Sam Reese and his book Come The Tide (Platypus Press) made an excellent impression on our sensibility a few weeks ago, and we couldn’t leave things at a stalemate.
In this interview, guests Ornette Coleman and Silvia Plath enrich Sam’s thoughtful reflections and unusual takes on the pleasure of writing and on the writer’s many duties.
All pictures courtesy of Alexandra Kingston Reese.
Mr. Husband is the creative project of Kenny Tompkins, a Maryland-based doer who seems to have only his nurtured curiosity as limit. The album Songs of Friendship, Songs of Wonderment is out now on Yellow K Records.
If you happen to be a Slow Culture follower (and we already called the cops if you’re not), you might have listened to the band already. Still, for us that wasn’t enough considering the rich personality and the determination of Kenny.
This is our interview.
Chicago has been under the spotlight on this blog for a series of recent reviews, but now is the time to bring Washington D.C. on the forefront with Beauty Pill’s not-so-enigmatic album Please Advise, out now on Northern Spy Records.
Marketing being what it is, personal choices are often induced by the attractiveness of an album cover. Something deeper attracted us this time. If you haven’t missed our guide to Miles Davis, you know how much we love the man and the music. The album title, Please Advise, is actually made of the two words who sealed Bitches Brew’s naming.
Now, this might be quite a futile reason too. Nonetheless, we’re glad that this potential futility led us to discover the music of Beauty Pill, a band which has been active since 2001 but unheard of since 2015.
The Friendship Cure is the result of astonishing and comprehensive research led by journalist Kate Leaver. An ambitious project now organized and cemented for everyone’s pleasure.
A few days ago, Paper Sparrows taught us about family and its many dynamics. This week, The Friendship Cure enlightens us on the notion of friendship and its many faces, even the most unexpected and obscure.
Big Time Baby is Lesley Barth’s second album. Until a few months ago, we didn’t know much about Americana outside of a few segments of Brian Wilson‘s Smile. And then Jason McMahon came up in our universe, only to raise the bar really high.
Our enthusiasm for the genre is not likely to burn out with releases like Big Time Baby. This album comes like a warm summer wind made of honesty and modernity. Those searching for reheated emulated nostalgia will have to pass: Lesley Barth is here to dust off clichés and extinguish false pretenses.
Albums like NIIKA’s Close But Not Too Close are the reviewer’s most disconcerting challenges. Listening to this album is like opening a treasure made of so many valuables that the whole sensorial experience is paradoxically unspeakable.
That being said, let us not use this unspeakable reality as an excuse. Pleasures of this kind, when kept, are nothing but halved in the end.
The artist’s promise is the following:
A genre-bending, continent-crossing, soft explosion of intimate indie, soul, and dirty pop.
Let’s see how Chicago’s vibrant scene managed to conquer our soul again, before next time, as it is usually a matter of days.