Interview with Spencer Krug of Moonface
We interviewed Spencer about the importance of lyrics, the influence of Pitchfork, and whether he has any regrets with prior musical endeavors.
Interview with Journalist
Journalist’s musical palette is flecked with words, strategic intonations, acute ideas. He’s been wading through hip-hop for over a decade, and in that time he has shared the booth with incisor-flashing mavericks such as Canibus. Once signed to Motown, the lyricist is now on Hardrout, his own label. Mastering the craft of internal rhymes and battle hardened metaphors, we spoke to the mc about his newest record, his...
From the Vault: Interview w/ Wolf Parade
Working as an editor of a small weekly in the aughts, I fought to perforate the innocuous milquetoast sheen of community articles by bringing in band interviews. The experiment didn’t last long, and pictures of pumpkin patches prevailed. I was in my early twenties, I was barking up the wrong tree. Though violently abridged, this was one of the articles that actually ran in the paper before my publisher gave the column the...
Rich Hill
Hymns and Road Signs Review written by Robert D. Patrick A coral reef of dirty dishes. Later, a flippant exchange between siblings. The drum roll delivery of an auctioneer bruising the night sky. A parent, sheathed in a comforter, siphons soda out of a Doctor Pepper cup while cavalierly telling the cameraman that her thirteen-year-old son is old enough to make his own decisions. Shouts. Screams. Ire and bellyaching. Rich Hill, filmed...
Finding Fela
A Low Fog Hums Review written by Robert D. Patrick Alex Gibney’s documentary about the enigmatic spiritual warrior, Fela Kuti, finds itself bolstered by primary colors and pulsing enthusiasm. The counterculture musician, lacquered in sweat and crosshatched with warpaint, remains, at the end of Gibney’s expressive exploration, a rattling shadow in the distance. An opponent of political hubris, Fela glistened with...
Alive Inside
Waltz of Mysteries Review written by Robert D. Patrick A mosaic of incorporeal, lost memories coupled with jolts of expression. Ethereal images flutter and dissolve. And the past becomes nothing but an old, scorched match head. But what if the intangible profundity of music can cull perforated memories out of someone’s mind? Or, at the very least, make the abyss more comforting. Dan Cohen, a social worker with an unyielding...
Happy Christmas
Christmas Blights Starring: Anna Kendrick, Joe Swanberg Review written by Robert D. Patrick The tepid, doldrums approach of lo-fi cinema is evident in minimalist director Joe Swanberg’s latest drama, Happy Christmas. The film is grainier than a bag of wheat, but at least the camera isn’t bobbing like a buoy in a directionless ocean (all that often, anyway). Swanberg has been entrenched in the often-hazed genre of...
10 Great Dark Movies: Vacations or Traveling
A disgusting volley of unforgivable deeds and molar grinding abandon. Tire screeching, bone-jarring, guttural madness. My list for the Ten Great Dark Movies About Vacations or Traveling expunges weirdness. Bad drug trips, villains with halitosis, the eradication of childhood optimism – it’s all here! Fasten your seat belt and get ready for the spinout. Spring Breakers was a sawed-off shotgun blast of repetition compulsion...
Mood Indigo
Watercolors and Wild Flowers Starring: Audrey Tautou, Romain Duris Review written by Robert D. Patrick From the hallucinatory hopscotch of Eternal Sunshine and the Spotless Mind to the wonky fabric of Be Kind Rewind, French director Michel Gondry is known for dipping his paintbrush in clouds. The animated aesthetic of the auteur is on display in his newest opus, Mood Indigo. Adapted from Boris Vian’s book, Froth on the Daydream,...
Le Chef
Pots and Panned? Starring: Jean Reno, Michaël Youn Review written by Robert D. Patrick Ah, flippant movies about virtuous chefs and serpentine critics. Exorbitant portions are subdued in favor of strategic plating and multi-tiered flavor profiles. And how about those plates that flourish with primary colors? Daniel Cohen, the director behind Le Chef, sets his movie in the eccentric battlegrounds of affluent kitchens. Alexandre Lagarde...