Life Is Beautiful Directed By Roberto Benigni Miramax By: Eric G. Life Is Beautiful is the first slapstick Holocaust film I’ve ever seen. Roberto Benigni directs, co-writes, and stars in this fable about being a Jewish merchant in World War II era Italy. Benigni plays somewhat of a clown vying for the heart of a […]

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Don Caballero Singles Breaking Up Touch And Go By: Eric G. Singles Breaking Up is a collection of Don Caballero's five seven inches, a compilation track, and one previously unreleased song. This collection shows Don Caballero's astounding growth in both complexity and effectiveness. The early songs go back as far as 1992 and rely more […]

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Mojave 3 Out Of Tune Sire/4ad By: Eric G. When Creation Records dropped Slowdive in 1995 that pretty much signaled the end of the shoegazer era, which had, in all honesty, far outstayed its welcome. Almost no band lumped in that genre survived: Ride completely fell apart after Going Blank Again, Lush just got awful, […]

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Shakespeare In Love Directed By John Madden Miramax By: Eric G. For those of you well-versed in Elizabethan literature and culture, Shakespeare In Love will surely not disappoint, as there are countless inside jokes and high brow references at which only an educated elite will chuckle. I know this because a Shakespearean professor sat behind […]

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Smog Knock Knock Drag City By: Eric G. Smog a/k/a Bill Callahan is no stranger to self-indulgence or self-parody, but he would never admit it. He never even cracks a smile. Take the cover art of Knock Knock, for example. It looks like a bad metal band’s album cover complete with demonic calligraphy and bolts […]

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The Magnetic Fields The House Of Tomorrow Ep (reissue), Holiday (reissue) Merge By: Eric G. In 1993 Stephin Merritt, thankfully, decided to stop using Susan Anway as a mouthpiece for his Casio-driven, lovelorn ditties as he had on two previous albums, Distant Plastic Trees and The Wayward Bus. Merritt’s Frank Sinatra-meets-Ian Curtis baritone croon presents […]

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Seaweed Actions And Indications Merge By: Eric G. When Nevermind was breaking big almost eight years ago, Tacoma, Washington’s Seaweed was churning out grunge-tinged pop punk for Sub Pop that was emotional, energetic, and uncharacteristically melodic. Each album got better, and, with Four, Seaweed was poised for bigger and better things. The band signed with […]

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