When not reviewing music and film, you can find me lifting weights at a local gym. My personal trainer Garrett is a Cleveland-bred recording artist who just might be the biggest Bright Eyes fan I’ve ever met. During yesterday’s session he introduced me to a Bright Eyes’ cover of Vic Chesnutt’s mortality ballad “I’ve Flirted With You All My Life” and well, the listening experience was otherworldly.
Accentuated by sterling production, wilting steel guitar and a sonic landscape that is whiskey-soaked, weary and well-worn, Connor Oberst sounds as alive and inspired as he ever has. In a little over four minutes he delivers what might arguably be the strongest Bright Eyes song he has released to date. I guess he knew what he was doing when he decided to reunite the band last year.
Our favorite 90s band (and still a perennial favorite in the SITH household) Hootie and the Blowfish will broadcast the final date on their 2019 Group Therapy tour on April 23 at 9 p.m. EST. The streaming event partners Hootie and the Blowfish with Sessions, an initiative co-founded by Pandora founder Tim Westergren.
The Group Therapy tour, which also included another of our 90s faves Barenaked Ladies, was a commercial success and was used as a promotional event for the release of the band’s 2019 album Imperfect Circle, which came out via UMG/Capitol Nashville in November of that year. The Group Therapy tour’s final stop was none other than Colonial Life Arena in the band’s hometown of Columbia, SC and this sold-out date made for a must-watch event. Featuring never-aired-before footage the April 23 event is certain to bring back all the nostalgic feels of mid-90s jangle pop.
Early-bird GA tickets priced at $15 are on sale now at Sessions. GA ticket prices will increase to $20 on April 20 at 9 p.m. ET. VIP ticket packages priced at $250 are also available, which include access to the live stream as well as an autographed tour pass and access to an exclusive virtual afterparty Q&A session with the band. Perhaps most importantly, the event is available to re-watch on demand for 48 hours following initial broadcast.
We know where we’ll be April 23. Will you be joining us?
We’re always on the lookout for an artist that is just under the radar. Someone ready to make a big splash. Someone on the precipice of something truly great. Enter New York singer-songwriter Simone. At just 16, she sounds wise beyond her years and precocious enough to take the alt-pop world by storm. Read more…
UPDATE: Joe Buffalo won the 2021 SXSW Audience Award for Best Documentary Short.
Documentary short films when done well do everything a non-fiction short story might do: they introduce you to a character, reveal said character’s story, detail a battle the protagonist has overcome and in the end leaves you feeling informed, educated and asking more questions. These aren’t questions that leave you trying to dot the I and cross the T. Instead these are questions that make you want to dig deeper into the protagonist’s story more now than ever before. Read more…
We’re still gushing from our first SXSW experience (have you not noticed?). But the one thing we’re most stoked on is the contacts we have made. One such contact is Atlanta’s Jasmin Rhia. To date she is a hip-hop artist, record producer, violinist, DJ and mental health activist. Being that I am married to a violinist and am a mental health activist myself there was lots to engage here. Though hip-hop is a genre that we don’t follow or actively engage with, we’re not one to turn down a chance to expand our horizons. Read more…
After the Murder of Albert Lima, a Crackle Original film which debuted today on the streaming site, is a documentary which straddles the line between true crime documentary and narrative in a way that is compelling and worth the 90 minute investment. Read more…
We are big fans of the Amazon episodic series “Modern Love” and have been trying in earnest to find something that might replicate that viewing experience. Enter “Joy & Jim” a modern exploration of love whose pilot episode debuted at the Pan-African Film Festival last weekend. Read more…
Documentaries are at their best when they play out like narratives. Much in the way historical fiction has become one of the fastest selling book markets, immersive documentaries have the power to transform the viewing experience beyond just the subject matter. Read more…
One of our favorite films of last year, Emily Cohn’s hilarious coming-of-age film CRSHD is now available on HULU. We highly encourage you to check it out. Trust me there will be at least one, (if not more, characters you can relate with. Promise. Read more…
Earlier this week we were stopped in our tracks by “I Will Be Gone” the second single from Emily Rodgers. The song features amiable acoustic guitar, commanding vocals and a bed of windswept folk-rock a la Lera Lynn, Kathleen Edwards and Tennille Townes. Lyrically the song is more telling as it unwinds the memory of her schizophrenic brother and his death by suicide. A violin and pedal steel enter the frame and both wobble steadily as Rodgers eulogizes poignantly. Her vocals while arresting are limp and weary (think Lucinda Williams) and the sonic veneer has a hazy vibe that calls to mind Mazzy Starr, Neil Young and Cowboy Junkies. Read more…
