"Killing Them Softly" may be a gritty, violent and overwhelmingly angry gangster flick, but it is beautifully poetic all the same and is almost certainly one of this year's most thought?provoking films.
Fractured, expansive and more than a tad lugubrious, Tim Hecker's latest album, "Instrumental Tourist," is a gem for anyone with a taste for the darker things in life, aurally speaking. A collaboration with fellow ambient producer Daniel Lopatin, aka Oneohtrix Point Never, "Tourist" is about as varied as you can expect to get within either artists' oeuvre. Alternating between desolate soundscapes and grating walls of noise, the album offers plenty of variety and detail. Though the sounds can stretch on for minutes upon minutes, Hecker and Lopatin offer such a nuanced, lively sonic palette that listeners will have more than enough to dig into for months to come.
For senior drama major NadavHirsh, the theater has always been part of life. By the age of five, Hirsh was already acting. Since then, he has branched out into almost every other theatrical direction.
Modern art galleries are often home to a diverse and eclectic assortment of art. Here, more so than in any other art institutions, art is often controversial, cutting edge, avant?garde. In some contemporary art museums, anything goes - even graffiti.
Even if you are only the most passive of movie buffs, odds are good that you either own or have seen a few of the films that top popular culture's list for being Completely Messed Up, with a capital c, m and u. Odds are even better that, along with something by David Lynch and GasparNo?©, one of these films was written and/or directed by Harmony Korine.
For any musician or band who has had a career spanning more than four decades, it's usually fair to assume that their peak performing years are long past. While there are many bands with impressive, lengthy resumes that continue to tour, sometimes their concerts can seem stale - a glimpse of their former greatness. But on Monday night at the TD Garden in Boston, Neil Young and Crazy Horse gave a thunderous performance that proved that they are one of the true exceptions to that trend. Energetic, loud and vital, Young and company's concert was stunning for an artist of any age, let alone for someone who is 67.
British alternative indie rockers Alt?J recently received the 2012 Barclaycard Mercury Prize, elevating them from relative obscurity to the world's stage. As they possess an impressively unique feel, it's safe to say the award was well deserved.
"Silver Linings Playbook" marks another excellent addition to the filmography of David O. Russell, acclaimed writer?director of films like "The Fighter" (2010), "I Heart Huckabees" (2004) and "Three Kings" (1999).
Rihanna is a unique pop star. She's got a superhuman work ethic and she has released seven albums in seven years. Over that short time frame, she's made well over twenty hits, a collection that few musicians ever match. Her newest album, "Unapologetic," features yet another collaboration with her infamous boyfriend, Chris Brown. However, the single "Nobody's Business" ends up failing in a few regards.
If you are only going to play one chord for 20 minutes, you should probably choose wisely. This has always been one of the toughest aspects of ambient music: it demands a kind of resiliency in the ideas it tries to portray. Nothing can be more boring than a bad ambient song, or more hypnotic and immersive than a good one. It can often take a few listens just to decide just which a particular track is, but that opinion often feels set in stone after it's made. Thankfully, Brian Eno's latest album, "Lux," is great and deserving of similar praise to his most?lauded albums from the '70s and '80s.
Folk icon AniDiFranco performed to a moderately packed but extremely enthusiastic house at the Wilbur Theater on Nov. 13. Pearl and the Beard gave an inspired opening packed with powerful harmonies and cameos from quirky instruments like the glockenspiel and the melodica. The band has toured numerous times with DiFranco and it's obvious why she keeps asking them back - if Pearl and the Beard's latest album, "Killing the Darlings" (2011), is nice on an iPod, then it's mesmerizing live.
