There are bands out there whose music is meant to be breathtakingly grand and powerful, and Civil Twilight fits the bill perfectly. Originally hailing from South Africa, the Nashville-based trio found themselves on over a dozen TV and film soundtracks with their self-titled debut. Three years on, they’ve returned with a sophomore album that carries just as much as an alt punch.

Holy Weather follows the U2 handbook for success (before the overexposure, of course). The album features compelling guitar work and emotional lyrics, but the band also knows when to pull back for a massive, bellowing singalong. The opening track, “River,” is a perfect example of this formula, and it serves as a great taster to draw the listener into the album.

“Holy Weather” is a track that shows off the diversity of the band’s influences with a Celtic-tinged, quiet intro that then gives away to modern, electronic tones much in the manner of Muse. The intensity of “Shape of a Sound” would do Radiohead proud, while “Doorway” sparks the same intensity of shouting along to an ’80s hit when old Bono and Co. come on the radio.

There are a few lulls on Holy Weather, but overall, it’s a very solid album that shows a band growing into quite the spectacle. Expect even bigger things as they go on, because Civil Twilight is here to stay.

One of the greatest American plays, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman comes back to the Broadway stage for only 16 weeks starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Linda Emond, and Andrew Garfield. Nearby and delicious, Eatery offers a new American menu that’s asian influenced. Try the Red Curry Chicken Breast over roti pancake, with baby carrots and red curry coconut sauce ($16.95). Valhalla’s minimalist space is chill, letting the 24 brands of beer from all over the world on tap be the main attraction at this bar. While its warm out, waste a little time walking through Central Park, relax, and get out of the hustle and bustle of the city. Just watch your step. The working horses tend to leave surprises behind them!

On Trees, Swallows, Houses, Maps & Atlases’ terrific 2006 EP, the group does an amazing job of articulating what kind of band they want to be. With stunning precision and electricity, the Chicago group created a marvelously listenable piece of math-rock.

Flash-forward to 2012. Maps & Atlases releases Beware and Be Grateful, their second LP. Gone are the electrifying drums. Gone are the wildly complex guitars. Gone is the apparent fun frontman Dave Davison used to have behind the microphone.

On the album, Davison sings pop melodies, actively repressing his distinctive vocal ticks. Master drummer Chris Hainey may as well not even be on the record- the drums here sound like demonstration loops on consumer-grade synthesizers. The guitars sound closer to Vampire Weekend than Hella.

If Davison and crew are hunting for radio play, they will be thoroughly disappointed. Even when they shy away from the experimental sound that made them listenable on Trees, Swallows, Houses, they don’t have the chops to make a good pop record. Beware and Be Grateful is them not trying; The second half of “Old Ash” is two minutes of a repeated guitar riff.

Maps & Atlases seem to have abandoned everything that made them interesting. Beware and Be Grateful leaves us with very little to be grateful for. I pray Davison isn’t permanently abandoning his sound, and is rather making a temporary pit stop at a pop station. (See what I did there?)

Hysteria is Tanya Wexler’s third major motion picture, but she stems from a film family which includes her uncle, the award-winning cinematographer Haskell Wexler and half-sister Daryl Hannah. Hugh Dancy, who began his career with a role in Black Hawk Down has made a name for himself in films like Confessions of a Shopaholic and Our Idiot Brother and he’ll soon be starring as Will Graham on NBC’s Hannibal. Gyllenhaal is well known to movie goer’s from her role in The Dark Knight, her Golden Globe winning role in Secretary, and her Oscar winning performance in Crazy Heart. In Hysteria she plays suffragette Charlotte Dalrymple.

Here, I spoke with Maggie Gyllenhaal.

Maggie, so many of the roles you play have this sense of sexuality to them. What attracts you to these really sexual roles in different women’s lives?

I don’t know, isn’t everyone attracted and interested in sex and sexuality?  I think most people are.  Charlotte doesn’t have much sex in this movie, she actually doesn’t have anything to do with the vibrator at all but I do think she’s a sexy woman but she’s not particularly overt about it.

Yeah certainly, but often with your roles the women are very sexually liberated. Were you drawn to them because you were or weren’t that way, do you relate to that in your personal life, is it very different?

