In the photo, team members for the Chicago-based organization My Block, My Hood, My City are with a truck newly loaded with more than fifty boxes of supplies that will be taken to elderly residents as part of their Senior … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Mavis Staples, “All In It Together”
540. Re-Flex, The Politics of Dancing (1983) Formed in Birmingham, England, in the early nineteen-eighties, Re-Flex was a band that wanted to have its chart success and simultaneously scoff as pop ate itself. With regular Roxy Music studio collaborator John … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #540 to #537
I think this bloke says it best: Stephen William Bragg has spent the last forty years, give or take, surveying a tumultuous world and making sense of what he sees through the grounded poetry of his lyrics, often accompanied by a trusty acoustic guitar. Politically astute, socially empathetic, and a whip-smart thinker, Bragg has a way of getting straight to the core of a problem and finding the emotional poignancy that resides there. As we all keep our distance for the greater good, Bragg expresses the melancholy that arises from all the missed events and commemorations. Like the bulk of … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Billy Bragg, “Can’t Be There Today”
Although it’s hardly a new debate, recent years have seen an uptick in snappish back and forth about the wisdom of separating artists from the art they create. Primarily driven, of course, by the near-constant lifting of heavy rocks to … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — Miss Anthropocene
544. The Lords of the New Church, The Lords of the New Church (1982) “I think that first record was really built on pure adrenaline,” drummer Nick Turner said of The Lords of the New Church several years after its … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #544 to #541
I became a devotee of singer-songwriter Margaret Glaspy shortly after the release of her debut album, Emotions and Math. As often as I returned to the studio recorded etched into that record’s grooves, my regular urge to once again hear … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Margaret Glaspy, “Devotion”
This series of posts covers my long, beloved history interacting with the medium of radio, including the music that flowed through the airwaves. By happenstance, I was already scheduled to sit in the air chair at my college radio alma … Continue reading Radio Days — Then and Now: March 15, 2020
548. Hunters & Collectors, Fate (1988) I.R.S. Records had the Australian band Hunters & Collectors under contract for U.S., but the label executives didn’t particularly like how, well, Australian the band sounded. The band released their fifth studio album, What’s … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #548 to #545
Now that Margo Price has moved on from Third Man Records, it’s evidently time for her to make some music that sounds like it would have been snugly at home on Jack White’s Nashville-based label. For the lead single from … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Margo Price, “Twinkle Twinkle”
552. Various Artists, Lonely is an Eyesore (1987) The 4AD record label launched in 1980, and quickly developed a reputation for haunting, esoteric pop music, the ethereal quality of the various acts’ creative enhanced by the striking cover art provided … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #552 to #549
Coffee for Two 