Archives - Jason Silverstein
Vampire Weekend plows through greatest hits at Armory
The past two years have been very, very kind to Vampire Weekend. Since the release of their self-titled, effortlessly cool 2008 debut, the Ivy League quartet have skyrocketed from rising indie stars to Billboard chart-toppers; their songs now frequent countless mall stores and coffee shops as well as college radio stations. And, on the Rochester […]
Sounds of summer: reviewing the season’s big releases
“The Suburbs” by Arcade Fire: Nostalgia for suburban ennui and simplicity is kid’s stuff compared to the loftier themes Arcade Fire has grappled with their first two albums, but Win Butler and Co. know the territory so well that they find the perfect tone for it. “The Suburbs” trades grandiosity for meditative sprawl, meaning the […]
Culture
Volume Two' a treasure
If you happen to be a music nerd, an avid nostalgic and a straight male, it's getting kind of impossible not to have a celebrity crush on Zooey Deschanel. Her retro charm and her role in '(500) Days of Summer" would be enough to ensure that she represents the ideal girl who adores sad British […]
Pearl Jam's 'Backspacer' starts strong but has a sappy finish
Pearl Jam may never achieve the same level of romantic fanaticism as a lot of their early '90s contemporaries, but then again, they've had to cope with a problem none of those bands did: continuing to exist. Kurt Cobain's suicide forever froze him in the role of a fabled anti-hero; soundgarden called it quits before […]
