Spectrum Culture
@spectrumculture.bsky.social
📤 2029
📥 972
📝 1907
Film, music and book reviews. Proudly based in Portland, OR! www.spectrumculture.com
Today’s vibe:
about 13 hours ago
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Is make-up a lie?
3 days ago
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Secret Love deepens the band’s post-punk bona fides, carefully balancing intellectual severity with emotional weight.
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Dry Cleaning: Secret Love - Spectrum Culture
Secret Love deepens the band’s post-punk bona fides, carefully balancing intellectual severity with emotional weight.
https://spectrumculture.com/2026/01/08/dry-cleaning-secret-love-review/
3 days ago
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For a writer long associated with mazes and locked doors, Tom’s Crossing is more grounded and touching than you might expect.
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Tom’s Crossing: by Mark Z. Danielewski - Spectrum Culture
For a writer long associated with mazes and locked doors, Tom’s Crossing is more grounded and touching than you might expect.
https://spectrumculture.com/2026/01/08/toms-crossing-by-mark-z-danielewski-review/
3 days ago
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reposted by
Spectrum Culture
Alan Zilberman
3 days ago
The Plague is a remarkable psychological horror film that depicts the cascading, cruel effects of bullying. Maybe it resonated with me because I was also on a swim team when I was that age, and I can still see the faces of those who picked on me. My
@spectrumculture.bsky.social
review.
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The Plague - Spectrum Culture
Charlie Podlinger’s debut feature may look like a coming-of-age movie, but it is really a psychological horror film about the cyclical nature of bullying and evil.
https://spectrumculture.com/2026/01/08/the-plague-review/
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reposted by
Spectrum Culture
Charles Johnston
3 days ago
Actors making directorial debuts is all the rage, with mixed results. Kate Winslet's is rock solid. My review for
@spectrumculture.bsky.social
.
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Goodbye June - Spectrum Culture
Kate Winslet’s assured directorial debut is a life-affirming holiday drama that is somehow almost completely saccharine-free.
https://spectrumculture.com/2026/01/08/goodbye-june-review/
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reposted by
Spectrum Culture
Eoghan Lyng
3 days ago
I was asked by
@spectrumculture.bsky.social
to write about Accelerate, much of it written and recorded in my native Ireland:
spectrumculture.com/2026/01/08/d...
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Discography: R.E.M.: Accelerate - Spectrum Culture
Time may have been running out for R.E.M., but the veteran band shook off the dust for their penultimate album, reinvigorating their sound by getting back to basics.
https://spectrumculture.com/2026/01/08/discography-r-e-m-accelerate/
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You can't put Tom Waits in a sequence and then expect to come back from it.
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Father Mother Sister Brother - Spectrum Culture
The first vignette of Father Mother Sister Brother works well, but the following stories are far inferior in their quality.
https://spectrumculture.com/2026/01/07/father-mother-sister-brother-review/
3 days ago
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We are looking for writers to review music, film and/or books. Send us a DM for more info!
4 days ago
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Pinch me! DREAMGIRLS turns TWENTY this year.
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Holy Hell! Dreamgirls Turns 20 - Spectrum Culture
Dreamgirls may not hold up particularly well as a standalone, but it still has moments that exemplify the value of giving young talent a chance to create in an era that prefers what’s already establis...
https://spectrumculture.com/2026/01/07/holy-hell-dreamgirls-turns-20/
4 days ago
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Nearing 80, pianist Marilyn Crispell is still hungry.
spectrumculture.com/2026/01/06/j...
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Jason Stein/Marilyn Crispell/Damon Smith/Adam Shead: Live at the Hungry Brain - Spectrum Culture
Crispell has every right to rest on her laurels as one of the most innovative thinkers and technically daring pianists in jazz. But she’s still restless and still going strong, seeking new sounds, pla...
https://spectrumculture.com/2026/01/06/jason-stein-marilyn-crispell-damon-smith-adam-shead-live-at-the-hungry-brain-review/
5 days ago
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We are looking for writers to review music, film and/or books. Send us a DM for more info!
