8. The dB’s, Stands for Decibels Trouser Press wrote: “Thanks to an amazing timewarp, this band is with us right now–and almost singlehandedly saving power pop’s reputation.” Some records announce that they’re special from the very first notes. Stands for … Continue reading College Countdown: The Trouser Press Top 10 Albums of 1981, 8 (tie)
This was another fairly light week for me, in part because I’m still trying to catch up on music reviews I owe. One of those went up: an assessment of the new album from Crooked Fingers. This was one of the instances in which I was assigned the release instead of claimed it. It actually took me a really long time to figure out my angle on the review. As the numerical rating indicates, this is one of those albums that was clearly good, but didn’t stir me especially deeply. It’s not background music, but it’s one of those CDs … Continue reading Spectrum Check
There is some music that simply sounds like 90FM to me. Or rather, it sounds like the version of 90FM that was there for me when I was an undergraduate student. Tuning in to the campus radio station was like reading a letter from my closest friends. The music that achieved the greatest success there often connected with someone there in a deeper way that a simple admiration for its catchy hooks (although, let’s not diminish the importance of that factor). It didn’t necessarily have moony, heartfelt lyrics that expressed some unspoken melancholy among my friends or, conversely, some triumphant … Continue reading One for Friday: Blackgirls, “Happy”
These posts are about the songs that can accurately claim to crossed the key line of chart success, becoming Top 40 hits on Billboard, but just barely. Every song featured in this series peaked at number 40. When I started pulling together the list of songs that qualified for the “Top 40 Smash Taps” feature, my geeky, secret hope was that I’d find at least one artist who accomplished the bittersweet feat of peaking at #40 on more than one occasion. Turns out it wasn’t such a crazy notion; several different acts have watched as two different tracks stalled at … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Taps: “I’ve Seen All Good People” and “Rhythm of Love”
#9 — Amadeus (Milos Forman, 1984) Based on the available evidence, it’s mightily difficult to portray the creation of great art on film, especially those pinnacles of expression that can be defined as “fine art.” The process of turning inspiration into moving manifestations of such usually winds up seeming wan and empty. Even when there’s actual, canonical works to draw from, drawing the line from a dramatization of intellectual toil to a finished piece is often burdened by a veneer of phoniness. Even when the art of filmmaking is addressed, a topic that is theoretically near to the heart of creators … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 80s — Number Nine
Megamind (Tom McGrath, 2010). Just as surely as Pixar has forged its own auteuristic identity as a studio, the same has been achieved by DreamWorks Animation, their main rival for family box office dollars. Where Pixar is built on rigorous storytelling acumen and emotional authenticity, DreamWorks opts for cheap jokes, an overt embrace of fleeting pop culture trends and endlessly frenetic onscreen business. If they can prop it all up with overly familiar pop songs, all the better. The studio is prolific enough that exceptions slip through, almost like accidentally pristine product missed by the lack-of-quality control department of a … Continue reading Boden and Fleck, Joost and Schulman, McGrath, Sherman
Last year, I took the occasion of Halloween (or at least the run-up to Halloween) to confess to the perhaps odd things that scared me when I was a kid. It only takes a second post to turn it into … Continue reading I’m afraid. I’m afraid. No, I’m scared. No I’m scared.
8. The Undertones, Positive Touch Trouser Press wrote: “Derry’s finest grow up without growing old. Refined yet rocking, and true to its title.” Naturally, Trouser Press isn’t going to provide a nice, clean exercise in backwards counting. Idiosyncrasy must run … Continue reading College Countdown: The Trouser Press Top 10 Albums of 1981, 8 (tie)
So I’ve been a pretty bad kid. I’ve just been sitting on a couple music reviews, which are now both overdue. It’s not just neglect–I have had a strangely busy week–but I’m still is desperate need of some concerted time with the releases in question. Between that and some difficulty is securing a specific screener copy of a movie, I had another fairly light week at Spectrum Culture. At least I feel good about my lone contribution. In general, I really like writing for our Oeuvre feature, and I had my third contribution to our ongoing survey of the films … Continue reading Spectrum Check
As had been established over and over again in the “Disclaimer” section of this weekly feature, I genuinely try to make sure every song I post here is out of print, at least in terms of physical copies that can be ordered through a record store. Tim Quirk from the great Too Much Joy convinced me a while back that any similar reticence around sharing sound digitally-available music was at least somewhat misguided since I’m not all that concerned about damaging the ability of label bigwigs from lining their already overstuffed pockets (round these here parts, we call it “The … Continue reading One for Friday: Los Lobos, “I Got Loaded”
Coffee for Two 