College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1995, 76 – 74
#76. Various Artists, Gag Me with a Spoon This album practically seems like it was genetically designed to earn spins at my radio alma mater. Packed full of Wisconsin bands (label Don’t Records was, I believe, based in Milwaukee), the conceit of the release finds the group delivering reinventions of some of the most familiar songs of the nineteen-eighties. There’s also a nice hat tip to local heroes Violent Femmes with a cover of “I Held Her in My Arms,” hardly a smash hit but still a damn fine song. The compilation is spotted with bands not all that well known … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1995, 76 – 74
From the Archive: Hudson Hawk
When I wrote about critics attacking a film with malevolent glee earlier this week, I was reminded of an earlier instance when I employed the same term in a review of a similarly reviled film. If it seems odd that I so clearly recall two words from a review I penned nearly twenty-five years ago, the explanation is simple: I mispronounced the word “malevolent” on the air, spitting out something that sounded like “male-vahl-ent.” I had read the word many times over, but I don’t believe I’d ever heard it spoken. Luckily, my radio show partner corrected me in … Continue reading From the Archive: Hudson Hawk
One for Friday: Hot Chip, “One Life Stand”
When this post goes up, I will be in a cart pointed southward, heading back to a state I once thought I’d abandoned forever. (Well, I didn’t really think that, but Im pleased to have an opportunity to link to that animated gif again). There’s good reason to cross into that land of ridiculousness, though. We have two great friends who are getting married, the blessed members of a sudden, surprising, and yet totally logical love affair, the sort of out of the blue announcement that prompts happy replies of “Well, of course.” Shortly after the wedding was announced and my household … Continue reading One for Friday: Hot Chip, “One Life Stand”
Top Ten Movies of 2014 — Number Three
Coherence takes place almost entirely within a single house, and yet it truly resides in an incredibly expansive existence. A group of friends gathers for a dinner party. The scene is filled with the sort of easygoing banter that carries with it a complicated shared history, include a few passing hints of resentments and conflicts previously addressed and bypassed but not quite forgiven. In the midst of all this chatter arises curious, largely unworried conversation about news stories about a comet passing through the night sky. Then the power goes out. From there, James Ward Byrkit’s feature directorial debut spins off … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2014 — Number Three
The New Releases Shelf: No Cities to Love
I believe I officially have to rethink my standing policy of greeting all band reunions with unyielding skepticism that extends to the point of preemptive dismissal. I’ll admit it’s been outdated for a while, a vestige of the time when I and many of my fellow college radio-reared music snob cohorts measured artistic credibility beginning with a consideration of distance from anything that could be termed selling out. Decisions seemingly made on the basis of readily available dollars rather than following some fictitious muse were commonly met with peak animosity, and getting the band back together was one of those … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf: No Cities to Love
Top Ten Movies of 2014 — Number Four
Snowpiercer achieves remarkable narrative freedom precisely because director Bong Joon-ho believes in sticking to the rules. Other films that strive for thrill ride status, either in terms of vividly stirred intellect or full-throttled action (Snowpiercer is one of the rare beasts that goes for both), are all too quick to abandon internal logic when it serves the perceived need to set pulses pounding with clockwork regularity. Bong understands the value of setting parameters — maybe your own wonderfully gonzo parameters, but parameters nonetheless — and then honoring them. A movie doesn’t have to be believable to be plausible. It can … Continue reading Top Ten Movies of 2014 — Number Four
Your apocalypse was fab for a girl who couldn’t choose between the shower or the bath
I’ve been enthusiastic about Jupiter Ascending for quite some time, and that anticipation only ticked upward when the film suffered the ignominy of a postponement from the heart of summer to the dreary days of early February, a scheduling shift announced a mere six weeks before its original release date. That’s because I wasn’t necessarily craving my time in the theater before the latest sci-fi extravaganza from Andy and Lana Wachowski (or as they’re billed in the credits for Jupiter Ascending, simply “The Wachowskis,” like they’ve formed a traveling family band) out of a belief it was going to be good. Given what … Continue reading Your apocalypse was fab for a girl who couldn’t choose between the shower or the bath
College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1995, 79 – 77
79. G. Love & Special Sauce, Coast to Coast Motel I don’t have very many distinct memories relating to the Philadelphia act G. Love & Special Sauce, which makes it all the more clear which one is my favorite. I was having a spirited conversation with a friend of mine about the state of radio, particularly the quality of the student broadcasters stewarding the airwaves at our shared alma mater. While acknowledging that we were all novices once and generosity is called for, he shared that one deejay caused him special dismay whenever she was on the air. As an example, he … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1995, 79 – 77
From the Archive: Away From Her
As I (and other equally devoted members of my household) make the requisite mad dash through elusive year-end features to make certain we have a complete accounting of all the Oscar-nominated fare, at least in the major categories, I finally … Continue reading From the Archive: Away From Her
One for Friday: Eggs Over Easy, “Henry Morgan”
Among the many targets of my retroactive pop culture grumpiness, classic rock radio is one especially deserving of my ire. There wasn’t a flood of rock ‘n’ roll history available to anyone with an on-ramp to the information superhighway and the diligence to keep following hyperlink spurs until they discovered something wild and different. There were magazines to read, but they could only describe the sound, not share it. Some benefitted from cool older siblings or other local rock aficionados who were happy to pass along some black vinyl wonder with an insistent “Listen to this.” The best bet, though, … Continue reading One for Friday: Eggs Over Easy, “Henry Morgan”
Coffee for Two 