Since their inception in the mid 1990s, animal shirts have generally been received with a certain degree of distaste. Although adored by animal enthusiasts and oddballs, animal shirts have otherwise been mocked and ridiculed by those on the edge of fashion. Recently, however, animal shirts have found a home on the chests of some of North America’s trendiest hipsters. Both shocking and ironic, the animal shirt perfectly compliments the knee-length cutoffs and 30-year-old glasses that one typically finds on a suburban hipster. Pioneers, such as Bret McKenzie of Flight of the Conchords and Noah Lennox of Animal Collective, have made it perfectly acceptable to wear our animal shirts without fear of rejection or ridicule.

Grade: A

Gorillaz, or Damon Albarn, frontman of Blur’s, 2D side-project with graphic artist Jamie Hewlett, return after a 5-year break with the stellar album Plastic Beach. Albarn masterfully blends Britpop, hip-hop and world music into one of the most interesting sounds in music today.

Grade: B+

Have One on Me marks a distinct change in direction for Joanna Newsom, after the sprawling density of her
previous album, 2006’s Ys.

Grade: Grade: B+

Grade: A

Grade: B+

Work, the new album from Swedish indie pop sensation, Shout Out Louds, is a catchy pop spectacular. The band’s first album since 2007’s highly touted Our Ill Wills, seems to be just a part two to their previous showing.

How strange we are. Recent exhibitions at the Vancouver Art Gallery facilitate experiences that electronic media cannot quite replicate. A bizarre collection, “Visceral Bodies” accomplishes what contemporary art seems to be good at – unusual entries that ask questions, evoke emotion, and invite dialogue.

The season of spring: midterms are on our minds, summer is almost at our fingertips, and fall fashion is parading down the runways of NYC, London, and Milan. You read correctly: yes, fall. While most of us have been bogged down with a pen in our hand and our nose in a book, the trends of distant autumn have been unveiled. We are mid-semester, wishing for the summer, with the weather finally warming our sun-shunned skin just in time for the rest of the world to throw fall fashion at us; what’s a girl to do? I have decided to spare you the extra homework, and did some digging through the Spring ’10 archives to present you with incentive to brave the next few hectic months.