My albums. And songs. Of 2016.
I sat in a convivial pub the other night as around me convivial sorts chattered and laughed. I could barely hear a word. Every so often, the sound of what appeared to be a band tuning up threatened to break down even that little of my personal space. I do not need, not REQUIRE an […]
“This is the indie establishment”: Red Hot’s Day of the Dead
Disclaimer: I’ve probably never heard a Grateful Dead song in my life. At least not knowingly. This is an unfortunate position for me to be in, considering I am reviewing an album containing 59 covers of songs by the Grateful Dead. Just so you know. In 2009, the Red Hot Organization, fighting AIDS through pop […]
Poliça – United Crushers (Mom and Pop)
By Megan Beard An article in The Guardian recently posited the question “where are all the protest songs?” with the inevitable lamentation of an apathetic generation of music makers following suit. Whenever this statement-in-a-question is posed (because, really, it’s a thinly disguised criticism of modern music), it is a puzzling thing to contemplate. Especially considering […]
Chairlift – Moth (Columbia)
For Chairlift’s third studio album Moth (2016), Caroline Polachek and Patrick Wimberly build on the retro-pop sound they established on Something (2012). There is definitely a familiar quality to this album from the onset, yet new are ideas are quickly established that serve to give the tracks a more theatrical and sometimes jazzy quality. “Polymorphing” […]
Segregation Under a Groove: Pop Music’s Unspoken Colour Lines
Many years ago, a great schism occurred in the history of popular music. As amps got louder and concerts got bigger, new groups responded by creating a heavier kind of music that relied on sheer sonic power as opposed to the lighter sounds of early sixties pop. Rock music broke away from pop and in […]
Music for the British General Election of 2015
A short list, this time around. There’s only one song that cuts across all party lines. Win, lose or draw, you can party till dawn with this one on election night. An old one next, but it still sounds relevant Written about an Australian politician, but you can always change a few words… Just about […]
The return of Everett True | 152. Carly Rae Jepsen
The music I linked to yesterday is beautiful. My words, not so. No one clicked through anyway, because no one wants to know about stuff they’ve never heard of. They only seek reassurance, codification, the lure of the familiar. That’s OK. I’m the same, lots of the time. There was the results of that study […]
Has the stereotypical female gender role really disappeared? | Students on Gender
Beyoncé – If I Were A Boy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWpsOqh8q0M The first song I think about when it comes to gender. I know some may say it’s about sexism/feminism/equality, but when I first heard it, it made me feel a little less odd for sometimes wishing that I could be a boy, too, ‘even just for a […]
What I did last night instead of going to see The Necks play live
I thought about how good The Necks sound on record, and how refined I would have felt watching their refined, exploratory jazz at the Old Museum where bats fly out from under the rafters. (I tried to find a review to link to so you could engage viscerally with their music without the tiresome bother of […]
The return of Everett True | 119. Dawn Richard
I’m consistent, at least. Scratch that. Much as I know folk like their comfort zones, their safe places, their writers they can turn to again and again knowing they’ll always receive similar advice, similar opinions – I’ve never really seen that consistency is a virtue. Maybe if you’re a middle distance runner. Maybe if you’re […]
