386. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Junk Culture (1984) Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark were told they had overreached. The band’s fourth studio album, Dazzle Ships, was an attempt to stretch their creativity, creating challenging soundscapes that tried to bend … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #386 to #384
“Just scroll through my feed to see a history of emotional haircuts,” Miya Folick offers as explanation for why she immediately connected to the song started and offered to her by her musical collaborator Petey. Including an invocation of “a … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Petey and Miya Folick, “Haircut”
Ignorance, the fifth and latest album from the Weather Station, is luxuriant and enveloping. Chiefly the handiwork of Tamara Lindeman, the album melds together tried-and-true folk rock with oblique pop trappings and splinters of jazz to create songs that sound … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — Ignorance
389. New Order, Substance (1987) The moment for the titans of college radio to break on through to the mainstream was at hand, or so it seemed. During the spring of 1987, U2 elbowed their way past the likes of … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #389 to #387
I don’t it’s accurate to say that my immediate affection for Esther Rose’s new track, “Good Time,” can be chalked up to the fact that the song was reportedly inspired by a long, misfortune-laden road trip that originated in my … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Esther Rose, “Good Time”
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. To the degree that … Continue reading Laughing Matters — Yo La Tengo, “Sugarcube”
392. R.E.M., Chronic Town (1982) As the nineteen-eighties dawned, R.E.M. couldn’t get a foothold like their fellow acts in Athens, Georgia. Driven in part by the breakout success the B-52’s enjoyed with their 1979 self-titled debut, there was keen interest … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #392 to #390
The Cosmic Journey of Kacey Musgraves by Alex Morris I feel unkind making this admission: I am intensely excited about the next Kacey Musgraves album because it is being written from a place of heartbreak. Dazzling as her two most … Continue reading Outside Reading — Sturm und Twang edition
Sometimes I can be made to believe that there are bands out there capable of reviving the bristling rock that dominated college radio a couple decades back, before the wonders of technology meant everyone could make lush pop and the … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Francis of Delirium, “Let It All Go”
395. Madness, Madness (1983) The ska band Madness delivered a series of Top 10 at home in the U.K., but that similar success eluded them on the other side of the Atlantic. After both their debut, One Step Beyond…, and … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #395 to #393
Coffee for Two 