AltWeeklies Wire
'A Paradise Built in Hell' Explores the Utopic Possibilities Glimpsed in Disasternew
Perhaps the primary virtue of Rebecca Solnit's clear-headed new book is that it does not simply swap one interpretation of disaster -- as anticonsumerist reckoning, for instance -- for another, such as Jerry Falwell-style damnation. Solnit is interested in how people act in the aftermath, for better and for worse.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Max Goldberg |
09-30-2009 |
Nonfiction
The Withdrawn Narration of 'Liverpool' Moves With the Stealth Purpose of a Folk Talenew
Liverpool may belong to the slow club of cinema -- long takes, downcast eyes, and monumental landscapes -- but the friction between its patient formalism and wild terrain is anything but staid.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Max Goldberg |
09-16-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: Lisandro Alonso, Liverpool
'Secrecy' Investigates Executive Power and the Need-to-Knownew
Even as Secrecy's former operatives acknowledge the massive intelligence failures leading to 9/11, they're ready to make the case for the increased need for government subterfuge in the War on Terror: what secrecy begets, only secrecy will solve, and every time the gloves come off, the blinders will go on.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Max Goldberg |
10-23-2008 |
Reviews
Jack Carneal's Yaala Yaala Records Pipelines the Sounds of Malinew
Labels like Yaala Yaala, which is distributed by Drag City, don't play by the outmoded rules of so-called world music production, eschewing both academic empiricism and the major labels' reductive tendency to isolate bankable masters. Meanwhile, kids in Mali listen to dubbed tapes of Led Zeppelin and Jay-Z.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Max Goldberg |
06-11-2008 |
Music
Two New Books Rummage Through the Rubble of No Wave New Yorknew
With its loose aesthetic boundaries, abbreviated timeline, and incestuous collaborations, the No Wave years are ripe for the kind of anthropological studies offered by two recent illustrated histories, Marc Masters' No Wave (Black Dog, 205 pages, $29.95) and Thurston Moore and Byron Coley's No Wave: Post-Punk. Underground. New York 1976-1980 (Abrams Image).
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
MAX GOLDBERG |
06-04-2008 |
Nonfiction
The Dirty Projectors Blaze a Path Less Travelednew
First conceived in New Haven, Conn., Dave Longstreth's namesake went through many permutations before settling in Brooklyn as an elemental two guitars-bass-drums quartet.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Max Goldberg |
04-09-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Rise Above, The Dirty Projectors
Beach House: Reveille in Reverbnew
The Baltimore duo shows Devotion can be a dream.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Max Goldberg |
03-12-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Beach House, Devotion
Gus Van Sant's Beautiful Losersnew
Soliloquizing the life of a skateboarder in Paranoid Park.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Max Goldberg |
03-12-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Gus Van Sant, Paranoid Park
Bradford Cox Takes a Solo Flight as Atlas Soundnew
The erstwhile Deerhunter vocalist is one of the few shoegaze suitors who seems clued in to the searing -- and often distressing -- tensions that distinguish My Bloody Valentine from followers like Slowdive and Ride.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Max Goldberg |
03-05-2008 |
Reviews
Cryptacize Dials Up Cosmic Sing-alongsnew
As with Chris Cohen's earlier band Deerhoof, Cryptacize strives for the development of a private musical language rather than the typical filtering of influences.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Max Goldberg |
02-28-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Cryptacize, Dig that Treasure
Vampire Weekend Dials Up '80s Nostalgianew
It's too early to tell whether the band will survive adolescence, though it's certainly bought some time with its ascending bass lines, squirmy guitar refrains, staccato string arrangements, and endearingly monotone vocals.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Max Goldberg |
01-23-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Vampire Weekend
'The Violin': Angels With Dirty Facesnew
Folksy lyricism makes Francisco Vargas's film a quiet beauty.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Max Goldberg |
01-09-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Francisco Vargas, The Violin
Do You Believe in White Magic?new
The witchy duo shine on with Dark Stars.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Max Goldberg |
11-21-2007 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: White Magic, Dark Stars
Alex Ross Brings the 'Noise'new
The New Yorker critic surveys the many faces of 20th-century classical music.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Max Goldberg |
10-17-2007 |
Nonfiction
Another Dream Date with Damon and Naominew
Within These Walls is one of the coziest albums of the year, not just for its rainy-day production but also for the impression that the pair is totally comfortable in their bittersweet pop.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Max Goldberg |
10-10-2007 |
Profiles & Interviews
