvage, and is certainly the worst movie of this
lackluster summer. —Joe Pudas Most Inspired Typecasting: Patrick
Stewart and Kelsey Grammer in ""X-Men 3"" In an effort to make
their film more imaginative and daring than their previous entries,
the producers in charge of ""X3"" made the ""risky"" choice of
Kelsey Grammer, most famous for playing an intellectual, verbose,
up-tight psychiatrist to play the role of Henry ""The Beast""
McCoy, an intellectual, verbose, up-tight mutant. But paired with
Patrick Stewart, famous for playing ""Star Trek's"" Captain Picard,
playing another humanity-lauding chief in charge of a group of
unique humans and quasi-humans. The chance taken by casting these
two untried actors in risky roles no doubt contributed to making an
excellent film. —Brad Boron Best Summer Songs You Never Want To
Hear Again: ""Promiscuous"" by Nelly Furtado and ""Hips Don't Lie""
by Shakira There have been two songs fighting for the title of
""the"" summer song this year: Nelly Furtado's surprising comeback
""Promiscuous,"" featuring producer Timbaland, and Shakira's ""Hips
Don't Lie,"" a retooled version of Wyclef Jean's ""Dance Like
This"" (first heard in the film classic ""Dirty Dancing: Havana
Nights""). Both were equally catchy, sexy pop tunes with tons of
energy, making them infinitely danceable and thoroughly enjoyable.
But, as fall rolls around, it has become obvious that these
infectious songs are now a plague on radio and music TV stations,
taking up more airtime than quite possibly all other songs
combined. For music that claims to be about the beauty of a
one-night affair, the two songs have become more like a summer
fling now pleading for commitment. It's time to cut the strings and
bring the ""Sexyback"" to the airwaves. —Kristin Czubkowski Song
That Should Have Caused the End of the World But Ended Up Only
Sucking Mildly: ""Stars Are Blind"" by Paris Hilton Let's get one
thing straight: Paris Hilton's summer hit ""Stars Are Blind"" is a
bad song. Combining teen pop, reggae-lite and soulless vocals,
""Stars Are Blind"" is so lightweight it floats by without making
any lasting impressions. It is too fluffy to function even as
pleasant diversion. But make no mistake—this makes the song a
resounding triumph for Paris. As an American aristocrat famous for
nothing more than being filthy rich and being well, just plain
filthy, everyone expected her singing career to be an embarrassment
of Shatner-Nimoy proportions. But ""Stars Are Blind"" isn't a
miserable way to spend four minutes—it isn't interesting, fun or
diverting, either—but it is thankfully so soft and mechanized that
it's hard to pay attention to the song for more than thirty seconds
at a time. Which is probably why the record label decided to make
the music video look like an outtake from ""1 Night in Paris.""
—Joe Lynch
(06/01/06 6:00am)
Okay, confession time: The Loon'the debut album from Minneapolis
indie quartet Tapes 'n Tapes'was released late 2005 in the Midwest.
But considering its recent international release, as well as the
fact that it has just attracted the attention of national reviewers
and the college record-buying crowd, it seems fair to call Tapes 'n
Tapes' stellar release the indie album of summer 2006.
(06/01/06 6:00am)
A stuffy professor wrote a stuffy article that I had to read for
my stuffy law class. He argued that violent TV makes people
paranoid and believe they will become victims of a violent crime.
I'll take it one step further than Dr. Boring and his violence
study. Television makes people believe they will become rich
Californian pop stars hunted by zombies who can decorate a room
with designer furniture for less than $1,000.
(05/02/06 6:00am)
Summer means a lot of things to a lot of people. It's true, just
ask one. This summer promises awesome releases from high-profile
stars and talented underground hellraisers. The Cardinal takes a
look at which bands promise to be worthy of your iPod shuffle when
you're catching waves, soaking rays or sitting in your dark, dank
basement playing Grand Theft Auto\ and looking for a motorcycle to
steal.
(05/01/06 6:00am)
Aloha used to be a band with their heads in the clouds, creating
songs that floated above the listener, painting hazy, dreamy
pictures with their ever-present vibraphone filling every corner of
their songs. Some Echoes, their self-assured new album, proves that
these days the band keep things a lot more lucid—their heads are
still partially in the clouds, but their feet are planted firmly on
the ground.
