P!nk’s new album Beautiful Trauma mostly features generic pop that largely lacks the exclamation-point iconoclasm of her personality.
Author: Steven Strauss
THE RED LETTER PLAYS: FUCKING A (Signature Theatre)
If In the Blood – the other half of Suzan-Lori Parks’ Scarlet Letter-reduxes The Red Letter Plays, currently receiving sterling revivals courtesy of the Signature Theatre – targets modern-day judgements rooted in lingering puritanical influences on American society, Fucking A delves into contemporary taboos that conform to the United States’ long puritanical lineage.
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THE RED LETTER PLAYS: IN THE BLOOD (Signature Theatre)
For students forced in high school to read Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, this seminal novel about the restrictive confines of puritanical American society ultimately constitutes their least favorite assignment on the curriculum. Despite the salacious nature of a story that revolves around infidelity, Hawthorne’s archaically flowery language and snail-like pace usually bores even the most sex-obsessed, hormone-addled adolescents.
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The Merchant of…Montclair?
Site-specific productions are the true double-edged swords of the theatre world.
MR. DAVIS (Gucci Mane)
Another new Gucci Mane album, another instance of Steven being baffled as to why he’s become such a phenomenon.
Diamonds in the Rough
I love finding old theatres hidden amongst the concrete buildings – and often in them, usually down dusty hallways and up gorgeous flights of stairs (or vice versa) – that comprise the jungle of New York City.
A$AP Mob’s COZY TAPES, Vol. 1 vs. 2
I’m sad that A$AP Mob replaced Cozy Tapes, Vol. 1: Friends‘ refreshingly-throwback Wu-Tang-esque sound with overly-prevalent trap for Vol. 2: Too Cozy.
BY ANY MEANS 1 vs. 2 (Kevin Gates)
Rapper Kevin Gates’s two By Any Means albums oscillate between being reminiscent of old school T-Pain and DMX.
A LOVE LETTER TO YOU 2 (Trippie Redd)
Trippie Redd’s album A Love Letter to You 2 is basic, but this banger is BANGING:
LIL PUMP
Lil Pump’s recently-released self-titled mixtape would’ve made a better EP at half the length, cutting out the repetitive tracks to shine even more light on his Run the Jewel-lite productions (albeit with worse vocals than that duo’s delicious stylings).
