Arts

The “perfect album” is an extremely difficult task to master in the music industry and many bands often obtain fame and fortune based off of a single track or two instead of the album as a whole. If a song does succeed, it is important for the group to expand on a similar style for the next compilation in order to get closer to the ultimate goal of a flawless album. […]

“The Three Stooges” movie fails to live up to its largely popular 1960’s television show counterpart. The slapstick comedy was a disappointment from beginning to end with its inability to hold the audience’s attention and create genuine laughs. […]

Though an action film about a high security outer space prison breakout sounds intriguing, James Mather and Stephen St. Leger’s new film “Lockout” features this premise, yet this cannot save the film from coming off as stupid. […]

Many people go to horror films because they love the adrenaline rush provided by fear, but perhaps an equal amount go to horror films to laugh at the absurd carnage portrayed on the screen in some sort of sick, gleeful schadenfreude. […]

The pop singer-songwriter Jason Mraz’s fourth album “Love is a Four Letter Word” is filled with sweet melodic sounds and original lyrics that fit with the title. Mraz’s loving energy is radiated through this album. […]

Punk rock band Joyce Manor’s new album, “Of All Things I Will Soon Grow Tired,” sticks to the thrash punk roots that gained the band praise but minor experimentation successfully diversifies the group’s style. […]

Southern rock has been on the back burner since the 1970s. But with Alabama Shakes’ success, it may be making a comeback.
Alabama Shakes’ new album, “Boys and Girls,” accentuates the soulful, bluesy aspects of southern rock while maintaining an electrifying rock and roll sound. […]

In the romantic drama genre, Nicholas Sparks is a veteran. For years, many of his novels have been adapted into successful films like “A Walk to Remember” and “The Notebook.” […]

Concert promoter Goldenvoice always finds a way to vitally screw up the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in some form. This year, Goldenvoice failed massively with its security lay-out, all but guaranteeing massive wait times for festival goers. […]

Wanna-be rock stars, Kasabian, performed Saturday night (complete with lead-singer Tom Meighan in a trench coat). The group performed most of its hits, like “Fire” and “Reason Is Treason,” coupled with a serviceable light show. Still, the band cannot transcend the stupidity of its own material: ripping off the Stone Roses and Oasis wholesale-ly does not, in actuality, lead to good songs.
Andrew Bird is an incredibly talented musician, performing technically dense music plucking away on his violin. However, whether Bird writes entertaining songs or not is another matter entirely. The man has a tuneful voice, but many of his songs sound almost exactly the same, save for a particularly inspired take on Kermit the Frog’s “It’s Not Easy Being Green.”
The Weeknd, the pseudonym of R&B singer Abel Tesfaye, performed a highly anticipated set that is among their first performances ever. Tesfaye exhibits some stupefying vocal chops on The Weeknd’s three mixtapes, but he was unable to adjust to live performance and consistently ran out of breath. The Weeknd is renowned for his dense production, and his backing band simply could not compare to the records — overbearing base attempted to substitute for musical complexity.
Nature attempted to put a damper on festivities during Weekend one. Despite a week of warning, fans came unprepared and underdressed for the rain and cold — the first weather of this sort at any Coachella. The wind chilled crowds to the bone and forced the festival to lower its stages’ viewing screens, hampering the view of many.
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