Hyena Records This is some solid jazz. When he’s not been collaborating with guitar maestro Charlie Hunter, saxophonist John Ellis has found time to start recording albums with his own quintet, lately for Hyena Records. On “By a Thread,” his second album for the New York label, Ellis and his crew weave elements of […]
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Jay Bennett-The Magnificent Defeat
Rykodisc Jay Bennett is best known as that dude that got kicked out of Wilco in that film about Wilco. One could get booted from worse bands, but the whole debacle has haunted Bennett, who has released three albums that hint at his gifts but mainly underscore why he was an excellent sideman. Perhaps […]
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The Break-Up
2006 “The Break-Up” is a sour surprise for anyone expecting a fluffy date-night confection. Gleefully peeling back the facade of a typical, blandly predictable Hollywood rom-com and brazenly wading into a splintering couple’s neuroses, director Peyton Reed and stars Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston perform a risky high-wire act to impressive effect. By […]
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The Boris Karloff Collection
Various/2006 You would think that a review of this set would begin with the phrase “just in time for Halloween,” but the truth is that “The Boris Karloff Collection” contains mostly historical melodramas “? a genre Karloff loved “? and one oddball crime story (“Night Key”), so it isn’t particularly Halloween-y at all. It’s […]
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Clean, Shaven: Criterion Collection
1994/2006 “Clean, Shaven” is not a film easily forgotten “? a shattering, immersive experience in which viewers are thrown headlong into the abyss of mental illness, placed in the fractured, confused mind of a schizophrenic (the masterful Peter Greene) as he tries to track down his daughter following his release from an institution. A […]
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Edmond
2005 Based on a lesser known, but by no means any less pungent David Mamet play, “Edmond” is perhaps as close-to-the-bone as the playwright can get. A deceptively simple tale of a man who decides to embark upon a life-altering odyssey of debauchery, murder and madness, “Edmond” fairly explodes off the screen, featuring William H. […]
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The Maltese Falcon: Three-Disc Special Edition
1941/2006 There’s no small irony that Warner Bros. “? whose spectacular DVD re-releases of classic films are nigh unrivaled “? is releasing a film whose signature line deals with “the stuff dreams are made of.” The studio hits one out of the park yet again; spread across a generous three discs and visually resplendent, […]
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Beck-The Information
Interscope Beck’s ridden his muse like a teeter-totter for the last decade’ raunchy and raw, introspective and subdued’ yet the slacker musical fusionary rarely has allowed the two distinct sides of his outsized musical personality to meet until now. “The Information,” assembled piecemeal over the last three years with help from Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, […]
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The Decemberists-The Crane Wife
Capitol There’s always an underlying current of anxiety when a beloved indie band makes the leap to the majors, particularly one with as precious and precise an aesthetic as practiced by The Decemberists. Rambling, fey epics about forbidden love in the 18th century, Colin Meloy’s bracingly literate pop songs are an anomaly on the modern […]
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The Baldwin Brother-Return of the Golden Rhodes
TVT Some will never give The Baldwin Brothers a chance on name alone. It’s their loss, for these Baldwins are not preening, fatuous members of the Hollywood acting dynasty, but a snappy, headstrong Chicago-based duo with a diabolical bent for heady brews of electronic-based jazz-funk. Like their 2002 debut, the long-in-development follow-up “Return of […]