Tag: spectrum review

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Spectrum Check

Dan Seeger

I had a fairly light week on Spectrum Culture, in part because the film I chose for this week never came through. As I recall, it had something to do with Wisconsin. Sorry I couldn’t write about you, native state. So I had only one full-length review this week: Willy Mason’s Carry On. He’s one of those performers who first edged onto my personal radar because of some gushing write-ups in Mojo magazine, which contributed to my take on him perhaps becoming overly concerned with the relative success he’s had in the U.K. That’s what happens when I don’t actually … Continue reading Spectrum Check

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Spectrum Check

Dan Seeger

There were plenty of my upstart opinions flung around digitally this week at Spectrum Culture. Among the film reviews, there was my take on a new indie thriller, the sort of neo-noir that had a momentary spell of prominence in the mid-nineties. That’s not to imply that this new effort was outdated. Instead, it’s major sin was its unrelenting dullness. I’ve been sitting on a fair number of albums from late 2012 while still picking up new releases to review, and that stockpiling led to a pair of pieces this past week. I reviewed the second full-length from the Joy … Continue reading Spectrum Check

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Spectrum Check

Dan Seeger

I had a busy week over at Spectrum Culture. I usually lead off this recap with the pieces I wrote for the film section, but given yesterday’s One for Friday post in this space spring directly from the new music review I wrote, it seems more appropriate to begin there. I often pick up releases from the bands that endure from my college radio days since I figure I have a little more authority in writing about them. That rarely results in getting the chance to celebrate a genuinely great records, but that’s exactly the pleasure I had with the … Continue reading Spectrum Check

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Spectrum Check

Dan Seeger

It was a fairly light week for me at Spectrum Culture. I have a stockpile of music reviews that will be coming due any minute, but or now I just had one full length piece, a terrible drama that I somehow managed to squeeze out a couple hundred words on even though I just wanted to write “Israeli-Palestinian relations as an ABC After School Special” and be done with it. I also pitched in on our Best Comedic Performances of the 1970s, writing about one Oscar winning turn and another that got a well-deserved nomination. Continue reading Spectrum Check

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Spectrum Check

Dan Seeger

Spectrum Culture eased back into operation after a holiday break this week. Even though we had a very limited amount of content, I still squeezed some of my high-falutin’ words in there. On the film side, I wrote about the new film from director Miguel Gomes, which has been turning up on some of the more esoteric year-end “best of” lists. It’s not quite at that level for me, but I certainly see the appeal. This week also marked the return of a regular yearly feature in which the writers collectively look back at the albums and films from five … Continue reading Spectrum Check

Music2 Comments

That’s my favorite song. Baby, do you wanna dance?

Dan Seeger

One of my fairly recent year-end traditions is to share those songs included on my personal tally of the best of the year that didn’t make the collective Spectrum Culture list. I did it last year and the year before that. My top six and eight of my top ten made our big list, so I go fairly deep into my grouping to deliver my five favorites that aren’t represented. It’s a measure of a pretty good year that all of these, then, are first-rate. Passion Pit, “Take a Walk” I have a feeling the couple of excellent Passion Pit … Continue reading That’s my favorite song. Baby, do you wanna dance?

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Top Ten Albums of 2012

Dan Seeger

There is no shortage of lists. That is clear. So I’m not presenting my own personal tally of the best music of 2012 with the presumption that my set is appreciably better than the similar tally constructed by anyone else. But I was charged with creating it to add some data points to the Spectrum Culture Best Albums of 2012 feature, so why not share? In actuality, I was required to make a Top 20 list, but I’ll admit that the rankings get pretty shaky–almost approaching the arbitrary–in the second ten. This grouping, however, I feel pretty solid about. Well, … Continue reading Top Ten Albums of 2012

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Spectrum Check

Dan Seeger

And so we come to the end of another calendar year of reviews for Spectrum Culture. The site is already in the process of downshifting ahead of the holidays, so there was a little less new content going up this week. I still took my turn in the film review rotation, however, with an evaluation of a new drama that got wobbly wheels but is finally made steady by a couple of very fine performances. Most of my words this week were expended on our various “end of the year” lists. For the Favorite Books feature, I wrote about Richard … Continue reading Spectrum Check

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Spectrum Check

Dan Seeger

Like everyone else, my mind is elsewhere today, so I’ll keep this brief. I’m sure you understand. I reviewed two things for Spectrum Culture this week. On the film side, I reviewed a documentary about the Lovings, the perfectly named couple whose court case against the state of Virginia ended anti-miscegenation laws across the land. On the music side, I reviewed the new album from a band called Night Moves, which I primarily chose because I was amused by the peripheral Bob Seger connection. Lest I confuse anyone, the band’s music sounds absolutely nothing like anything ever cooked up by … Continue reading Spectrum Check

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Spectrum Check

Dan Seeger

We are in the middle stages of prepping for end of the year material at Spectrum Culture, which means I worked on a lot of material for the site this week, but little of it has yet yielded words that made it to digital print. There’s a ton of writing on the way, though, which also means I’ve got to devote some time today to listening to 2012 album releases to concoct my personal Top 20 list for the year. With that in mind, I’ll keep the recap somewhat brief. On the film side, I reviewed a newish documentary about … Continue reading Spectrum Check