Spectrum Culture @spectrumculture - Tumblr Blog

"While Sonic Youth long used feedback and resonance to build cathartic walls of ecstatic noise, Thurston Moore distills that approach here to create a set of sonic meditations."

Find out why Jester Jay Goldman gave The Best Day 4.5 out of 5 stars.

#thurston moore #sonic youth #the best day #jester jay goldman #spectrum culture #music reviews

rollingstone

Lou Reed died one year ago today. Hear 20 of his essential tracks from the Velvet Underground and beyond.

Ought talks literary influences and recording processes with Spectrum Culture's Mack Hayden.

#interview #ought #spectrum culture #mack hayden

"There are so many conversations to be had. When did 'pulling a Radiohead' become 'pulling a Beyoncé?' Why are U2 instantly hated, but Yorke is applauded? Why all the hate for post-In Rainbows work?"

Nathan Stevens on Thom Yorke's surprise album, Tomorrow's Modern Boxes, which he gives 3.75 out of 5 stars.

#nathan stevens #spectrum culture #thom yorke #tomorrow's modern boxes #radiohead

David Harris went to Portland's Project Pabst and lived to tell the tale:

"Since the festival was beer-based, youngsters need not apply. The 21+ age restriction kept the kiddos out, making for a calmer crowd, one free from twerking and self-immolation from beer and drugs. I saw no fights. Just one passed out dude. Only a few people making out. Besides, would the kids really want to see Tears for Fears and Rocket from the Crypt?"

Check out more words and photos on the new fest here.

#david harris #spectrum culture #project pabst #project pabst 2014 #portland #oregon

Jake Cole has no love for director Jason Reitman's new film, Men, Women & Children.

"Let’s not mince words: Men, Women & Children is the worst wide-release film I’ve seen since I started writing movie reviews. It’s a film more deserving of consideration as one of the worst ever made than the benign schlock churned out by mad dreamers like Ed Wood or even Tommy Wiseau."

Read the full review here.

#jake cole #spectrum culture #film review #men women and children #i'm more bothered by the title's lack of oxford comma to be honest

"Sean is, for the most part, a dry and dull narrator, surely a product of his stunted emotional growth, and while that makes a kind of sense, it doesn’t always make for good reading. It’s most difficult when Sean speaks as though he were writing his own story, complete with the amateur pacing of an inexperienced author, such as several paragraphs in a row that all end with a zinger or a punch line, followed by another chunk of paragraphs where every sentence is a quotable full of vast import."

Stacia Kissick Jones reviews the debut novel by The Mountain Goats' John Darnielle.

#wolf in white van #john darnielle #the mountain goats #book review #stacia kissick jones

"Like the world around us, the puzzle pieces don’t always fit, but the result is still something to behold."

Michael Danaher gives 4 out of 5 to At Best Cuckold, sophomore album from Sub Pop darlings Avi Buffalo.

#avi buffalo #at best cuckold #sub pop #sub pop records #spectrum culture #michael danaher #music reviews

rollingstone

Run the Jewels will remix their new album using cat sounds if a new Kickstarter is funded.

#beautiful

"The curtain has closed, for now, on what I hope is only a temporary setback. The band has too much talent for mediocrity to become the new norm. I have faith this crazy circus will rise again."

Nathan Stevens isn't havin' the media hype over Brill Bruisers, calling it "a bit of a mess," but is hopeful the band can turn it all around in the future.

Read the full review here.

#the new pornographers #new pornographers #brill bruisers #nathan stevens #spectrum culture #music #music reviews

back at 'em

Loyal Culture-ites:

After an unannounced hiatus (my apologies for that!), I'm at it again, droppin' our music and movie and book reviews at you like snakes on a plane. (I never saw that movie. Did the snakes live? I assume they did not.)

--J

"This three-disc edition is more of a referendum than a consumer’s guide, an ouroboric celebration of the album’s own impact on the music it documented. And while 72 songs may be a lot to throw on a listener at once, the album recalls a Guided by Voices record or, closer to this set’s running time, 69 Love Songs: even if one tune’s a dud, it’ll be over in a flash."

We review a reissue of NME's iconic C86, which features loads more tracks than the original.

#nme c86 #nme #c86 #spectrum culture #album review #music writing #jake cole

"It’s a very human urge to project emotion and personality onto inanimate objects, and Nixon’s book makes plain that the source of this personality is, after all, human: love."

We review Mark Nixon's endearing photography book, Much Loved.

#much loved #mark nixon #spectrum culture #book review #pat padua