Considering Pitchfork’s 200 Best 80’s Songs
By Scott Creney Ask anyone who’s ever worked for a literary magazine, democracy is a shitty way to evaluate art. The polarizing stuff rarely makes it through. Instead you end up with a bunch of B-plus material—competent, workmanlike. Or in the case of this week’s Pitchfork Top 200 Singles of the 80’s, you end up […]
Tame Impala – Currents (Interscope)
HEY SO check out Tame Impala, huh. Check out that cover. A shiny silver sphere in a white/black void. It even looks like one of those post-prog 80s albums from Genesis or Yes, the whole “we’re modern now so we’ll have minimal geometric covers, hyuck hyuck.” Gotta hand it to ‘em for doing their homework. […]
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 […]
Young Guv – Ripe 4 Luv (Slumberland)
You know that kick-in-the-head moment? You know, when you hear this modern song, and it reminds you of something dear, but you can’t put your finger on it? And then you spend a morning with an old musical chum, for a breather from the newness, and when you plunge back in to the new stuff, […]
Observations made around the new D’Angelo album
The fact Black Messiah reached Number One in Village Voice’s annual Pazz + Jop poll tells us nothing about the merits of the album itself, plenty about the 700 or so “music critics” who voted in the poll. And it ain’t just Pazz + Jop. That venerable institution MetaCritic rated it 95/100 based on…uh…30 reviews (kinda puts […]
Song of the Day #683 – Ike
Sexuality is something I haven’t cracked yet. Kinda like hose, tall leather boots, and low-rise jeans – it’s a garment that never seemed to fit, both in a physical and metaphorical sense. Me, I wanted to show off my wit, not my body. Gimmie some baggy corduroys and olive knit duds any day. But then […]
The Definitive List | The 100 Greatest Songs of All Time, Part 6
Authority is All That Matters in music criticism, especially when it comes to creating Lists
The Quality of Music and The Conformity of Youth | Dwindling Album Sales Explained
The real problem that the industry is dealing with these days is the lack of cultural importance given to popular music and the fact that popular music no longer has the same unifying power as it used to.
‘Blurred Lines’ and the Banality of Male Sexuality
Part of the problem with ‘Blurred Lines’ is that it unquestioningly accepts its own worldview. It doesn’t think it’s controversial.
A.R. Kane – The Complete Singles Collection (One Little Indian)
The missing link between Robert Wyatt and Disco Inferno, A. R. Kane sounded equally at home in the club as in the bedroom, under the stars and in the studio.
