Author Archives: Rebecca Arzoian

Over the past few months a veritable pantheon of compilation albums were released. Many — “War Child Presents Heroes,” “Covered, A Revolution in Sound: Warner Bros. Records,” “Recovery,” and Yoko Ono’s “Give Peace a Chance: the International Remixes” — featured only covers. One — “Dark was the Night” — was instead a collection of covers, »

On “Merriweather Post Pavilion,” Animal Collective sings gospel. Fifty-five minutes of explosive praise not to a lord above but certainly to some higher power, one for whom the act of making music is the greatest joy. Their gospel is secular, though drenched with faith and soul. On this latest album (and the rest of their »

About two years ago, a man in black skinny jeans and a purple silk button-down stood in front of a packed Green Hall. He shared his belief that art should aim to create spectacle from the ordinary. But that man was David Byrne, and his attempt to be ordinary — giving a lecture in an »

During the intermission at Wednesday’s dress rehearsal for their Fall Show, the 21 Yaledancers trickle out from backstage wearing sweatshirts and leg warmers. They sit in hyper-extended center splits or trace their toes along the ground in a quick rond de jambe as they reflect on the pieces in the first act. “Your choreography is »

There are only a handful of places where playing Joni Mitchell’s latest release would be appropriate. Unlike most of the Mitchell canon, these locations do not include dinner parties, campfires, Laurel Canyon or post-breakup ice cream socials for one. Instead, the 10 tracks which make up “Shine,” released on Starbucks’ Hear Music label, are best »

Never Ending Books, located at 810 State St., looks like any second-hand bookstore. The walls are covered in chipping white paint, plastered over with posters advertising workers’ strikes. The bookcases are arranged so that navigating the store becomes a labyrinthine exercise, and there are more books than there is shelf space, resulting in teetering cases »

This year marks 200 years since the government of Great Britain abolished the slave trade. To commemorate the anniversary, the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library is presenting “Documenting Slavery,” which will be on display through October 31. “Documenting Slavery” has arranged such materials as letters, photographs, newspaper clippings, leaflets and posters to illustrate slavery’s »

Love songs are ubiquitous, understandably so. It’s not that difficult to craft a good one, and there are a variety of self-pitying directions it can travel in: serenading (see, “Sea of Love”), metaphoric (“Bizarre Love Triangle”), pedophilic (“Playground Love”), futuristic (“Digital Love”), educational (“Can’t Buy Me Love”), and the ever-entertaining salaciously tormented (“Love Hurts”). One »

At first glance, there is nothing at all enticing about the cover of Animal Collective’s latest, “Strawberry Jam” — a hot swarm of magenta and crimson, molten strawberries mired in a viscous puddle, hot, black ooze sunken deep into pitted welts. But shelve the quick visual for a mere moment to consider the treat before »

Stadium rock — the name itself suggests, well, two obvious things: stadiums and rock and roll. Stadiums are large and cold and take many people to fill. Rock and roll, on the other hand, is supposed to be hot and sexy and cathartic. It’s understandable, then, that the fusion of stadiums and rock often doesn’t »

A hotel room is a functional space, giving travelers and tourists a private place to sleep and bathe. But it can also be so much more, at least according to Christopher Doyle and the 15 artists featured in the “50,000 Beds” exhibit now on display at Artspace. As an artist who spent more time on »

The lights are dimmed. Silhouettes feasting on the soft electric glow of the street lamps outside wait in fervent anticipation of a single note. They don’t ask for much, just a simple sign from their Yamaha keyboard-playing piano man. “One, Two. One, Two, Three, Four. You oughta know by now!” Pulses of yellow and orange »