Artsweek

L.A. Confidential

April 13, 2006 by

It's no wonder so many music fans hate L.A. With its congested freeways, overpriced concert tickets and pretentious, industry-driven scene, the setting seems bleak for anyone trying to make it big (un...
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Inside Man | Pay Very Close Attention

April 13, 2006 by

Directors often encourage the audience not to ask questions or come up with their own ideas. Rather, we are expected to remain one step ahead of the central characters, aware of the answers to their p...
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Slither | It’s Still Considered Passing

April 13, 2006 by

Do the names Roger Corman, John Carpenter and Wes Craven ring any of your bells like they ring mine? These master "horror" filmmakers revel in a trough of second-rate films which, due to their low pro...
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Artist in Profile: Cuesta Drive

April 13, 2006 by

You just can't quite put your finger on Cuesta Drive's CD, Where the Palm Trees Grow. It sounds so familiar, yet at the same time, peculiarly different. That's probably because their vast range of ext...
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The Boy Least Likely To | The Best Party Ever | Too Young To Die Records

April 13, 2006 by

While my inner judgmental music critic constantly warns me not to judge a book - or album - by its cover, my inner six-year-old sometimes gets the best of me. Such was the case when I caught sight of ...
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Mudhoney | Under a Billion Suns | Sub Pop

April 13, 2006 by

Political awareness is ultimately frightening. Most of us - or at least most people who would buy a Mudhoney album - are apprehensively aware of the social/political mess that currently envelopes the ...
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Matt Bauer | Nandina | Matt Bauer

April 13, 2006 by

"What luck I had / To somehow draw you in," Bay Area singer Matt Bauer croons in his song "Western States." Listening to Nandina leaves its listener feeling just that - lucky.
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An Inferno Even Dante Would Love

April 7, 2006 by

Rock and roll is essentially licentious. Though, at its essence it is a fiery and ultimately liberating art. This July, the World/Inferno Friendship Society will release its new record, an amalgamatio...
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Live: KCRW’s A Sounds Eclectic Evening @ Gibson Amphitheatre

April 7, 2006 by

Once upon a time, NPR meant droning talk radio, hours of highbrow classical programming and the occasional hour of "world music" aimed at affluent middle-agers. Luckily, this age of pretentiousness ha...
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Live: Belle & Sebastian / The New Pornographers @ The Wiltern LG

April 7, 2006 by

Just after the first three songs of the band’s set list, Belle & Sebastian frontman Stuart Murdoch stopped for a moment to check on his bandmates’ morale. Guitarist Steve Jackson quic...
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“A” for Amen

April 7, 2006 by

While we fight a war with an increasing death toll, attempt to repair the damage of a hurricane disaster which is slipping further and further out of public view, and try to make sense of the announce...
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Stop Hatin’

April 7, 2006 by

Documentaries are all the rage nowadays. All it takes is a few key items and you’re set. First, you need a camera, hopefully a nice one, none of that skate video looking stuff. Second, you will ...
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Yeah Yeah Yeahs | Show Your Bones | Interscope

April 7, 2006 by

“Sometimes I think that I’m bigger than the sound,” bemoans Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman Karen O throughout “Cheated Hearts.” The cut is just one of 11 decidedly personal d...
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Don’t Panic

March 9, 2006 by

If I was in a rock band, I would ride onstage on a gold-plated motorcycle. Unfortunately, the members of The Academy Is... had too much integrity for this death-defying stunt. However, Artsweek did in...
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What, No Blarney Stone?

March 9, 2006 by

Dense and sinister-a fog slowly rolls over the audience's heads setting the stage for a performance of visiting playwright Marina Carr's "By the Bog of Cats." The fog preludes the clouds of malady tha...
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