When Katie Crutchfield and Jess Williamson decided to collaborate, they didn’t treat it as a lark, some mere noodling that might provide a B-side or two. They came up with enough material for a full studio album and recorded it … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Plains, “Problem with It”
I read a lot of comic books as a kid. This series of posts is about the comics I read, and, occasionally, the comics that I should have read. Paper Girls begins in 1988. It doesn’t stay there. Written by … Continue reading My Misspent Youth — Paper Girls by Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang
FANTASTIC NEGRITO White Jesus Black Problems (Storefront Records) — Xavier Amin Dphrepaulezz has a new story to tell on White Jesus Black Problems, his fifth studio album under the name Fantastic Negrito. Some impromptu examination of his family tree yielded … Continue reading Medium Rotation — White Jesus Black Problems; Big Time
This series of posts covers my long, beloved history interacting with the medium of radio, including the music that flowed through the airwaves. The way I remember it is this: We needed a special programming feature that could air at … Continue reading Radio Days — College Lunch Blocks
Red-Headed Woman (Jack Conway, 1932). Of all the pre-Code movies I’ve seen, Red-Headed Woman might be the pre-Codiest. The film’s protagonist, Lil Andrews (Jean Harlow), operates with a level of ruthless amorality that would give the gruffest nineteen-seventies antihero pause … Continue reading Then Playing — Red-Headed Woman; The Sunshine Boys; Very Annie Mary
167. Ramones, End of the Century (1980) “This is the best album we’ve done,” Joey Ramone proclaimed of End of the Century on the eve of its release. “It’s so loud that flies were having heart attacks during the playbacks.” … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #167 to #165
Reality Bit, but She Bit Back. by Jason Zinoman Writing for The New York Times, Jason Zinoman considers the defiantly iconoclastic career of Janeane Garofalo. Although he makes his point in part by conveniently eliding an acting career that’s remained … Continue reading Outside Reading — P.S. and By the Way edition
When Robyn Hitchcock burble blasted his new single, “The Shuffle Man,” in the ionosphere this week, most digital dispatches dutifully noted that it came with the announcement of a new album, the first full-length studio effort from the inner plane … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Robyn Hitchcock, “The Shuffle Man”
Sometimes comedy illuminates hard truths with a pointed urgency that other means can’t quite achieve. Sometimes comedy is just funny. This series of posts is mostly about the former instances, but the latter is valuable, too. First of all, the … Continue reading Laughing Matters — Jerrod Carmichael, “Rothaniel”
THE BLACK KEYS Dropout Boogie (Nonesuch) — On their eleventh album, Dropout Boogie, the Black Keys are still finding fresh ways to make meaty magic with an endless variety of blues licks, thumping rhythms, and lyrics that howl out about … Continue reading Medium Rotation — Dropout Boogie; Diving Board, Ladder to the Sky
Coffee for Two 