Well, like I said, I think everyone is interested in sex and sexuality and I think it’s a part of being human and so and I do think film is an interesting place to explore that, especially because I think sex has been explored in film in a way that’s very unreal and very much based in fantasy.  When I see sex scenes in movies that are real and feel like my own experiences of sex, they are so much sexier and I also think it’s very much, I don’t know, like a subtle feminism to be able to express it from a woman’s point of view – what real sex is like and the actresses I see that do that who don’t, you know, where it’s like you’re wearing a black, demi cup Victoria’s Secret bra and it’s lit perfectly and you’re arching your back, where it’s not like that but like actually what it’s like, I kind of feel like, yeah, you’re a sister, I really appreciate that.

I’m a teacher, so I’m particularly interested in your upcoming film Won’t Back Down, about failing inner city schools just because education is becoming more and more of an issue with the elections coming up and different things like that. What did you come away with after working on something like that? Did it change the way you view education?

I guess the major thing I came away with is [that] I don’t see how we can have a democracy that isn’t a total joke unless we educate the people living in this country.  You basically need to be able to analyze and assess information in order to choose who you want your leaders to be, if you can’t do that, then you are choosing your president based on his hairdo or based on whatever the radio station that you listen to most often tells you.  The thing I came away with was even if you are lucky enough to get through high school, learning how to read and write well and add up a tip on a check, which many, many people aren’t, are you able to get through and make an intelligent personal decision for yourself on who you want your leaders to be and if you’re not, then your leaders can manipulate you to vote however they want. That is what I came away from it with.  The point of the movie is, and I do believe this, it’s a commercial movie and in some ways it says it in a simple way but I believe that’s fine, is that if you believe that something is wrong and that something needs to change, you can have a massive effect on changing it, you know, you can.  As an individual, this country is set up that way and that is one of the major messages of the movie.  I think that there’s a real lethargy in this country, a lot of people kind of don’t believe that and I think it’s difficult and I think you’ll get shot down and I think the story of this movie is a little bit of a fairy tale but the message is try cause you can have an effect.

Chatting with Hugh Dancy.

This is a comedy, but it’s based on something that actually happened, and it’s kind of crazy.  When you were doing research did you look at how prevalent this was and did you have any case studies that you guys looked at specifically?

How prevalent the diagnosis of hysteria was?

Well, I know hysteria was really wide spread, but I’m speaking about the doctors treatment of hysteria (through vaginal stimulation)?

Well, it was the diagnosis for hysteria that it covered, the diagnosis was completely spurious, this is pre-Freud and as it turns out, Freud’s diagnosis was spurious, but as a physical diagnosis the idea [was] that they were shifting the uterus by pelvic manipulation.  [Hysteria] covered so many examples of women who were unhappy or frustrated, so, no there was no one case study that we looked at but it baffles me because we know that some men prior to the late 19^th century had figured out that women could enjoy sex, because we all read Byron, we knew these guys sorted it out, but a whole body of men, it wasn’t like they were in denial, they just truly didn’t realize what they were doing, it still astonishes me.

I heard that you were going to star in NBC’s upcoming thriller Hannibal, based on Thomas Harris’ novel Red Dragon. It’s a brilliant story and it should be interesting seeing the tale of Hannibal Lector broken up episodically, but what do you hope to be the real focus of the series?

I hope that it explores the psychology of both people, the hunters and hunted. In fact, often they are one and the same thing.  The character I’m playing Will Graham and Hannibal and some of the other monsters, they share a lot of qualities and that’s what makes the book, to me, quite interesting and dynamic, more than just an array of hideous crimes. If we can get that balance right and that sense of manipulation that Hannibal Lector is so good at, it’ll be real interesting.

We talk with director Tanya Wexler.

You came from this really successful family with Haskell and all these different people, did you feel pressured to make your own way or were you encouraged by your family? What was it like in that enviornment?

