In 2017, former NSA contractor Reality Winner was arrested by the FBI and charged under the Espionage Act for leaking documents pertaining to Russia’s attempts…
Tom Petty, Somewhere You Feel Free is one of those documentaries that is arguably most suitable for a festival like SXSW. That’s not simply because…
Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, summer of 1973. A kid yells from the fire escape outside a brownstone window to his friends on the street below. A swooping…
Timeliness is one of the great current curses of small-budget genre filmmaking. The impulse to tie a film’s premise to current events or ideology certainly…
Fucking with Nobody For her sophomore feature, Fucking with Nobody, Finnish director Hannaleena Hauru opts to play an on-screen alter-ego of herself. Hanna is a…
Little Oblivions is a sonically expansive, linguistically mature step forward for Julien Baker. “Faith Healer,” the third track on Julien Baker’s latest album, Little Oblivions, opens…
Aaron Lee Tasjan’s latest is a confident, audacious work that earns all of its explanation points. Because he’s found a home on the New West…
Ryley Walker’s latest makes a strong case for the increased visibility and label placement of psych rock jammers. After shopping himself around to different labels…
Julien Baker “Faith Healer,” the third track on Julien Baker’s latest album, Little Oblivions, opens with a lament: “Oh, I miss it high, how it…
At first glance, the plotting of Bradley Grant Smith’s directorial debut feature Our Father would seem to offer plenty of promise. Beta (Baize Buzan) and…
The most interesting aspect of the new comedy Paul Dood’s Deadly Lunch Break is its unwieldy title, an attention-grabber that promises a rollicking good time…
Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched In 2012, writer and film programmer Kier-La Janisse published House of Psychotic Women, a tremendous and essential text, part autobiography,…
City of Lies is deeply trite in its messaging, but given its prolonged stay on the shelf, isn’t as bad as you might expect. Arriving nearly…
As an inadvertent result of the world’s continued struggle against COVID-19, writer-director Martin Edralin’s Canadian family drama Islands evinces an unexpected form of empathy; with…
Shovel & Rope’s kid-friendly latest covers album has its heart in the right place, but is an absolute sonic disaster. Americana duo Shovels & Rope…
With Conway the Machine’s growing popularity comes a cynicism about the state of the rap industry that reads more out-of-touch than progressive. “In a class…
Ignorance brings depth to Tamara Lindeman’s songwriting, working with The Weather Station for bigger production and grandiose performance. Oftentimes, the best solutions are also the simplest.…
Carnage is both a progression and double-back for Cave and Ellis, re-embracing some of their punk and sleaze of their past while still offering delicate, impressionistic…
Shiesty Season is low-key, minimally-produced rap record that thrives on Pooh’s undeniable charisma and swag. T’was first decreed by the ever-ostentatious Young Thug to be the…
Gaia There’s an ancient, malevolent force living in the depths of the forest in director Jaco Bouwer’s Gaia, a psychedelic bit of eco-horror that finds nature…
Nick Cave & Warren Ellis Nick Cave has never been one to coddle. His music demands that listeners sit for a while with uncomfortable questions,…