Author: Dan Seeger

Music15 Comments

College Countdown: CMJ Top 50 Albums of 2001, 28 and 27

Dan Seeger

28. U2, All That You Can’t Leave Behind There were other artists from my day still lingering around the college charts ten years later–both R.E.M. and Nick Cave have already had their places in this countdown and I remember full well when the first PJ Harvey album arrived in the station’s rotation–but among those acts that still had one stylish boot planted on the left end of the dial, there was no one bigger than U2. When I arrived at 90FM in the fall of 1988, we were revving up to give away tickets to the local premiere of the … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 50 Albums of 2001, 28 and 27

MusicLeave a comment

Spectrum Check

Dan Seeger

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 … Continue reading Spectrum Check

Music2 Comments

One for Friday: Hoodoo Gurus, “1000 Miles Away”

Dan Seeger

In last week’s One for Friday, I expended quite a few words writing about a friend from my college radio days when I served as an advisor to the students who were running the station. In writing about the way I associate certain songs with certain people, I made an offhand mention of how thoroughly and pervasively that was the case back when I myself was a student, working away at our little broadcast outlet in the heart of central Wisconsin. In the comments, one of my old cohorts challenged me to name some of those songs that were locked … Continue reading One for Friday: Hoodoo Gurus, “1000 Miles Away”

Film3 Comments

The walls were crumbling, the wheels were coming off

Dan Seeger

Great pains have been taken in recent weeks to preserve the mystery and secrets of Prometheus, the film that represents director Ridley Scott’s return to the franchise which he unwittingly launched over thirty years ago with 1979’s Alien, before the notion that film concepts could go on forever and ever through endless sequels and reboots. A big screen secret agent with a habit of introducing himself last name first was about the only example of such a process of constant recycling that has now became the norm. It was widely known that Prometheus was more of a prequel, all the … Continue reading The walls were crumbling, the wheels were coming off

Music14 Comments

College Countdown: CMJ Top 50 Albums of 2001, 30 and 29

Dan Seeger

30. Rocket from the Crypt, Group Sounds Given that the main context I’ve brought to these College Countdown posts on CMJ‘s 2001 year-end has been one grounded in my own relationship with the individual artists–either of discovery, familiarity or pure puzzlement–there’s an interesting bit of symmetry to the two bands paired this week. Both were groups with a strong punk influence, and I had previously purchased and loved earlier efforts from both of them during the span of time between my commercial radio tenure and my return to college radio, when I was toiling (and somewhat floundering) in an effort … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 50 Albums of 2001, 30 and 29

Film, MusicLeave a comment

Spectrum Check

Dan Seeger

I had a fairly busy week with Spectrum Culture. Because of the shifting vagaries of release schedules, I wound up with the rare instance of two new film reviews in one week. First off was my take on a gloomy extra-natural drama about a musician who starts hearing a low tone that no one else can, and the ways in which it drives him crazy (thanks in no small part to a conspiracy-minded brother-in-law). This is the sort of film I always feel a little bad beating up on. It’s so clearly a labor of love for the chief creators … Continue reading Spectrum Check

Music3 Comments

One for Friday: Figurine, “Let’s Make Our Love Song”

Dan Seeger

One thing I learned fairly early on in my college radio career is that there’s ultimately too much new music coming out to keep up with it all on your own. That was the case in the late eighties and early nineties, before the grunge-led boom in “alternative music” occurred in rough symmetry with greater affordability for more DIY-inclined bands to produce and distribute their own material. When I later started my second, slightly different life on the left end of the dial, the number of new CDs that flooded into the station each and every week, often from largely … Continue reading One for Friday: Figurine, “Let’s Make Our Love Song”