I wasn’t too busy for Spectrum Culture this week, and, atypically, all my writing had to do with music. The one longer piece I wrote was a review of the new Patti Smith album. It felt quite glum about giving the record a middling assessment, but it did sadly strike me as one of the weakest original efforts since she reemerged with the wondrous Gone Again back in 1996.

I also contributed to our regular List Inconsequential feature, selecting the Pipettes for my “One Album Wonder,” in part because I’ll take any opportunity I’m given to revisit the song “Pull Shapes.” My original selection was actually the sole album from The La’s, which my cohort correctly identifies as perhaps the quintessential choice for such a list.