It’s hard to remember the feeling now, but in 2003 listening to electronic dance music felt downright transgressive, like peeking into an alien and forbidden world. Especially for an isolated rural kid, growing up in a world where an actual nightclub was about as real … Continue reading Train
Gone but not forgotten. Admittedly, I haven’t listened to ThouShaltNot in a long time, since becoming slightly obsessed with them in the 2010’s. The 2010’s, as you’ll recall, was a really great period for light fluffy music, but not so much for darker toned stuff. … Continue reading A Trace
It will come as no surprise that The Raconteurs’ Consolers of the Lonely tops every conceivable list. We always tend to stay attached to things that we found meaningful when we were 25. Besides dovetailing nicely with some of my most impressionable years, The Raconteurs … Continue reading Top Yourself
A billion monkeys with a billion typewriters would, through infinite probability, eventually come up with something titled Fluorescent Adolescent. Here in the non-hypothetical world, the poetry of those words together had to come through human effort, and it was the Arctic Monkeys who did it. That song was part of their early-career breakthrough, but the EP that it came with is less well known, probably because nobody buys EPs anymore. But here’s four songs for the price of one single, including this ballad in the key of sardonic (their natural default emotional tone).
I’ve been coming back to this record a lot lately, and you can expect to hear about it a lot more. Maybe I’m compensating for not being in the know in 2005. Maybe it’s something in James Murphy’s tone of self-deprecating irony and sincere romanticism … Continue reading Too Much Love
Excuse me if I’m gazing off into the middle distance; this record brings back a lot of memories. Mostly of repeatedly downloading this album and fighting the technical limitations of 2007. Getting nostalgic for the halcyon days of Winamp, as one does. But seriously folks, … Continue reading Tonada Yanomaminista
I’m sorry I wasn’t on board with Gorillaz when they first came out in 2001. It just seemed, at the time, like a really dumb project. A cartoon band played by a rotating cast list of famous and semi-famous musicians? I mean, it does sound … Continue reading Tomorrow Comes Today
Velocifero was one of the best things that happened in 2008. There was still a shock-of-the-new aura to Ladytron; it was their fourth album but they weren’t well-known outside of the most knowing circles. Something confrontational about their chilly, Kraftwerk-inflected electronica combined with their cryptic … Continue reading Tomorrow
I never heard Built to Spill’s 2009 album There Is No Enemy, even though 2005~2007 were the peak years of me listening to them. But, typically, I discovered their late 90’s output, bought two CDs, put them in my car and ended my research with … Continue reading Tomorrow
This isn’t your dad’s Tommy. It’s Portugal. The Man’s Tommy. That means it’s weird, wacky and borderline nonsensical. Portugal. The Man is one of my favorite examples of a deeply weird musical group becoming inexplicably well-known on the strength of a couple of catchy, accessible … Continue reading Tommy
Lady Garfunkel's Song of the Day 