Leisure

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

Leisure

Critical Voices: NINE, blink-182

Fart jokes have long been a part of blink-182’s persona, a juvenile yet iconic mechanism for assuring that even when they convey heartfelt emotion, the band can’t quite take themselves... Read more

By October 5, 2019

Leisure

The Death of Dick Long Glimpses Into the Irrevocability and Stupidity of Crime

Watching The Death of Dick Long (2019) is like looking both ways before crossing the street and then getting run over by a Lime scooter. To an outsider, it’s hilarious.... Read more

By October 4, 2019

Leisure

Critical Voices: III, The Lumineers

Meditative at times and raw at others, the Lumineers’ minimalistically-titled third studio album III is perhaps the band’s most cohesive narrative in record form. Told in three chapters, III painstakingly... Read more

By October 4, 2019

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Concert Preview: GRLwood, Oct. 2, Black Cat

Louisville punk duo GRLwood will open for indie rock group Man Man at the Black Cat on October 2nd. The duo, made up of guitarist/vocalist Rej Forester and drummer Karen... Read more

By October 1, 2019

Leisure

The Phillips Collection’s Newest Exhibit Poignantly Portrays the Stories of Migrants

In 1945 Richard Wright wrote a poem influenced by his experience of being a part of the Great Migration, the movement of around 6 million African Americans from the rural... Read more

By September 27, 2019

Leisure

Ad Astra is Both Alienating and Deeply Human

Bathed in the orange planetary glow of a Martian recording booth, astronaut Roy McBride (Brad Pitt) goes off-script. Roy, far from home on the Red Planet colony, is being used... Read more

By September 27, 2019

Leisure

Identity, Violence, and Change Clash at the MEI Modern Art Gallery

In the Middle East Institute’s debut art gallery, conflict, both internal and external, rages around the room, enveloping every piece. The works in this collection perfectly display the complexities of... Read more

By September 27, 2019

Leisure

Critical Voices: Charli, Charli XCX

Charli XCX  has emerged again. It’s been five years since her last studio album, two since her last mixtape, and she grounds herself with her new record Charli (2019). Through... Read more

By September 26, 2019

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Concert Review: Vampire Weekend, Aug. 29, Merriweather Post Pavilion

On a pleasantly warm, late-summer evening in Columbia, Maryland, Vampire Weekend proved they had not lost their “step” during a  five-year hiatus. The New York City-based indie rock band performed... Read more

By and September 23, 2019

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Concert Preview: Mallrat, Sept. 26, DC9

Australian singer songwriter Grace Shaw, known by her stage name Mallrat, is bringing her eclecticism to DC9 on Thursday, September 26th. Characterized by her surprisingly blunt vulnerability, the 20 year... Read more

By September 22, 2019

Leisure

The Goldfinch is a Poor Reproduction of a Work of Art

In a rustic West Village workshop, two ostensibly twin claw-foot chairs are set in front of a young Theodore Decker (Oakes Fegley): one an authentic piece of period furniture, the... Read more

By September 21, 2019

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Critical Voices: The Nothing, Korn

To be blunt, Korn’s The Nothing is their emotionally darkest record yet. The nu-metal outfit’s thirteenth, thirteen-song record dropped (in the most authentically Korn style) on September the thirteenth. The... Read more

By September 21, 2019

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Critical Voices: All My Heroes Are Cornballs, JPEGMAFIA

In the leadup to the release of JPEGMAFIA’s third studio album, All My Heroes Are Cornballs, the Baltimore-based rapper released a series of mock promotional interviews in which he plays... Read more

By September 20, 2019

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Critical Voices: Hollywood’s Bleeding, Post Malone

The nine-month roll out for Post Malone’s third studio album, Hollywood’s Bleeding, felt like a rollercoaster. The quality of the singles varied wildly, from the compelling “Goodbyes,” to the superficially... Read more

By September 18, 2019

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Critical Voices: EARTHGANG, Mirrorland

As Revenge of the Dreamers III topped the Billboard charts over this past summer, Dreamville producers and rappers, EARTHGANG, took their talent back to the studio. On September 6th, EARTHGANG... Read more

By September 17, 2019

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It: Chapter 2 Is an Engaging but Occasionally Uneven Critique of Nostalgia

Twenty-seven years have passed since the Losers Club had to face off against the child-eating shapeshifter known only as It. In that time, they’ve grown up and left their hometown... Read more

By September 13, 2019

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Critical Voices: Norman Fucking Rockwell!, Lana Del Rey

Introspective and immersed in nostalgia, Lana Del Rey’s sixth studio album Norman Fucking Rockwell! (2019) does not reflect a specific era—it captures a feeling. Infused with images and memories of... Read more

By September 13, 2019

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Critical Voices: Midland, Let it Roll

I’ll start by saying I don’t like country music. I always change the station when I hear it on the radio, and it doesn’t make me want to dance, party,... Read more

By September 4, 2019

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Voice Staffers’ Favorite Summer Reads

The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison I read The Bluest Eye in the eleventh grade, and it had a sense of realness that books hadn’t yet held for me. It wasn’t... Read more

By , , , , and August 30, 2019

Leisure

Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood is A Slightly Underwhelming Movie From Quentin Tarantino

It is 1969 in Los Angeles and as the decade changes, the era of Classic Hollywood is coming to a close. The Hays Code, which created strict moral guidelines for... Read more

By August 5, 2019