Artistic Director Montclair Film Cinemas + Festival Husband, Dad, U of Mich & Flint Central alum, LFC, Swag 4 Life for WFMU, true believer in empathy. backrowmanifesto.substack.com
Of course, those compositions are all instrumental and completely lose the lyrical content and the instrumental diversity / textures of his work with other, brilliant musicians. That said, I got the sense he was finally getting something he wanted from the synclavier as a compositional tool.
December 20, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Of course, those compositions are all instrumental and completely lose the lyrical content and the instrumental diversity / textures of his work with other, brilliant musicians. That said, I got the sense he was finally getting something he wanted from the synclavier as a compositional tool.
Got me thinking about Zappa's synclavier compositions on Jazz From Hell vs G Spot Tornado with the Ensemble Modern on The Yellow Shark. I absolutely reach for the Ensemble Modern over the synclavier performances, but clearly that tool gave him a mechanical precision he was always reaching for.
December 20, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Got me thinking about Zappa's synclavier compositions on Jazz From Hell vs G Spot Tornado with the Ensemble Modern on The Yellow Shark. I absolutely reach for the Ensemble Modern over the synclavier performances, but clearly that tool gave him a mechanical precision he was always reaching for.
They say "don't meet your heroes", but Rob and his wife Michele Singer Reiner were the kindest, warmest people. It is an unfathomable tragedy to lose them, and my heart is broken for them and their family. May their memories forever be a blessing.
December 15, 2025 at 9:41 PM
They say "don't meet your heroes", but Rob and his wife Michele Singer Reiner were the kindest, warmest people. It is an unfathomable tragedy to lose them, and my heart is broken for them and their family. May their memories forever be a blessing.
... having failed in his moderated threats, the hysteria returns, this time with the self-knowledge that it is not going to save him. Sociopathic capitalist greed, which he thought he could control, does not, in private, need him, or his con, at all. He has fatally miscalculated and is revealed. A+
December 11, 2025 at 2:23 PM
... having failed in his moderated threats, the hysteria returns, this time with the self-knowledge that it is not going to save him. Sociopathic capitalist greed, which he thought he could control, does not, in private, need him, or his con, at all. He has fatally miscalculated and is revealed. A+
If you do not think the "performative" hysteria of Dano's work is essential to the meaning of the film, I think you misunderstand the movie. It is also why, in the end, amidst the film's most intimate moment of violence, he reverts back to his "con"- it is the one form of persuasion he knows and...
December 11, 2025 at 2:23 PM
If you do not think the "performative" hysteria of Dano's work is essential to the meaning of the film, I think you misunderstand the movie. It is also why, in the end, amidst the film's most intimate moment of violence, he reverts back to his "con"- it is the one form of persuasion he knows and...
The scene of the first Washington DC show in ANTHOLOGY should answer all of these questions. He is absolutely ON FIRE and driving the performance to unbelievable heights with his feel and power. Outrageously good.
December 8, 2025 at 4:25 AM
The scene of the first Washington DC show in ANTHOLOGY should answer all of these questions. He is absolutely ON FIRE and driving the performance to unbelievable heights with his feel and power. Outrageously good.
...The way this show starts off with an indifferent audience and ends in a different universe... The stretch of TWISTIN THE NIGHT AWAY--> SOMEBODY HAVE MERCY--> BRING IT ON HOME TO ME--> NOTHING CAN CHANGE THIS LOVE--> HAVING A PARTY is absolutely untouchable. I... just. 🤯
November 26, 2025 at 7:23 PM
...The way this show starts off with an indifferent audience and ends in a different universe... The stretch of TWISTIN THE NIGHT AWAY--> SOMEBODY HAVE MERCY--> BRING IT ON HOME TO ME--> NOTHING CAN CHANGE THIS LOVE--> HAVING A PARTY is absolutely untouchable. I... just. 🤯
was ubiquitous. So, while his dates are off, when R.E.M. put out PAGEANT and DOCUMENT in 1986 & 1987, those were political records. American hardcore was political. Hüsker Dü could cover TICKET TO RIDE, HELTER SKELTER, & EIGHT MILES HIGH & it felt at once a reclamation & a bridge to that music.
November 24, 2025 at 12:23 AM
was ubiquitous. So, while his dates are off, when R.E.M. put out PAGEANT and DOCUMENT in 1986 & 1987, those were political records. American hardcore was political. Hüsker Dü could cover TICKET TO RIDE, HELTER SKELTER, & EIGHT MILES HIGH & it felt at once a reclamation & a bridge to that music.
& represented the peak of hypocrisy. It wasn't that teens in the late 1980s were pushing against that music, but more the conservative culture's romantic twisting of it. In the US, we did not have a regional culture like the NW of England that pushed back against Thatcherism. Boomer triumphalism
November 24, 2025 at 12:23 AM
& represented the peak of hypocrisy. It wasn't that teens in the late 1980s were pushing against that music, but more the conservative culture's romantic twisting of it. In the US, we did not have a regional culture like the NW of England that pushed back against Thatcherism. Boomer triumphalism
There is a truth in the article's premise, tho, which is that the romanticization of Baby Boomer youth culture was a huge political force & was absolutely something against which mid-1980s outsiders were pushing. In the US, it was Reagan & the yuppies, all of whom had betrayed the 1960s ethos
November 24, 2025 at 12:23 AM
There is a truth in the article's premise, tho, which is that the romanticization of Baby Boomer youth culture was a huge political force & was absolutely something against which mid-1980s outsiders were pushing. In the US, it was Reagan & the yuppies, all of whom had betrayed the 1960s ethos
The new album is brilliant. I think of her as the natural heir to Bowie and yes, that's saying a lot, but she is always experimenting in the context of great songs, a real artist. I love this one from the new record. Enjoy!
The new album is brilliant. I think of her as the natural heir to Bowie and yes, that's saying a lot, but she is always experimenting in the context of great songs, a real artist. I love this one from the new record. Enjoy!