Reviews
The War on Drugs’ I Don’t Live Here Anymore Captures Their Thrilling Camaraderie
The War on Drugs’ latest album opens with somewhat of a feint. Littered with sparse piano and soft guitar, “Living Proof” is among the quietest songs in the Philadelphia band’s expansive catalog. 2014’s Lost in the Dream opened with the resplendent “Under the Pressure,” and 2017’s A Deeper Understanding had the immediacy of “Up All Night.” The heartland rockers’ fifth record, however, introduces itself gently, opting for restraint rather than full-blown grandeur. Toward its end, “Living Proof” recedes into itself, like a gravitational pull into the distant horizon. Then, the locomotive pace of “Harmonia’s Dream” kicks in. This is all an exercise in tension and release, and the rest of that record is the release that “Living Proof” leaves you yearning for. Produced by frontman Adam Granduci...
The War on Drugs Tighten and Lighten Up on I Don’t Live Here Anymore
The War on Drugs makes big songs, meant for arena-scale rock reveries. In 2022, they’ll embark on a headlining tour at the biggest venues they’ve ever played (including Madison Square Garden), stepping onto stages that match the scope of their music. Yet the latest album from the six-piece led by Adam Granduciel, I Don’t Live Here Anymore, marks a turn towards directness and concision. Don’t worry! If you like The War on Drugs’ previous work, chances are you’ll like I Don’t Live Here Anymore, out Friday, October 29th. The band’s fifth LP and their first since 2017’s Grammy-winning A Deeper Understanding still showcases the group’s texture-rich, somehow-original revisions of the most-winning aspects of mid-’80s commercial rock. Each of the 10 tracks runs over four minutes, most hovering in ...
Larry June, Cardo and the Art of Dedication
The chemistry between rapper Larry June and producer Cardo Got Wings feels built-in. The Bay Area MC’s unique style — which blends the laid-back grooves and storytelling of classic West Coast hip-hop with an eye for expensive home decor and Whole Foods smoothies — sounds effortless atop the St. Paul producer’s glossy G-funk inspired beats. June’s dependable verses preaching the benefits of early morning routines and personal commitment are extra potent in the light of the prolific path both artists took towards stardom. June, who started rapping in high school, signed a deal with Warner Music in 2014, shortly after his mixtape Route 80 with TM88 of 808 Mafia was featured in Complex. However, after a couple of EPs, June’s friend and A&R Quinn Coleman — aka DJ Spicoli, who passed away la...
Eternals’ Abundance of Heroes Can’t Fight Through Its Dense Exposition: Review
The Pitch: For millennia, intergalactic beings known as Eternals have defended humanity from the predatory Deviants. Once their mission is complete, however, they’re left stranded on Earth, living amongst humans through the ages as they watch our evolution while holding firm to their code of non-interference. That is, until their ancient enemies return, signaling the emergence of an even graver threat. With their family separated across the globe, Eternals Sersi (Gemma Chan), Ikaris (Richard Madden), and Sprite (Lia McHugh) must bring the team back together to resume their purpose. This may not be the happy reunion they’d hoped for, though, as revelations about their own pasts may redirect their future — as well as our planet’s. Sir, See the Potential: On paper, there’s a ton to be excited...
Curb Your Enthusiasm Returns for a Wine-Spilling, Gut-Busting Season 11 Premiere: Review
The Pitch: Twenty-one years in, and LA’s (least) favorite curmudgeon Larry David is still up to his usual self-serving tricks, even as HBO’s long-running sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm moves from its MAGA-hat commentary in Season 10 to COVID-era shenanigans in Season 11. The season premiere — dubbed “The Five-Foot Fence,” Jehovah bless — brings the show back without skipping a beat, rolling into these so-called “unprecedented times” with all the unpredictable hilarity we’ve come to expect from L.D. and the crew. Leave it to Larry to start off the season with an image right out of Sunset Boulevard: a dead body in Larry’s pool and the police determine that it’s clearly a burglar who fell in and drowned. No harm, no foul, thinks Larry; by the time he’s successfully pitched a show ...
Björk Returns to the Stage For Orchestral Global Live Stream: Recap
Before we get to listen to that living room club album, Björk is making a few “stops” on a virtual tour with an orchestral global live stream concert series. The four-show series kicked off in Iceland from the Harpa Reykjavík Concert Hall on October 11th. After having to reschedule the series due to COVID-19 regulations in Iceland, Björk has noted that the series is a celebration of “healthily exiting quarantine together.” During the Sunday, October 24th concert, Björk, joined by the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra, performed a baker’s dozen of songs from her albums Medulla, Biophilia, and Utopia. Adorned in a regal blue Balenciaga dress and a gold headpiece, Björk stood out amongst the dark stage, and gave the type of self-assured performance that we’ve certainly missed from the artist ...
