708. The Special AKA, In the Studio (1984) Using the most straightforward explanation, In the Studio is the third album from the Specials. The fact that the band is billed as the Special AKA tells a significant story. This wasn’t … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #708 to #705
The press release connected to “Superbike,” the new single by Jay Som, states her goal was to sound like Cocteau Twins and Alanis Morissette. I can’t say I hear everyone’s favorite jagged little Canadian on the track, but the honey-soaked … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Jay Som, “Superbike”
I got my first sense of the sound of I Am Easy to Find, the new album from the National, from a track released by a completely different band. For the album Love is Dead, which came out in 2018, … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — I Am Easy to Find
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 late nineteen-nineties and into the … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Near Misses — “Whiskey Lullaby”
712. Redd Kross, Neurotica (1987) Technically, Neurotica is the first full-length studio effort by the outfit billed as Redd Kross. The band made their entrance with the 1982 LP Born Innocent, but they were going by Red Cross at the … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #712 to #709
I have my doubts as to whether the picture-to-words exchange rate still operates at a multiplier of one thousand, but I am sure that a photo can make a mighty promise. The arrival, through social media channels, of a studio-snapped … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Sleater-Kinney, “Hurry On Home”
U.F.O.F., the new album from Brooklyn-based band Big Thief, is a lovely, elusive work. The first three letters of the title stand for exactly what anyone would think they do, and the tacked on consonant represents the word “friend.” On … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — U.F.O.F.
716. Big Pig, Bonk (1988) Hailing from Melbourne, Australia — with a formative stop in the U.K. — Big Pig made a brand of propulsive dance music that feels very 1988. Eschewing guitars altogether and employing three different drummers, the … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #716 to #713
I’ve noticed that a lot of the music I’ve clung to like a life preserver these past couple years has been animated by a sense of enduring hope and camaraderie, seeking out the remaining shafts of light while storm clouds … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Ezra Furman,”Calm Down aka I Should Not Be Alone”
720. The Fall, The Domesday Pay-Off Triad Plus (1987) Nothing about the Fall is particularly easy, and so it is with detailing the origins of the 1987 album The Domesday Pay-Off Triad Plus. To begin, let’s establish that the group … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #720 to #717
Coffee for Two 