By Spencer. September was full of so many big releases, I’m still working my way through them all. So while we very well may have more to say about The Dead Weather, Gary Clark, Jr., Foals, Beach House, Joan Shelley, CHVRCHES, Patty Griffin, Silversun Pickups, and plenty of others, today’s edition of The Consumer is a progress report of sorts on several artists who have been longtime favorites of the site. We start with Glen Hansard. Continue reading
The Sounds
The Projects: The Essential 90s Albums, #15-11
By The S&N Staff. Continuing with S&N’s countdown of the 25 most essential albums of the 90s, we’ve already tackled #25-21 and #20-16. Today we roll out the next five, and just like the decade they came from, they’re full of hope, sadness, and a little Rage: Continue reading
The Consumer: Picks For August
By Spencer. August is usually a slow month for new releases, so this month’s Consumer is a little more sparse than usual. But don’t overlook some great new material from Seattle songwriter Noah Gundersen, a punk rock opus from Titus Andronicus, and a revealing new record from blues great Buddy Guy. Continue reading
The Consumer: Picks For July
By Spencer. For July’s edition of The Consumer, we dip our toes into pretty much every genre on the map. Check out new alt-country from Jason Isbell, new folk rock from Rachel Sermanni, new Motown from Leon Bridges, new punk from Desaparecidos, and new (old) jazz from the master, Miles Davis. Continue reading
The Projects: The Essential 90s Albums, #20-16
By The S&N Staff. Earlier this month, the S&N staff began our countdown of the 25 most essential albums of the 90s. Number 25-21 featured groundbreaking works from Nine Inch Nails, Modest Mouse, Beastie Boys, Elliott Smith, and The Notorious B.I.G. Today, we continue the list with numbers 20-16: Continue reading
The Projects: The Essential 90s Albums, #25-21
By The S&N Staff. There may be some generational bias at play here, but the 90s just might’ve been the peak of the album experience. In that gap in time between the MTV and radio dominance of the 80s and the Napster and iTunes takeover of the 2000s came a wave of rock and hip-hop artists who saw music as more than just a collection of singles. Whether fueled by nostalgia for the classic rock era of the concept LP, or a reflexive cynicism of “selling out,” these artists had ambitions toward a higher level of creativity. Continue reading
The Stagediver: Foo Fighters 20th Anniversary Blowout @ RFK Stadium, Washington, DC
By Spencer. “Did you think there was any fucking way I was gonna cancel this show?!” Dave Grohl screamed from his throne at center stage—a contraption made up of lights and guitar necks that was seemingly dreamed up by some unholy mind meld of George R.R. Martin, George Clinton, and George Jetson. Grohl broke his leg two weeks ago when he fell off the stage during a show in Sweden, and everyone had feared that yesterday’s festival, commemorating the 20th anniversary of the band’s 1995 self-titled debut album, might not go on. But just as they’ve been doing for two decades and counting now, the skeptics underestimated Dave Grohl. Continue reading
The Consumer: Picks For June
By Spencer. In this month’s edition of The Consumer, we feature the revolutionary solo debut from Jamie xx, plus new material from Florence + The Machine and Dawes, and a summertime hip-hop surprise courtesy of Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment. Continue reading
The Mixologist: The Other 80s
By Spencer. When I dared last week to make a statement about what the definitive soundtrack to the 80s should be, I knew I’d be wandering into controversial territory. As Antony pointed out, I set the rules for my list—artists who in my opinion transcended the 80s were immediately disqualified—in a way that shut off all debate. And while dodging debate is never my goal, it’s true that I intentionally focused on a narrow subset of quintessentially 80s music: pop music full of synths and saxophones and sounds we haven’t really heard from the music of any other decade. But I was also quite clear that I was in no way attempting to speak to what the “best” songs of the 80s were.
