Blogs
  • Go! 3/7-3/9
    06:00PM 03/07/08
  • R.E.M. Accelerate: An Advance Review and Song-by-Song Analysis of the Band's New Album
    04:06AM 03/08/08
  • Your Weekly St. Louis Food Blog Digest
    03:45PM 03/07/08
  • This Is Hawkwind -- Do Not Panic
    06:08PM 11/09/07
Recent Articles

Recent Articles By Mike Appelstein

  • Zeda's Beat Box
    7 p.m. Saturday, December 29. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Avenue.
  • Peter Frampton
    8 pm. Sunday, September 30. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Boulevard
  • Eddie Money
    7 and 9 p.m., Thursday, September 13. Bottleneck Blues Bar, Ameristar Casino, 1260 South Main Street, St. Charles.
  • Cause Co-Motion!
    8 p.m., Monday, August 20. Cruisin' Rte. 66, 7895 Watson Road, Affton
  • The 75s
    9:30 p.m., Friday, August 10. Lemmons, 5800 Gravois Avenue and
    9 p.m. Monday, August 13. CBGB, 3163 South Grand Boulevard

National Features

  • Houston Press
    "It Was Like an Armageddon Movie"

    For days after Hurricane Rita, a Texas prison was hell on earth.

    By Chris Vogel
  • SF Weekly
    The Candidate

    Our columnist knows Ralph Nader's running mate all too well.

    By Matt Smith
  • The Pitch
    How Not To Be a Rap Star

    First of all, lay off the Ecstasy.

    By Nadia Pflaum
  • Village Voice
    Project Runaway

    What becomes a gossip columnist most?

    By Michael Musto

There's a great video on YouTube of Au Revoir Simone walking through the streets of its native Brooklyn, playing a song on portable keyboards, oblivious to passersby even when they shout catcalls. It sums up this synthy group's appeal perfectly: detached and dreamy, yet very much of the everyday world. The Bird of Music follows 2005's superb debut, Verses of Comfort, Assurance & Salvation. But while Salvation seemed directed at a theoretical audience of likeminded souls ("The people who are always waiting," they even sang), The Bird of Music comes across as self-conscious in comparison. Au Revoir Simone is clearly trying to diversify and stretch its sound, but too many songs float away unnoticed among unison vocals and moody keyboard lines. You're left with about half a solid album; highlights include "Stars," which features some deliciously nerdy come-on lines, and "Dark Halls," which involves a trip to Boston, a hotel, an important call from a doctor and an undercurrent of severely mixed emotions. Au Revoir Simone will yet make their masterpiece — but this isn't it.

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