Reviews

NYC rockers named after Can vocalists

Twisted siblings in unnerving Korean horror

It's 1967 and Terry meets Julie under a Wessex downpour as opposed to a Waterloo sunset. John Schlesinger addresses Thomas Hardy's torrid melodrama of love, betrayal and sheep farming with the epic cinematographic sweep it deserves, while the tension between Christie and her three suitors-the doomed Peter Finch, the stoical Alan Bates and, of course, the dastardly Terence Stamp is spellbinding.

Based on the Kurt Vonnegut novel and featuring an amazing central performance from Nick Nolte as an American spy living in pre-WWII Berlin, broadcasting military secrets in code under the guise of anti-Semitic, Nazi propaganda. Once the war is over, though, he's arrested for war crimes and put on trial. Will the truth out? A mixture of the disturbing and the bizarre, it's both haunting and thought-provoking. John Goodman co-stars.

Veteran NYC noiseniks' impressive video portfolio

Two early'60s staples from original maiden of folk

Two albums by Boston-based duo who subsequently fell in with the Haight-Ashbury crowd

Lazy summer grooves signal impressive debut

Wiggy alt.rapper books seat to Mars

Like Damien Jurado or David Ackles, Toronto's Rutledge is a master of gothic understatement. This wintry debut—shrouded in slow-tempo melancholy—is slyly addictive. Against spare backdrops of folk-country guitars, mandolin, piano and the odd banjo, Rutledge sounds weathered beyond his twentysomething years. An array of talent is on hand, not least of which is the reclusive Mary Margaret O'Hara (woefully underused on just one track, "A Letter To Heather"). Otherwise, Rutledge judges the balance perfectly.