My family’s great. It’s funny, you know my dad was in real estate, he did really well but was not in the film business although he did help finance a film and then asked for his name to be taken off so he could exist in the business world in Chicago afterwards, but wished he hadn’t but kinda had to.  I don’t know, there was never any pressure in a kind of ‘you need to be this or that’ kind of way, there was always a kind of positive pressure of you know, kind of- ‘you’re talented, you’re smart so you need to do your best work, you need to live up to who we think you are’.  It wasn’t about achieving any kind of specific status or level, it was just purely you know, pressure ultimately.  I used to say to my mom, oh my god, like uuuuh, I’m so stressed out and I even remember that feeling as a kid like what would you do if I ever got like a C?  She was like- “you won’t so don’t worry about it” oh, that’s not a good answer and then I found out I was like the best student out of most of my siblings!  Being the youngest, there are all these myths, I have 6 sisters and a brother right, so I have his and hers and I’m ours so when you’re the youngest, the youngest by far, which is now, at 41, really fun to say, I think for me, there’s always like this family kind of mythos that gets built up that you just believe. I know I did, maybe I was just naive, I don’t know, I think it was great, you know it was kind of lots of exposure, it was really cool, I got to be 13 on the set of Blade Runner, right that’s one of the best things in the entire world ever, the end, right?  It’s just f-ing awesome but no one said, okay, now you get to direct this movie, right, it became tangible to me, I was like, people do this because people I know do this.  I think there are other people who are born in LA and that’s the business and everyone they know does it and I think that can be easier because once you have some hint of talent or success you can start to kind of build on it much more quickly.  I grew up in Chicago, it was great circumstances but I still had to do it all myself and then now that, finally, all these years later it’s starting to groove, that’s actually when having grown up in that environment and knowing people is paying.

It didn’t open a ton of doors but now that I kind of busted the doors open, now people kind of go, “oh my God, you’re Haskell’s niece” or “I remember you when you were 12” or “you’re Darryl’s sister,” you know, but it reinforces the success you make. At least for me, everyone kind of made their own way but it seems like in our family everyone ended up being a shrink or in real estate or movies… it was kind of that was what you got, you know, you could’ve done anything else but everyone else seemed to want to do that so I don’t know, it was cool though, it was awesome.

Weegee, Anthony Esposito, Accused "Cop Killer," January 16, 1941. © Weegee/International Center of Photography.

Location: Midtown West, NYC
Photo: Weegee: Murder Is My Business
Show time: See website for schedule; Through September 2, 2012
Venue: International Center of Photography
Food: Zip Burger
Drink: Subway Inn
Miscellaneous: Kinokuniya Bookstore

For an intense decade between 1935 and 1946, Weegee (1899–1968) was one of the most relentlessly inventive figures in American photography. His graphically dramatic and often lurid photographs of New York crimes and news events set the standard for what has become known as tabloid journalism. The exhibition Weegee: Murder Is My Business draws upon the extensive Weegee Archive at ICP and includes environmental recreations of Weegee’s apartment and exhibitions. At Zip Burger they offer farm-raised, organic, and grass-fed meat and poultry, letting you build your own burger with plenty of gourmet toppings. The first time I went to Subway Inn I thought it was completely strange that there was a dive bar off Lexington Avenue, especially in this neck of the woods, but somehow it works. Born in the 30s, this bar has somehow remained, and thank god, as it’s easily the cheapest place in the area for a drink. For fans of Japanese pop-culture, Kinokuniya Bookstore has a large selection of Japanese themed books, videos, CDs, magazines, comics, and stationary.

From left to right: James Perse Fleece Sweatshirt Dress, Gap Striped Sweatshirt Dress, J Brand Lena Sweatshirt Dress, and Splendid Active Always Sweatshirt Mini Dress.

- Alexandra Gambardella

From our friends at thefind.com

Norah Jones’ fifth studio release, Little Broken Hearts, accomplishes a nearly impossible feat– she matures lyrically, departs from her typical piano-heavy ballads, experiments with a heavier electric sound… and still manages to sound JUST like Norah Jones.

Let me explain.

You know when you fall in love with an artist and you just can’t seem to get enough of them? You unearth every song, every live performance, every grainy youtube video you can get your hot little hands on and play them over and over and over until even your neighbors know your favorites? Until that day comes. The day when said artist FINALLY releases another album. But much to your chagrin the magic is gone. The charm has been lost. Either the songs don’t have “it” or the band is trying too hard or maybe they’re just different. No matter what the problem is… you yearn for the artist you thought you knew.

Fear not my friends, Norah does no such thing.

