Blurbs

* Warning: one of the music videos mentioned in this post contains graphic, even terrifying content of violence, homicide and extreme human malevolence. .. I thought postmodernism, to be honest, was a hoax, for a while, finally seeing the light as likening it to the nightly news and the stories “Six Crushed under Bus in … Read more“Conceiving of a Postmodernist Element in Music with the Help of Music Videos: Cat Power and Liars”

Sure, most Beck fans already know The Information rocks. It came out back in a time when the event of an artist like Beck doling a new release still created a BUZZ around town, like your favorite team making the championship, or an eclipse, or whatever. Probably more than any other instance, the luke-warm Pitchfork … Read more“Dolby’s Rupees: Beck – The Information”

I have a weird request for all readers of this site. I want you to familiarize yourselves with Dayton, Ohio. Of course, I am mostly just joking, but, in general, we bloggers would mostly extol the idea of having a readership which could readily name the three most important bands from Dayton — Brainiac, The … Read more“Takeaways from My Disillusioning Little Pilgrimmage to Downtown Dayton, Ohio”

You might remember that saying that goes, “If something seems too good to be true, it probably is.” Of course, it’s depressing to think that we’re moving toward that conclusion as relates to Spotify, the most-preferred streaming platform in the world and the entity that’s pretty much completely taken the place of CD, in my … Read more“Spotify Blues”

Amidst this foreground of what can sometimes, seemingly, approach the realm of “detritus,” you’re likely to find a reliable local bloke playing the Gin Blossoms on a juke box, then promptly glaring at you and wondering why he’s not considered “cool” for his selection. Well, given the obvious fact that he probably doesn’t shop at … Read more“Discussing Sebadoh and the Concept of ‘Coolness’ in the ’90s”

I’m not sure what exactly it was but something about the Whole Foods store on 86th Street in Indianapolis triggered this grand, holistic feeling of happiness in me. It must have been the friendliness of the cute Whole Body team leader combined with, generally, a day that didn’t come with a lot of drama. At … Read more“On The Beatles and the Concept of ‘Foci’”

Once upon a time, there was a band called Head Automatica. And they were… well, what were they? They were loud, pretty much, if that narrows it down. They were a dance-pop sextet with a lead singer, Darryl Palumbo, whose other band was the hardcore-leaning Jawbox, who’d employ iconic hip-hop producer Dan the Automator for … Read more“Can a Song Be Your Favorite on the Album Because of its Positioning within it?: Popaganda.”

I just got done with the novel written by Logic, the rapper, or Bobby Hall, entitled Supermarket. I have to say — it retained my interest for the whole way. It’s written in a very clear, simple style (like a novel written by a rapper would theoretically be), there’s a lot of plot content, violence, … Read more“Supermarket: The Novel to End All Novels (Or So Logic Hopes)”

XTC definitely isn’t required material, let me please first say. They’re not the cornerstone of British pop-punk, like The Clash and the Buzzcocks, or of classic rock, like Floyd and Zep, or of “Britpop,” like The Stone Roses, Oasis and Blur. In fact, they always seemed to embrace being the odd men out, letting a … Read more“Carving out a Niche for Oranges & Lemons.”

You know Matt Pinfield doesn’t run the world anymore, you might say, when you come across a girl who “can’t think of a song.” Yes, that’s right — and this was in 2011, sadly enough — our Spanish instructor asked us each to name a song and this one girl goes, “I can’t think of … Read more“Things Have Shifted from ‘What Kind of Music do You Like?’ to ‘Do You Have Music Taste?’”