936. Skinny Puppy, Cleanse, Fold & Manipulate (1987) It bizarre for me to think of industrial titans Skinny Puppy as edging towards cuddly mainstream acceptance, but that’s arguably what was happening around 1987, the year the Canadian released their third … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #936 to #933
Jason Reitman has a new movie out this week, reportedly an effort that finds him back on track following a couple widely derided cinematic disasters. When I was first applying my resharpened film critic pencil, I wrote about Reitman’s feature … Continue reading From the Archive — Thank You for Smoking
In my music collection, I have many versions of “A New England.” I think it’s a natural, perhaps inevitable result of being a Billy Bragg fan in good standing. The song he wrote when he was twenty-one years old — … Continue reading One for Friday — Kate Nash and Billy Bragg, “Foundations/A New England”
These posts celebrate the movie trailers, movie posters, commercials, print ads, and other promotional material that stand as their own works of art. In the most recent College Countdown entry, I became reacquainted with the Dead Kennedys, including some of … Continue reading The Art of the Sell — Mojo Nixon for MTV
Devil’s Doorway (Anthony Mann, 1950). This nail-tough western from the heart of Anthony Mann’s career (released the same year as Winchester ’73) boldly examines vicious bigotry against Native Americans at a time when most Hollywood Westerns still cheerily trafficked in … Continue reading Playing Catch-Up — Devil’s Doorway; Split; Isle of Dogs
From the jump, Jack White always had the air of huckster about him. That he kept his music shiny and new through regularly applications of snake oil wasn’t a problem. Indeed, it was a major part of the appeal. Through … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — Boarding House Reach
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. In the spring of 2007, few artists … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Near Misses — “Can’t Tell Me Nothing”
940. Dead Kennedys, Frankenchrist (1985) Frankenchrist, the third album from Dead Kennedys, should have been a celebratory return to recording for a band that helped define hardcore punk. The group had withdrawn from active engagement with making their own music, … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #940 to #937
I thought by now I’d already transferred any and all writing I’ve done on superhero movies into this space, but it turns out I was mistaken. Perhaps it was a internalized defense mechanism preventing me from even taking a moment … Continue reading From the Archive — X-Men: Last Stand
In the late nineteen-sixties, New Zealand club owner Ken Cooper wanted a house band. The patrons shuffling in and out of The Plaice were fans of psychedelic music, so that’s the sound Cooper sought, assembling a handful of local musicians … Continue reading One for Friday — The Avengers, “Everyone’s Gonna Wonder”