(04/26/06 6:00am)
As the Mifflin Street Block Party approaches, residents of the
street are preparing for a heavy police presence on their block.
(04/25/06 6:00am)
Pretty Girls Make Graves sports the newest indie trend: a
primarily testosterone-driven band who hands over the lead vocals
and lyrics to a girl. Its sound strays from other bands with
comparable gender match-ups like Rilo Kiley and Tilly and the Wall.
On its new album, Élan Vital, the band continues to possess an
earnest and ferocious post-punk sound it refuses to drop for any
track.
(04/24/06 6:00am)
Snap, Crackle, Pudas!
(04/19/06 6:00am)
It is possibly the only stable and steady relationship in the
realm of indie pop. Instead of writing songs based on failed
relationships and heartaches, Mates of State have celebrated their
bountiful relationship, love and joy for each other in their music.
The bond they share proves to be incredibly strong and deep,
especially on their latest release, Bring It Back.
(04/19/06 6:00am)
On his new album Keys to the World, Richard Ashcroft, former
lead singer of the Verve, has proven consistent with the title of
one of his tracks, Words Just Get in the Way.\ In this album, the
power of words has become obsolete. Ashcroft's lyrics fall short of
anything extraordinary. While the background music is dreamy and
tranquil, the messages lack wisdom and creativity.
(04/18/06 6:00am)
Milwaukee is becoming a hotbed of noise. The Good Luck Joes, a
band that records and resides there, is quickly emerging among the
city's elite class of bands breaking out and being recognized on
the national scene. The band's talent, musical maturity and
youthful enthusiasm are by far the most refreshing to come out of
the city.
(04/14/06 6:00am)
What: Sight Unseen\ play
(04/14/06 6:00am)
Some people go through high school admired, envied, imitated and
desired by most of their peers. Others go through high school
ignored, shunned, ridiculed and misunderstood. Chicago-based
independent filmmaker Rusty Nails is a proud member of that latter
group, and he learned to turn his unpleasant adolescence into a
goldmine of inspiration for hilarious, incisive social commentary.
(04/10/06 6:00am)
What's in a name?
(04/03/06 6:00am)
It is exciting when a local artist receives international
attention and turns the heads of music critics around the world.
Madison musician Charlemagne played South by Southwest and has
garnered interest from national and international press outlets for
his latest album, Detour Allure.
(03/30/06 6:00am)
For the vanguard of the punk revolution of the late '70s,
mainstream recognition has not been a predictor of longevity. The
Sex Pistols were through before the decade was out, and even
relatively durable names like The Clash and The Jam split before
the '80s were old.
(03/28/06 6:00am)
Anyone who has heard a recent Wilco song knows who Glenn Kotche
is, even if they don't realize it. Kotche is the talented drummer
who drives Wilco's current Alt-rock/country/indie-sound. He is
often found pushing the boundaries and moving into the uncharted
waters of experimental percussion, and his recent release does not
disappoint on this point. Mobile, Kotche's new solo album, provides
the listener with a journey through the landscape of the sound of
experimental percussion.
(03/24/06 6:00am)
This weekend, March 24-26:
(03/23/06 6:00am)
Neko Case clearly knows how amazing she is. Fox Confessor Brings
the Flood shows an even more confident artist than 2002's classic
Blacklisted. Maybe it was the critical acclaim of that album, or
maybe it is her work with indie pop outfit The New Pornographers.
Whatever the case, Case belts her way through 12 tracks on Fox
Confessor, and each one showcases her best singing and writing to
date.
(03/22/06 6:00am)
Throughout his career, Jason Collett has been a stable guitarist
and member of the background scene for lesser known bands like The
Andrew Cash Band and Bird. Collett's most famous association is
Broken Social Scene, a band with four completed albums that has
flourished just beneath the public radar since 1999. Collett's
community of bands may be the forerunners of the Canadian Indie
front but Collett himself has never forced his way into the
spotlight so efficiently as on his new album, Idols of Exile. The
album is Collett's second solo effort after taking a brief hiatus
from the music scene to raise a family.
