On her new single “Puppy and a Truck,” Jenny Lewis reaches a pinnacle of easygoing self-assurance. As a songwriter, Lewis forged her legend, alongside her Rilo Kiley bandmates, by crafting pointed, poignant, decorticating songs about living with depression. Her process … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Jenny Lewis, “Puppy and a Truck”
281. The Housemartins, The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death (1987) With their bright, buoyant melodies and crisp pop sound, the Housemartins hardly sound like the sort of band that would inspire outrage. At around the time the PMRC was … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #281 to #279
On her new single “Cleo,” Shygirl takes the groove seriously. Augmented by strings, the song locks in to a smooth house beat as Shygirl claims the name Cleopatra and coos “You got me feeling like a movie star.” The track … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Shygirl, “Cleo”
284. Dire Straits, Dire Straits (1978) Dire Straits were looking only for advice when they handed their five-song demo tape to Charlie Gillett, an influential BBC radio host. The band had only recently formed, mostly as a creative outlet for … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #284 to #282
287. Gene Loves Jezebel, Discover (1986) Welsh twins Jay and Michael Aston, joint frontmen of Gene Loves Jezebel, strode into the peak music video era knowing how to command attention. Lounging scallywags with haybale hairdos, kaleidoscopically colorful outfits, and troweled-on … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #287 to #285
The Shapeshifter by Sam Anderson I played music from a multitude of artists during my long-ago tenure as a student programmer in college radio. Many of those performers were clearly talented, and developed their gifts with commitment and craft. Those … Continue reading Outside Reading — Deep Normalcy Inflected By Sharp Stabs of Strangeness edition
Guitarist Leo Nocentelli helped form New Orleans band the Meters in the middle of the nineteen-sixties. The mostly served as studio backups on recordings made for Allen Toussaint’s Sansu Enterprises record label, a sort of Funk Brothers of the swampy … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Leo Nocentelli, “Give Me Back My Loving”
Kacey Musgraves has a story to tell. It’s a sad story, it’s a true story, and it’s her story. After filling Golden Hour, her roundly acclaimed 2018 release that won her the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, with … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — Star-Crossed
290. Quarterflash, Quarterflash (1981) The members of the Portland band Seafood Mama spent a good portion of 1980 peddling their independently released single “Harden My Heart” as they gigged across the Pacific Northwest. The song took hold in local radio, … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #290 to #288
A mild panic rose a couple years ago, when Mitski announced she was withdrawing from the music-biz grind for an indefinite period of time. She had to take to social media to remind her devotees that “indefinite” is foremost a … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Mitski, “Working for the Knife”
Coffee for Two 