Word: riff
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...undeniable talent as a sampler make Point, a potentially formulaic album, such a triumph. Cornelius is so good at regulating the give-and-take of his layered compositions that, rather than coming off as stiff and mechanical, they sound alive, constantly in motion. From a simple repeated-riff and sampled voice motif, “Point of View Point” blossoms effortlessly into a sparkling summertime anthem. “Another View Point” is a hypnotic, escalating pattern of electric guitar squeals. “Nowhere,” all weepy horns and crashing waves...
Several tracks start out with promise. “That’s Why” gets the rhythm moving, with Tammy Ealom’s untuned vocals musing over a happy-go-lucky guitar riff. The lyrics, as whimsical as Dressy Bessy’s name, could easily be fun: “Oh my / He’s shy shy / guess that’s why / He’s bye bye.” But the song goes exactly nowhere. The rhythm guitar cycles through the same riff, the band playing on automatic pilot until a bridge...
...leading man of tick, tick... BOOM! is fast on his way to becoming one of the theater world’s brightest stars. In between brilliantly originating the role of Riff Raff in the Rocky Horror revival and reinvigorating Cabaret’s Emcee, Esparza dazzled as BOOM’s Jonathan. It was a performance of such vulnerability, charm and emotional (not to mention vocal) power, that Esparza is assured of a tremendous future...
...possible that West did really, sincerely, mean to wish his boss well. But I read this well before the months-long riff between West and Summers was made embarrassingly public (embarrassing for whom is another column entirely), and even then I took the quotation to be sarcastic. Why would West take this moment of obvious conflict to wish Summers well? Did West have any responsibility for how readers would perceive the comment? Unfortunately, West, who has recently applied for a medical leave of absence, did not respond to an (unsarcastic) e-mail before press time. The evidence of sarcasm here...
...Anderson-Wilson sophomore effort, 1998's prep-school comedy Rushmore--another funny riff on rivalry and forgiveness--also charmed the critics, but The Royal Tenenbaums, with its all-star cast (including Wilson as a western novelist with a taste for cowboy hats, loafers without socks and hard drugs), is expected to be their most successful movie...