Medium Rotation — Warm Chris; Crooked Tree
ALDOUS HARDING Warm Chris (4AD) — The fourth studio album from Aldous Harding crackles with invention. Well, crackles might not be the right terminology, since that overall impression this smoothed-out, folk-grounded pop gives is of ideal refinement. The tracks on … Continue reading Medium Rotation — Warm Chris; Crooked Tree
My Misspent Youth — Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #86 by Bill Mantlo, Al Milgrom, and Fred Hembeck
I read a lot of comic books as a kid. This series of posts is about the comics I read, and, occasionally, the comics that I should have read. There was a unifying conceit to several of the comic book … Continue reading My Misspent Youth — Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #86 by Bill Mantlo, Al Milgrom, and Fred Hembeck
The Art of the Sell — John Lydon for Country Life Butter
These posts celebrate the movie trailers, movie posters, commercials, print ads, and other promotional material that stand as their own works of art. On the occasion of the new Danny Boyle–shepherded streaming television series depicting the tumult of the Sex … Continue reading The Art of the Sell — John Lydon for Country Life Butter
Top 40 Smash Near Misses — “Dance Naked”
These posts are about the songs that fell just short of crossing the key line of chart success, entering the Billboard Top 40. Every song featured in this series peaked at number 41. After releasing a string of hit singles … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Near Misses — “Dance Naked”
College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #191 to #189
191. X, See How We Are (1987) The sixth X record, See How We Are, found the Los Angeles band in transition. On their previous studio outing, Ain’t Love Grand, they undertook a shift that proved faulty. They parted ways … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #191 to #189
Outside Reading — Safety Last edition
What It’s Like Here by Albert Burneko I’ve had such a difficult time processing the events of this week, including the steady revelations of how abominably law enforcement and other officials in Texas responded to the shooting at Robb Elementary … Continue reading Outside Reading — Safety Last edition
This Week’s Model — Suede, “She Still Leads Me”
I don’t know I can be expected to resist this. Suede’s new single, “She Still Leads Me,” moves with a swoop and dramatic grandeur that evokes the nineteen-nineties heyday of Britpop overstaters, such as Pulp, Oasis, and, um, themselves, I … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Suede, “She Still Leads Me”
Greatish Performances #54
#54 — Ray Liotta as Ray Sinclair in Something Wild (Jonathan Demme, 1986) More than anything else, it’s the sense of calm that I remember. When Ray Liotta shows up on screen as Ray Sinclair, he slow plays the character’s … Continue reading Greatish Performances #54
Medium Rotation — Wild Loneliness; Painless
SUPERCHUNK Wild Loneliness (Merge) — It should not be said that time has mellowed Superchunk. Sure, it’s been more than thirty years since “Slack Motherfucker,” their official debut single after a release under the name Chunk, but the nail-spitting rage … Continue reading Medium Rotation — Wild Loneliness; Painless
Programming Note
I am compulsive about putting a new post in this space every day, but my frivolous preoccupations strike me as inappropriate in the moment. Instead, I’ll share this five-year-old graphic from The New York Times that tragically hasn’t lost its … Continue reading Programming Note
Coffee for Two 