Tune-Yards Bird-Brains Come for the amazing syncopated percussion and jangling ukulele, stay for the double-tracked yodeling!  From the first track, I knew that not only was I going to really like and jam on this album all year, but that it was going to be a critically important piece of work to me as a [...]

1.  “It’s a rise and fall story of a once, very incredibly healthy, great, rich, throwing its weight and money around kind of industry, that is no longer quite as grand.”
Um, guys: the creators of The Wire are apparently planning to get all All the Kings Men on Steve Knopper’s fantastic book Appetite for Self-Destruction. (Spinner)
2.  [...]

For podcast #3, I’ve decided on a little gimmickry. This one is entirely comprised of cover versions. I went out of my way to make sure they’re not totally obscure (like a high school band playing “Just What I Needed”), but I think it could be fun to offer a prize for the first person [...]

(This is the second installment of marathonpacks’ Top 50 of the 90s list. To see #50-41, click here. The third installment, #30-21, will be posted Tuesday.)
40. Depeche Mode-Violator (Sire, 1990) (buy)
Serving diligently, along with Paul’s Boutique and, later, Nevermind as my Walkman-based school bus listening from eighth grade through the start of [...]