Reviews
Baby Keem Moves Into The Spotlight With The Melodic Blue
On his breakout mixtape, 2019’s Die for My Bitch, rapper-producer Baby Keem chants “I am 50 Cent” over and over in an almost-monotone fashion, bringing in the disorienting beat-switch on “MOSHPIT.” Though he claims to have been “just randomly saying it,” in a Complex interview after the mixtape’s release, his references and similarities to the G-Unit founder don’t end there. The music video for “Gang Activities,” off of 2018’s The Sound of Bad Habit, pays homage to the “In Da Club” video, featuring shots of Keem hanging upside down from a telephone pole. On his latest release, The Melodic Blue, Keem samples Che Ecru’s “Fuck Instagram,” targeting a phrase where the Boston artist slips into a slurred, snappy melody reminiscent of Curtis Jackson’s choruses on tracks like “P.I.M.P.” or “Like M...
Oasis Knebworth 1996 Is a Warm, Luxurious Bath of ’90s British Nostalgia: Review
The Pitch: In 1996, Oasis was riding high off the success of their second album, (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, and an entire generation of British fans were entranced by Noel and Liam Gallagher’s earnest, po-faced lyricism and catchy acoustic tunes. They were big, to be sure, but their decision to host a two-day gig at Knebworth House in Hertfordshire on August 10th and 11th, 1996, was a surprise both to fans and organizers. Knebworth, after all, was the kind of venue that hosted legends like Led Zeppelin and Queen. Even so, the event became one of the biggest concerts in English history, drawing nearly a quarter-million people to Knebworth’s stages between the two days. And, for those die-hard Oasis fans, it would prove to be one of the most pivotal weekends of their lives....
Netflix Offers a Kid-Sized Companion to Kevin Smith with He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: Review
The Pitch: In the realm of Eternos, in which high technology and magic exist hand-in-hand, prince Adam (Yuri Lowenthal) lives as a villager on the outskirts of his society, with no memory of who he is and the destiny he is to fulfill. But when he runs across a thief named Teela (Kimberly Brooks), who’s just betrayed the villains who hired her to steal a mysterious, powerful sword, he soon learns the sword grants him the Power of Grayskull, a heaping helping of muscles, and the incredible powers of He-Man. Together, Adam, Teela, and their friends must assemble to protect the sword from those who want to use Grayskull’s powers for evil — including Adam’s long-lost uncle Keldor (Ben Diskin), whose true identity is easy to spot once you slap an “S” on the front of his name. You Know, For ...
TIFF Review: Last Night in Soho Thrives More as a Tribute to ’60s London Glitz Than Coherent Horror
This review is part of our coverage of the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival. The Pitch: Eloise (Thomasin McKenzie), a sheltered young woman with an all-encompassing 1960s obsession, leaves the English countryside home she shares with her grandmother to study fashion in London. When life in the dorms leaves her feeling stressed and isolated, Ellie finds a room of her own to rent in Soho. At first, the move seems ideal: Her landlady, Miss Collins (Diana Rigg, in her final role) is stern but kind. The room appeals to Ellie’s need for space and her aesthetic. And it comes with an exciting bonus: Every night, she’s transported to 1966, where she follows a glamorous young woman named Sandy (Anya Taylor-Joy) as she romps through Swinging London’s nightlife. Alternately watching Sandy...
The Beach Boys Amplify Their Legacy With Feel Flows
By late 1969 the Beach Boys were in deep trouble. The sunshine surf rock sound that skyrocketed the band to international fame was now firmly out of fashion, replaced by harder rock. Their long-running distribution deal with Capitol for their Brother Records imprint was over. It had been three years since their last big hit, 1966’s “Good Vibrations,” a transcendent piece of psychedelic pop, co-written by primary songwriter Brian Wilson and frontman Mike Love. That song should have set them on a new course from Pet Sounds towards Wilson’s long-gestating masterpiece SMiLE. Instead, the band famously lost steam, in part due to Wilson’s well-documented struggles with mental health. Their 15th studio album, 20/20, released in early 1969, was mostly a patchwork of castoff material. In a grim foo...
TIFF Review: Listening to Kenny G Explores What Makes Him So Beloved (And Despised)
This review is part of our coverage of the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival. The Pitch: When some people think of Kenny G, they think of the platinum-selling recording artist who’s shaped their childhoods, soothed their workplaces, and even soundtracked the most intimate moments in their lives. But for others, the thought of Kenny G fills them with scorn. He’s a sellout, a fake, a mop-haired purveyor of anodyne saxophone schlock. He disrespects the improvisational, group-centered dynamics of jazz in favor of treacly solo showmanship, and — even worse — subjected the world to “smooth jazz.” The man’s a paradox wrapped in an enigma topped with a curly perm he’s maintained since the 1980s — the best-selling instrumentalist of all time who nonetheless remains a pop-culture punchli...
