Cass McCombs Tip of the Sphere (ANTI-) The opener of Tip of the Sphere is an interesting mongrel—half Irish folk mantra, half space rock, and ending with three minutes of Jerry-Garcia-circa-1972 wah guitar. All of which sort of sets the tone for Cass McCombs’ latest. There’s easy loping folk on “Absentee” and tabla and David […]
Cass McCombs Tip of the Sphere (ANTI-) The opener of Tip of the Sphere is an interesting mongrel—half Irish folk mantra, half space rock, and ending with three minutes of Jerry-Garcia-circa-1972 wah guitar. All of which sort of sets the tone for Cass McCombs’ latest. There’s easy loping folk on “Absentee” and tabla and David […]
Vanessa German grew up in Los Angeles in a creative household, wearing clothes her artist mother made, writing stories, and crafting creations from the scrap materials her mom laid out on the dining room table for her and her siblings. “We were makers as a way of life,” says German, the 2018 recipient of the […]
Across two LPs and five years of nonstop touring, Houndmouth made a name for itself as a troupe of sonic time travelers. After performing at SXSW in 2012, the Indiana band signed to Rough Trade Records and dropped its debut album, From the Hills Below the City, the following year. Full of hard-luck protagonists who […]
Short film blocks are often the highlight of any film festival, but when the Academy Awards come around, audiences are less familiar with them than with other categories. Here’s a rundown of this year’s nominees. Animated Short It would be easy to crown Pixar’s delightful Bao the early favorite on pedigree and name recognition alone, […]
Greg Weaver has been playing video games since…well, since he can remember. Growing up, his family had an Atari system and his cousin had a classic Nintendo NES. One particularly exciting Christmas, the family got a Super Nintendo system. The Weaver siblings spent hours playing on the consoles, immersed in the worlds contained therein, but […]
Raised in the fertile musical region of Galax, Virginia, Dori Freeman was never far from the sound of a bluegrass tune. She began to sing and play at a young age, and despite entering college and becoming a single mom, she gravitated to the role of musician. After a bold move—Freeman reached out to singer-songwriter […]
Big things happen when The Suffers go to work on their fusion of jazz, R&B, reggae, and funk. The eight-piece act plays Gulf Coast soul defined by the sultry vocals of Kam Franklin, whose warmth is so energetic she was asked to be a spokeswoman for tourism in the group’s hometown of Houston. The good […]
In Hedda Gabler, Henrik Ibsen crafted a painfully real representation of the 19th-century angel in the house. Stripped of her individuality, Hedda is repressed by her roles as daughter and wife. The production channels themes of subtle misogyny through love, rage, and a gripping sense of cruelty that leaves Hedda and those around her to […]
London’s National Theatre Live broadcasts I’m Not Running, a new play from critically acclaimed playwright David Hare. The drama centers around Pauline Gibson (Siân Brooke, right), a doctor turned politician who has her life turned upside down after a run-in with a stalwart loyalist of the Labour Party, who also happens to be her ex-boyfriend. […]
Before Charlottesville’s first hardcore punk band played Charlottesville’s first hardcore punk show, Lackey Die bass player Danny Collins had a prediction. “I think we’re gonna be the hottest thing that ever came out of this stinkin’ little town,” Collins said to one of his bandmates. It was 1983, and the band was about to take […]