Meanwhile, Biff pointed out from the flip side of the argument that there were a lot of artists on the forefront of the alternative wave—bands like The Cure and The Smiths and The Pixies—as well as a lot of early hip-hop that I excluded from my list. As he noted, that music defined the 80s for a smaller but hugely important contingent of listeners—making my list somewhat less than “definitive.” Well, today, I’m more than happy to answer their charge with a playlist focusing on the other 80s. Continue reading
The High-Fiver: 80s Movies Not Made In The 80s
1. The Wedding Singer (1998)
2. American Psycho (2007)
3. Wet Hot American Summer (2001)
4. Donnie Darko (2001)
5. Adventureland (2009)
Contributed by: Spencer
The Mixologist: The Definitive 80s
By Spencer. Look, at this point in our internet-fueled lives, we all know that a top 100 list is more useful for provoking arguments than for actually ranking anything. So it’s with great hesitancy that I take the bait here, but a few weeks ago, I came across this list of the top 80s songs from NME, and I just have to protest. New Order’s “Blue Monday” at number one? A top twenty featuring The Cure, The Smiths, Joy Division, The Stone Roses, The Pixies, and The Jesus And Mary Chain? I’m not debating the merit of any of these artists. But these are only the best 80s songs when viewed through the lens of the 90s. They’re listed for their influence on future artists, not for their quintessence to their own era. I lived through the 80s, and I can tell you firsthand that these are not the songs I remember when I think of those days. In focusing on artistic quality, NME fundamentally failed to grasp the essence of 80s music. That’s why I’m here to help. Continue reading
The Consumer: Picks For April
By Spencer. In this month’s edition of The Consumer, we feature Alabama Shakes, plus a slew of under-the-radar releases from Villagers, Courtney Barnett, The Wombats, Say Lou Lou, and The Staves. Continue reading
The Professor: Britpop 101
By Antony. Recently, a few things have reminded me of Britpop: Radiohead’s The Bends turned 20 a few weeks ago, Blur’s been killing it with a new album on the horizon, and I’ve been pondering what to make of the new Mumford & Sons song, which led me to contemplate who Coldplay is, which led me back to The Bends. All of this is to say, I decided to dig a little deeper into Britpop, and I’ve come to a conclusion: Britpop is not simply the triumphant run of a number of British bands in the mid-90s; it’s really what British rock has always been about and continues to be about.
It’s generally accepted that Britpop begins in 1993 with Suede’s self-titled debut and is most certainly finished by the time Oasis’s bloated third album, Be Here Now, is released in 1997. I want to tell the longer history of Britpop. Continue reading
The Mixologist: The Good In Goodbye
By Spencer. Maybe it seems strange, after a long hiatus, to say hello to this site again with a mix about goodbyes. But goodbyes aren’t such awful things. They can be the first step in moving on. They can be the first step in coming home. They can take you to beautiful new places or help you leave behind your troubles for a while. They can remind you how much you miss someone. They can remind you never to leave them again. You can say goodbye to people and to places. And sometimes, in the never-ending effort to find yourself, you have to say goodbye to your preconceptions. These are eleven songs about goodbyes: mostly happy ones, maybe a couple of sad ones, but all of them with a purpose. Continue reading
The Mixologist: This Is Your Life
By Morgan. Stop waiting until life looks like you imagined, I tell myself. Your life is happening and serving you now, my mother reminds me. Abandon all road maps but the one in your heart. You are no longer on the same route as your peers, so stop trying to want what others want. Listen to the voices that agree with your own sense of what to do next. Worry more, says your ego and the cultural cult of busy and high salaries equating to success. Worry less, says your youthful heart and advice defying intuition. Worry about what matters, says your passion, because each day you put it off is a bet that you will have time and energy for it later on. Continue reading
The Mixologist: True Love Will Find You In The End
By Antony. Music remains my constant companion. Here are some new songs by some new-to-me artists and a few old favorites. Most of the songs don’t sound particularly new, and that suits me and my mood just fine. Continue reading
