Reviews2/19/21Feb 19SaveReviews2/19/21B+ReviewsOn Open Door Policy, The Hold Steady evolve from bar hounds into lounge lizardsAshley Naftule11Early on in the 2020 sort-of documentary Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets, an old man coins a rallying cry for generations…
Reviews1/11/21Jan 111Reviews1/11/21A-ReviewsBoth the living and the dead haunt the unsettling stories of The Dangers Of Smoking In BedAshley Naftule1The late Roger Ebert once wrote that “the movies are like a machine that generates empathy.” Great fiction comes off…
Best Of12/16/20Dec 162Best Of12/16/20Best OfThe A.V. Club’s 15 favorite books of 2020Laura Adamczyk, Danette Chavez, Alex McLevy, and 6 more48A certain amount of escapism through books would have been more than understandable in 2020. (And by “a certain…
Reviews11/9/20Nov 9SaveReviews11/9/20BReviewsJonathan Lethem’s The Arrest asks: What happens to a life built around cinema and sushi after society collapses?Ashley Naftule10Apocalypses in fiction tend to be geographically egalitarian. It doesn’t matter if it’s a zombie uprising, an alien…
Reviews10/5/20Oct 5SaveReviews10/5/20B+ReviewsA family’s vacation is cut short by crisis in Rumaan Alam’s Leave The World BehindAshley Naftule2It’s funny how the time of day can change the meaning of a knock. An unexpected rapping on the door during daylight…
Reviews9/14/20Sep 141Reviews9/14/20B+ReviewsWith Wagnerism, Alex Ross complicates the image of fascism’s favorite composerAshley Naftule34“Kill da wabbit, kill da wabbit…” For a certain generation of pop culture junkies, the first image that springs to…
For Our Consideration8/17/20Aug 17SaveFor Our Consideration8/17/20For Our ConsiderationToxic fanboy culture could learn a thing or two from Hannah Ewens’ FangirlsAshley Naftule39The Maenads were the original fans. The followers of Dionysus in Greek mythology, they were the “raving ones”—a…
Permanent Records8/11/20Aug 112Permanent Records8/11/20Permanent RecordsDeftones’ White Pony is the only nu-metal record you don’t have to be ashamed of owningAshley Naftule120It seems every few months on Twitter another “four high school albums” prompt makes the rounds, inspiring…
For Our Consideration4/2/20Apr 21For Our Consideration4/2/20For Our ConsiderationSasha Geffen’s Glitter Up The Dark shines a light on pop music’s queer historyAshley Naftule3While her biggest claim to fame remains her colorful fruit headpiece, camp icon Carmen Miranda deserves respect as…
Permanent Records3/24/20Mar 241Permanent Records3/24/20Permanent RecordsWith Histoire De Melody Nelson, Serge Gainsbourg composed a French sex god’s teenage symphonyAshley Naftule60On April 5, 1986, French singer Serge Gainsbourg told Whitney Houston on live TV that he wanted to fuck her. Looking…
Permanent Records2/12/19Feb 12 20192Permanent Records2/12/19Permanent RecordsThe slow and steady perfection of Galaxie 500’s On FireAshley Naftule17One of the best things about old records is the liner notes. Pick up a jazz or pop LP of a certain vintage and…