SOTD #725 – Blue Jeans
“Dad, why are all the songs on the radio about love?” I remember asking my dad this in our basement twenty years ago, back when the only songs I knew were golden oldies from the Supremes and Elvis and moptop-y Beatles. Even my six-year old self was bored of the heterosexual narrative, that constant refrain […]
SOTD #724 – Nachthexen
Didn’t Everett say that only women should form punk bands in this modern world? Time and again, the proof to that thesis bubbles and fizzes through the cracks. Filter through all the jorts-sporting boys that goof around with guitars and wanna chill with everyone, and eventually gold like this blasts through the mesh. Sheffield! You […]
SOTD #723 – Emily Rodgers
For a writer, the first step in any work is to earn the reader’s trust. Never mind clever wordplay, reliable narrators, action-packed plots, or even correct grammar – inherent in good prose is the promise of discovery. A fact, a feeling, a revelation, anything that the reader didn’t have from the start. We bury the […]
Mothers, From Up Close
First off, Athens isn’t a magical place. Get that out of your head. J. Crew and Urban Outfitters loom over the main drag of downtown; luxury apartments crowd around the center; boutiques and chain restaurants line the streets. The people that stay there do so purely cos of inertia. Like anywhere else with a pro […]
The Veldt – The Shocking Fuzz of Your Electric Fur: The Drake Equation (Leonard Skully)
Funny what people remember, eh. On Friday evenings at work, my co-worker Karl flips on the local college radio station, the much-belabored WRAS. From 8 to 10, all kinds of dreamy goodness fill the dish room – y’know, MBV, Cocteau Twins, Slowdive, Kitchens of Distinction, all the way up to Pinkshinyultrablast and other bands that […]
LISTEN: The High Violets – Heroes and Halos (Saint Marie)
Through my job, I’ve seen more gourmet cakes in six months than in my 25 years of admiring cakes. The real luxury in these confections usually isn’t the cake itself, but the two-inch glove of gummy fondant frosting, often curled into pink ribbons atop the solid white base. Now, most guests just can’t handle that […]
SOTD #720 – Jeff Runnings
Come to think of it, “dreampop” is a horrible tag. Rarely anything that the indie world perceives as “pop” is ever popular, and then the stuff we perceive as “dreamy” rarely lulls us into any dream-like state of bliss. Mired in the existential angst of post-punk, “dreampop” done right leads us further into ourselves, to […]
DMA’s – Hills End (I Oh You)
Sigh. Sometimes I do wonder. Here we are, 2016. A rallying cry for black power and girl power stole the show at the Super Bowl. Strong women front bands and speak their minds (case in point – our last album review, our last SOTD). An ace LP from Brood Ma echoes the dystopian reality of […]
TEEN – Love Yes (Carpark)
Transformation’s a tricky business. How do you move forward without sacrificing that essential charm or genius that propelled you to the limelight in the first place? Prog rock bands like Genesis and the Moody Blues traded in their mysticism for cultural cache, and crumpled into commoners with synths. Tame Impala followed their example, and traded […]
Witching Waves – Crystal Café (HHBTM / Soft Power)
You feel misplaced too, don’t you? Some place was promised for us, for the talents that our teachers adored. This wasn’t supposed to happen. We shouldn’t be the ones stranded in apartments, stuck in the towns we hate, doing the work that no one with dignity would do. Well, then. You can just lie there […]
