Kris Ellestad – No Man is Land
I’m not going to post a formal review of Kris Ellestad’s new album, No Man is Land, which is available for streaming right now for free. Kris is a good friend of mine, and that kind of bias is too hard to work around. But now that he’s officially releasing it to the public, I … Continue reading
#MONM Day 4: Television’s Double Exposure
Television – Double Exposure Is it stretching the definition of MoNM to check out a bootleg? I think you can make the case, and given that Double Exposure features a pre-Marquee Moon Television recording session with Brian Eno manning the boards and Richard Hell still in the band, I’d also say it’s pretty darn necessary. … Continue reading
#MoNM Day 3: REM’s Reckoning
REM is a fairly significant musical blind spot for me. I know they’re “important”, that they helped define a major part of the college rock sound of the ’80s, but aside from mid-period singles like “Losing my Religion” and the monster hits from Monster, my exposure is pretty limited. Before this morning, the only albums … Continue reading
#MONM Day Two: Fond of Tigers’ Continent and Western
Fond of Tigers — Continent and Western (Drip Audio) “Soheb,” the opener on “post-everything” Vancouver septet Fond of Tigers’ latest, is a hell of a track to wake up to. Starting with a simple melodic line, it quickly descends into swirling madness and atonal skronk, eventually returning to its opening theme by increasingly demented routes. … Continue reading
#MONM Month of New Music day one: Lullabye Arkestra’s Ampgrave
First off, a note: I’m going to have to be realistic about this Month of New Music thing. I won’t have time for elaborate posts about every album I listen to, so some of these will be quick blurbs. Others might ramble a bit longer (like this one). I’m not one for live-tweeting, so I … Continue reading
An interview with Danny Michel
“I guess it’s just a natural kind of evolution of me just trying to write songs. I just kind of got really sick of rock music. I got really sick of – I find it all really whiny, you know? And myself included, I pointed a finger at myself, too, but I find that there’s probably more to say in the world other than whining about breaking up with somebody.”
The Town
Whoever planned out Ben Affleck’s comeback knows a thing or two about manipulating us cynical cultural consumers. After endearing himself to teenaged cinephiles with solid turns in a few Kevin Smith comedies and picking up an Oscar for Good Will Hunting, B-Fleck (shudder) spent the better part of his career alienating his original fans and … Continue reading
Alan Copeland invented the remix
I was doing some research for a paper on the public domain and intellectual property and blah blah blah, when I came across this wonderful (and Grammy-winning!) single, released in 1968. Arranged by Alan Copeland (who did arrangements with Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald before moving on to compose theme songs), it’s possibly the first … Continue reading
It’s Kind of a Funny Story
It’s Kind of a Funny Story is about as middle-of-the-road as its unassuming title might lead you to believe. It’s kind of sweet, kind of inoffensive and on occasion even kind of entertaining, but it’s not the kind of film likely to inspire much passion. With the obligatory play on the film’s title out of … Continue reading
On the relative merits of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
On the plus side, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins wrote “I Put a Spell On You,” was one of the first musicians to incorporate overt theatricality into his music, and has one of the most bad-ass voices in the history of rock. Oh, and he fathered somewhere around 75 children, which has to count for something. On … Continue reading
The Consumption 