Tag: spectrum review

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Spectrum Check

Dan Seeger

When I joined the writing staff at Spectrum Culture, I was probably most looking forward to having access to the sorts of small, independent films that either took months to get to my humble mountain town or bypassed our local theaters altogether. While some of the most intriguing titles were held back from screener distribution for fear of piracy, I got to watch my fair share of challenging, fascinating films that I likely would have missed otherwise. For that, I’m certainly grateful. As it turned out, though, my interest in the new was eventually eclipsed by a greater satisfaction in … Continue reading Spectrum Check

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Spectrum Check

Dan Seeger

One of the things I appreciated most from the very beginning with Spectrum Culture was the site’s editorial mandate to reserve five-star reviews–the top of our rating system–for only the very best of the best. There was even a process the editors went through to verify that five-star reviews of new music were acceptable, though I don’t recall it ever happening while I was editing for the site. So in my time there, writing hundreds of reviews, I only offered up two five-star reviews. The first was for a Miles Davis live box set, part of the legacy offerings that … Continue reading Spectrum Check

MusicLeave a comment

Spectrum Check

Dan Seeger

The long farewell to my tenure as a Spectrum Culture writer turns this week to contributions made to the music section. As I noted last week, I was originally brought on as strictly a film writer, but I was given the opportunity to pitch in on the music review side fairly quickly. The intent was that I’d write for that section only occasionally. That’s not really the way it played out. For a sizable chunk of my time there, I was picking up as many music reviews as film reviews. I’d like to say my facility for them grew with … Continue reading Spectrum Check

FilmLeave a comment

Spectrum Check

Dan Seeger

When I was first added to the Spectrum Culture roster, it was strictly as a film writer. Certainly, I still think that’s the strongest writing I do–much as I strive to develop my word-slinging in other areas–and that’s reflected in the array of pieces that I think represent some of the best work I did for the site. Some of the best pieces I wrote were reviews of documentaries. This is in certainly in part due to the simple fact that the best examples of the form were more available to me as a geographically remote film critic (it was … Continue reading Spectrum Check

Film, MusicLeave a comment

Spectrum Check

Dan Seeger

There are over 400 files in my desktop folder called simply, “Spectrum.” Now, a fair number of them are little blurbs written for various List Inconsequential features or other group-built tallies, but there are still a lot of full-length pieces. Even counting up the number of instances of this weekly link-dump of personal reviews tells the story. According to the math done automatically by WordPress, this is the 144th post entitled “Spectrum Check.” I started writing for Spectrum Culture over three years ago and first took on some editorial chores about a year after that. As of the end of … Continue reading Spectrum Check

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Top Ten Albums of 2013

Dan Seeger

I don’t know that I actually reviewed appreciably more albums for Spectrum Culture this year than the previous one, but it was enough that I sometimes felt I had a difficult time keeping up with my “outside listening.” I offer that as humble acknowledgement that my list is heavy with material that I specifically sat down and gave a close listen to in order to bang out a few hundred words extolling virtues and identifying flaws. (This may also be the spot where I acknowledge that I really don’t hear the supposed genius of Kanye West, no matter how hard … Continue reading Top Ten Albums of 2013

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Here comes the song I love so much

Dan Seeger

In each of the past three years, I’ve followed up on the Spectrum list of the year’s top songs by offering my modest addendum. Specifically, I’ve noted the highest-ranking songs on my personal list of the best of the year, cobbled together from the one hundred that were nominated by the various music writers for the site. My clear pick for the best song of the year was the same one we collectively selected, so I certainly have no major complaints. Still, I would have liked to see these songs get a little more love from my peers. Cults, “I … Continue reading Here comes the song I love so much

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Spectrum Check

Dan Seeger

And so we come to the end of the publication year for Spectrum Culture, which meant a huge batch of “best of” evaluations of the pop culture from the preceding twelve months (well, okay, eleven-and-a-half). I had my couple cents in every last one of them, but I also had one more full-length review to put out there. I was cautiously hopeful about grabbing the new film from Neil LaBute. Though it’s been ages since I’ve liked one of his films, I used to like them, a couple quite a bit. And this new effort seemed like a back-to-basics outing, … Continue reading Spectrum Check

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Spectrum Check

Dan Seeger

The mad rush to the end of the year continues at Spectrum Culture. Everyone’s been doing their best to pull together various “best of” features while still making sure we still continue to crank out the regular new material. It’s fun (especially for a dork like me who enjoys wedging his media interests into list form, which the tags over there on the right certainly indicate), but a little exhausting, too. And it’s made even more busy when a feature we’ve been working on for ages comes to fruition at the exact same time. It took over a year for … Continue reading Spectrum Check

Film, MusicLeave a comment

Spectrum Check

Dan Seeger

We’re winding down to the end of the year at Spectrum Culture, so there’s a lot going into prep for that. I’m spending so much time trying trying to assemble my various lists–mostly extensive listening and re-listening to the most interesting music of the year–that keeping up with the new stuff week to week becomes kind of dizzying. For example, I have to keep reminding myself that I’ve got a late contender for the Best Albums list in the latest from White Denim. This also represents one of the few times (maybe the first time) that I’ve returned to a … Continue reading Spectrum Check