Leisure

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

Leisure

Maya Roth’s Big Love is a lot to love

Big Love just isn’t big enough to conquer all the staples of a social drama—free will, “love thy neighbor” and unrelenting feminism are just a few issues tackled in this revival of an ancient classic. Nevertheless, the performances are captivating, and the script is tinged with enough humor and cynicism to redeem the occasional dragging monologue.

By March 22, 2007

Leisure

Critical Voices: Andrew Bird

Album number seven from Andrew Bird finds the midwestern singer-songwriter returning to many of the elements that made his last few albums beloved by his fans. It makes for a good album, and while Armchair Apocrypha can’t quite match 2005’s excellent Andrew Bird & the Mysterious Production of Eggs, it nonetheless stands as another remarkable entry in an increasingly varied and impressive oeuvre.

By March 22, 2007

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Critical Voices: Low

Low never used to be a surprising band. These pioneers of the minimalist, glacially-paced subset of indie rock called slowcore made a name for themselves, beginning with their early ‘90s debut, by doing exactly what everyone expected: producing album after album of quietly gorgeous songs stealing plays from the Velvet Underground.

By March 22, 2007

Leisure

You Taste Like A Burger

Red Ginger is unusually quiet for a Wisconsin Avenue restaurant, but don’t let the empty tables fool you: this Caribbean eatery is everything you could want in a restaurant, and then some.

By March 22, 2007

Leisure

Critical Voices

Modest Mouse: We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank

By March 15, 2007

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Critical Voices

LCD Soundsystem: Sound of Silver

By March 15, 2007

Leisure

Goes Down Easy

Black and Tan

By March 15, 2007

Leisure

Events calendar: get your spring on

What’s on when

By March 15, 2007

Leisure

Black and white and pop all over

Beach Boy Brian Wilson once claimed he was making “teenage symphonies to God.” Wilson knew, perhaps better than any musician of his time, that a great pop song can be deeply spiritual, each melody crafted as an offering to some unknown musical deity.

By March 15, 2007

Leisure

Getting politcal with Ted Leo

New Jersey native Ted Leo isn’t your typical semi-knowledgeable, politically-charged artist. He’s a punk rocker, yes, but he also earned an English degree at the University of Notre Dame. In his recent interview with the Voice via e-mail, Ted discussed in depth the political themes that run through his latest release, Living with the Living, demonstrating a mastery of syntax seldom seen in the world of indie rock.

By March 15, 2007

Leisure

Maya Roth’s Big Love is a lot to love

Big Love just isn’t big enough to conquer all the staples of a social drama—free will, “love thy neighbor” and unrelenting feminism are just a few issues tackled in this revival of an ancient classic. Nevertheless, the performances are captivating, and the script is tinged with enough humor and cynicism to redeem the occasional dragging monologue.

By March 15, 2007

Leisure

Critical Voices

Low never used to be a surprising band. These pioneers of the minimalist, glacially-paced subset of indie rock called slowcore made a name for themselves, beginning with their early ‘90s debut, by doing exactly what everyone expected: producing album after album of quietly gorgeous songs stealing plays from the Velvet Underground.

By March 15, 2007

Leisure

Critical Voices

Album number seven from Andrew Bird finds the midwestern singer-songwriter returning to many of the elements that made his last few albums beloved by his fans. It makes for a good album, and while Armchair Apocrypha can’t quite match 2005’s excellent Andrew Bird & the Mysterious Production of Eggs, it nonetheless stands as another remarkable entry in an increasingly varied and impressive oeuvre.

By March 15, 2007

Leisure

You Taste Like A Burger: Red Ginger

Red Ginger is unusually quiet for a Wisconsin Avenue restaurant, but don’t let the empty tables fool you: this Caribbean eatery is everything you could want in a restaurant, and then some.

By March 15, 2007

Leisure

The best German film since Run Lola Run

The opening scene of The Lives of Others is austere and deadpan, an appropriate introduction to a film set in communist East Berlin. In a sterile classroom, secret police lieutenant Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe) instructs students in the merciless process of interrogation, emphasizing that only the guilty shed tears.

By March 15, 2007

Leisure

Gray Matters? More like gay matters

Gray Matters is like its star, Heather Graham—bubbly, nice to look at, but a bit lacking in depth and substance. It’s the story of a young single professional in Manhattan, named Gray, only in this hackneyed plot the twist is that Gray falls for her brother’s girl.

By March 15, 2007

Leisure

Jack Gilbert says no to Heaven

Jack Gilbert’s collection of poems, “Refusing Heaven”, deserves the second round of attention its paperback reissue has received for its beautiful reflection upon the American poet’s adult life.

By March 1, 2007

Leisure

Indie film: “Love in the Wrong Places”

Besides the frightening presence of Joan Rivers on every entertainment channel, there may be only one thing you can predict about Oscar season. Every actress on the red carpet is thinner than you. You can avoid this strange and recurring phenomenon by exploring the assortment of films offered by the DC Independent Film Fest.

By March 1, 2007

Leisure

Critical Voices: Arcade Fire, Neon Bible, Merge

The music that tugs most at our heartstrings is often the most divisive. In one camp you have those who prefer their music served raw and doused with emotion; in the other you have vicious detractors shouting labels like “emo” and “over the top” with bitter disapproval. The Arcade Fire’s emotive debut, Funeral, won over both camps by shrouding many of its emo leanings in ambiguity and lyrical imagery.

By March 1, 2007

Leisure

Critical Voices: !!!, Myth Takes, Warp

With eight members and an emphasis on rhythm and danceability, !!! (conventionally pronounced “chk-chk-chk”) have sometimes lacked focus. While the band provides the perfect sound track to running really fast or freaking out, the human touch is often lost in the conglomeration of sounds. With Myth Takes !!! realize that those exclamation points can refer to emotion, not just excitement.

By March 1, 2007