The Norman Rockwell aesthetic is one that gets exploited constantly — by 90s punk revivalists seeking campy irony, tragically sincere housewives seeking Christmas decorations, and virtually everyone in between. The Magnetic Fields places themselves firmly within that strange crowd with 1994′s Holiday, in which lead songwriter Stephen Merritt and company establish a sound that would [...]
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 [...]
The Residents – Meet The…
4 April 2011 by Leave a Comment
Could you imagine what that would’ve looked like in 1974? It was only four years after the Beatles had broken up for good, and in their 10 years together as a band they changed the face of popular music forever. Meet the Beatles, originally released in 1964, was the United States’ introduction to a brand [...]
Blur – Parklife
1 November 2010 by 1 Comment
In a dusty box somewhere lies your past. No, I don’t mean a coffin, you weirdo – I mean photos. Everyone has photos of their past somewhere. Sometimes they’re fond memories, and sometimes they’re pretty embarrassing too. Usually there’s a combination of these two that help you create your own slice of the universe, gripped [...]
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