Lana Del Rey, “Video Games” find it on Born To Die Remember the episode in Parks and Recreation where Leslie gives Ann a bunch of books to research and includes Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom only because “I’m dying to talk to someone about Patty”? That’s kind of how I feel about “Video Games”. It’s a song [...]

Liturgy, “Generation” find it on Aesthethica I hate almost all metal. I don’t hate it in that fingers-in-the-ears, you-call-this-music way. My problem with the majority of metal is that it’s the exact opposite of soul. Completely contrary to it’s reputation, it’s often some of the most uptight music made: painfully self-conscious and desperate for attention. [...]

Like a ton of other people, I’m sure, my Smiths fandom has gotten a good stoking lately by the flurry of articles around the 25th anniversary of The Queen Is Dead. But instead of tackling that album, I’m starting a fight about something that’s always bugged me: Hatful Of Hollow‘s status as a classic, and [...]

Fifteen (!) years ago, there was a question being asked of English music fans that was so pervasive, it even made it into the UK national news: “Who do you like better, Blur or Oasis?” At least, I’m told that this was a question asked a lot. The only personal knowledge I have of it [...]

There’s any number of theories around about what will happen to how we buy and listen to music as digital becomes the standard. But optimists and cranks agree that the days of making tons of money with recorded music—let alone a living—are coming to a close. It’s not just that people expect music to be [...]

A favorite debate of mine was rekindled in my brain (and now, here, and hopefully again in the comments) by this excellent post by singer and former Soul Coughing frontman Mike Doughty. His main target is the year-end lists of best albums (an argument that’s valid, but a little early, I think), but the blast [...]

About a year ago, when In Rainbows came out and Limo and I first started sharing an office, we had a day or two’s worth of distraction from work talking about what their move to release the album only days after they’d announced it really meant for the world. It was a pretty exciting time, [...]