Don’t you hate it when cubist elephants crash your campfire? The Microphones set up a scene that’s equal parts vast outdoors and eclectic quirks on The Glow, Pt. 2. If there’s a theme to be had within the album, it’s the kind of left-field idiosyncrasy that can only be found in songwriter Phil Elvrum’s home [...]
The Jesus and Mary Chain…
22 May 2011 by Leave a Comment
1985. Cassettes, vinyl, VHS (or Beta). Analog. Now that almost everything is digital, it’s all too easy to default to analog systems as kitschy, ironic, and intentionally chintzy. But not too long ago, it was a means of pure and unadulterated power. The heavy clicks and thumps of vinyl on a turntable; the noisy hiss [...]
Low – Long Division
16 May 2011 by Leave a Comment
I was high as a kite but the guy next to me was higher. I weaved in and out of neighborhoods and got the feeling that I was looking for something I couldn’t name. Whatever it was, it needed the music to be on and loud. The night sky was bleached with a blanket of [...]
The Decemberists – Picaresque
9 May 2011 by Leave a Comment
I have a love/hate relationship with this time of year. When I’m not becoming suddenly aware how much I enjoy the cold or looking cynically yet semi-excitedly at some sort of birthday festivities, I’m sitting at my computer for endless hours, attempting to create a vacuum around myself in order to churn out papers, articles [...]
White Fence – Is Growing Faith
2 May 2011 by Leave a Comment
It may be hard to see the perspective logic of the album art above. There aren’t any clues; no names, no titles, no context. The figures don’t even have faces. The record is White Fence’s latest effort Is Growing Faith, not that you would have known it from the cover. But really, the concept is [...]
Bill Evans Trio - Waltz for Debby
Bloodhound Gang – Hooray for…
Be Back Soon
David Bowie – Low
Veronica Falls - Veronica Falls