Artist: Florence + The Machine. Album: Lungs.
Jonathan Dee's examination of the titular privileges, and the wealthy family that enjoys them, is refreshingly humane in its survey and nuanced in its portraiture. The novel's final third unfortunately veers into manufactured suspense—scenes literally cycling like the climax clockwork of a Michael Crichton thriller—till everything comes to an abrupt and thudding conclusion that feels unnecessarily deterministic yet unsatisfyingly incomplete. The good parts, however, deserve notice. This is seventy percent of a great novel.
Basically an R-rated comic-book movie for tweens. Color-grade: B
Artist: Aloe Blacc. Album: I Need a Dollar (How to Make It In America) – EP.
Artist: David Guetta (feat. Chris Willis). Album: One Love.
Artist: The Heavy. Album: The House That Dirt Built.
Here's Noah Baumbach with another dirge about privileged youth and stalled adulthood. Fortunately, unlike Margot at the Wedding, this one's actually—even eminently—watchable. Grade: B+
Artist: Her Space Holiday. Album: XOXO, Panda and the New Kid Revival.
Artist: Broken Bells. Album: Broken Bells.
Artist: The Fashion. Album: The Fashion.