At what point does burning ambition have to step aside for the pressing responsibilities of adulthood? Taking to heart Harlan Howard’s “three chords and the truth” analogy, Tom Harper’s Wild Rose tries to pin down exactly when it’s time to…
Booksmart Movie Review: A new coming-of-age classic
It’s nearly impossible to discuss Olivia Wilde’s directorial feature debut Booksmart without slipping into hyperbole. Bursting with confidence and personality, it avoids nearly all of the pitfalls of a first film, as it cultivates a living, breathing ecosystem that manages…
Album Review: Steel Pulse – “Mass Manipulation”
When Steel Pulse released their rousing 1978 debut, Handsworth Revolution, amidst a surge of contentious white nationalism in their native England, there’s no way they would have thought that they’d be wading through the same bigoted fanaticism more than four…
Shadow Movie Review: Another stunning epic from Zhang Yimou
With his 30+ year career as one of China’s prominent cinematic voices, director Zhang Yimou’s résumé plays like an eclectic stew, a series of seemingly random darts strewn about the whole of the narrative spectrum. He has tried his hand…
Album Review: Holly Herndon – “Proto”
Listening to Holly Herndon can be a bit disorienting at first. The avant-garde composer’s career has been defined by pushing the boundaries of electronic music, and with her jarring compositions and unintelligible lyrics, it’s almost like listening to music sung…
