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
I’m well aware that I tend to lean on cockeyed comparisons when describing music I like, but I can’t help it. That’s simply how I wrap my understanding around songs that tickle their fingers merrily across buttons I didn’t even … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Hatchie, “Obsessed”
It’s not easy to like Vampire Weekend. I carry enough vaporous remainders of my bygone college radio posturing against bands that didn’t conform to my peer group’s preference for vagabond scruff, all battered sneakers, faulty gear, and romanticized disenfranchisement. From … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — Father of the Bride
“Recite the songs that kept me whole/ On the day I hand over command control/ Try to let them all flow into this one,” sings John Darnielle on “Done Bleeding,” the track that opens In League with Dragons. The new … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — In League with Dragons
724. Michael Jackson, Thriller (1982) Looking at the list to this point, I wonder if Thriller was a major catalyst for the shift in the music college radio played, or, more accurately, what college radio chose not to play any … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #724 to #721
“I don’t really know/ Why I like you/ I’ve been doing just fine/ On my own,” Leslie Hong sings on “Get Down,” the new single from Haybaby. The band’s sophomore full-length, They Get There, arrives in early June, and the … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Haybaby, “Get Down”
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. Offered as a reminder … Continue reading Laughing Matters — “Weird Al” Yankovic, “Word Crimes”
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. Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O’Brien was born … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Near Misses — “All Cried Out”
728. Joan Armatrading, The Key (1983) Joan Armatrading was deep into her career when she released The Key, and she was ready for a little more commercial success. “I would like to sell more records in America, not so people … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #728 to #725
Although it’s been many, many (many, many, many) years since I set my internal clock by the schedule of a college radio station, some vestiges remain. For example, as the calendar page flips and the thirty-one squares of May are … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Bleached, “Hard to Kill”
Coffee for Two 