The New Releases Shelf: Robyn Hitchcock
When Robyn Hitchcock released his prior album, 2014’s The Man Upstairs, he offered explanations about the track listing’s assemblage of cover songs and previously incomplete originals salvaged from the archive. He told Billboard that the aging process stirred a specific instinct, making creators “want to put themselves in a historical context, like a picture looking for a frame.” It seemed an intentional announcement of a revised approach to his musicianship, an allowance that glances backward might be the new norm for a singular artist whose deeply embedded eccentricity had previously offered endless surprise. It wasn’t all bad news — the … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf: Robyn Hitchcock
The New Releases Shelf: Pure Comedy
To a degree, Josh Tillman has always positioned himself as a man out of time when performing in his Father John Misty persona. There’s a wounded troubadour embrace of classic pop that’s always been the shiniest threads running through the fabric of his songs. There’s also been a sense of humor that clangs against the opposing guardrails of bleak and boisterous, but mostly Father John has long sounded like a guy on the brink of collapse, and not in the James Brown grand showman way. The existential agony is what’s getting him down. Even happiness sows aching confusion. Tillman quadruples … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf: Pure Comedy
College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 46 – 44
46. Romeo Void, “Never Say Never” Romeo Void were still early in their career when they found themselves working with Ric Ocasek, then exceedingly well-versed in the creation of hits thanks to his prominent place in the Cars. According to Deborah Iyall, lead singer and chief songwriter of Romeo Void, Ocasek became a fan of the band because a roadie kept playing their music of the Cars’ tour bus. After a meeting at a Boston gig, the band eagerly agreed to Ocasek’s offer to record together, and they showed up after a tour with a handful of songs. Because it … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 46 – 44
From the Archive: Five for Friday, This Machine Kills Fascists edition
In my former online home, I had a little weekly feature called “Five for Friday.” The basic concept was — of course — shamelessly swiped from elsewhere. I’d post a list of five songs under some loose category and ask others to respond with their own quintet that fit. In response to what felt like it was about the millionth straight week of astonishing transgressions against the fundamentals of the republic, I raid that old feature for a list of tunes written and delivered in a fine later of indignation.This was first posted in 2006, so some callousness of the part … Continue reading From the Archive: Five for Friday, This Machine Kills Fascists edition
One for Friday: Blue Rodeo, “5 Days in May”
The discovery process with music never ends. That’s one of the truest joys of being a fan. Even a band that has been studied and loved can provide a surprise, and an album that was listened to and appreciated can suddenly suddenly pop with genius when heard again at the right time, in the right way, probably with the right set of emotions swirling around inside. Blue Rodeo was a favorite band during my college radio days. It started, gently, with the albums Diamond Mine and Casino that arrived within my first couple of years at the station, but truly … Continue reading One for Friday: Blue Rodeo, “5 Days in May”
The Art of the Sell: “Psycho” trailer
These posts celebrate the movie trailers, movie posters, commercials, print ads, and other promotional material that stand as their own works of art. There’s so much that’s marvelous about the original trailer for Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. The virtues begin with the auteur himself, genially leading the viewer through a tour of the film’s sets as if they are real places, all the while alluding to grave horrors that took place within them. And then there’s the pleasant music that accompanies Hitchcock’s ambling, like the soundtrack from Leave it to Beaver was misplaced there. And its six minutes — six minutes! … Continue reading The Art of the Sell: “Psycho” trailer
My Writers: Charles P. Pierce
Given the endless procession of freshly minted atrocities on the front pages of credible newspapers, it’s tempting to invoke the apocryphal Chinese curse that bestowed the condemnation of “interesting times.” But we’ve crossed well beyond that battle-scarred region. We’ve moved on to a swirling abomination that can only be thought of as “exhausting times.” Being engaged in the current political stories that flash and pop with the frantic urgency of an overloading pinball machine is an invitation to madness, or at least a version of unwanted enlightening that is particularly soul-crushing. None of these examples of egregious abdication of sensible … Continue reading My Writers: Charles P. Pierce
Now Playing: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
It will be very strange when the Guardians of the Galaxy show up, as promised, in the upcoming third Avengers film, tagged Infinity War. I offer that observation as acknowledgment of the uniqueness of writer-director James Gunn’s contribution to the swelling Marvel Cinematic Universe. The revolution of the Marvel movie model is the transference of the interconnectedness of comic book sagas to the big screen, and the studio has been hitting that hard in recent efforts. Each separate movie has its own strengths and weaknesses, but a significant part of what defines them is their placement in the bigger pictures. Individual … Continue reading Now Playing: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Programming Note
This space has gathered dust the past few days. It was the unexpected result of a toppling series of dominoes related to a recent move and the colossal ineptitude of a certain multinational corporation. It especially pains me that I missed yesterday’s College Countdown post, but circumstances were largely beyond my control. Since my mind and spirit are still weary (in part because of yet one more service technician curveball hurled right at my noggin earlier today), I’m giving myself one more day of trembling stasis. Content returns tomorrow with a movie review of a big ol’ blockbuster. Whatever could … Continue reading Programming Note
One for Friday: Glass Eye, “Cecilia”
I’ve written about the allure cover songs had — still have, maybe — for college radio programmers. Much as there’s a fierce instinct for the new, new, new, there’s a reason most commercial radio stations default to a mere handful of songs that cycle eternally. The familiar stirs a powerful craving. Discovery is great, but we all want to sing along. So as much as I’d like to champion one of the originals included on the Austin band Glass Eye’s Christine EP, which hit the student-run radio station during my first semester there, the reality is that I gravitated to … Continue reading One for Friday: Glass Eye, “Cecilia”
Coffee for Two 