Leisure

Reviews and think pieces on music, movies, art, and theater.

Leisure

Critical Voices: Iron & Wine, The Shepherd’s Dog

Sam Beam is one of those rare artists who have yet to make a career misstep. From his 2002 debut The Creek Drank the Cradle to 2005’s Calexico collaboration In the Reins, the Floridian consistently delivers tender folk reveries straight from his pastoral heart. Better-known as Iron & Wine, Beam first entered the public eye with his cover of “Such Great Heights” for the 2004 film Garden State and has remained a college crowd staple henceforth.

By September 27, 2007

Leisure

Deadbeats

Seeing Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ shook me to the core of my being and left me feeling helpless in my mortality. It wasn’t the movie, though, that so moved me.

By September 27, 2007

Leisure

Eastern Promises bares heart, soul and Viggo

A man getting a haircut has his throat slit and a teenager hemorrhages as she gives birth. While the first five minutes of the film are intense, David Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises is to Russian mob movies what Wes Anderson’s Royal Tenenbaums is to the family comedy: the emphasis is on character development, not genre tropes.

By September 27, 2007

Leisure

Echoes from the Melting Pot reverberates

Next week, Georgetown’s Davis Performing Arts Center will host two interactive installations, an unprecedented event for the venue. From the British Council U.S. comes the Black Atlantic Project (BAP), an experimental musical collaboration that evolved from seven British and American musician poets who sampled and re-mixed each others works to create a trans-Atlantic hip-hop conversation.

By September 27, 2007

Leisure

Read Me

If you look at the website for the National Book Festival, you may be confused as to what the goal is. Language about “our country, its citizens and its libraries” and Laura Bush as the “hostess” are worrisome signs for those of us who like their entertainment and politics separate.

By September 27, 2007

Leisure

Critical Voices: Stars, In Our Bedroom After the War

Every time I pick up a Stars album, I’m reminded of the astronomy course I took last year. Like the rare cosmic event of a supernova, Stars albums start out in a flash of superabundant energy, dynamic lyricism and creativity. Then they die.

By September 27, 2007

Leisure

Critical Voices: Bruce Springsteen, Magic

After five years of anticipation, Bruce Springsteen has finally reunited with the E Street Band.

By September 27, 2007

Leisure

Edward Hopper and the art of loneliness

The National Gallery’s modern art space endures perpetual remodeling. Most recently, the industrial white walls have turned a calmer, grayish blue, and visitors to the East Wing will find Jasper Johns’ dynamic targets and mechanical abstractions from last spring replaced by the composed depictions of Edward Hopper’s America.

By September 20, 2007

Leisure

A trip with The Beatles Across the Universe

That’s right, the whole gang is “all together now” (oh, stop moaning); Jude, Lucy, Prudence and a few others star in the funny and poignant Across the Universe, where the word ‘trippy’ just begins to describe these surreal re-imaginings of Beatles’ classics. I mean, what can accurately describe seeing U2’s Bono make a cameo as a Californian cowboy hippie and belt “I am the Walrus.” Some moments of the show are simply beyond words.

By September 20, 2007

Leisure

Critical Voices: Akron/Family, Love is Simple

Akron/Family burst onto the music scene in 2005 with their promising self-titled debut and a fantastic split EP with the Angels of Light. With 2006’s Meek Warrior, however, they seemed to run out of energy even as they piled on the ideas. Thankfully, Love is Simple is exciting and lively, and its fusion of straightforward rock, tribal freak-outs and dense soundscapes makes it Akron/Family’s best release yet.

By September 20, 2007

Leisure

Critical Voices: Devendra Banhart, Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon

Bewhiskered troubadour Devendra Banhart is a man of many hats: father of freak-folk, new-age pseudo-hippy, the witch-voiced banshee of Jack Johnson’s nightmares. It’s appropriate, then, that his fifth and latest album, Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon, dabbles in a variety of musical genres, ranging from glam-rock to dub to gospel. While too long like its predecessor Cripple Crow, Smokey intrigues as the most revealing glimpse into the odd and joyous world of the shape-shifting folk singer.

By September 20, 2007

Leisure

Hip to the off-beat: DC Crafts and Fairs

If M Street has left you with a hankering for off-beat creativity, look no further than Crafty Bastards. With over 100 vendors, Crafty Bastards showcases talented independent artists and crafters from around the D.C. area.

By September 20, 2007

Leisure

Goes Down Easy

Nobody likes a wine snob, but I don’t need you to like me. I need you to like good wine. And I want you to drink it at a restaurant, paired with good food. An honest bottle of wine—poached from the low end of the wine list and foreign, if at all possible—is the pinnacle of the culturally constructed drinking experience.

By September 20, 2007

Leisure

Critical Voices: Kanye West, Graduation

Kanye West’s third album, Graduation, is a blessing in a year that has been abysmal for hip-hop. While Kanye is still a relatively weak MC, Graduation is an original, entertaining and tight album, and though it lacks any true club-bangers, it’s still the best hip-hop album of 2007.

By September 13, 2007

Leisure

Critical Voices: Animal Collective, Strawberry Jam

At the moment, nothing short of wide-scale environmental catastrophe could stop the creative stampede that is Animal Collective. The NYC-based group has been the apple of many a critic’s eye since the twisted forest romps of 2003’s Here Comes the Indian and Beach Boys-inflected follow-ups Sung Tongs and Feels.

By September 13, 2007

Leisure

Critical Voices: The Go! Team, Proof of Youth

Throwing Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band on the boom box and tromping around, only half listening to it would be akin to musical heresy. But different artists require different media of listening and The Go! Team, particularly with their sophomore effort Proof of Youth, have established themselves as of the boom box variety.

By September 13, 2007

Leisure

Film festival not short on inspiration

In an industry dominated by big budget sequels and tabloid stars, the D.C. Shorts Film Festival gives aspiring independent filmmakers hope to find not only an audience but also a venue that encourages collaboration and communication. Unconcerned with press or big names, the festival focuses about the artistic quality of the films and helps deserving directors with grants for future work.

By September 13, 2007

Leisure

Dead Beats

Music can be like a bratty child: loud, obnoxious and always demanding your attention. But what if we assigned the medium a more patient role, one that would allow it to seep into our subconscious, cleanse its contents and exit before we even sensed its presence?

By September 13, 2007

Leisure

Vox around the blocks

Garutachi Presents Underwear Party VI – Rock & Roll Hotel; Sept. 15; $10 or free if clad in undies Admittedly (and ashamedly), this writer has little experience with the Rock... Read more

By the September 13, 2007

Leisure

Accident swerves off the road

Amy Ziff, the star and creator of the one-woman show “Accident,” is one-third of the band BETTY—sort of a punkier Indigo Girls. She’s a Jewish lesbian, a blonde with dreadlocks and generally a funny woman. In “Accident,” she’s also dead. Do all these qualities mean she’s worth spending an evening with? Probably not. How about a little under an hour? Well, sure.

By September 13, 2007