Artsweek

November 12, 2009

This Echo Is Faint **

By Lucas Villa

After making a splash stateside last year with "Bleeding Love," UK superstar Leona Lewis hopes her sophomore album, Echo, will duplicate the success of its predecessor. The new 13-track LP finds Lewis treading similar gr...

November 12, 2009

(“Untitled”) Review ***

By Tyler Anthony

"(Untitled)," the latest effort by "Bartleby" director Jonathon Parker, stars Adam Goldberg as an avant-garde composer whose atonal, anti-melodic music satirizes the bohemian Chelsea art scene.

November 5, 2009

INTERVIEW: Exene Cervenka

By Virginia Yapp

"No one is ever going to pay you, and if you do get paid for stuff, that's good," Exene Cervenka told me the other day over the phone. "I don't even care, as long as they listen to my music. In fact, it's kind of like th...

November 5, 2009

“This Is It” Is a Fitting Farewell

By Justin Kruszona

Simply put, Michael Jackson's "This Is It" is extraordinary. If there existed any skepticism before about whether or not Michael Jackson would have been unable to complete his massive tour, this film will put it to rest.

November 5, 2009

A Look at What’s To Come in Local Theater and Dance

By Nico Kiefer

November is a busy month for many students as midterms give way to term papers, and vacations wait on the horizon. However, the coming cold means much more than that for UCSB's own Dept. of Theater & Dance, which is curr...

November 5, 2009

News You Can Use ****

By Tyler Anthony

In a technological world with so many outlets for transmitting information and where reporting has been reduced to a synthesis of secondary sources, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Nicholas Krist...

November 5, 2009

Fall Sounds ***

By Nicole Sands

Ola Podrida, a.k.a. musician David Wingo, makes music that fits perfectly into the mold cast for the indie-folk sound: While his latest album, Belly of the Lion, may not be incredibly original or groundbreaking, he&#8217...

November 5, 2009

Britney’s Back, Bitches! ****

By Lucas Villa

To celebrate her decade of contribution to the pop music scene, superstar (turned hot mess) Britney Spears is releasing The Singles Collection. For fans and those discovering Britney alike, The Singles Collection is a mu...

October 29, 2009

Crappy Halloween!

By Virginia Yapp

Halloween is all about guilty pleasures, especially here in Isla Vista, which is already the year-round guilty pleasures capital of the universe.

October 29, 2009

Hacky “Saw” Flicks Mature ***

By Hunter M. Daniels

"Saw" was never designed to become a franchise. The first film made a point of killing off all its main characters, save for one who was already dying of an inoperable brain tumor. But when a movie grosses 100 times its ...

October 29, 2009

Monsters of Folk Brings Its Show to the Granada

By Virginia Yapp

Last Thursday's Monsters of Folk show at the Granada Theatre left no doubt as to the immense talent of supergroup members Mike Mogis, Conor Oberst, M. Ward and Jim James (who, for some reason, insists on being billed as ...

October 29, 2009

Phantom of the Orchestra

By Max Massenkoff

Zombies and orchestral music do not mix well. So might go a common misconception that UCSB musicians are seeking to correct. This Thursday, the UCSB Symphony Orchestra, along with the jazz band and members of the music f...

October 29, 2009

Different Strokes ****

By Lucas Villa

Before The Strokes return with a new album next year, frontman Julian Casablancas looks to finally have his own say with Phrazes for the Young. The new LP marks the first solo release for Casablancas, while other Stroke...

October 29, 2009

“Amelia” Fails To Take Flight **

By Lance Kosher

There has been a spate of recent well-done biopics worth noting: Taylor Hackford's "Ray," James Mangold's "Walk the Line" and Gus Van Sant's "Milk," to name just a few. These films all center around fascinating cultural ...

October 22, 2009

Foxy Sounds at the Hub

By Hunter M. Daniels

The line formed early for The Sounds' Monday-night gig at the Hub, which was a fortunate thing, because the real show was over by the time the headliners even took the stage.

October 22, 2009

“Gunmetal” Brings Noir to Sunny SB

By Nico Kiefer

Picture a bar by an airport, just a little hole in the wall that people stop into when they're running away. It's the kind of place that "smells like stale cigarette smoke and shattered dreams." The only thing anyone dri...