
Preview: Dandelion Hunter, Ulysses, Wasted Champs, Madeleine Toerne / September 9 / Shewolf Haus
By Tori Ullmann, Contributor Shewolf Haus / Friday September 9th, 2016 A display of great music with moody undertones. A positive environment with open-minded people; a long-awaited homecoming; a gathering of friends; a gig. Where will this spectacular event take place, you ask? How can you be a part of this metaphorical family reunion of the century? Come out to Shewolf Haus on Friday, donation in hand, and enjoy the music! It’s here that the beloved local band, Dandelion Hu

Album Review: Swings - Sugarwater
By Julia Leiby, Music Director [Exploding in Sound, 2015] Rating: 3.5/5 Key Tracks: “Tiles," “Dust,” Sea” Although lyrics are a crucial element of any song, one can listen through Sugarwater by the D.C. trio Swings paying little attention to what frontman Jamie Finucane is saying and still have an emotional experience--the mark of a truly musically gifted group. Sugarwater is the band’s second full length after January 2015’s Detergent Hymns. The trio, composed of Jamie Finuc

Album Review: Slayer - Repentless
By Eric Perzanowski, Staff Writer [Nuclear Blast; 2015] Rating: 3/5 Key Tracks: “When The Stillness Comes” “Repentless” It had been nearly six years since Slayer released a new album. In that time, guitarist Jeff Hanneman passed away and drummer Dave Lombardo parted ways with the band; the decision to carry on seemed to divide die-hard fans. There weren’t huge expectations with Repentless, but in the end, it is about on the same level as its two predecessors, World Painted Bl

Movie Review: The Visit
By Haadiza Ogwude, Contributor [Blinding Edge; 2015] Rating: 2/5 M. Night Shyamalan, writer/director of The Sixth Sense, Signs and The Happening, recently released a low budget ($5 million) thriller within the found-footage genre. The Visit is about a pair of teenage siblings on a weeklong visit at the home of grandparents they’ve never met. 15-year-old Becca (Olivia DeJonge) and her younger, wannabe-rapper brother Tyler (Ed Oxenbould) are eager to meet their Nana (Deanna Dun

Album Review: Joan Shelley - Over and Even
By Sam Tornow, Contributor [No Quarter; 2015] Rating: 3.5/5 Key Tracks: “Not Over By Half,” “Lure and Line" Just like a walk through a park on an autumn day, Joan Shelley’s third solo album Over and Even will put the listener's heart at ease and craving a mug of hot cider. The folk singer’s newest release combines dreamy melodies with sleepy vocals to create a beautifully tranquil piece of work. The first noticeable quality when listening to Over and Even is Shelley’s voice.

Album Review: Helios - Yume
By Eli Schoop, Contributor [Unseen; 2015] Rating: 2.5/5 Key Tracks: “Every Passing Hour,” “Yume” Helios is the stuff made of dreams: floaty, pensive and fleeting even after you've just experienced it. Keith Kenniff's expertise in crafting ambient music is on full display here, and it's clear he has been refining and solidifying an ethos and mentality that really punches its weight in a unique way compared to such auteurs like Tim Hecker and Ryuichi Sakamoto. “Every Passing Ho

Album Review: Brady Enslen - Beautiful Things
By Raven Hughes, Contributor [Self-released; 2015] Rating: 4/5 Key Tracks: "Beautiful Things," "Lonesome Winds," "End of A Page" Despite not growing up in America, Brady Enslen knows very well how scrumptious Carolina Apple Pie, Texas Toast, Waffle House and BBQ Pits can be, and understands the nature of Georgians’ grace. Aggies will appreciate the Alberta-raised, artist’s homefront on “The Hawks Eye.” “You can see the farmer is plowing steady, redneck working of the land / P

Movie Review: The End of the Tour
By Thalio Badio, Contributor [Modern Man Films; 2015] Rating: 4/5 Director James Ponsoldt attempts to explain in his new film, The End of the Tour, the painful decline of new-age Hemingway author David Foster Wallace in a perplexing five day adventure. Through a cryptic exchange between an emerging journalist and a clearly depressed and brilliant writer, this film skillfully shows the effects of social anxiety and paranoia on one of our generation's most gifted authors. David

Album Review: Dâm-Funk - Invite the Light
By Nichole Moorman, Contributor [Stones Throw; 2015] Rating: 3/5 Key Tracks: “Just Ease Your Mind from All Negativity," “Howugonfuckaroundandchooseabusta?,” “Glyde 2nyte” You probably haven’t heard of him, but Dâm-Funk (pronounced Dame Funk) has been making waves in more than just the world of funk for a while now. Originally making his mark on hip-hop in the ‘90s G-Funk era doing live instrumentals, he decided to try a career of his own around 2006. Invite the Light is his s

Album Review: Cardinals Pride - Those People Will Never Die
By Sam Tornow, Contributor [New Damage; 2015] Rating: 3.5/5 Key Tracks: “I’m Alright,” “Centuries Apart” Metalcore, a genre that appears to keep growing and progressing, is full of unique talent but tainted with the reputation of intense verses and sing-songy choruses with little musical variation. Cardinals Pride, a group of up and coming Canadians, are kicking down these stereotypes with their sophomore EP, Those People Will Never Die. Driven by intensity and calculated, co