520. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Dazzle Ships (1983) “It sounds strange, I know, but we had been trying to change the world,” Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark’s Andy McCluskey explained to The Guardian several years after his band experienced … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #520 to #517
Restoring the Economy Is the Last Thing We Should Want by Douglas Rushkoff Writing for GEN, Douglas Rushkoff is the latest to make the persuasive case that getting “back to normal” should not be our national goal, especially in the case of our fiscal operations. There are flatly better ways to approach the work and investment that undergirds the economy, and the pain being felt right now exposes what’s fundamentally ill-conceived about the modern version of U.S. capitalism, warped into thinly disguised feudalism by forty-plus years of pernicious assaults on the institutions that redress ills and preserve fairness in society. … Continue reading Outside Reading — Stronger Where It Healed edition
“Just Like Kids,” the new single from Hinds, is sunny, shiny, and beautifully bratty at the same time. With a punk-cool underpinning and a touch of the pop-turned-inside-out wild invention Wayne Coyne employed during the heyday of the Flaming Lips, Hinds directly addresses the condescending nonsense they regularly endure as a rock band populated exclusively by women. Making music is their job and their art, but that doesn’t stop unduly confident fools from stepping forward as unwanted consultants. “Can I tell you something about you and your band?/ Cause I’m sure you’d love to listen to my advice,” the song opens, and … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Hinds, “Just Like Kids”
#37 — Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Edgar Wright, 2010) In adapting movies from other works, fidelity to source material can trip up even the most skilled directors. There’s a natural instinct to hew closely to whatever is being transferred … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 10s — Number Thirty-Seven
Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade, 2016). German filmmaker Maren Ade puts pathos and comedy together in a way that’s borderline magical in Toni Erdmann. The title character, as it were, is a pseudonym commonly adopted by Winfried (Peter Simonischek) when he’s … Continue reading Then Playing — Toni Erdmann; Wildlife; The Seagull
In her recent book Ninth Street Women, Mary Gabriel briefly recounts the story of a misattributed painting in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A portrait of Charlotte du Val d’Ognes, the piece was originally thought to be the handiwork of … Continue reading Now Playing — Beyond the Visible – Hilma af Klint
These posts are about the songs that just barely failed to cross the key line of chart success, entering the Billboard Top 40. Every song featured in this series peaked at number 41. When Sam Cooke entered RCA Victor’s Music … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Near Misses — “It’s Got the Whole World Shakin’”
524. ‘Til Tuesday, Voices Carry (1985) In the late nineteen-seventies, Boston radio station WBCN started an annual battle-of-the-bands promotional event called the Rock & Roll Rumble. As usual for these sorts of undertakings, the Rock & Roll Rumble had an … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #524 to #521
A National Death Wish: How Science, Education, and the Future Were Sacrificed For Profit and Power by Jared Yates Sexton As Jared Yates Sexton meticulously argues in his new essay, published by The Muckrake, where we are at now is … Continue reading Outside Reading — Is Our Children Learning? edition
Gleaming and pretty and just a touch odd, “If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know),” the new single from U.K. band the 1975, invites admiring comparisons to the particular brand of nineteen-eighties music, practiced by the likes of Tears for … Continue reading This Week’s Model — The 1975, “If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know)”
Coffee for Two 