A couple of years ago, I went out for drinks with a man who went into a spiel about his ex, who was – according to him – both better looking and more talented than Kacey Musgraves. That’s an awkward first date conversation, and it’s … Continue reading Stupid
Flashing back to the winter of 2013, when romance was all in the air, thanks to London Grammar. I’ve written a lot about the indie pop of the past decade, and 2013 always emerges as a banner year. Some damn classic albums came out that … Continue reading Strong
No conversation about the Soul music revival is complete without Charles Bradley. It’s a mystery how, somewhere between the decline of the Motown label in the 1980’s to the big-box era of the 90’s, R&B music evolved from being the literal soul of American culture, … Continue reading Strictly Reserved For You
You all know how much unrepentant weirdness appeals to me. I love discovering new weird shit, especially if it’s completely out of the blue. I love an album called Embracism by someone named Kirin J Callinan, which I heard about when someone I follow wrote … Continue reading Stretch It Out
Detritus from my time of listening to whatever random-ass EDM songs I could find. My club-kid moment was short-lived and half-hearted – it’s hard to be an anything -kid when you’re not a kid anymore. But I did download a lot of dubiously sourced compilation … Continue reading Still Alive
The Neighbourhood were a major indie radio favorite in the Year of Our Lord 2013. That year, as I’ve noted before, was a particularly outstanding one for great breakout indie bands. I think it was probably the high point of the wave of indie/dreampop/electro/chillwave pop … Continue reading Staying Up
Here is something that I know will be new to you. Wax Idols were a band out of Oakland who made four albums before disbanding in 2018. They earned praise from music media outlets such as Pitchfork, but never got any mainstream attention. They don’t … Continue reading Stay In
No collection of 2010’s dreampop is complete without London Grammar. They’re up there with Savoir Adore and Camera Obscura in exemplifying the genre. It’s a loosely defined genre, as it goes, but there a few features that all of the above groups excel at: sensuous … Continue reading Stay Awake
Remember 2013? That was a very good year, not least because David Bowie decided to come out of retirement. Although he wouldn’t stoop to anything as crass as promoting the thing in person, The Next Day was widely acclaimed and a bestseller. Interviews and live … Continue reading The Stars (Are Out Tonight)
Cage the Elephant has been getting better and better. When they started out they seemed like they’d formed a band because they’d heard a Raconteurs record. But they quickly grew out of that comparison. They’ve become one of the best guitar bands, full stop. Quirky … Continue reading Spiderhead
