College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #380 to #378
380. XTC, Mummer (1983) Not long after the release of Mummer, the sixth album by his group XTC, Andy Partridge mused on the band’s place in the pop-music infrastructure. “I like people to kind of discover XTC,” explained Partridge. “An … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #380 to #378
Outside Reading — The Emerald Standard
Seattle’s Virus Success Shows What Could Have Been by Mike Baker “If the rest of the United States had kept pace with Seattle, the nation could have avoided more than 300,000 coronavirus deaths.” That sentence, from this piece of New … Continue reading Outside Reading — The Emerald Standard
This Week’s Model — CIVIC, “Tell the Papers”
Based in Melbourne, Australia, the band CIVIC has been kicking around for a couple years, building a strong local following among those who are happiest when they’re leaving a cramped club with sweat-drenched clothes and ringing ears. EPs have been … Continue reading This Week’s Model — CIVIC, “Tell the Papers”
Laughing Matters — The Kids in the Hall, “Preacher”
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. It’s always a good … Continue reading Laughing Matters — The Kids in the Hall, “Preacher”
Top Ten Movies of 2020 — Number Six
Garrett Bradley’s documentary Time is awash in the uncommon power that comes from a moral outrage expressed with tough simplicity. The film spends most of its time with Sibil Fox Richardson, who carries her family through the reverberating pain of … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2020 — Number Six
Top Ten Movies of 2020 — Number Seven
I think it’s beautifully fitting that the year’s most poignant, insightful film about living in the U.S. is largely in a language other than English. Writer-director Lee Isaac Chung draws on his own history for Minari, the story of a … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2020 — Number Seven
Top 40 Smash Near Misses — “Flawless” and “Daddy Lessons”
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. In March 2013, Beyoncé logged on to … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Near Misses — “Flawless” and “Daddy Lessons”
College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #383 to #381
383. The Style Council, Internationalists (1985) The Style Council scored a major hit with their sophomore studio album, Our Favourite Shop. The LP debuted atop the U.K. album chart, and three of its singles made it into the Top 40. … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #383 to #381
Outside Reading — Speak Up and Dribble edition
Kelly Loeffler Just Lost Her WNBA Team to a Player She Refused to Meet by Dave Zirin Of the many humiliations suffered by Kelly Loeffler in recent months — all of which, I’m sure, she sloughed off thanks to insulation … Continue reading Outside Reading — Speak Up and Dribble edition
This Week’s Model — St. Vincent, “Pay Your Way In Pain”
Annie Clark makes no secret of the creative inspiration behind the forthcoming St. Vincent album Daddy’s Home. In a quick Q&A on Twitter, she cited the work of a musical genius during inarguably his period of greatest jaw-dropping accomplishment. Since … Continue reading This Week’s Model — St. Vincent, “Pay Your Way In Pain”
Coffee for Two 