A United Cultural Front, Part 1: Models of Space Preservation & Creation from Oakland & Seattle
Since the Dot-Com Boom of the 1990s, San Francisco, California, has left its hippie and counterculture roots behind to become the poster child for the affordability crisis. With that has come the slow exodus of its creative class, who, priced out, have been forced to seek cheaper alternatives. At one time called the “Detroit of...Read...
F.U.B.U. & Dani Tirrell’s Black Bois: A Live Performance Review Framed by Solange and A Seat at the Table
Photography by Naomi Ishisaka “But those are the most narrow parameters!” balks my well-meaning white friend. We are on our way to On The Boards to see dancer and choreographer Dani Tirrell’s latest ensemble piece, Black Bois, and unrelatedly, I have just been articulating my latest dating quandary. As a first-generation Chinese-American who equally straddles...Read...
Coming This Spring.
With a limited, curated collection of long-form articles. Stay tuned for details!
Farewell, REDEFINE. It’s Been Real. (2004-2016)
In the same way that my 13-year-old self once fretted over who might eventually receive my postcard collection when I passed away (morbid, I know), a younger adult me used to wonder what it might look like when this day came, and how I would be certain that it had come. But today — on...Read...
Beyond Beyond is Beyond Record Label Feature: Openings to Epiphany
Beyond Beyond Is Beyond is a record label that has become adept at curating artists for a very specific roster. These artists tend to not have the typical “Brooklyn” sound; what critics usually associate with Brooklyn tends be a trendy “indie” sound, BBiB eschews for a deeper dive into all things psychedelic rock. Born from...Read...
Eric Beltz Artist Interview: Frozen in Transcendence
Some artists are prolific, churning out project after project at a speed that leaves onlookers wondering about their superhuman pace. Some have a much slower process — painstaking in intricate detail — and Eric Beltz is one of the latter. A drawing teacher at University of Santa Barbara, Beltz is a master renderer, and his...Read...
Under The Sun Documentary Film Review (North Korea)
Oh, North Korea. The mechanics of filmmaking are lost upon you, are they not? You may have read about it — which is why you probably attempted to control the script of Under The Sun and escorted the filmmakers to a number of pre-determined filming locations — but what you probably failed to recognize is...Read...
Christopher Tignor Artist Interview: Living in Modern Tension
“I had a big manifesto of ‘no’s’ at the beginning, [of things] that I didn’t want to do.” As a composer, violinist, and multi-instrumentalist, Christopher Tignor has, since the early ’00s, led the New York City-based instrumental groups Slow Six and Wires.Under.Tension. Up until recently, however, he’d had little interest in playing solo, and figuring...Read...
Seiho – Collapse Album Review (Leaving Records)
On March 15, 2015, the Washington Post published a typically buzzworthy article titled, “Is the Internet Giving Us All ADHD?”. The article begins with the usual litany of start-of-days, most likely familiar to anyone who works at a desk or a computer, or spends a large amount of time e-mailing, chatting with friends, looking at...Read...
Marissa Nadler – Strangers Album Review (Sacred Bones Records)
Strangers, Marissa Nadler’s second record for Brooklyn-based Scared Bones and seventh overall, mixes elements both familiar and unfamiliar to create an uneven, but often rewarding listen. As with the best of her prior work, the songs that hit still retain the ability to steal your breath. And while many of the sounds and textures have...Read...