8. R.E.M., Document (1987) R.E.M. had a message to convey and, more than was previously the case, they wanted to ensure they were understood. Across their first four studio albums, the immediate icons of college rock established and cultivated a … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #8
‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’: A Hit That Initially Unnerved Disney by Carlos Aguilar I was managing a movie theater when A Nightmare Before Christmas was initially released, in the fall of 1993. Among my brethren, anticipation was high, but actual … Continue reading Outside Reading — Instead of Screams, I Swear I Can Hear Music in the Air edition
Dowsing is officially based in Chicago, but the individual members of the quartet are currently spread across four different states. So the decision to title their fifth proper album, their first new studio effort in four years, No One Said … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Dowsing, “It Was Easy”
Showing Up (Kelly Reichardt, 2023). Kelly Reichardt demonstrates again that she’s a modern master of small, resoundingly human stories. Working from a screenplay coauthored with her regular writing partner, Jon Raymond, Reichardt tells the story of Lizzy (Michelle Williams), a … Continue reading Then Playing — Showing Up; Dear White People; California Split
SLOWDIVE Everything Is Alive (Dead Oceans) — Like a lot of folks, the members of Slowdive have come through a tough couple of years. There were the usual lockdown woes to be sure. They also faced down the deaths of … Continue reading Medium Rotation — Everything Is Alive; Relentless
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. Although he’s probably best … Continue reading Laughing Matters — Charlie Brooker’s How to Report the News
Saint Maud (Rose Glass, 2019). The feature debut of writer-director Rose Glass is a spare psychological horror film about young palliative care nurse (Morfydd Clark) who is deeply religious, seemingly because of a traumatic incident with a previous patient. She … Continue reading Then Playing — Saint Maud; Candyman; Blood Quantum
9. The Sugarcubes, Life’s Too Good (1988) Everyone in the band Kukl knew that knew that they’d reached the end. The group formed in Reykjavík, Iceland, in the summer of 1983. Initially meant as an one-off for the final episode … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #9
The Canonization of Lou Reed by Jeremy Lybarger Writing for The New Republic, Jeremy Lybarger reviews the new biography Lou Reed: The King of New York and uses the occasion to write more broadly about the life, career, and enduring … Continue reading Outside Reading — Caught Between the Twisted Stars, the Plotted Lines, the Faulty Map edition
“TWENTYSOMETHING,” the new single from Los Angeles act talker, is a breezy blast about young adult misery. The band is the creative outlet of Celeste Tauchar, and she blazes through this headlong track that offers a litany of very modern … Continue reading This Week’s Model — talker, “TWENTYSOMETHING”
Coffee for Two 