Tim Riley's Blog

Great tension spills out between her looks and her personality, stumping and intriguing her colleagues, but she  steers more activity through her intelligence than anything else...

They canceled Lady Dynamite, but Bamford’s new Netflix special surfs even more absurdist realities. We saw a lot of this stuff live about a year back, and she’s kept shaping it; she hits a new level with this material. NEVER BEEN MELLOW Juliana Hatfield, Juliana Hatfield Sings Olivia Newton-John (American Laundromat) FBI’S CHRIST-FIGURE Felt bad […]

 This dance sequence from episode 2 of Babylon Berlin makes a decent substitution for the David Bowie Is exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum. More Topics Jeff Daniels chills as preacher-villain in Godless, then gets swamped by hoary dialogue and plot clichés in Looming Tower (THE must-read investigative reporting of our time); Flyover Town Lyricism: Calling Cleveland Chamber […]

Serkin, Gould and the Pianist’s Ideal Recently available deluxe recordings from Rudolf Serkin and Glenn Gould reveal new secrets about these polar-opposite titans of classical piano: Expansive yet forbidding, imperious yet embracing, pianist Rudolf Serkin mixed charm with guilt to build a towering legacy. His recordings confirm him as a titan of the old school, […]

This Goldberg recording has a quietude that blankets the music...

2017 LISTS Bob Dylan, Triplicate (Columbia) Beck, Colors (Capitol/Virgin EMI) Kendrick Lamar, Damn (Top Dawg/Aftermath/Interscope) Various, Afro Beats Hot Hits (Shanachie) Arcade Fire, Everything Now (Columbia) Saint Etienne, Home Counties (Heavenly) Old Crow Medicine Show, 50 Years of Blonde on Blonde (Columbia/Sony Music) Dan Auerbach, Waiting on a Song (Easy Eye Sound/Nonesuch) Mary J. Blige, The Strength of […]

2017 LISTS (first draft) Beck, Colors (Capitol/Virgin EMI) Kendrick Lamar, Damn (Top Dawg/Aftermath/Interscope) Various, Afro Beats Hot Hits (Shanachie) Arcade Fire, Everything Now (Columbia) Jon Langford, Four Lost Souls (Bloodshot) Saint Etienne, Home Counties (Heavenly) Old Crow Medicine Show, 50 Years of Blonde on Blonde (Columbia/Sony Music) Dan Auerbach, Waiting on a Song (Easy Eye Sound/Nonesuch) Mary J. […]

Some say we’ve already hit peak TV; we might also approach peak bluetooth. Have turned off my receiver and KLH speakers for months to acclimate myself to these unsuspecting compacts, and happy to report more keep landing. When was the last time a speaker actually changed your listening habits? The more I use Libratone’s ZIPPs, […]

Some say we’ve already hit peak TV; we might also approach peak bluetooth. Have turned off my receiver and KLH speakers for months to acclimate myself to these unsuspecting compacts, and happy to report more keep landing. When was the last time a speaker actually changed your listening habits? The more I use Libratone’s ZIPPs, […]

How much does your early exposure to a given piece influence your understanding of the music? I grew very fond of a DG recording of the three Schumann, Opus 41, paired with the three Brahms, titles, either from the Melos Quartet. Same with Alban Berg Quartett. Rifling through the spotify database, both these acts have oddly missing titles, […]