These things become familiar, of course, but how shocking a really moral film like this was, in 1985. Stephen Frears’ snapshot of the 80s was out of tune with its time, but slowly built as an art-house video cult in the 90s. Which is to say, by the time conversations about “identity politics” and “victim … Read more
This third installment in the BBC’s amazingly lifelike recreations of the ancient world doesn’t live up to the high standard set by its predecessors, Walking With Dinosaurs and Walking With Prehistoric Beasts, which combined cutting-edge paleontology and computer graphics to stunning effect. Which is a pity, because the story it has to tell is uniquely … Read more
Great artists often reach an apotheosis in their careers beyond which they can do what ever they want. Radiohead managed that with OK Computer back in 2000, then followed up with Kid A, which was a low-rent, high-profile slumming in Aphex Twin territory, indulging in noise more than music. Which is fine—we’re as amenable to … Read more
Annie Lennox has not been terribly prolific in the years since she left the great ’80s art-pop duo Eurythmics at the beginning of the last decade. Solo, she brought us the sophisticated and occasionally wonderful Diva, and a dreadful covers album called Medusa, aptly named in that it turned the hearts of most critics to … Read more
That’s not a typo—terroir is a French term roughly meaning “soil” that has less to do with the current geopolitical bugbear than Farrar’s ongoing fascination with American culture and traditions. A song cycle about Farrar’s new hometown of St. Louis, it’s a solid piece of work that builds well on his earlier solo records and … Read more
Sometimes you’ve just got to see a show because of the rare lineup. And in the case of these completely simpatico artists, it’s a shame someone ends up playing in the invariably ignominious position of “warm-up.” Young, of course, still maintains a stadium-sized contingent of dope-smoking longhairs who need to be accomodated as they holler … Read more
Bley represents a new and unique impulse in jazz—a desire to embrace big, messy, intellectual subjects. It’s not a natural mode for jazz, which tends to dwell on aesthetic detail. You know, art for art’s sake. But her latest album, Looking For America, sounds the clarion that jazz is uniquely equipped to approach complex issues … Read more
To open its 2003 season, Soap Factory presents a series of video, film, and visual art that’s all about finding and crossing the line between fiction and reality—more specifically, how we use fiction to assemble our reality. Projects include a trading post where you can swap one of your own mixed-tapes with one of Conrad … Read more
The MIA teams up with Britain’s Tate Gallery and the Metropolitan Museum of Art for this 150-work exhibit, a major collection intent on revealing the creative give-and-take between painters on either side of the English Channel during the tumultuous decades of post-Napoleonic Europe. Crossing will feature plenty of rare treats for us Yankee audiences, including … Read more
That “Spoonbridge & Cherry” sculpture has become so iconic of Minneapolis in our minds, we’d nearly forgotten that the Walker’s outdoor annex has only been gracing our city for a decade and a half. The museum’s celebrating the occasion with a two-part weekend fete. On Friday, critic’s-darling Americana combo Wilco headlines a concert backed up … Read more