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Artscope Magazine | January/February 2019

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Featured

CONCERT REVIEW: IDLES AT BRIGHTON MUSIC HALL, SEPTEMBER 20, 2018

// Featured, Music, Review

by Shem Tane

On September 20, I found myself outside Brighton Music Hall for the first time in my six or so years of living in Boston, in line to see Idles, a punk band from Bristol, England that was in the midst of a tour for its sophomore album, Joy is an Act of Resistance. When a band releases a second album, there is a high level of anxiety that it will suffer by comparison to a successful debut album and the band will fade into obscurity (and join the ranks of other one-hit wonders). This is not the case for Idles; the new album has already received high ratings from critics that are claiming the album as a fresh take on the punk genre. The album delivers social commentary on the toxicity of the punk scene as well as the right wing’s take on immigrants. When the band started playing their set, its singer, Joe Talbot, slowly paced the stage staring down the crowd like a shark circling … [Read more...] about CONCERT REVIEW: IDLES AT BRIGHTON MUSIC HALL, SEPTEMBER 20, 2018

Running the Numbers: Tricot at Paradise Rock Club, June 9, 2018

// Featured, Music, Review

by Shem Tane

A show at the Paradise Rock Club in Allston, Mass., on June 9 was a collection of math rock bands from the last two decades, some old, some new. The band I was there for was Tricot, an almost entirely female math rock band from Japan. This was the band's second United States tour and, knowing the gamble of planning and financing an international tour, this would probably be my only chance to see them live. While waiting in line the majority of people were here for the headlining band, CHON. The genre of math rock can easily be summed up by a unique tempo and switching time signatures, as well as stacking rhythm and lead parts as an extended fugue piece. It is hard to separate math rock bands’ timbres from one another. A pitfall that some bands fall into is that they will start to drift from the rhythm of the song and all the instruments will just start competing with each other instead … [Read more...] about Running the Numbers: Tricot at Paradise Rock Club, June 9, 2018

A Portable Block Party: Funky Dawgz Brass Band at the Middle East

// Artscope Online, Featured, Music, Review

by Shem Tane

On April 19, I saw Funky Dawgz Brass Band  at the Middle East Restaurant and Nightclub in Cambridge, Mass. I ended up at this specific show through multiple recommendations from friends who couldn't stop talking about the raw energy that the band blasts out of its trumpets, trombones, saxophones and tubas. My curiosity was piqued and I headed over to see and hear for myself. This a group that has spent years performing and touring around the country building its foundation on a certain tool in a musician's toolbox: call and response- one of the main pillars for early jazz, blues and gospel music. The idea of call and response creates a stronger connection between the performer and the audience. This was fully on display in the Funky Dawgz's performance as they assigned different roles to various sides of the venue, including choruses and dance moves, with band members like  a nervous … [Read more...] about A Portable Block Party: Funky Dawgz Brass Band at the Middle East

David Brewster, Peale’s Triangle, 2017, oil on board.

DAVID BREWSTER: EXPLORING MARYLAND’S SOCIAL LANDSCAPE

// Exhibits, Featured, Visual Arts

By Nancy Nesvet Baltimore, MD - David Brewster, originally a Marylander, now practicing in rural Vermont, is one gutsy artist. His solo exhibition at The Maryland Historical Society in Baltimore shows his depiction of events and characters important to him that should be important to all of us. The Maryland Historical Society, honoring its mission of presenting work relevant to Maryland’s history, good or bad, brutal and violent, proves equally brave in presenting Brewster’s paintings. Exhibiting over 50 works painted between 2013 and 2017, with 67 total, including earlier work, Brewster’s speed and painting style reflect the urgency of getting the image out to the public. His compelling need to record recent events with speed and immediacy links Brewster’s work to Daumier’s cartoons, Picasso’s Guernica, Gericault’s Raft of the Medusa, Banksy’s murals and countless other work that … [Read more...] about DAVID BREWSTER: EXPLORING MARYLAND’S SOCIAL LANDSCAPE

(Clockwise from top left: “Boston Strong,” wall tower of 110 running shoes memorial assemblage; John Buron, “Eugene Roberts,” mixed media fabric/wall quilt banner; Jeff Grassie, “Invincible,” mixed media, wood, sculpture; Christopher DeRosa, “1897,” wood assemblage with electric lamp (photographs by J. Fatima Martins).

THEMATIC DUETS IN A LONG-DISTANCE RELATIONSHIP: THE 26.2 MILE JOURNEY AT ATTLEBORO ARTS MUSEUM

// Featured, Visual Arts

By J. Fatima Martins Attleboro, MA - “A Long-Distance Relationship: The 26.2 Mile Journey” is a hybrid art invitational created to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombings and celebrate the social importance of sport running as a unifying community activity. It also reveals human athleticism as a source of personal triumph with greater cultural relevance especially as it relates to gender and ability, and spotlights some ‘firsts’ within the sport, including Eugene Roberts who became the first unofficial wheelchair athlete to complete the Boston Marathon in 1970, crossing the finish line in a hospital-issued wheelchair; and, Robert Louise “Bobbi” Gibb, the first unregistered woman to run the entire Boston Marathon in 1966, as well as Sara Mae Berman, the unofficial women’s winner in the years 1969 through 1971. Women were banned from officially competing in the … [Read more...] about THEMATIC DUETS IN A LONG-DISTANCE RELATIONSHIP: THE 26.2 MILE JOURNEY AT ATTLEBORO ARTS MUSEUM

VOLTA AND FINAL THOUGHTS ON NEW YORK ART FAIRS, WINTER 2018

// Featured, Visual Arts

by Nancy Nesvet MARCH 13, 2019 -- With the headlines changing at the speed of the wind blowing snow around New York and New England this week, it’s difficult for artists to keep up with making work reflecting daily politics. After the emphasis on the possible “wall,” treatment of LatinX at the Miami Fairs last summer and refugees at Art Basel in Basel, art reflecting the “Me, Too” movement addressing abuse of women was in a lot of the work at last week’s New York art fairs. Walking to the VOLTA art fair on Pier 40, a good walk from piers 42 and 44 of the Armory show, I had time to reflect on those pieces that dealt with “Me, Too.” Recalling the Armory show, I cannot put Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s Paredolium, 2017, shown by Max Estrell Gallery, Madrid, out of my mind. Though the artist claims the work is about surveillance, as the viewer stares down into a bubbling circular … [Read more...] about VOLTA AND FINAL THOUGHTS ON NEW YORK ART FAIRS, WINTER 2018