This post marks the first in a series that will randomly chronicle the songs, albums, artists and musical moments that have combined to form what I can now refer to as my taste. For lack of a better title, I’ll refer to it as Canon Fodder. Lame, I know, but that’s why I don’t work [...]
Back in the ought-deuce, Clinic’s “Walking With Thee” was the first song I heard by the band, and it held enormous potential for my musical future. Sure Clinic had their gimmick–surgery masks as indie rock’s Santo, adding a creepy malpractice overtone to their tunes, which is their other gimmick (I didn’t mention that there [...]
As witnessed through Death Cab for Cutie’s last two albums, singer/songwriter (and sole meaningful member) Ben Gibbard’s formerly unique style of songwriting has morphed into something nearly unlistenable. In the cyclical, cross-medium method that’s become the popular standard, Gibbard’s lyrics have taken on the universal, overly sentimental tone of teen melodrama “The O.C.,” which, as [...]
The title of this track, off the forthcoming release Hello Young Lovers from the never-ceasing glorious train of musical sarcasm that is Sparks, speaks for itself. For those not in the know, Ron and Russell Mael have been practicing the overblown opera/suite/snarky cultural comment thing since 1971, but really came into their own with 1974’s [...]
I’ll once again morph into parallel-universe Largehearted Boy, so I can get the 7,000 things done I need to before the fit hits the shan on Monday.
Move over, Langston Hughes. Here comes David Farrar.
Like a hammer hits a canteloupe, he is the Anti-Pope.
This is the funniest piece of writing I’ve read in a long, [...]
Jax over at Rock Insider was kind enough to allow yours truly to guest star on Rock Insider today, presenting my “Hump Day” picks of items that get me through the average week. It’s sure to dazzle with its utter plain-ness. And come on…how can you ignore this smile?
Despite an impending sixth solo release and an apparently burgeoning art career (he does his own album covers), Graham Coxon will forever be known, for better or worse, as the guitarist for Blur. The “worse” is obvious–the guy wants to move on with his post-Albarn career, and with stuff, he is. But the “better” side [...]
The difference between Richard Swift’s first two releases, now neatly packaged into one by (fellow Bloomingtonians) Secretly Canadian, is quite large. He crosses, over the course of two full-lengths, the chasm that separates Rufus Wainwright/Ray Davies-style music hall crooning (The Novelist) from more standard, but still well-written and forcefully delivered singer/songwriter fare (Walking Without [...]
The most intriguing thing about Dan Treacy’s stream-of-consciousness vamp on “Ex-Girlfriend Club” (mp3) is the fact that it might not be an act. He spews forth a barely contained rant no doubt molded from the ashes of numerous failed relationships–resembling how I think Streets’ Mike Skinner (or Mark Smith from the Fall, or Sean [...]
It’s been widely reported that CBS’s “Love Monkey” is not much more than a mutual hand-job between the network and Sony/BMG—Teddy Geiger (his Sony debut drops in February, y’all!) as the new Beck, Franz Ferdinand’s “Do You Want To” (distributed stateside by Sony) popping up in the background of a club scene, and main character [...]