Following the election of the 45th US President, every irksome, privileged (Facebook) friend has slithered out of the woodwork to remind us that some of the best art emerges out of intolerance and persecution: “At least the art is gonna be so good, man.” This is one of many displays of shortsighted and reductive, even silly, everything-is-going-to-be-okay reasoning.
1. The Last Artful, Dodgr
I have never been a fan of Big Sean. While Lil Wayne would occasionally rap a couple lines or verses where the punchlines were corny or stale, those kinds of lines are a staple of Big Sean’s rhyme book. He has stumbled with lines like “I make like the universe and plan it (planet) out,” and “I’ll be there for you, I’m all ears, in other words, I’m here (hear) for you.” Whenever I see a Big Sean feature on a song, I expect an okay but forgettable verse.
Parquet Courts performed at the 2640 Space last Wednesday along with Philadelphia-based Ghostly International harpist Mary Lattimore. The show was one of the early performances on their short 2017 tour slate that also includes a show at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.
Following a year of solid R&B releases that brought the standard of the genre ever higher, London-based artist Sampha faced the challenge of creating something powerful and unique, a project worthy of Rihanna’s Anti or Solange’s A Seat at the Table that broke away to earn its own distinct acclaim. And he did just that with his debut studio album Process.
1. Research
Did I watch Super Bowl LI on Sunday? No. But did I watch Lady Gaga’s incredible halftime performance? You bet your biscuits I did.
2016 featured lots of great horror films that were mainly independent, but the wide release fare also made a great showing. Sequels like The Conjuring 2 and Ouija 2: Origin of Evil (and what a shocker when that film turned out to be good) helped buff a somewhat average wide-release horror showing.
Another semester has started and another (corporate) year for music has begun. In an appropriately Sisyphean fashion, I have been experiencing my yearly hankering to write a short list of the five releases I just can’t wait to download.
Food insecurity is a real threat for many families in Baltimore. But at the corner of Sisson Street and W. 28th Street just off I-83, sits a little-known warehouse of social action. It houses three great entities: Mill Valley General Store, a bulk-buyer’s paradise; Gather Baltimore, an organization providing affordable produce to residents; and The Baltimore Whiskey Company. We’re going to focus on the first two.
February is upon us, and with it come halfhearted internship applications, daunting exam schedules and the quagmire that is Greek life recruitment. But outside the snobbish “bubble” of Adderall and tech startups that we call Homewood, February means education and celebration during Black History Month.
The first page-to-screen adaptation of A Series of Unfortunate Events was released in 2004. I was 10, and despite positive reviews, I didn’t care for it. It lacks faithfulness to the original books and, as a child, this was essentially the sole barometer of a good film adaptation.
On Jan. 13, the Brooklyn-based band San Fermin released the second single, “Bride,” off of their forthcoming third LP, Belong. The band, the brainchild of Ellis Ludwig-Leone, was founded in 2013. Since then, they have released two studio albums, toured North America as well as Europe, and received critical acclaim from the likes of NPR, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Come this April, San Fermin will once again be on tour in support of Belong. This week, Ludwig-Leone was gracious enough to take time out of his schedule to discuss life on tour, his creative process, and how San Fermin continues to evolve with the Newsletter.
One of the central tenets of music listening is “putting somebody on,” or introducing a person to an artist or song that they haven’t heard before. In this article, I want to put you on to three projects and musicians that aren’t getting (and probably will not get) mainstream appeal.
Romantic musical comedy La La Land has taken critics and audiences by storm since its widespread release in early January. Many have praised the film’s writer and director Damien Chazelle and applauded soulful performances from Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling and the award-winning original soundtrack.
Although there were plenty of strong films such as The Witch and Don’t Breathe, horror films released in 2016 were missing something, in my opinion. At a certain point I, as a horror fan, have a craving for something I know, just executed extremely well. Everyone wants to reinvent the wheel nowadays and sometimes all it takes to make a great film is to wear cliches and tropes on your sleeves and execute them in an amazing way. That’s what Train to Busan does and it excels because of it.
