PROVIDENCE

Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars | Rise & Shine
Cumbancha (2010) - BY JEFF TAMARKIN

Titus Andronicus | The Monitor

XL (2010)
As if to allay any fears of a starchy Civil War concept album, Titus Andronicus frontman Patrick Stickles spends the first minute of The Monitor shouting out a series of cultural artifacts that postdate that conflict by, oh, about a hundred years: the Garden State Parkway, the Newark Bears, even the Fung Wah bus.

By MIKAEL WOOD | March 16, 2010

Ralph Towner/Paolo Fresu | Chiaroscuro

ECM (2010)
For some, these open, airy, acoustic guitar/trumpet duets, couched in typically pristine ECM production, will fall too easily on the ear.

By JON GARELICK | March 16, 2010

Gorillaz | Plastic Beach

Virgin (2010)
Although this is their first album without an indie-chic producer, the fake band with fake cartoon characters known as Gorillaz stay the course as a very real post-Blur conduit for Damon Albarn's quasi-apocalyptic, '80s-daydreaming, neon-pop habit.

By ZETH LUNDY | March 16, 2010

Ian King | Panic Grass And Fever Few

Fledg'ling (2010)
Just a few weeks after we reviewed the belated release of African Head Charge's latest, another, more recent gem from the always rewarding sonic laboratory of Adrian Sherwood arrives.

By GUSTAVO TURNER | March 16, 2010

Kidz In The Hall | Land Of Make Believe

Duck Down (2010)
The Most Improved Player award goes to . . . Kidz in the Hall for finally living up to the hype that caught their sail in 2008.

By CHRIS FARAONE | March 16, 2010

Down ballot drama

Important races to watch in '10
The race for governor and the scramble to replace retiring Representative Patrick J. Kennedy have obsessed Rhode Island's chattering class. But all the talk has obscured an intriguing set of "down ballot" races for lieutenant governor, attorney general, treasurer, and secretary of state.

By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | March 10, 2010

David Byrne and the Termite Towers

Cycling
Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline's second annual Senator Claiborne Pell Lecture on Arts and Humanities wasn't really about the arts. Or the humanities.

By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | March 10, 2010

Irish ayes

Don’t go green on St. Patrick’s Day
Beer comes in a rainbow of different colors, but green is not one of them. Unless it's St. Patrick's Day, of course.

By JOSH SMITH | March 10, 2010

Review: The Melting Pot

Fabulous fondue for you
The first impression from our visit to the Melting Pot was wending our way through the maze of the mall's parking lot.

By JOHNETTE RODRIGUEZ | March 10, 2010

Dynamic duo

Doug Bosch and Stephen Fisher in RIC’s ‘Sabbatical Exhibition’
Faculty exhibitions tend to be hodgepodges, no matter how prestigious the school. But "Sabbatical Exhibition" is a delightful exception.

By GREG COOK | March 10, 2010

A Dutch treat lands in Providence

Sweets
Not long ago, a Brown student with a big idea decided to bake cookies. A ho-hum sugar cookie wouldn't do. No, this budding baker wanted something a bit more exotic.

By ELIZABETH RAU | March 10, 2010

The joy of risk

Michael Moschen is alive!
The solo performances of Michael Moschen have many elements to them: dance movement, juggling, theater, pantomime, the balancing and acrobatic skills of a circus artist, the illusion-making craft of a magician.

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | March 10, 2010

Pulling the strings

Brown’s Lulu is a tragic farce
Bourgeois society has always been an easy target because it has always been such a broad one.

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | March 10, 2010

Into the groove

Funkatronic kick out the hybrid-fueled jams
The 2010 Best Music Poll nominees announcement is fast approaching, but we do know all of the '09 victors will return to defend their titles, including jazz/funk reigning champs Funkatronic, who are looking for a three-peat.

By CHRIS CONTI | March 10, 2010

Review: Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland

Rabbit stew
Tim Burton's hare-brained Alice in Wonderland

By PETER KEOUGH | March 10, 2010

Review: Heavy Rain

A haunting thriller for PlayStation 3
Is Heavy Rain a game or a movie? Players have been asking the question since before its release.

By MITCH KRPATA | March 11, 2010

Donwill | Don Cusack In High Fidelity

Interdependent (2010)
It's hardly extraordinary that Donwill should cry a disc inspired by the Nick Hornby book and subsequent John Cusack film.

By CHRIS FARAONE | March 09, 2010

These New Puritans | Hidden

Domino (2010)
Hidden is a real UK horror show, mixing grim, industrial beats with mannered, regal horns and a persistent aura of foggy uneasiness. These New Puritans reveal a penchant for æsthetic violence and revolutionary action that, though rarely convincing, matches the uncompromising intensity and martial tenor of the music.

By MICHAEL PATRICK BRADY | March 09, 2010

Ted Leo | The Brutalist Bricks

Legacy (2010)
Leave it to Ted Leo to find his way from "There was a resolution pending on the United Nations floor" to "Tell the bartender I think I'm falling in love."

By MIKAEL WOOD | March 09, 2010