My Morning Jacket Return Rock to Forest Hills Stadium: Concert Review
In August of 2019, My Morning Jacket performed at Queen’s Forest Hills Stadium, part of a special four-show stretch after a nearly two-year hiatus. The gigs were also billed as their last for a potentially longer period (and that was even without the unexpected virus that shelved all live music for over a year). Thankfully, the threat of another break — or full-on retirement — was staved off by the shows themselves, inspiring the band to get back in the studio and continue on. Two years and one month later, MMJ returned to Forest Hills on Friday, September 10th for the first concert of a two-night stint. A new self-titled record — their first freshly recorded material in six years — is on the horizon; pandemic lockdowns are in the rearview (for now); and the Jacket’s brand of jammy, psyche...
Iron Maiden Craft Their Most Diverse Album in Years with Senjutsu: Review
The Lowdown: Metal legends Iron Maiden were riding high prior to the pandemic. The band were in the midst of their “Legacy of the Beast Tour” — a career-spanning celebration of the band’s discography. The comprehensive setlist pulled from every era of Maiden — even the Blaze Bayley albums — hitting major highlights as well as obscure deep cuts. Somewhere in the middle of the jaunt, in early 2019, the band found time to hit the Guillaume Tell Studio in France to track the material that would become Senjutsu. Perhaps running through 40 years of songs every night worked as the ultimate songwriting stimulant, because Senjutsu is easily Iron Maiden’s most diverse work in years — no easy task for a band that continues to chiefly operate in a long-since-established heavy metal style. The Goo...
Mary Elizabeth Winstead Kicks Ass in the Derivative but Brutal Actioner Kate: Review
The Pitch: Kate (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is your classic stone-cold movie assassin: She’s a crack shot, has nerves of steel, and (in the fashion of a dozen female hitmen before her) was trained from childhood to kill by a friendly, paternal handler (Woody Harrelson) who will almost certainly prove a thorn in her side by film’s end. But she’s looking to retire, and has to go on — you guessed it — one last job to do it. Things get complicated when unseen forces fatally poison her, giving her only 24 hours to find out who’s responsible and make them pay before she croaks. To do it, she’ll have to team up with a rambunctious young teenager (Miku Martineau) — whose father she killed on a prior mission — to tear through the dueling halves of the Japanese mafia. Netflix and Kill: One of Net...
SPIN Recap: Splash House 2021
ABOUT THE FESTIVAL The highly anticipated, multi-weekend festival in Palm Springs is fundamentally a giant pool party. Mix in sold-out hotels, after-hours parties, and world-class electronic headliners and you get Splash House. The colorful, sun-soaked weekend event spanned the Renaissance, Saguaro, and Margaritaville hotels and festival-goers took over the pool areas and booked out the rooms to decorate their hotel balconies with their slogans, flags and streamers. Desert heat baked the valley until about 5 PM daily, when the balmy breezes and shade of the palm trees brought the temperature down to a comfortable warmth. Splash House is an unforgettable bucket list event that appeals to those even on the outskirts of the electronic and house genre fandoms. SG Lewis CREDIT: SG Lewis by Gina...
Kanye West Channels His Vulnerability on Donda, Delivering His Best Album in Years
Two of the most confounding words in music are “Kanye” and “West.” For the past few years, Kanye West has been less of an artist and more of a Rorschach test for a worldwide audience. To some, he’s a genius on par with John Lennon, Beethoven, Steve Jobs, and Leonardo Da Vinci. To others, he’s a drama king attracted to the spotlight like a moth to a flame. To a third group, he’s a fallen prophet who traded in his goodwill for a red cap and a White House hall pass. However you rate his flaws, Kanye admittedly never hid them, even all those moons ago when the world said he was hip hop’s Messiah in 2004. Seventeen years later, after dealing with the ups and downs that come from living one’s life in a fishbowl for the world to see, Ye is back with Donda, his tenth album. Named after his mother,...
Big Red Machine’s How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last? Brings Late Summer Melancholy
On their sophomore outing as Big Red Machine, Aaron Dessner (The National) and Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) take their time. The end of August is here — much like last year’s folklore, an album with writing and production contributions from both artists, this period has arrived with an album that revels in the dog days of summer. Bon Iver and The National are two acts that followed similar timelines during their respective ascents within the indie rock world. (Perhaps the best way to contextualize their initial connection is with the reminder that Dessner and Vernon first became friends over MySpace.) There’s a gentleness associated with their music, both from their individual endeavors and from work together, and How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last? fits that same bill, bobbing steadily ove...
