Today’s vibe:

Is make-up a lie?

Secret Love deepens the band’s post-punk bona fides, carefully balancing intellectual severity with emotional weight.

For a writer long associated with mazes and locked doors, Tom’s Crossing is more grounded and touching than you might expect.

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.

Actors making directorial debuts is all the rage, with mixed results. Kate Winslet's is rock solid. My review for @spectrumculture.bsky.social.

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...

You can't put Tom Waits in a sequence and then expect to come back from it.

We are looking for writers to review music, film and/or books. Send us a DM for more info!

Pinch me! DREAMGIRLS turns TWENTY this year.

Nearing 80, pianist Marilyn Crispell is still hungry. spectrumculture.com/2026/01/06/j...

We are looking for writers to review music, film and/or books. Send us a DM for more info!

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...

All Waterboys isn't classic Waterboys spectrumculture.com/2026/01/06/t...

Have you thought about the Dandy Warhols lately at all? spectrumculture.com/2026/01/06/r...

A lot of folks loved this film. Our critic didn't. Do you agree with her? (Even a little?)

Don’t shleep on Wyatt, y’all

Today’s vibe:

Criminally underrated: Robert Wyatt

Scene Report: High on Fire rock with me spectrumculture.com/2026/01/05/c...

Kind of Blue Diamond spectrumculture.com/2026/01/05/s...

"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...

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?

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.

Scene report: Gogol Bordello shakes Vermont on New Year's Day.

Today’s vibe:

Folks who grew up in the '90s - what sort of emotional response do you have when you hear Natalie Merchant sing?

R.E.M. fans! These new reissues sound really, really good. @remhq.bsky.social

Hollow night: A dark ambient touchstone gets a reissue. spectrumculture.com/2026/01/04/r...

Happy New Year! We're looking for writers to review music, film and/or books. Drop a DM if you want more info!

Scene Report: Get Som! spectrumculture.com/2026/01/04/c...

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.

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.

Today’s vibe:

Without looking - how many movies can you name that came out in 2020?

Keep or ditch?

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.

Today’s vibe:

2025 is the best movie year in a long time.

We are back with new content on Monday!

Today’s vibe:

The Portland Critics Association announces it year-end awards!! portlandcritics.com/awards/2025-2/ @portlandcritics.bsky.social

Sums up 2025

Today’s vibe:

Happy New Years to those who celebrate.

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.

Paring down collection a bit! Ditch or keep!?

THE TESTAMENT OF ANN LEE is everything that HAMNET could/should have been.