Lost Weekend

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Band:Phoebe Brdigers
Album: Lost Weekend
Best song: “Bobby” and “Lost Boys”
Worst song: “As Above,” maybe. It’s still very good.

What is a normal relationship with an artist you admire?

Artists of all stripes disappoint us all the time, from the smallness of being disappointed with John Mulaney’s divorce/drug problems to the obscene bigotry of J.K. Rowling (and much of that foggy set of islands in the north Atlantic, apparently) to the fullness of various abusive musicians. Knowing about these things isn’t only a modern phenomenon, but the proliferation of media – both social and conventional – means we know more about the people whose work we enjoy. Continue reading →

brat

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Band: Charli XCX
Album:brat
Best song:“Sympathy is a Knife” is the best song of 2024.
Worst song:I could do without “Mean Girls,” but the record isn’t exactly made for me.

Long time, no see.

It’s been almost a full two years since I wrote about SZA’s SOS in this space. Much has changed in that time; I got laid off and got a new job, for example. Two years is both a long time and nothing. Continue reading →

SOS

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Band: SZA
Album: SOS
Best song: “Ghost in the Machine” is the best song of 2022.
Worst song: “F2F” does not appeal to me

A few weeks ago, Ben Gibbard projects Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service announced a joint upcoming tour in which both bands would play their 2003 seminal albums – Transatlanticism and Give Up, respectively – in full on the tour as a way to mark the 20th anniversary of the release of the albums. I have a tortured relationship with both bands in my own mind, but I find both records to be absolute classics released during a time when I needed them. I’ve written about each (here and here), even noting that Give Up was one of the best albums of the 2000s. Continue reading →

Call Down the Sun

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Band: Konvent
Album: Call Down the Sun
Best song: “Harena,” “Fatamorgana” and “Grains” are amazing.
Worst song: “Never Rest” is the weakest song on the album.

What a year.

The nature of the calendar is such that all these things are a little artificial; resolutions and such can be done at any time. As a Jewish person, I also have the High Holiday time as a time for reflection, but certainly birthdays can bring the same purpose. But, still. What a year. Continue reading →

Midnights

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Band: Taylor Swift
Album: Midnights
Best song: The first three songs are all terrific. I like “Question…?” and “Bejeweled” a lot, too.
Worst song: “Vigilante Shit” is extremely not my shit.

I’ve written on this site twice about Taylor Swift, once in an overwhelmingly condescending tone and once avoiding her for most of the post. So, let me present a mea culpa for the first: I was wrong. Continue reading →

Retreat From The Sun

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Band: that dog.
Album: Retreat From the Sun
Best song: “Never Say Never” is great. “Long Island” rocks.
Worst song: “Until the Day I Die” doesn’t really fit on the record, but maybe that’s the point? I don’t know.

I guess Netflix is bringing back (some of) the cast from That 70s Show for a new series next month about the 1990s. I will not watch it, though not because I have any animus for the producers, cast or even the 1990s, as a decade. I just don’t watch much TV. Continue reading →

At Action Park

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Band: Shellac
Album: At Action Park
Best song: “The Admiral” is one of my favorite Shellac songs
Worst song: Nah.

Of the people I’ve admired most in music, Steve Albini is definitely near the top. He is not without pretense, of course, but he has been a deeply thoughtful guy and has been part of some of the best records in history and has influenced some of the best bands in history. Continue reading →

Cool It Down

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Band: Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Album: Cool It Down
Best song: “Wolf” and “Spitting Off the Edge of the World”
Worst song: “Mars.”

I do not have kids. I’ve gone over this fact in this space before (and if you know me personally, you’ve probably heard me joke about it and some of the hijinks around it that touch my romantic life) and nothing has changed since I wrote about it more than ten years ago. Continue reading →