Bon Iver Show No Rust at Self-Titled Anniversary Shows in Los Angeles
It would be easy for a band to ask for a mulligan, if not forgiveness, as they shake off the rust from nearly 18 months away from performing in front of a live audience. But, Bon Iver isn’t your average band. Opening up Los Angeles’ YouTube Theater (which sits adjacent to the massive SoFi Stadium that recently hosted the Rolling Stones, among other events), Justin Vernon and company performed a pair of shows that honored the 10-year anniversary of the group’s second album, Bon Iver, Bon Iver. Though few realized it at the time and were hoping for another For Emma, Forever Ago, Bon Iver, Bon Iver ended up setting up Vernon for the next 10 years of his career with a growing willingness to experiment and explore different sounds. Though that anniversary technically took place in June, ob...
Lana Del Rey Meditates in an Emergency on Blue Banisters
“If this is the end, I want a boyfriend,” Lana Del Rey sings on “Black Bathing Suit,” one of the standout tracks on her eighth album, Blue Banisters. The pop balladeer has long mooned over romantic apocalypse, but with this collection, she gets to set explorations of doomed relationships against the backdrop of global crisis. At their best, Del Rey’s ruminations in an emergency extend her range on all levels — lyrics, vocals, dynamics, and candor. Throughout her prolific, decade-long career, Del Rey has leaned into nostalgic fantasy with a faded silver-screen sheen — writing Gatsby cosplay, tragic Hollywood heroine apologias, and references to the unhinged end of the 1960s that make it sound like it happened yesterday. (Didn’t it?) But on Blue Banisters, Del Rey weaves the relatable banal ...
Lana Del Rey Delivers Stark Americana With Blue Banisters
Blue has always been Lana Del Rey’s color. Since her 2012 debut Born to Die, it’s been the singer’s blanket descriptor for the literal (jeans, pills, skies and oceans) and the emotive: serenity, joy, melancholy and vulnerability. On Blue Banisters, Del Rey’s candid and captivating eighth studio LP — and her second album in seven months — the color is again omnipresent as it brushes broken promises and rebirth across the 36-year-old songwriter’s sullen heart. “Said he’d fix my weathervane, give me children, take away my pain / And paint my banisters blue,” Del Rey laments through the wistful title track, referencing her 2020 split from Tulsa, Oklahoma cop and LivePD reality TV star Sean Larkin. However, Banisters isn’t a breakup record. It’s an observational project, perhaps Del Rey’s most ...
Let It Be – Super Deluxe Version Repaints the Beatles’ Final Album
The controversy that surrounds the album Let It Be down the years makes it the most intriguing release by The Beatles. Many observers consider it ill-conceived, a slapdash affair and a sad ending to a great legacy. It is doubtful any band (of any longevity) had as much influence as The Beatles in their seven-year recording career. McCartney still peppers his live setlist with the title track. Some call it a very weak album, but with three No. 1 singles, it certainly warrants the current attention. The story is fairly well known. McCartney hatched the idea of capturing on film the band creating, rehearsing and performing entirely new songs. In the cavernous and dank Twickenham film studios the band gathered on the second day of 1969 (“like playing table tennis in a football stadium”). The f...
The Rolling Stones Paid Tribute to Charlie Watts and Dusted Off an Old Favorite in Los Angeles: Review
“This is our 49th show in Los Angeles,” Mick Jagger was shouting. In a flash, the 70,000-capacity SoFi stadium quickly responded with a harmonious yell, building a call and response that even after 60 years, The Rolling Stones have stayed as the undeniable spearheads of rock ‘n’ roll — even if just for the night. Straight from the American leg of their rescheduled “No Filter Tour,” Sunday (October 17th) marked night two of the sold-out ring of Southern California shows, and it was anything but filtered. For roughly 120 minutes, the Stones secured their crowns as the “kings of rock.” Guitarists Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood plumped the evening with hard-hitting riffs, typical Jagger catwalks, and soul-infused backup vocals bringing a tight punch to classics like “Gimme Shelter” and “You Ca...
Rolling Stones Play ‘Wild Horses,’ ‘All Down The Line’ During Raucous L.A. Show
There’s a line in Almost Famous where Stillwater’s manager (played by Jimmy Fallon) proclaimed: “If you think Mick Jagger will still be out there trying to be a rock star at age 50, then you are sadly, sadly mistaken.” I couldn’t help thinking about how unbelievably wrong that character’s prediction was last night, watching the three septuagenarians take the stage on the second of two shows in Los Angeles’ $5.5 billion SoFi Stadium just weeks after the devastating loss of drummer Charlie Watts. But them British Bad Boys carried on, with Steve Jordan filling in on drums. INGLEWOOD, CALIFORNIA – OCTOBER 17: Ronnie Wood, Steve Jordan, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards perform onstage during the “No Filter” tour at SoFi Stadium on October 17, 2021 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Kevin Ma...
