By David D. Robbins Jr. A feature where I whittle down the world a bit for you, each week or so, by recommending some of the best topical links scattered across the internet … Let’s begin 2017 with two items I always look for on that last day of the year … 1. NYE 2017…
Happy 70th birthday to poetic badass and musical legend Patti Smith. “Birdland” is one of my favorite all-time songs. I could listen to it every day. I always wait for the wonderful, sad escapist verse where Patti belts out “where I am not human …” and the exquisite way she sings “a” in “It’s a…
Massive Attack Album: Ritual About: Dark, twisted, mesmerizing — and as engaging as ever. Vince Staples Album: Prima Donna About: “Smile” is one of the best tracks of the year. Burial Album: (Split) Young Death / Nightmarket About: Feels like a cool extension of everything that made “Rival Dealer” majestic. Wet Album: (Split) The Middle/Turn Away About:…
By David D. Robbins Jr. A feature where I whittle down the world a bit for you, each week or so, by recommending some of the best topical links scattered across the internet… 1. “Christians for a Moral America Pray for George Michael’s Death” By John Shore | The Huffington Post | 11-29-11 Yes, it’s good to remember…
David D. Robbins Jr. This is the list I submitted to the wonderful website DVDBeaver for its annual “Best of” compiling. (Which I might add, is the best list of its kind, featuring just us regular schmoes, a number of quality film critics, like Jonathan Rosenbaum and more.) This year it was “Pioneers: African-American Cinema” that stood out…
25. OLGA BELL Album: Tempo About: I love artists who can experiment with their sound on each record but the music always remains true to her voice. 24. CHOCOLATE GENIUS Album: Truth Vs. Beauty About: One of the few artists where it honestly pisses me off more people don’t know his work. Man doesn’t make bad records.…
By David D. Robbins Jr. This is the first of what will be a running feature, where I’ll whittle down the world a bit for you by recommending some of the best articles, podcasts, photos, videos and/or other links scattered across the internet. 1. “My President Was Black” By Ta-Nehisi Coates | The Atlantic |…
By David D. Robbins Jr. ▶ “What Belongs to You” by Garth Greenwell (Fiction) ▶ “Four of the Three Musketeers: The Marx Brothers On Stage” by Robert S. Bader (Film history) ▶ “The Girls” by Emma Cline (Fiction) ▶ “Swing Time” by Zadie Smith (Fiction) ▶ “Zero K” by Don DeLillo (Fiction) ▶ “The North…
By David D. Robbins Jr. Just my quick thoughts on attending a Trump rally in Des Moines, Iowa … Inside the rally Let me give you my thoughts unfiltered, without self-editing, all from memory and off-the-cuff –which seems apropos after attending a Donald Trump rally. Where to start? I could tell you that I’m glad…
By David D. Robbins Jr. It is important to remember those Cubans who suffered under Fidel Castro too, so I thought I’d give you a glimpse of a fun Cuban novel you should read … Reinaldo Arenas, one of my favorite Cuban novelists, like many of his countrymen, was enthused by the early cause of…
In Dripping Springs, a city in a Texas suburb of Austin with less than 2,000 inhabitants, is the husband-wife duo of Emily Cross and Dan Duszynski — making music under the moniker Cross Record. Their latest effort is a striking 9-song LP called “Wabi-Sabi”, featuring Cross’ breathy, smokey Hope Sandoval-type vocals; hard, stark guitar and…
It’s not surprising to hear Mick Jenkins getting back into the water (albeit reluctantly) with his new video “Drowning” (feat. BADBADNOTGOOD). Jenkins’ 2014 album “The Water[s]” was awash in liquid imagery. “Drowning” is a song about feeling suffocated by “the real life” and fighting to stay afloat: “When the river holds you down, you supposed to…
Computer Magic (aka Danz) has a new single out, “Dimensions”, which will be featured on her upcoming five-song EP release, Obscure but Visible, out October 7th on Channel 9 Records or at the artist’s website. Computer Magic has always had a beautiful obsession with space, dreams and thoughts of other worlds — so it seems apropos…
Admittedly, Ulrika Spacek’s “Everything: All The Time” reminds me a lot of Radiohead, with the pulsating rhythm, erratic breaks, the warped/echoed sounds and even the vocals of the lead singer. But that’s not a bad thing — and it’s only for one song. In fact, I love this track. It’s not mimicry. There’s a roughness to…
Artist and violinist Hannah Epperson posted a new video for “Story (Amelia)”, a song off her upcoming Sept. 16 release UPSWEEP. Some of you may be familiar with her periodic solo work, heard one of her European concerts or listened to her pairings with friend and fellow musician Emily Brown. The song begins with pretty Bjork-like…
Quick thoughts on PBS’s Churchill’s Secret: It’s June 23, 1953 and 78-year-old British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was entertaining Italian guests at Downing Street at an event for Italy’s Prime Minister Alcide De Gasperi when he had a stroke. After passing out, Churchill’s son-in-law, Christopher Soames, the MP for Bedford finds that the left side of the…
As has become usual with singer-songwriter Cass McCombs, he’s streaming another slow-smoked gorgeous track. This one is called “Medusa’s Outhouse”, which will be featured on his August 26th Anti- Records release Mangy Love. This latest song is kind of hazy reverie, with falsetto vocals and soulful backing guitar that feels like Neil Young, especially when he…
ILoveMakonnen (aka Makonnen Sheran) is streaming his best single since 2014’s “Wishing You Well”. It’s called “Side 2 Side.” The rapper has been releasing a number of lesser tracks during the year and he continued his mix-tape series “Drink More Water 6” before taking a break from the pace of pushing out all that music. This time around, ILoveMakonnen…
I like the new direction a number of indie artists are going in, highlighting their love for pop and catchy tunes over their more esoteric stuff. Don’t get me wrong, I prefer the more experimental, but it’s good to take a break and have some fun. That appears to be what happened with Dum Dum…
Massive Attack released an eerie but cool video for one of their latest tracks “Come Near Me” featuring Ghostpoet. This tense video, written and directed by Ed Morris, shows a man walking one step forward and a woman walking one back, staying equidistant throughout different locales. The song and video are a follow up to a four-track EP released back…
I’m a bit late to this track, but I love it. This Charlotte Cardin song, “Big Boy”, feels like where Esthero was coming from with her 1988 luxury “Breath from Another”. Cardin’s recent release is all about a used love and is sexy as hell with its lyrics about kissed necks and R&B-infused indie slinking.…
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