May 2013
1 tag
2 tags
5 tags
“More than half of the songs on Modern Vampires of the City are about young...”
– Vampire Weekend Vs. YOLO
I wrote an essay about Vampire Weekend’s new album, which is so far my favorite record of 2013. I’ve been dying to talk about it for weeks now; I’m pretty happy with how this came out.
4 tags
6 tags
April 2013
4 tags
2 tags
“The 90s were better than the 80s, and one key reason was that there was less...”
– The late Scott Miller in his excellent and thought-provoking book of music criticism, Music: What Happened? You can buy the digital version of the book for less than $4 through Amazon, FYI.
4 tags
2 tags
1 tag
4 tags
4 tags
March 2013
1 tag
“The early rounds of American Idol feature inappropriate contestants with little...”
– KILLER KARAOKE: Reality Television and the Death of the American Middle Class | Press Play
Please go and read this extremely intelligent take on how reality tv contest shows reflect the conditions of our awful economy.
“Impeccably tasteful, impeccably bored, impeccably attired, [The Strokes’]...”
– The Strokes – Is This It (2001) | Sick Mouthy
Nick Southall has some really interesting things to say about The Strokes. I don’t 100% share this point of view on this band in particular, but….I see some of this in other things I observe in culture now, particularly this bit:...
“[Midnite Vultures is] an album about sex — sex in the kitchen, sex in the...”
– The 20th Anniversary of Beck’s “Loser” - Grantland
I’ve been meaning to share this amazing article by Alex Pappademas about Beck’s career to date, in which he writes very accurately about his masterpiece, Midnite Vultures, and addresses his most overrated work, Sea...
1 tag
2 tags
“The great temptation, the fatal temptation, of adult fans of fantastic fiction...”
– Sean T. Collins wrote a fantastic essay about The Neverending Story and the problem of focusing on world-building in fiction rather than emotion and metaphor.
rawcuriosity asked: Do you really think the pop landscape is really all that different than when JT released his last LP? Sure, as you say in the piece, almost "every big name on the charts today wasn't around back then," but what's the difference in the landscape other than the names of the popstars? Top 40 radio is generally just as vapid and teen-geared as it was in 2006.
2 tags
February 2013
2 tags
4 tags
1 tag
I wrote about the pros and cons of Billboard using... →
It’s mostly positive! I am pretty excited about the charts potentially descending into total meme-based chaos.
1 tag
“But sometimes you get the real thing, as with James Joyce’s Finnegans...”
– My Hundredth Listen to the New My Bloody Valentine Album: Even Better Than the First | Rob Sheffield | Rolling Stone
Go read Rob Sheffield’s thoughts on the new My Bloody Valentine record.
4 tags
5 tags
Open Call For Questions
I was reading a lot of question/answer posts and really enjoying them, so I want in on the fun. Go ahead and ask me questions, and I will answer them through the weekend.
January 2013
“BuzzFeed’s music section needs a hard-working editorial intern for a...”
– Editorial Intern- Music job at BuzzFeed in New York, NY
Please apply if you’re down for this! I am serious about the imagination/broad taste/not-a-jerk stuff.
3 tags
1 tag
1 tag
Amy Rose made a wonderful tribute to Robyn, and if you love Robyn, you should see it. It will probably improve your day.
1 tag
2 tags
“The one thing that really doesn’t come off in the media is sincerity....”
– Bono, explaining Achtung Baby, Zooropa, and Zoo TV in this video interview from 1993. He is absolutely correct about this. Part of the reason U2 has been so hugely successful over the years is that Bono has a very sophisticated understanding of what people want to see and hear, and more than that,...
