461. Peter Schilling, Error in the System (1983) For someone making arch synth-pop in the early nineteen-eighties, it was probably pretty obvious which established artist could be pilfered from most productively. German performer Peter Schilling muscled his way into the … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #461 to #459
The Future of Black Politics by Jessica Byrd One day after The New York Times rain this piece on their op-ed pages, there was a news article with on-the-ground reporting from Kenosha suggesting that the current round of wholly justifiable … Continue reading Outside Reading — Electoral Capture edition
“I tried so hard/ Not to let you all down,” Jessica Dobson sings on the new single from Deep Sea Diver, deeming the heavy burden “an impossible weight.” There’s only one reasonable conclusion: “So I’ll let you down now.” With … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Deep Sea Diver, “Impossible Weight”
The Battle of Algiers (Gillo Pontecorvo, 1966). An altogether remarkable feat of cinema, Gillo Pontecorvo’s film documents several years of the Algerian War, when rebels fought against colonialist rule by the French. Pontecorvo opts for verisimilitude, staging sequences with the … Continue reading Then Playing — The Battle of Algiers; Recorder: The Marion Stokes Story; Sleepwalking Land
#18 — Support the Girls (Andrew Bujalski, 2018) Support the Girls closes with a scene that has, in the past two years, only grown more spot-on in capturing the mood of the moment. Lisa (Regina Hall), the former manager of … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 10s — Number Eighteen
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. Perfect writing, perfect acting, … Continue reading Laughing Matters — Nichols and May, “Mother and Son”
This series of posts covers my long, beloved history interacting with the medium of radio, including the music that flowed through the airwaves. For over twenty years, a good friend of mine had held down one of the Sunday night … Continue reading Radio Days — Then and Now: Retro College Countdown edition
464. Thrashing Doves, Bedrock Vice (1987) “I loved it,” Margaret Thatcher announced after watching the video for Thrashing Doves’ jagged pop-rock single“Beautiful Imbalance” on the children’s television show Saturday Superstore. “I liked the constant music. I liked the color. There’s … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #464 to #462
A New Orleans Chef Navigates Disaster by Helen Rosner Helen Rosner offers an exceptional profile of Nina Compton, one of the more famous Top Chef runners-up (because most viewers found it baffling that she was denied the top prize). Because … Continue reading Outside Reading — Bywater edition
Bashy, clashy, and gnashy, the new cut from Mourn couldn’t have arrived at a more ideal time. “This Feeling is Disgusting” addresses the experience of living in uncertainty. According to the band, the questions they had in mind were the … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Mourn, “This Feeling is Disgusting”
