This Week’s Model — Billie Eilish, “Everything I Wanted”
When a music artist is of an age that a high school locker assignment is still a typical area of concern, it compounds the tendency to assume every song is a confession. Rather than pure invention, they must be using … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Billie Eilish, “Everything I Wanted”
The New Releases Shelf — Magdalene
For her sophomore full-length release, FKA twigs strips her music down to a fragile, spindly framework. Five years after the English musician delivered the mind-spinning debut LP1, she offers Magdalene, which retains the sense of relentless innovation and pushes further … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — Magdalene
The Art of the Sell — Young MC for Pepsi Cool Cans
These posts celebrate the movie trailers, movie posters, commercials, print ads, and other promotional material that stand as their own works of art. In the spring of 1990, Public Enemy released their third studio album, Fear of a Black Planet. … Continue reading The Art of the Sell — Young MC for Pepsi Cool Cans
Playing Catch-Up — Greta; A Warm December; Veronika Voss
Greta (Neil Jordan, 2019). Neil Jordan’s first feature film in six years is a trashy, inane thriller that’s miles removed from his best work. Except for the requisite appearance by Stephen Rea, it doesn’t even bear much resemblance to the … Continue reading Playing Catch-Up — Greta; A Warm December; Veronika Voss
Now Playing — Jojo Rabbit
Okay, let’s start with Hitler. Taika Waititi’s new film, Jojo Rabbit, is built around a conceit that’s basically a sick joke dramatized. In Germany, as the end of World War II looms, a ten-year-old named Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis) is … Continue reading Now Playing — Jojo Rabbit
College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #620 to #617
620. Throwing Muses, House Tornado (1988) Hailing from Boston and famously signed to esoteric U.K. label 4AD, Throwing Muses spent the first chunk of their recording career adhering to a release model more typical of British acts. Over the course … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #620 to #617
Outside Reading — Thank You for the Chicken edition
Filthy Rich by Michelle Dean HBO’s Succession was amusing and sharp-elbowed in its first season. For the recently concluded second season, the series engaged a creative turbo boost that rocketed it to delirious new heights. Writing for The New York … Continue reading Outside Reading — Thank You for the Chicken edition
This Week’s Model — Hazel English, “Shaking”
Way back when, I showed up at my college radio station convinced that I needed nothing more to achieve music fan bliss than a bunch of brutish, sloppy dudes banging out raggedy rock songs using the foundational combo of guitars, … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Hazel English, “Shaking”
Now Playing — Parasite
At the beginning of Parasite, the new film from director Bong Joon-ho, the Kim family is so far down on the economic ladder that they’re literally underground. Their cramped, cluttered apartment is in the basement of a South Korean urban … Continue reading Now Playing — Parasite
Laughing Matters — The Ben Stiller Show, “Cape Munster”
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. After tapping out a … Continue reading Laughing Matters — The Ben Stiller Show, “Cape Munster”
Coffee for Two 