It’s a shaaaame that this is necessary, but ambition has eclipsed evaluation in certain arenas here, and it’s time to take a stand. .. 10 Robert Frodeman/Adam Briggle – “When Philosophy Lost its Way” (New York Times) . “Before (philosophy’s) migration to the university,” argue Frodeman and Briggle, “Philosophers could be found anywhere — serving […]
10 Wu-Tang Clan – Forever . Polymorphousness, polymorphousness, polymorphousness. Hell, your double LP BETTER have it. “It’s Yourz” follows heroically the world-concerned, mucky “A Better Tomorrow,” and synopsizes things into a nice anthemic chorus of success: “It’s yourz the world in the palm of your hand / It’s yourz 23 million on useful land / […]
* “The world is collapsing around our ears I turned up the radio I can’t hear it” – R.E.M. . I HATE when music conversations turn to the mainstream. But my first encounter with “indie rock,” in the ’90’s, was with Sleater-Kinney, whom I hated at the time: their music sounded like women giving childbirth. […]
Ah, it’s not easy being ’90’s dance music. It’s like being an old lady in a tattoo parlor. We had FINALLY defeated carnal paganism in music, or so we thought, musicians like Pearl Jam and R.E.M. were vegan and/or socially conscious, and “alternative” rock, as proffered by Nirvana which bashed he-man misogynist types who would […]
* There are people who won’t let you be happy, And people who won’t you be sad, And in between, Hopefully, Some sense, Or something better. .. It’s funny: in 2014, I thought albums were a joke, an antiquated assembly line product through which to feign false inspiration. This year, I felt like they were […]
I got an aura just LOOKING at this list. But lemme backtrack a moment. I’m from Indiana, the “Crossroads of America,” a euphemism for the fact that my proud state has more railroads, functional and also unfortunately, derelict, than any other. We’re actually barred from going into debt to the federal government, because of a […]
10 David Bowie – Best of Bowie . It’s not really an overstatement to say that David Bowie’s career consisted of constant about faces, sometimes even within albums, as on Let’s Dance with the angular bizarro-disco followed by the straight ahead rocker “Modern Love,” so a greatest hits collection is a trusty hip holster for […]
* “Day is long and nothing is wasted” – Sugar Ray . 10 The Pains of Being Pure at Heart There’s something supremely run-of-the-mill about the Pains, and there’s something supremely perfect about them. Their self-titled debut is the type of living organism that exists and exudes with tentacles, besting Best Coast, jibing with the […]