Author Archives: Stephanie Speirs

Deep in the plastic heart of midtown Manhattan, the Roseland Ballroom seemed a curious location for live performances by Pitchfork darlings like TV on the Radio. Outside the venue, shifting 20-somethings smoked cheap cigarettes and adjusted their eyeliner. As “event press,” we immediately bypass the crowd — wearing laminated event passes with shameless joy — »

Nicolas Cage’s arms-dealing hero of “Lord of War” compares selling his first gun to losing his virginity. If only the movie left the viewer as excited or satisfied. Making a movie about the flaws of global arms trade is certainly a laudable idea in theory, but the film’s heavy-handed morality is bogged down by underdeveloped »

With very few exceptions, the average album has more filler than quality. It’s a downright tragedy that good CD space is so often wasted on mediocre interludes or self-plagiarizing repetition. But “In the Reins” is a wonderful exception to the rule. The seven-song EP is a gorgeous collaboration between the thoughtful and folky Iron & »

Yale’s only experimental theater ensemble, Control Group, has had a couple of run-ins with the police. “They were a bit confused as to what we were doing and tried to stop the show,” Control Group artistic director Sarah Holdren ’08 said. “Apparently experimental theater can be a little loud, as it well should be.” Begun »

The small but respectable label Barsuk Records is notably gone from the back of the CD case, replaced by the words, “Atlantic Recording Corporation.” Even the literally shiny liner notes scream what every music geek (or cool kid, depending) already knows: Death Cab for Cutie, the once-upon-a-time indie cult favorites, switched to a major label »

The only thing better than a great solo artist is a group of great solo artists that make beautiful music together. And better than beautiful music is Canadian-bred indie power pop. Enter The New Pornographers. Led by A.C. Newman’s Beach Boy-vocals, Dan Bejar’s slick electric guitars, and Neko Case’s divine harmonies, the band lives up »

The only thing nicer than warm summer days is the music you listen to on warm summer days. Halfway into the decade, the ol’ music industry is finally showing some potential — so at least we won’t have bad soundtracks from May until August. And may god bless the Flaming Lips! 1. Weezer — “Make »

In a world with hugely selling hip-hop albums, million-dollar rap videos and trend-setting wankstas, it’s a fact that hip-hop is cool and damn important. But no one knows better than Amanda McCall and Albertina Rizzo, authors of the upcoming ‘Hold My Gold: A White Girl’s Guide to the Hip Hop World.’ The book may be »

World Peace, Clouds, Reverie, Ocean, Snow Globe, Panda. All could have been Mariah Carey album names, at least until now. After the utter failure of recent sugar-drenched releases, the pop princess may very well be entering a whole new age, without Puff “P Diddy” Daddy or well-publicized breakdowns. One can’t help but hope for the »

Hot Hot Heat frontman Steve Bays says there’s no shame in making the sort of albums that hipsters love to hate. So it isn’t very surprising that the band’s third album, “Elevator,” is an unabashed effusion of power pop. “As much as we have a subversive side, we made this record for the little kids »

The Decemberists’ frontman Colin Meloy has an English degree with an emphasis in creative writing, perfectly apt for a songwriter with awe-inspiring vocabulary and majestic imagery, not to mention original style. The band’s peculiar brand of folk-inspired pop is known for Meloy’s mellifluous, theatrical storytelling (on “Picaresque,” their third album, he explores a murder-suicide in »

There’s a constant temptation to categorize music into appropriate genres, because of course that’s supposed to instantly tell you what to expect. One of my personal favorites is guy-with-acoustic-guitar, an unofficial genre with significant breadth and prominence, which promises tranquility and comfort akin to summer Sundays. Two new releases fit under this acoustic genre, but »