This is highly listenable, melodic folk rock that alternates between intimately recorded acoustic guitars and jangly pop.

Sure, there are some gems in redneck dialogue to be found elsewhere in the program, and some of the films have funny titles or topics—such as “Pretty Ladies, Fast Horses,” an alarming short documentary about cowgirls, or “Two or Three Things I Know About Ohio,” which is about bait, or yet another film about a phenomenon known as “tractor square dancing,” which, among other things, features the only socially acceptable time for a redneck to dress in drag—but still, while these films sound kitschily interesting, they are far more fun in theory than in practice.

This type of film makes great award bait, allowing critics and audiences alike to congratulate themselves for spotting the connections the filmmakers have so cleverly planted throughout.

In a world full of shoe-gazing mope-rockers, these Rolling Stone cover boys were not ashamed to put on a great show to go along with their fun songs. 

Hard-Fi, People in Planes and a Matador Sampler make the list. 

Picks including Son Volt, the New Riders, and Helen Stellar

If this band wants to make its breakthrough splash in the indie majors, it's going to have to tighten up its batting stance.

The ever present NYC hype machine kicked into full gear, creating a buzz and getting Northern State some attention.

Music is the soul of this movie.

This album is a perfect time capsule of the world that we live in today, a world filled with hostility, mystification, and fear.

If his new band's debut album is any indication, Blink bassist Mark Hoppus didn't take the breakup all that well. "Please understand/ This isn't just goodbye/ This is I can't stand you" he wails on the dark "No, It Isn't."

Call it a comeback album if you like, but Trail of Dead continues to dominate 12 years after their formation on their fifth LP, and in many ways shows new signs of growth.

Is it fair to recommend a show that I booked?

Journalist Michael Crowley and cartoonist Dan Goldman dredge through the highlights and lowlights of Barack Obama's historic run for the White House.

In all seriousness, the plot is rather inconsequential.

Despite the similarity of the basic plot, there's a huge different in tone between 12 and Twelve Angry Men, and 12 comes out the winner in my book.

Jamie S. Rich and newcomer Joelle Jones craft a romantic mix-tape in graphic novel form.

While Brandon Turner's gritty yet typical rock 'n' roll sexy voice may be the answer, the lyrics are not.

Take a break from the holiday shopping and the spiked eggnog and see what else is going on in St. Louis this month, as researched by your fearless Delirious Nomad.

"In a trance, in a trance/ I could dance this night away," sings Meisfjord, and with texture-embedded beats like this, so could most listeners.

The danger, of course, is that 13ghosts has structured this album not as a baker’s dozen but as a back-and-forth between two main sounds, and most listeners will likely tend to prefer one sound over the other.

Buy this CD 

17 Again is not good. It is terrible. Terrible, terrible, embarrassingly, laughably terrible.

Here, Delpy's the half of the romantic duo that holds all the self-confidence; her Marion is considerably more self-assured than her Céline.

Pete Timmermann at the annual French film festival sees little of the scenery and many movies.

Pete Timmermann brings you news, reviews, and idle chatter from the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.

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Pete Timmermann reporting live from the 2006 Cannes Film Festival in France. This is Pete's last entry in the series. Look for a wrapup in the July issue of PLAYBACK:stl.

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Our man in Cannes - Pete Timmerman - takes you on a daily journey to the world's most glamorous film festival. Your tux is optional, Pete's is not.

Who sends their Film Editor to Cannes, France? We do...well we didn't pay his way, but he is at the world's most glamorous film festival and he is writing to you. See what Pete's third day is like!

Pete Timmermann rides the Shortbus at Cannes Film Festival. Read his daily journal.

Stinky feet and Southland as Pete Timmermann reports back to you from the 2006 Cannes Film Festival in France.

Pete Timmermann reports live from the 2006 Cannes Film Festival: Southland Tales has yet to acquire a U.S. distributor; hopefully the same thing won’t happen here. I think the issue is more that the audience for Kelly’s films are more undergrad types than 60-year-old, jaded-ass film critic types.

Pete Timmermann reports from the Cannes Film Festival in France: Something tells me that this diary entry will be less coherent than the others, whose coherence is questionable enough as it is.

Pete Timmermann gives you a daily blow-by-blow description of the events at this year's Cannes Film Festival.