It’s funny, I was talkin’ to this broad I kinda liked a few years ago. She hated hip-hop (or “rap” as she called it), and I said I liked the point where hip-hop met electronica. She seemed to give me some credit for this, and at the time it was almost just kind of an … Read more“Hip-Hop and Electronica… Sniff, Where’s Al Bundy?”
So when did rock and roll become a competition? The day the music died, I guess. I was just listening though to this incredibly droll release known as Autechre’s Peel Sessions, and beyond being markedly devoid of overly chesty occidental tomfoolery, unlike most “beats”/”trip-hop” material not called Tricky or Bjork, it presents a valuable element … Read more“Phoenix: Hands on the Wheel, Casually”
I’d like to preface this by saying that GZA is still the BEST, just listen to the grittiness of Pro Tools, he’s still got it. One album every ten years is more than enough to sustain proof of this in him, at this point. And I could just as easily replace the word “luckiest” in … Read more“Method Man — The Luckiest Member of Wu-Tang”
Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, it’s safe to say, is a desperate plea to the cosmos on the part of Brit Daniel for reciprocation of mind-boggling emotion. Sometimes, I think, critics, or just hipsters/de facto undercover papa razzi in general, get caught up in what a musical artist does in his or her personal life. … Read more“Dolby’s Rupees: ‘Rhythm and Soul’ by Spoon”
A few misconceptions were dispelled in my mind by Mo’ Meta Blues, the Questlove book. First of all, I’ll never again doubt the validity of a statement by Black Thought that, and I quoth a fine, strangely underexposed song “Thought at Work,” “You’s a thug / ‘Not really’ is the answer to that.” He’s “Stamped … Read more“Putting the Pieces of the Puzzle Together: Black Thought from Mo’ Meta“
Through nearby stringent parties, I find that Any human contact Would be more than I could stand, More than I could even want … And I survey the things I have owned … Earlier I’d Walked out my door and imagined myself Catapulting into the middle of the street, And starting multiple bonfires On each … Read more“Summer is a Time for the Second Talking Heads Album”
I’m thinking about opening a record store with my friend, though he doesn’t know it yet. We’ll be using his funds. I’ll just sit there and run it, and I’ll only need like $15,000 a year. The store will have fresh coffee on at all times for customers to drink, and it will sell beer, … Read more“Talking Heads or Buzzcocks?”
Yo La Tengo on Fade sound like a band that wakes up at noon, brews gourmet coffee on a French press while fetching the New York Times, pours coffee adding a little cardamom, walks down to an ethnic market, maybe talking to a relative on the phone. They’ve got it made, and they make it. … Read more“A Bit on Fade and Yo La Tengo”
These puppies do exist, and it’s nice. “Black Water” by the Doobie Brothers. Sedates a whole belligerent bar, all in a single bound. “Not Even the Trees” by Hootie & the Blowfish. Great emotion to volume ratio. Track 10 on Cracked Rear View, it somehow has a harder edge than the rest of the tracks, … Read more“Mellow Songs that Absolve Anger”
There’s something about the north. I was just looking at this thing my friend had put on facebook about how gas prices are expensive up here in the Chicago area, some of the most expensive in the nation, and EVERYONE was grasping at straws for a reason why this is. How about the north just … Read more“Bonobo: Giving Due Props”