Hola, amigos. It has been a minute since I rapped at ya, so I thought I would share some thoughts about a pair of very good concert films I recently watched, 2008’s Martin Scorsese-directed Rolling Stones documentary Shine a Light, and a 2019 archival release from the Grateful Dead 1991 show at Giants Stadium. The […]
Smart bands grow leaner as they mature. Dinosaur Jr.’s first album, 1985’s Dinosaur, showed a band exploding in all directions trying to find their sound. Founded in the wake of J. Mascis’ hardcore band Deep Wound, Dinosaur Jr. sought to create “ear-bleeding country” music, but, on their first album created a jumble of hardcore, jangle, […]
Before you learn how to craft it, the experience of listening to music is nearly entirely emotional. Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” feels fist-pumpingly badass. Pavement’s “Stop Breathin” feels ineffably sad. Ginuwine’s “Pony” feels pants-tighteningly horny. When I was little, my parents told me I would cry to The Beatles’ “Yesterday” and Kermit the Frog’s “Bein’ Green.” […]
We’re continuing our jaunt through Treble’s list of their Favorite Post Punk Albums. Cold Cave – Cherish the Light Years (2011): If you make enough post-punk playlists, you begin to experiment with how far you can push the genre. After all, technically all music that comes after punk is “post-punk.” But when it’s laid out […]
This week we’re continuing our tour through Treble’s list of their 50 favorite post-punk albums of the 21st century. Have a Nice Life – Deathconsciousness (2008): I didn’t think I would like Have a Nice Life’s Deathconsciousness. First off, there’s the name. “Have a Nice Life” is too jokey, and “Deathconsciousness” is too emo. And […]
I love a good “best of” list. If it’s on something I know nothing about, it’ll give me a good place to start. If it’s on something I know a shitload about, it’ll give me a good reason to argue. And if it’s on something I know a shitload about, but still has some stuff […]
There gets to be a point in every songwriter’s life where they wonder, “What the fuck am I gonna do with all these songs? After ten or fifteen or twenty years, anyone who has made a practice of writing and recording music will end up with a clutch of songs that, for one reason or […]
Last week’s article on the 1970’s Rolling Stones reminded me of something that I would’ve rather forgotten: the Stones’ dreadful taste in album art. If anything, it’s getting worse. From 2024, here’s Frankenstone’s monster having a tummy ache: Here’s a screen grab of something my kid cousin is cooking up in Blender: Here’s a visual […]
From 1968 to 1972 – amid drug problems, tax exile, and the firing and subsequent death of founding member Brian Jones – the Rolling Stones released their best run of albums, fulfilled their initial mission to fuse roots music with rock & roll, integrated their most fluid guitarist Mick Taylor into their lineup, were ordained […]
The last adult pictured in Art Kane’s iconic 1958 photograph A Great Day in Harlem, the saxophone colossus Sonny Rollins, died earlier this week at 95, thus closing a chapter when jazz was not only one of the critically exalted, but most popular, artforms. Time moves relentlessly forward, flattening the flesh-and-blood humans like Charles Mingus, […]