5 days ago
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reposted by
Spectrum Culture
Bill Cooper
5 days ago
Wrote about Craig Armstrong's Pacific, a conflicting album that some may find too dull and repetitive, whereas others will experience these aspects as cinematically brilliant. Read more on
@spectrumculture.bsky.social
here:
spectrumculture.com/2026/01/06/c...
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Craig Armstrong: Pacific - Spectrum Culture
Craig Armstrong’s Pacific is a conflicting work—for some, it may be a tedious exercise in repetition, but others will find the piece’s three movements are chock-full of cinematic brilliance.
https://spectrumculture.com/2026/01/06/craig-armstrong-pacific-review/
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All Waterboys isn't classic Waterboys
spectrumculture.com/2026/01/06/t...
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The Waterboys: The Waterboys Present: Rips From the Cutting Room Floor - Spectrum Culture
The Waterboys Present: Rips From the Cutting Room Floor contains more scraps of ideas than it does completed pieces, and, as such, is more suited as food for the completist or intense fan than for a c...
https://spectrumculture.com/2026/01/06/the-waterboys-the-waterboys-present-rips-from-the-cutting-room-floor-review/
5 days ago
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Have you thought about the Dandy Warhols lately at all?
spectrumculture.com/2026/01/06/r...
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Revisit: The Dandy Warhols: Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia - Spectrum Culture
At a time when grunge was dying while nu metal and butt rock continued their meteoric rise, the Dandy Warhols made an off-the-wall, countercurrent choice by releasing a throwback ‘70s poppy, feel-good...
https://spectrumculture.com/2026/01/06/revisit-the-dandy-warhols-thirteen-tales-from-urban-bohemia/
5 days ago
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A lot of folks loved this film. Our critic didn't. Do you agree with her? (Even a little?)
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No Other Choice - Spectrum Culture
Park Chan-wook employs stylistic tricks to both success and failure in No Other Choice.
https://spectrumculture.com/2026/01/06/no-other-choice-review/
5 days ago
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reposted by
Spectrum Culture
Martin Seay
5 days ago
Don’t shleep on Wyatt, y’all
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Today’s vibe:
5 days ago
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Criminally underrated: Robert Wyatt
5 days ago
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@hlllyh.bsky.social
6 days ago
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Scene Report: High on Fire rock with me
spectrumculture.com/2026/01/05/c...
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Concert Review: High on Fire - Spectrum Culture
High on Fire’s performance was a celebration of the liberatory power of live music, of connection and the transcendent power of the riff.
https://spectrumculture.com/2026/01/05/concert-review-high-on-fire/
6 days ago
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Kind of Blue Diamond
spectrumculture.com/2026/01/05/s...
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Song Sung Blue - Spectrum Culture
Both Jackman and Hudson are capable of carrying the dramatic weight of the story, but Song Sung Blue only goes so deep before reverting to playing the hits.
https://spectrumculture.com/2026/01/05/song-sung-blue-review/
6 days ago
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reposted by
Spectrum Culture
Bill Cooper
6 days ago
"Shay Hazan is a talented multi-instrumentalist and producer, but his latest work suffers from too many ideas and a lack of consistency." Read my review on
@spectrumculture.bsky.social
here:
spectrumculture.com/2026/01/05/s...
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Shay Hazan: When It Rains It Pours - Spectrum Culture
Shay Hazan is a talented multi-instrumentalist and producer, but his latest work suffers from too many ideas and a lack of consistency.
https://spectrumculture.com/2026/01/05/shay-hazan-when-it-rains-it-pours-review/
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We ranked the Top 10 Albums of 2020 as if they came out today. See what we came up with. Agree? What did we leave out?
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Five Years Later: The Best Music of 2020 - Spectrum Culture
Five years is a long time in the life of an album.
https://spectrumculture.com/2026/01/05/five-years-later-the-best-music-of-2020/
6 days ago
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reposted by
Spectrum Culture
Alan Zilberman
6 days ago
Released one month before Ocean's 11 and The Royal Tenenbaums, David Mamet's HEIST often gets overlooked. But it is a terrific old-school thriller where many seasoned actors are at the height of their seemingly effortless credibility. My
@spectrumculture.bsky.social
case for revisiting it.
