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The Dartmouth
December 24, 2024 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth
Reviews
Arts

Review: Taylor Swift stuns with the mature melancholy of ‘folklore’

By Shera Bhala | July 31, 2020

Just when I thought Taylor Swift had surpassed every semblance of an expectation, she proved to be even more of a superwoman. The release of her eighth album, “folklore,” on July 24th comes only 11 months after the cheerful and flowery “Lover.” Written and recorded entirely in quarantine, “folklore” is a testament to the singer’s creativity as a musical powerhouse. “Folklore” stuns with its ethereal beauty and maturity, expressed through intelligent lyrics and gentle, haunting melodies. 

Arts

Review: Laura Marling's 'Song for Our Daughter' boasts compelling storytelling, dynamic instrumentation

By Jack Hargrove | May 14, 2020

In a genre as old as folk, it can be hard for anything to stand out against the large body of work comprising the genre’s canon. Artists like Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, Joni Mitchell and Paul Simon cultivated the sound that became associated with folk singer-songwriters in the middle of the 20th century. While the sounds they played were by definition based on earlier American musical styles, these artists sounded novel and each presented a unique brand of folk. In recent years, however, artists like Ed Sheeran have figured out how to soullessly manufacture the singer-songwriter formula by repeating the same tired sound again and again. Faced with a barrage of mediocre music, modern folk singer-songwriters have been forced to innovate in an attempt to stand out.

Arts

Review: 'What Kinda Music' is a creative triumph

By Charlie Palsho | May 7, 2020

Tom Misch and Yussef Dayes released their latest project, “What Kinda Music,” through the jazz label Blue Note Records on April 24. Their collaboration is an experimental album combining the upbeat, polished chords and production of Misch with the jazzier, more experimentally inclined sound of the drummer Dayes. “What Kinda Music” is Misch’s first project since his 2018 album “Geography” and is also Dayes’ first album release since 2017. “What Kinda Music” is exactly what the name implies — a genre-defying album, incorporating the best of both Misch and Dayes. It’s a project that’s part electronica, part jazz and part hip-hop. Dayes’ experimental inventiveness melds with Misch’s catchy chords and pitch-perfect voice (and a well-rounded range of featured artists) to create an original UK sound.

Arts

Review: 'Sawayama' is musically fascinating, but falls short of greatness

By Jack Hargrove | April 27, 2020

Every 20 years, like clockwork, American culture repeats itself. This does not mean that the same exact trends are recycled in an endless loop. Rather, after about 20 years, outdated culture becomes “retro,” and nostalgia for past decades shapes new styles and artwork. The 1970s had “Happy Days,” and the 1990s had “That ’70s Show.” In a more abstract sense, the infatuation with the glamorous lifestyles of the fabulously wealthy in the 1980s inspired reality television and “Gossip Girl” in the 2000s. As we enter the 2020s, the music stylings of the early aughts are making a comeback. Artists like Charli XCX and Slayyyter evoke Britney Spears-style pop, while Poppy and Grimes both recently released music that is heavily reminiscent of nu metal.

Arts

Review: 'Never Rarely Sometimes Always' is a slow burn that highlights a sad reality

By Nicole Aboodi | April 24, 2020

As a wave of states introduced abortion restrictions last year, abortion rights have increasingly come under fire. Now, in the age of COVID-19 — with abortions deemed non-essential in some states — the right to choose is especially pertinent. With this in mind, “Never Rarely Sometimes Always,” a movie that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January and can now be purchased on Amazon Prime, is even more timely than it would’ve been just two months ago. 

Arts

Review: 'Pandemic' provides an informative but unfocused account of combating deadly viruses

By Shera Bhala | April 16, 2020

The Netflix docuseries “Pandemic: How to Prevent an Outbreak” offers six episodes to binge-watch during self-isolation. If you have already seen the drama of Steven Soderbergh’s “Contagion” and Wolfgang Petersen’s “Outbreak” or are searching for a documentary perspective, “Pandemic” may be the show for you. Following the lives of doctors in the U.S., Asia and Africa as they combat flu viruses, the show reveals the challenges of preventing a deadly outbreak of influenza. Although “Pandemic” is flawed in its false advertising and dwells too long on its depiction of doctors’ personal lives, it still presents an overall interesting and accurate account of influenza epidemics and pandemics.

Arts

Review: Dua Lipa's "Future Nostalgia" is a cohesive and catchy second album

By Jack Hargrove | April 2, 2020

On March 27, English pop artist Dua Lipa released her sophomore album “Future Nostalgia” one week early, in the midst of the global pandemic. With millions around the world quarantined in their homes and looking for a way to pass the hours, the timing couldn’t be better. The album’s upbeat sound is exactly what the world needs in this time of uncertainty and confusion.

Arts

‘The Sweet Science of Bruising’ features literal fight for equality

By Mia Russo | February 28, 2020

“The Sweet Science of Bruising” had its American premiere in Moore Theater last Friday. Written by Joy Wilkinson, the play is set in 1869 London. It tells the story of four women from a variety of backgrounds who find their way into the boxing ring to literally fight for their right to freedom and gender equality.

Arts

'Into the Woods' challenges us to break the curse in our own lives

By Ryan Zhang | February 28, 2019

Having fully immersed myself into “Into the Woods,” I find it rather difficult to express what I felt and thought. It is a meticulous and impressive production carried out by the theater department at Dartmouth, and it is a lot more than a musical out of which one walks and exclaims, “I enjoyed it and will carry on with my life without thinking about it for another second.” The lesson it attempts to deliver provokes much thought about not only the story itself but also our very own lives and this world. Before explaining why that is, let’s first take a look at the story and the amazing production.

Reviews

‘Roma’ captures the mundanity of daily life but lacks emotion

By Veronica Winham | February 14, 2019

As a film, Roma is not the most exciting, nor the most interesting. There’s so much in this movie that forces the viewer to confront a brutal reality, rather than escaping into another world. I personally found it hard to sit through over two hours of this film, which juxtaposes the difficult issues of sexism, poverty and racism in a stark storyline where monumental events are interspersed with images of the protagonist, Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio) , living her daily life as an indigenous live-in maid for a middle-class family in Mexico City. 

Music

Leonard Cohen’s ‘You Want it Darker’ inspires beyond the grave

By Madison Wilson | February 14, 2019

Cohen is well known for his hits like “Suzanne” and “Hallelujah,” but I’ve always felt deeply connected to his final album, “You Want it Darker.” Released 19 days before Cohen’s death, there’s a cheerful sadness running through the work. I remember listening to “You Want it Darker” while running in the New Hampshire forest, wondering if Cohen believed in God or despised him, or both.

The Dartmouth Rude Mechanicals produce one Shakespearean show a term.
Review

Review: Rude Mechanicals tackle 'Richard III' in spring show

By Haley Gordon | May 9, 2017

Nestled in between the parties hosted on Webster Avenue and the first-year family activities hosted by the College, the Dartmouth Rude Mechanicals performed an abridged conception of “Richard III” to an audience comprised of students and curious visiting parents in House Center B. The choice of tragedy presents an immediate challenge to an 11-member performance group: How to appropriately cast the show so that all of the central characters can be represented in the clearest light, without over-simplifying the plot.

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