Most Popular
-
The Talk of the Green Iguana
Will American voters elect the first gay vice president in November?
-
The Muscle Men
Inside the "Rejuvenation Centers" at the heart of the nation's largest illegal steroid and HGH operation
-
Accidental Hit Man
Sure, Paul Brandreth talks like a wiseguy. But is he a cold-blooded killer?
-
Priestin' Ain't Easy
For a couple of Delray padres, the high life allegedly got in the way of their priestly duties
-
They'll Take Your Houses
South Florida's real estate forecast calls for pain
-
Man-Child in the Promised Land (11)
Pop star Sean Kingston hopes the party's just begun
-
Your Mom Thinks He’s Hot (6)
-
The Talk of the Green Iguana (5)
Will American voters elect the first gay vice president in November?
-
Solar Eclipse (3)
Early-rising photographer becomes "cruising for cock" suspect
-
Shooting the Moon (2)
Aim high or aim low, you're bound to hit something, even if it's the sleep button
-
Cheat Sheet to Langerado
-
Paul Potts
-
Licensed to Chill
How the Beasties went from hip-hop pranksters to musical renaissance men
-
Not Your Father's N Word
Eight months after its "burial," the world's most dangerous epithet is more popular than ever in hip-hop
-
Excuse Me While I Kiss This Guy
-
The Mind-Boggling Lewis Murder Case
12:17AM 03/19/08 -
Rejected!
12:56PM 03/18/08 -
Palm Beach Post Cuts Coffee, Pages
11:56AM 03/17/08 -
WMC Preview! Q&A with Louie Vega
12:32PM 03/20/08 -
New House Shoes Podcast Up
10:26AM 03/20/08 -
Q&A with Pink Martini, to play Adrienne Arsht Center this Friday
03:51PM 03/19/08
What we are writing about
- Anoushka Shankar and...
- anything goes here
- B-Side Players
- BankAtlantic Center
- Black Guayaba
- Body/Antibody
- Cate Blanchett
- Deerfield Beach
- FLIFF
- Guillermo Trujillo:...
- his landscapes feel...
- Kid Rock
- Marcus Carl Franklin
- Maroon 5
- Natalie Cole
- National Collage Society
- No World for Tomorrow
- October 11 through...
- October 19 at the Rose...
- Q&A
- Rio de Janeiro
- Sharon Jones and the...
- The Afromotive
- The Cribs
- The Darjeeling Limited
- Top DVD picks
- Transformers
- Various artists
- will.i.am
- Written and directed...
Recent Articles By Lee Zimmerman
-
Gang Green
Six essential Irish acts that would win St. Paddy's approval
-
Chatham County Line
IV (Yep Roc)
-
Albert Castiglia
These Are the Days (Blues Leaf)
-
Paul Potts
-
Anne Murray
National Features
-
Village Voice
A Long Way Wrong?
Another celebrated memoir threatens to blow into a million little pieces.
By Graham Rayman -
LA Weekly
Hoop Dawg
Billionaire Donald T. Sterling owns the L.A. Clippers and loves the ladies. And those are just two of his problems.
By Patrick Range McDonald -
Westword
The Good Soldier
When the Army tried to take down Andrew Pogany, they messed with the wrong coward.
By Joel Warner
Anti-Social Music/The Gena Rowlands Band
The Nitrate Hymnal (Lujo)
By Lee Zimmerman
Published: May 18, 2006
Subject(s): Anti-Social Music/The Gena Rowlands Band
An avant-garde effort by two disparate bands trying to bridge the expanse between experimental jazz and neoclassical composition, The Nitrate Hymnal is odd yet ambitious. Punk veterans the Gena Rowlands Band and fusion cooperative Anti-Social Music have pooled their ambitions to create a sparse, idealized narrative about an old woman who relives her life through home movies, riding this nostalgic thread right up until the moment of her passing. Overtly impressionistic, it's as impenetrable as its name implies, defying any hint of accessibility with its fragmented strings, brittle violins, and muffled keyboards. Despite a story line that leans on evocative imagery and the attempt to illuminate the characters by employing four singers on ten tracks (including one who's actually operatic), the music sounds so devoid of melody that it does little to advance the plot. These are more soundscapes than actual songs — dreamy, sleepy interludes enveloped by ominous arrangements and atmospheric ambiance. The opening track — titled "The End" — lays out the credo: "In the end, dying is such a cliché... that's why I love the movies/At the end, it's okay to stop caring." Unfortunately, this set is so dark and dismal, many listeners will likely stop caring long before then.
