Conor: Ok, so here’s a question: we are a blog that features at least occasional album reviews—shouldn’t we have a ratings system? I know it’s wrong, but when I see that an album gets a 6.4/10 on Pitchfork, I can’t help but feel a little worse about that album. I’d like to wield that kind […]Read This
Kabuki: A Tourist’s Review
If I was going to be in Tokyo, I had to go see kabuki. I knew this from David Sedaris, who in his essay “The Smoking Room” described a type of theater “enchanting and full of surprises,” with convoluted plot twists, symbolic make-up, stylized action, and even a special style of speech. A real grade-A […]Read This
Rail Gaze Review: Surprisingly Awesome
When I first heard that Gimlet Media was releasing a podcast named Surprisingly Awesome that would attempt to make ostensibly boring topics seem awesome, I rolled my eyes. The idea of teasing out the kernel of an engaging narrative from the sea of science, politics and culture surrounding us has been implicit in the structure […]Read This
This Must Be the Cover
Welcome to “Cover Me This,” where the obviously bored writers at the Rail Gaze compare covers of a classic song and hopefully discover that some of them of are pretty good. This week: Conor Fellin takes on “This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)” by the Talking Heads. Hope you have some cream handy, because […]Read This