This past week, the arts section of The News-Letter convened to create our list of the Top Five albums in three different fields. These are our Top Five Indie/Rock albums of 2016.
Hip-hop production is an art that has been long overlooked. In many cases, the most striking part of a song is the instrumental, and yet, for the most part, it is the rapper who gets all of the acclaim.
After nine years off the air, the pop-culture loving, coffee-drinking and fast-talking mother-daughter duo Lorelai and Rory Gilmore return in the highly anticipated Netflix mini-series, Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life.
I’ve watched a lot of television. And I’ve watched a lot of great television. Yes, The Wire is probably the best television show of all time. Yes, I shrieked out in rage when David Chase cruelly chose to fade to black on the finale of The Sopranos. And yes, I almost wrote a personal letter to my one true love Larry David after watching the trainwreck that was the series finale of Seinfeld.
While up to standards with previous Marvel films and certainly an enjoyable evening of movie watching, I found the newly released Doctor Strange to be the beginning of the end for me in terms of my interest in the Marvel universe.
The female-led Baltimore art scene is thriving. The most recent issue of Beast Grrl zine (#10) reflects this community-driven scene, with special thanks given to BALTI GURLS, Monument Quilt Project, La Liga zine, Youth as Resources (which funds the project) and Red Emma’s.
Over the break I certainly spent a lot of time eating, sleeping and generally trying to unwind while not thinking about my approaching finals. Although my time spent out of the house was sparse, I went to see a groundbreaking performance of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare’s birthplace, in Warwickshire, England.
If you’re like me, the first things that come to mind when you think of Queen Elizabeth might be her quirky hats, her beloved corgis or a dated, grandmotherly notion of tradition and formality. At first glance, the queen might not appear to be a particularly modern woman.
The JHU Film Society hosted The Royal Tenenbaums: A Live Reading, was hosted on Sunday night. As the Film Society’s second annual live reading, the event took place at Space 2460 and featured the participation of many local Baltimore artists.
An unassuming brick building, hardly distinguishable from those around it and tucked away in an unassuming corner of Baltimore is the Arena Players.
Most people recognize that art is pretty cool. Whether we’re talking about hyper-realistic portraits and still lives that one can often find on Facebook or about some priceless works in a museum, everyone enjoys art in some way. Something else people really enjoy in this age of the all-powerful internet is memes.
There’s a scene in Donald Glover’s new television show Atlanta that speaks to me as a black male specifically.
Wikipedia classifies Bon Iver’s newest album, 22, A Million, as Folktronica. That is one way to describe it I guess. I think calling it Bon Iver’s Yeezus is a more comprehensive portrayal. The cover of the album itself should reveal the reductionist, modernist step that lead singer Justin Vernon takes on this project, infusing his folk roots with a new, exciting electronic backing. The tracklist supports this view. It looks like an e. e. Cummings poem infested with inexplicable numbers and figures.
In the last few days, the nation has shown itself to be incredibly divided after the results of the recent presidential election. Many of Americans are in shock, while others are celebrating what they see as a return to the values that make America great.
Poetry
You might not know who Son of Nun is and, to be honest, neither did I until about a month ago. That is more likely a result of our personal failings as sheltered college students, though, because in both the Baltimore music scene and amongst the city’s revolutionary movements, his name carries some weight.
Bond St. District, a group made up of rapper DDm (aka Emmanuel Williams) and producer Paul Hutson, released their first full album, A Church on Vulcan, on Nov. 4. The launch party was held last Saturday at the Ottobar.
The 29th annual Culture Show, sponsored by the JHU Office of Multicultural Affairs, took place last Saturday in Shriver Hall. A celebration of the diverse roots and vibrant backgrounds of the students on the Homewood Campus, the show featured performances from many Hopkins dance and a cappella groups.
October has come and gone, with a host of great music releases left in its wake. Here’s a few that’ll be talked about for the rest of this (short) year.
