This series of posts covers my long, beloved history interacting with the medium of radio, including the music that flowed through the airwaves. There were two times per year that we preempted the entire weekend schedule at WWSP-90M, the student-run … Continue reading Radio Days — 90FM’s Jazzfest
THE MOUNTAIN GOATS Bleed Out (Merge) — Presumably, John Darnielle has somehow eradicated the need for sleep. A Nobel is surely forthcoming. How else to explain the amazing output in recent years from the previously prolific and now practically omnipresent … Continue reading Medium Rotation — Bleed Out; 2007; Natural Brown Prom Queen
These posts celebrate the movie trailers, movie posters, commercials, print ads, and other promotional material that stand as their own works of art. I would like to take this opportunity to admit anew that during the height of my comic … Continue reading The Art of the Sell — Marvel’s New Cover Format
Cronos (Guillermo del Toro, 1993). If Guillermo del Toro isn’t exactly a fully formed filmmaker with his feature debut, Cronos, it’s still remarkable how much of his careerlong creative voice is present from the very beginning. Most distinctly, he brings … Continue reading Then Playing — Cronos; Duel at Diablo; Time Without Pity
131. Hüsker Dü, New Day Rising (1985) Following their creative breakthrough with the double album Zen Arcade, Hüsker Dü felt they were ready to produce their next album entirely on their own, something they hadn’t done since Land Speed Record, … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #131 to #129
Hacked to Bits by Jaya Saxena Writer for Eater, Jaya Saxena explores the culture of creative tinkerers who use the online menus of chains restaurants and coffee shops to concoct wild variants of the businesses’ standard fare. Because they post … Continue reading Outside Reading — Off the Menu edition
An empowerment anthem about rejecting a personal tendency for diminishing self-judgment, “Flip It” is a prime blast of Bleached. The single is grounded in a chewy pop-punk and spins on the axis of an irresistible singalong chorus, siblings Jennifer and … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Bleached, “Flip It”
Since great television comedy always begins with the script, this series of posts considers the individual episodes that have claimed the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series over the years. The folks who worked on the … Continue reading Golden Words — Barney Miller, “The Photographer”
I read a lot of comic books as a kid. This series of posts is about the comics I read, and, occasionally, the comics that I should have read. Mark Waid claims he didn’t particularly want to write Fantastic Four. … Continue reading My Misspent Youth — Fantastic Four by Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo
SYLVAN ESSO No Rules Sandy (Loma Vista) — On their prior albums, it was sometimes difficult to discern whether Sylvan Esso wanted to master or deconstruct pop. They decisively elide that question on their fourth studio full-length, No Rules Sandy, … Continue reading Medium Rotation — No Rules Sandy; In My Car
Coffee for Two 