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Rediscover: Heist - Spectrum Culture
Heist does not require deep familiarity with Mamet’s work, but it certainly helps: his film is a riff on his repeated themes, so the pleasure is in the variations.
https://spectrumculture.com/2026/01/05/rediscover-heist/
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Scene report: Gogol Bordello shakes Vermont on New Year's Day.
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Concert Review: Gogol Bordello/Puzzled Panther/Genre is Death - Spectrum Culture
By the end of Gogol Bordello’s New Year’s Day show, audience members likely felt that they were part of a greater whole.
https://spectrumculture.com/2026/01/04/concert-review-gogol-bordello-puzzled-panther-genre-is-death/
6 days ago
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Today’s vibe:
6 days ago
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Folks who grew up in the '90s - what sort of emotional response do you have when you hear Natalie Merchant sing?
6 days ago
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R.E.M. fans! These new reissues sound really, really good.
@remhq.bsky.social
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R.E.M.: Chronic Town/Murmur - Spectrum Culture
These versions were mastered from the very original analog master tapes and are limited to a one-time pressing of 3,000 numbered copies.
https://spectrumculture.com/2026/01/04/r-e-m-chronic-town-murmur/
6 days ago
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Hollow night: A dark ambient touchstone gets a reissue.
spectrumculture.com/2026/01/04/r...
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Raison D’être: The Empty Hollow Unfolds – Spectrum Culture
https://spectrumculture.com/2026/01/04/raison-detre-the-empty-hollow-unfolds/
6 days ago
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Happy New Year! We're looking for writers to review music, film and/or books. Drop a DM if you want more info!
7 days ago
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Scene Report: Get Som!
spectrumculture.com/2026/01/04/c...
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Concert Review: Jay Som – Spectrum Culture
https://spectrumculture.com/2026/01/04/concert-review-jay-som/
7 days ago
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reposted by
Spectrum Culture
Charles Johnston
7 days ago
2020 was a weird year and the movies released went through a strange prism before they hit us.
@spectrumculture.bsky.social
looks back at the best of the bunch and how they feel now.
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Five Years Later: The Best Films of 2020 - Spectrum Culture
Five years is an eternity in the life of a film.
https://spectrumculture.com/2026/01/04/five-years-later-the-best-films-of-2020/
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reposted by
Spectrum Culture
Alan Zilberman
7 days ago
After a holiday break,
@spectrumculture.bsky.social
is back with my Marty Supreme review. I am glad I saw it twice before filing, as there are layers of subtext I missed because I was first reeling from the sheer anxiety nightmare of it all.
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Marty Supreme - Spectrum Culture
Timothée Chalamet has never been better than in this period sports drama from Josh Safdie, an anxiety-fueled nightmare buoyed by a singular cast and rich subtext.
https://spectrumculture.com/2026/01/04/marty-supreme-review/
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Today’s vibe:
7 days ago
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Without looking - how many movies can you name that came out in 2020?
7 days ago
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Keep or ditch?
8 days ago
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Look, it has long been moribund but there is something sad about the shuttering of MTV, especially for someone who came of age in the '80s and '90s. RIP MTV.
8 days ago
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Today’s vibe:
8 days ago
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2025 is the best movie year in a long time.
9 days ago
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We are back with new content on Monday!
10 days ago
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10 days ago
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Today’s vibe:
10 days ago
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The Portland Critics Association announces it year-end awards!!
portlandcritics.com/awards/2025-2/
@portlandcritics.bsky.social
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2025
Best Picture WINNER: One Battle After Another RUNNER-UP: Sinners Best Director WINNER: Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another RUNNER-UP: Ryan Coogler, Sinners Best Lead Performance WINNERS:…
https://portlandcritics.com/awards/2025-2/
11 days ago
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Sums up 2025
11 days ago
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Today’s vibe:
11 days ago
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Happy New Years to those who celebrate.
12 days ago
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reposted by
Spectrum Culture
Mark Harris
13 days ago
A lady in her eighties who lives in my building asked me if she should see Marty Supreme, or as she put it, "the one about the pisher who thinks he's a big shot," and I don't think this movie has anything to teach her that she doesn't already know.
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Paring down collection a bit! Ditch or keep!?
14 days ago
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THE TESTAMENT OF ANN LEE is everything that HAMNET could/should have been.
14 days ago
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