Communion: The Soundtrack of Our Lives [B-]
Soundtrack of Our Lives’ sixth studio release contains everything from ‘60s rock stomps to slow-tempo psychadelia. The Swedish rockers draw from everything from The Kinks to Pink Floyd in this spontaneous double album. Communion may not bring pop hits like Origin Vol. 1’s “Bigtime,” but it is still a great, diverse listen. — B. BourgeoisCrossing Over [C+]
This immigration drama features some thought provoking situations on many immigrants’ dream of citizenship and the nightmare of achieving it, but it never becomes entirely melodramatic. The film bounces back and forth between a series of vignettes in what can be compared to a mix between “Traffic” and “Crash,” but Kramer never lets the film lose its pulse. The interlocking of everyone’s stories at the end of the film may be less than believable, but the interactive cast holds it together. — B. BourgeoisJonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience [F-]Teenage girls cry and scream, but the rest of the world is shaking their head in shame. “Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience” is painful to watch. This movie, if you can call it that, shows parts of the Jonas Brothers’ “Burning Up” concert interlaced with a day in their lives. It focuses on screaming fan girls and the absurd lack of normal intelligence of each of the brothers. The only good part of this movie was getting to keep the 3D glasses. — C. VogelsNeko Case: Middle Cyclone [B+]From the very beginning of this album Neko Case’s voice comes through like a cyclone. Her beautifully powerful sound shines through with range and style that goes from relaxed jazz to country and Southern gospel. Her voice is only added to by the ambient, and sometimes dark, music that accompanies her lyrics. “Middle Cyclone” is a strong entry in her already amazing career. — J. ClappThe Prodigy: Invaders Must Die [C]”Invaders Must Die” is a proper rave album  —— pulsating, mind-numbing and irreverent. The album is a return to The Prodigy’s roots and sounds straight out of 1995. Gems include “Thunder,” a hippy-raver’s delight that samples reggae vocals, and “Warrior’s Dance,” a catchy pop-dance song with female vocals and a squirming synth-bass line. The rest of the album is raucous rave filler, perfect for dancing or thrashing, but with little originality. — J. LeBlancU2: No Line on the Horizon [C]U2 has reinvented their sound on their new album “No Line on the Horizon.” The album sounds like a dramatic response to 2004’s “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.” Songs like “Moment of Surrender” and “White as Snow” are examples of the textured, melodic anthems U2 is famous for making. Songs like “Get On Your Boots” and “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight” are horrible failures that should have been left off the album and replaced with one of the 50 songs the band wrote during recording. — J. Chenier—-Contact the entertainment staff at [email protected]