Aly Comingore

October 27, 2005

Rogue Wave | Descended Like Vultures | Sub-Pop

By Aly Comingore

The Rogue Wave's as-yet-unreleased latest album, Descended Like Vultures may not be the next Imagine. For that matter, it may not even be the next Transatlanticism, but such is the all-too-often-faced quandary of pop mus...

October 6, 2005

I Am Reznor, Hear Me Roar

By Aly Comingore

All hail the Los Angeles public transportation system - or at least the offshoot of it that ran loops around the Hollywood Bowl this past Saturday evening. For a mere three dollars I found myself aboard a exquisite white...

October 6, 2005

Fiona Apple | Extraordinary Machine | Epic

By Aly Comingore

Forgoing the small-talk regarding record label battles and six-year hiatuses, Fiona Apple's third album looks past the bullshit and stands on its on as a work of witty lyricism, whimsical arrangements and warm harmonies.

September 29, 2005

Ebony and Ivory

By Aly Comingore

For most of us, 25 sounds like the cut-off. By the time we all hit the ever-looming mid-20s mark, we want certain goals to be accomplished: Stop smoking, finish college, secure that elusive "real job," find affordable dw...

September 22, 2005

Who Wants To Be A Rock Star?

By Aly Comingore

If a picture really is worth a thousand words, then the photography featured in Nicholas Zinner's I Hope You Are All Happy Now works as the quintessential memoir on fame, friends and worldly travel.

September 22, 2005

Bloc Party | Silent Alarm Remixed | Atlantic Records

By Aly Comingore

So many things can go wrong when compiling an effort like Silent Alarm Remixes that one begins to wonder why bands attempt these "makeover records" at all.

September 22, 2005

The Like | Are You Thinking What I’m Thinking? | Geffen

By Aly Comingore

Let us flashback three years, to a simpler time. It was then that three-piece girl group, The Like, was spending its nights filling opening-act slots at small L.A. clubs and hipster house parties. Back then, the band fel...

May 26, 2005

The Many Faces of Ray Bradbury

By Aly Comingore

If you had asked Ray Bradbury to estimate a head count for his Thursday night lecture in Campbell Hall, he probably would have told you the place was pretty damn full. What some would consider most fascinating about the ...

May 19, 2005

Weezer | Make Believe | Geffen

By Aly Comingore

There is something to be said for Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo, who has taken his band to the top of the charts and quite possibly become the most admired nerd of the past two decades.

May 5, 2005

The Mighty Monolith of the Desert

By Aly Comingore

When approaching a sprawling venue and 90-band lineup such as Coachella perhaps my most naive plan of action was to have a plan of action. Boasting acts from the comeback kids of Nine Inch Nails and New Order, the dance ...

April 28, 2005

Los Angeles Plays Itself | Hate The Player, Not The Game

By Aly Comingore

It is no wonder that CalArts professor Thom Andersen's documentary plays out like a long-winded lecture. Heavy on the visual appeal, but lacking in emphasis or enthusiasm, "Los Angeles Plays Itself" comes across like the...

April 7, 2005

Head On |

By Aly Comingore

German writer/director Fatih Akin is certainly no stranger to fiction that is out of the ordinary, taking part in German film projects ranging from writing and directing an organized crime thriller in 1998 to acting in a...

March 31, 2005

Bear Puddin

By Harrison Coltun, Aly Comingore

What do you get when you compile eight of the top art students at a university and give them the chance to create and organize their own show? The answer is part classical and part modernist, a little culinary, a lot exh...

March 31, 2005

Beck | Guero | Interscope

By Aly Comingore

Nearly 10 years after the release of Odelay, Beck finds himself reinventing the art of reinvention and excelling in the self-deprecation that made "Loser" the definitive slacker anthem of the early '90s.

March 3, 2005

Jack Johnson | In Between Dreams | Universal

By Aly Comingore

Local favorite Jack Johnson knows his niche, and for that alone we must grant him a bit of credit. Folksy vocals, lazy guitar strumming and campfire-ready melodies define his latest, In Between Dreams, just as they did o...

February 24, 2005

Movie Reveiw: Tarnation

By Aly Comingore

Jonathan Caouette's "Tarnation" is a force to be reckoned with. In a time when documentary film has come to be defined through the highly subjective works of Michael Moore and Morgan Spurlock, Caouette's self-reflexive, ...