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J.P. Williams
J.P. Williams

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Movie Review: The Wonder (2022)

Reason, religion and trauma collide in Ireland — To every book a film. Thus, two books by Canadian-Irish author Emma Donoghue have become feature films. One was Room, published to acclaim in 2010 and adapted to acclaim, albeit with some serious detractors, in 2015. The second is The Wonder, published in 2016 and directed by Sebastián Lelio for…

Movies

4 min read

Movie Review: The Wonder (2022)
Movie Review: The Wonder (2022)
Movies

4 min read


5 days ago

Tomtit Music Reviews Turns 40

Thank you to the readers — Tomtit Music Reviews is where I write about any music release I feel like. Each review is brief, usually one paragraph just over 200 words, although the latest batch contains a few departures from that format. I hope you’ll check them out and won’t hesitate to drop a comment, however…

Music

2 min read

Tomtit Music Reviews Turns 40
Tomtit Music Reviews Turns 40
Music

2 min read


May 19

Tomtit Twofer: Ryoko Moriyama (TMR 40)

College Folk Album × In Nashville — Ryoko Moriyama was part of Japan’s folk boom in the Sixties and Seventies, a time when vinyl records sounded best. The mixing, mastering and pressing resulted in a spacious, warm sound perfect for conveying the character of Moriyama’s voice, cozy and lucent. On College Folk Album (Philips, 1969), she sings…

Music

2 min read

Tomtit Twofer: Ryoko Moriyama (TMR 40)
Tomtit Twofer: Ryoko Moriyama (TMR 40)
Music

2 min read


May 15

‘A Tribute to Jack Johnson’ by Miles Davis (TMR 39)

Davis delivers a one-two combo worthy of a heavyweight champ — There’s heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson on the cover of Miles Davis’s Jack Johnson (Columbia, 1971), driving a flashy car, smiling his golden smile, and surrounded by beautiful women. There’s Davis in the interior art, in the ring and looking ready to shadowbox the cameraman. And there’s guitarist John McLaughlin…

Music

2 min read

‘A Tribute to Jack Johnson’ by Miles Davis (TMR 39)
‘A Tribute to Jack Johnson’ by Miles Davis (TMR 39)
Music

2 min read


May 10

Paul Westerberg’s ‘14 Songs’ (TMR 38)

The Replacements frontman delivers a master class in songwriting — Verse, chorus, bridge. The fundamental building blocks of songcraft are enough for the best musicians to work wonders over and over without ostentation. This is abundantly clear on 14 Songs (Sire/Reprise, 1993), the first solo album from Paul Westerberg of early alt-rockers The Replacements. Whereas creativity for many artists is…

Music

1 min read

Paul Westerberg’s ‘14 Songs’ (TMR 38)
Paul Westerberg’s ‘14 Songs’ (TMR 38)
Music

1 min read


May 5

‘Foregone’ by In Flames (TMR 37)

Kickass for the crowd that still isn’t sold on Babymetal — Environmental apocalypse, nuclear apocalypse, virological apocalypse, A.I. apocalypse. . . Take your pick. Doomsaying is nothing new, but there does seem to be a growing sense that things really are getting worse. And from the sound of In Flames on Foregone, the band’s 15th full-length studio album, the Swedish metal…

Music

2 min read

‘Foregone’ by In Flames (TMR 37)
‘Foregone’ by In Flames (TMR 37)
Music

2 min read


May 3

Self-Titled EP by How to Destroy Angels (TMR 36)

The sound of authoritariansim sickening free spirits — If, as Aristotle wrote in Poetics, art depends on mimesis, then what has Trent Reznor been imitating all these years? From Nine Inch Nails to soundtracks for films such as The Social Network, Reznor uses a precise collection of synthesizers and drum machines to create music that bangs, hums, saws…

Music

2 min read

Self-Titled EP by How to Destroy Angels (TMR 36)
Self-Titled EP by How to Destroy Angels (TMR 36)
Music

2 min read


Apr 30

Movie Review: The Pale Blue Eye (2022)

Think twice before pressing play on this gothic thriller — Christian Bale is one of the greatest actors of our time who hasn’t won the Academy Award for Best Actor. He’s good enough that even in the case of a less than stellar film, it’s more plausible that the film ill-used him than the other way around. …

Film

4 min read

Movie Review: The Pale Blue Eye (2022)
Movie Review: The Pale Blue Eye (2022)
Film

4 min read


Apr 27

‘Since I Left You’ by The Avalanches (TMR 35)

Behold undeniable proof that sampling is indeed an art — In 2000, The Avalanches did for music what William Dreyer did in 1929 by inventing rocky road ice cream: They mixed disparate great stuff into harmonious perfection.¹ Since I Left You, the Australian group’s debut on Modular Recordings, showcases an encyclopedic love of music through reems of samples reaching back…

Music

2 min read

‘Since I Left You’ by The Avalanches (TMR 35)
‘Since I Left You’ by The Avalanches (TMR 35)
Music

2 min read


Apr 25

Dead Sara’s Self-Titled Album (TMR 34)

Don’t miss one of the greatest rock songs of all time — Whether it’s Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit” or Starship’s “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now,” vocalist Grace Slick had uncommon power and volume, so when I read, possibly here, that she considered Emily Armstrong of Dead Sara to be one of her favorite female vocalists, I wasted no time checking out the…

Music

2 min read

Dead Sara’s Self-Titled Album (TMR 34)
Dead Sara’s Self-Titled Album (TMR 34)
Music

2 min read

J.P. Williams

J.P. Williams

974 Followers

I write about the intersection of arts and ideas. Lots of short music reviews at the moment.

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