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Essay: Glass Houses by Billy Joel
Being a Billy Joel fan is a complicated endeavor. “Fan,” after all, is short for “fanatic,” a word that implies a kind of loyalty that artists like Joel make challenging. At the risk of giving a...
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Essay: “Mr. Big Stuff” by Jean Knight
There are two kinds of one-hit wonders: The first is where you hear the famous song and think, Of course they didn’t have another hit. The song is so dumb, so stupidly ephemeral, there’s no way the...
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Interview: Patton Oswalt
Patton Oswalt’s new memoir, “Silver Screen Fiend,” describes the stand-up comedian’s five-year, almost-daily habit of watching movies at LA’s New Beverly Cinema in the mid- to late-’90s. The book — his...
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Book review: Silver Screen Fiend by Patton Oswalt
Silver Screen Fiend, stand-up comedian and writer Patton Oswalt’s memoir about moviegoing in the ’90s, begins and ends at a revival screening of Sunset Boulevard. It’s a fitting choice: The 1950 noir...
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Interview: H. Jon Benjamin
I grew up in Worcester, so I’m depressed a lot. There was a bleak quality to it. But I have fond memories of Worcester, too. I grew up Jewish, which was depressing, too, but Worcester had a pretty...
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Album review: Glean by They Might Be Giants
It’s been 33 years since Johns Linnell and Flansburgh formed They Might Be Giants, and 21 since they converted their two-man accordion-guitar-MIDI operation into a multi-instrument group, meaning...
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Interview: “Weird Al” Yankovic
When comedian, musician, and parodist “Weird Al” Yankovic broke through to the mainstream in the ’80s thanks to hits like “Eat It” and “Fat” (parodies of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” and “Bad,”...
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Interview: The Sklar Brothers
Twin brothers Randy and Jason Sklar—together known as the Sklar Brothers—began their stand-up comedy career as part of the New York alternative comedy scene in the mid-’90s. Since then, they have...
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Album review: The Most Lamentable Tragedy by Titus Andronicus
Given the band’s affinity for energy and explosions, Titus Andronicus is often compared to Hüsker Dü and The Clash, but a better corollary might be The Who. Both bands specialize in sudden tonal shifts...
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Album review: Poison Season by Destroyer
The press materials for Poison Season, the 11th record Dan Bejar has recorded under the name Destroyer, cite David Bowie’s chamber-pop classic Hunky Dory as an influence this time around. The...
View ArticleBook review: Lafayette in the Somewhat United States by Sarah Vowell
Calling Sarah Vowell a historian doesn’t seem right. She certainly deserves the title, considering her ability to write beautifully about history and, as the lengthly bibliography at the end of...
View ArticleInterview: Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello’s new memoir, Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink, is a whirlwind tour of Costello’s life as a rock musician, son, father, television host, and songwriting collaborator with Paul...
View ArticleEssay: Hour of Bewilderbeast by Badly Drawn Boy
Records typically live or die by consistency, which is to say they could go either way. In music-critic-speak, a consistent album could either have a “unified sound” or be too similar overall. On the...
View ArticleAlbum review: Innocence Reaches by Of Montreal
Kevin Barnes’ success as Of Montreal’s figurehead and frontman has depended on his ability to balance extremes; funk and balladry, chaos and order, abstraction and focus. Like his stylistic predecessor...
View ArticleAlbum review: American Football (2016)
A few stray guitar notes, some studio chatter, a drummer trying out some fills—these inauspicious sounds begin American Football’s classic self-titled debut from 1999, a landmark album that spawned...
View ArticleInterview: Dan Savage
Dan Savage is tired. Not because of his many jobs — nationally syndicated advice columnist, podcaster, LGBT political activist, editorial director for Seattle alt-weekly The Stranger, cofounder of the...
View ArticleFeature: ACLU benefit show with Juliana Hatfield, Evan Dando, Belly
“A free society,” reads a message on the American Civil Liberties Union website, “is based on the principle that each and every individual has the right to decide what art or entertainment he or she...
View ArticleEssay: David Bowie and Labyrinth
A kidnapped baby. A Bog Of Eternal Stench. A Goblin King whose stretchy pants leave very little to the imagination. In 1986, director Jim Henson, producer George Lucas, and screenwriter Terry Jones...
View ArticleInterview: Robbie Fulks
In 1936, writer James Agee and photographer Walker Evans ventured into the impoverished American South with the aim of recording their experience with its inhabitants. The resulting book, “Let Us Now...
View ArticleInterview: John Hodgman
The last time readers heard from writer, humorist, actor, podcast host, and all-around funny and insightful guy John Hodgman, he was satirically peddling fake world knowledge in three surprisingly...
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