LBH, produced by Danger Mouse, was initially a top secret recording session between the two, which took place approximately three years ago. The album remained unfinished until last summer when the duo reunited to take care of business. Norah added several freshly penned tracks a la Taylor Swift–harsh break-up songs, which are full of vengeance and venom that we’re not used to hearing from Ms. Jones. “Miriam,” for instance, is a dark little ditty written for her ex’s mistress. Despite the melodic reprise and soothing strings, it’s lines like “You know you’ve done me wrong/I’m gonna smile when I take your life” that make you realize this is a very different Norah.

The album’s first single, “Happy Pills,” commits a similar deception. The super catchy melody is a stark contrast to the painfully honest lyrics. “Out on the Road” and ”Say Goodbye” follow suit.

“Take It Back” is a perfect embodiment of this entire record. It starts with a delicate piano-based intro but soon fades into a bass-heavy, whimsical, fuzzed-out chorus like nothing we’ve heard from her before. Despite this leap, no part of it is forced. The honesty is exactly what makes this effort so strong. Even though Little Broken Hearts is a vast departure from her status quo, you can easily find the songstress you know and love in every one of these songs–and enjoy the new version of herself that she’s letting shine through.

I think it’s safe to say that most were stunned when Facebook bought the two-year-old photo app Instagram for a cool billion dollars. Now it’s time for it to be branded into our pop culture consciousness beginning with Instagram NYC, which brings some of the most talented Instagram photographers out from behind their iPhones and into the spotlight in one of Manhattan’s first ever Instagram photo exhibitions.. If you’ve got a craving for barbeque, check out Brother Jimmy’s Bait Shack as the ribs, chicken, beef, and pork are all smothered in some amazing BBQ sauce. BB&R, which stands for Blonde, Brunette, and a Redhead is the brainchild of three best friends. What they’ve created is something between a neighborhood bar and a lounge with leather seats in the front and a pool table, photo booth, and video games in the back. Looking more like it came out of Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Dylan’s Candy Bar is a colorful place to get lollipops, licorice, and all things sugary. Don’t go crazy though, or your sweet tooth might melt here!

The unrecorded songs of the folk legend Woody Guthrie have been trickling out for a few years now as the family asks different musicians to record them. But with Woody’s 100th birthday celebration this year, one of the first (and best) Guthrie projects, Mermaid Avenue by Billy Bragg & Wilco, has been re-released in its entirety. The box set includes the first two albums from 1998 and 2000 along with a new album featuring 17 new tracks and a documentary about the project entitled Man in the Sand.
The initial Mermaid Avenue release is still the favorite thanks to terrific songs like “California Stars,” “Walt Whitman’s Niece,” and “Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key,” which also features Natalie Merchant. There are also a number of great songs on Mermaid Avenue II such as “Airline to Heaven” and “Someday Some Morning Sometime.” The new material includes some non-Guthrie’s songs and is mostly consistent with the earlier releases in term of its breadth and quality with songs like “When the Roses Bloom Again,” “I’m Out to Get,” and “Gotta Work,” which features some noteworthy guitar work.

What’s really astonishing when listening to the sessions in their entirety is the diversity of styles, tempos, and sounds that the songs produced, which really gives a sense of appreciation for both the musicians and to Guthrie whose reputation as a songwriter has become unfairly simplified posthumously. Anyone whose a fan of the man, the genre, or the many musicians he influenced from Dylan to Tweedy needs to spend some time with these songs.

Just two years after releasing Pigeons, Brooklyn-based Here We Go Magic return with A Different Ship just in time for summer. The band’s dreamy psychedelic tones have been trimmed back just enough to allow sunny tones to shine. A Different Ship is clearer, brighter, and the sound of a band ready to make the jump into the major leagues.

“Hard to Be Close” begins folksy and stripped back, but it soon careers into melodic madness. “Alone But Moving” sounds like a classic indie song from someone like The New Pornographers’ frontman A.C. Newman, but 80’s style keyboards splash in to keep things melodic.

“I Believe in Action” features brilliant harmonization and a clever combination of guitar rock with electro beats, while “Over the Ocean” sprawls on to show the band’s power even with delicate, simplistic material. But this group doesn’t shy away from the catchy either, as demonstrated by “Made to Be Old,” which features delivery straight out of the Lou Reed handbook.

Each song on A Different Ship has something different to offer, but as a whole record, it’s consistent with breathy vocals, swirling keyboards, and tight work that makes every instrument count rather than getting lost in distorted noise. This is already one of my top albums of the year, and it would take quite some effort to knock it from my Top 10 by December.