Arts

Arts

Former Wu-Tanger Ghostface's latest is so good it's spooky

April 2

For anyone with more than a passing interest in pop music, it is incredibly difficult to like hip-hop. So much of the genre seems dominated by repetitive, uninspired, homophobic, misogynistic half-wits whose primary interest in making music is making dollars. For many, these qualities make it difficult to reconcile their appreciation for mainstream rap with their appreciation for good music. As a result, serious music fans who also are interested in hip-hop are forced to listen to a tiny group of creatively acceptable, "underground" rappers that too frequently sound stilted, boring and, worst of all, alike. Caught between maintaining their credibility as fans and satisfying their need for beats and rhymes, serious music aficionados who explore hip-hop often end up unfulfilled.

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Arts

Patience pays off for Umphrey's McGee

March 29

It's been a productive few years for Chicago-based jam/prog rockers Umphrey's McGee. Thanks in part to a relentless bi-coastal touring schedule and the release of their critically lauded album "Anchor Drops" (2004), Umphrey's has been riding a wave of popularity.

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Arts

Prince releases the latest in his purple reign

March 28

When NBA player Carlos Boozer rented out his house to Prince, he should have known he wasn't going to get it back in the same shape. He should consider himself lucky that the biggest changes were a newly purple exterior adorned with the Prince symbol and the name of his new album, "3121."

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Arts

The drum's alive on this album, and that ain't no lie

March 26

In comparison to their 2001 debut "They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top," Liars' new record, "Drum's Not Dead," sounds as if it were made by a totally different band. The stark contrast makes sense, though, as over the course of five years the quartet has lost two members and gained one, and has changed its headquarters from NYC to Berlin.

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Arts

New album explores Harper's 'Sides'

March 25

Remember the days when the artistic expression of a musician was more than a couple of singles? When an entire album was focused around a central theme that wasn't the opposite gender? For those of you who believed the idea of the "concept album" to be a thing of the past, do yourself a favor and pick up Ben Harper's new release, "Both Sides of the Gun."

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Arts

An unlikely, but beautiful, indie duet

March 15

Opposites attract. This fact is often a governing principle in relationships, as well as the magnetic properties of certain minerals. But is it true for musicians as well? Can two seemingly dissimilar artists successfully unite to create compelling and melodious music? When the combination consists of former Screaming Trees and Queens of the Stone Age vocalist Mark Lanegan and former Belle and Sebastian cellist/vocalist Isobel Campbell, the answer is an easy yes. Their latest release "Ballad of the Broken Seas" is proof enough.

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Arts

Stella's Harvard show a worthwhile trip

March 15

The year 1958 was a significant one for contemporary artist Frank Stella. Born in the suburban town of Malden, and a graduate of Phillips Andover Academy and Princeton, Stella moved to Manhattan in 1958 to begin his life as a painter.

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Arts

Stereolab pumps out new releases with diminishing returns

March 13

There is an old adage that says "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." If something gets the job done, messing with it will probably foul everything up, right? Sure, in our rapidly advancing technological world of today, devices and methods are reconstructed pretty often, but the main principles of the design or practice are always upheld in the final product.

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Arts

Tufts' theMark hits the bullseye

March 11

Over the past few years, the music scene of the Tufts community has had a shadow cast upon it by theMark. With a current incarnation made up of seniors Paul Farris, Alec Eiffel, and Jordan DeLiso, recent grad Jason Autore, and non-Tufts newcomer Jay Lovell, theMark has opened Spring Fling and has played everywhere from Hotung to local clubs (including The Paradise and Avalon).

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Arts

New album a gushing success

March 8

As of late, New Pornographers fans have had much to rejoice about and much new material to relish. The Canadian indie rock outfit recently released 2005's critically acclaimed "Twin Cinema" and treated audiences across the country to a joint tour with Belle and Sebastian.

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Arts

Clap your hands if you believe in better music

March 6

You know those generic-sounding pop/rock tracks that car companies use as background music in commercials? I had always assumed they were produced by advertising executives, pressed for time and money and lacking any sort of musical talent or experience.

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Arts

Not much 'Missing' for Maximo Park new release

March 5

There's a big difference between something that's extraneous and something that's missing. For example, DVDs are loaded with inconsequential deleted scenes, unfunny blooper reels and unrated "Collector's Editions" that give you the impression that you missed out on something when you saw the movie in theaters. When you get home and actually watch the extras - if you even watch them at all - you find 90 percent of them are garbage. No one wants to see Adam Sandler's misunderstood masterpiece "Little Nicky" restored to the former glory of its star's original vision. Nobody should want to get the unrated version of "Old School," because all you see is more of Will Ferrell than is good for you. These scenes aren't missing from the movie, they just weren't good enough to make the cut.

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Arts

There are faces Hockney remembers, all his life, and some he paints

March 2

"The face must not be caught in a bearing that is too suggestive of a short period of time." While David Hockney, the best-known British artist of his generation, is referring here to his so-called composite Polaroid pieces, specifically "Billy Wilder Lighting his Cigar," all of his portraits transcend time. He paints a history behind each face.

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Arts

Harvard exhibit is an afternoon 'Delight'

February 27

It is not difficult to see why Charles Dunlap would choose to collect primarily Rococo French drawings and paintings.

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Arts

Davies can't work out kinks in solo debut

February 27

In the '60s, the Kinks were a seminal rock band that made their point with blistering riffs and catchy melodies. Even in the '70s and '80s, the band kept on touring and producing new material, although to an increasingly small audience.

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Arts

Hawthorne Heights reach a new low

February 26

It's not every day that you find a record so bad it drives you into a brief period of acute, introverted sorrow. When you do, it serves not only to remind us of the many detestable qualities of pop music and the music industry, but even to further sully and mar its once good name. "If Only You Were Lonely," the second record from suburban tattoo-and-all-black-clad Ohio emo quintet Hawthorne Heights, is such a record.

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Arts

You wouldn't want to 'Destroy' these 'Rubies;' Bejar impresses

February 25

Very infrequently can a single record combine superiorly-crafted lyrics, outstanding vocals and cohesive instrumental elements. In the span of a sparse ten songs and fifty-three minutes, Destroyer's new release, "Destroyer's Rubies," does just that.

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Arts

Doherty's latest album is all a-(Baby)shambles

February 22

Between various court appearances stemming from a steady stream of drug charges, ex-Libertines frontman Pete Doherty found the time in 2005 to put out an album in the UK with his new band, Babyshambles.

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Arts

No Elbow room

February 22

There is nothing special about Elbow. Perhaps this is why they have been dropped by both Island and EMI as they were just starting out, likely due to their lack of an identity within the wave of late '90s British melodic soft rock. Overshadowed by such groups as Coldplay and Travis, Elbow managed to survive on the independent circuit until their more recent and lasting contract with V2 Records.

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Arts

From this album to 'eternity,' Subways medicore

February 20

When The Who sang about their generation back in the '60s, it marked a dividing line between the cool young Mods and the old, crusty Establishment. Listening to the song today, you have to think they knew what they were talking about.

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