The Historian: Masters Of The B-Side
By Spencer. In today’s day of single-song iTunes downloads, the B-side is something of an archaic institution. Strictly speaking, “B-side” once referred to the extra tracks that would be packaged onto a single, and distinguished such songs from the “A-sides” that comprised the single itself. Today, we don’t really package singles that way, so the closest analog is an EP track—but we’re going to start running out of letters if this keeps up. So when I refer to B-sides, I’m going to depart with the conventional nomenclature a bit and loosely include any of an artist’s songs that did not appear on a proper album—so pure singles, along with tracks appearing on EPs, soundtracks, and compilations, and even unreleased or bootleg rarities that make their way onto the internet. These are the songs that, for whatever reason, the artist holds back from the album; maybe they just aren’t as good, maybe they were recorded at a standalone studio session, or maybe they just didn’t fit in with the rest of the album’s aesthetic. There’s an automatic tendency to assume that these songs are inferior to the rest of an artist’s output. And that’s what I’m here to dispel. Because there have always been a few artists who take the B-side a little more seriously, and a deeper look at their B-sides will reveal some of their most rewarding or unique work. Continue reading
The Year In Music 2014: Hendricks’s Picks
By Hendricks. Contrary to popular belief, my 1 to 5 music blog posts a year do not pay the bills, so my end of 2014 attention was unfortunately focused on other things than getting my year in review out to the masses.
Without further delay, here are my top 14 albums of 2014: Continue reading
The Professor: Ryan Adams 101
By Spencer. If previous writings (such as this, this, this, this, this, or this) haven’t made it clear, Ryan Adams is a longtime favorite on this site. But with a catalog spanning fifteen official solo albums, three Whiskeytown albums, numerous EPs, and probably a dozen more unreleased albums worth of material that you can find in various disreputable corners of the internet, well, he can be an intimidating artist for novices. With so much material to choose from, and so many different sounds to his name, where do you start? That’s where I’m here to help. Continue reading
The Year In Music 2014: Mark’s Picks
By Mark. This year’s list took some effort. I ran through top list after top list, but had trouble finding ten records that really stood out. Some early favorites such as Cloud Nothings‘ Here And Nowhere Else faded out of rotation and never came back. Benjamin Booker wowed me for two weeks and then I forgot about him. Sharon Van Etten’s Are We There has some really bright spots, but the album dulls midway through. And as much as it pains me to say it, Ben Howard‘s I Forget Where We Were has the same problem. Continue reading
The Year In Music 2014: Jason’s Picks
By Jason. When 2014 began, I had no idea who J.J. Cale was. But thanks to Clapton’s tribute album, his work became my favorite of 2014. Despite spending the year listening to a wide range of artists outside my usual listening habits, I kept coming back to this album. Cale’s “Tulsa Sound” is so smooth and effortless. Plus you have Willie Nelson and a more interesting Tom Petty than you get on Hypnotic Eye. After spending almost 20 years listening to more face-melting guitar than any person should, I’ve come to enjoy a well-honed rhythm and the perfectly placed lead. Continue reading
The Year In Music 2014: Biff’s Picks
By Biff. I don’t know if it is being in the last months of my thirties, having a kid in high school, or counting the days until my wife graduates, but I’ve been in and out of a mild depression all year. I’ve had a hard time staying focused on new music this year and in fact only 1 or 2 new albums have really moved me this year. I’ve listened to a lot of older stuff lately: the Dylan and the Band Basement Tapes, Van Morrison’s Veedon Fleece, Otis Redding, The Clash, Fugazi a lot of older Wu-Tang and Rancid (which I surprisingly enjoyed a lot of the latter two’s new albums). But the album I’ve been obsessed with this year is the Velvet Underground’s self titled album. That album is amazing and it rides the highs and lows of emotions that I’ve been traveling on these days. Continue reading
The Year In Music 2014: Morgan’s Picks
By Morgan. This year I felt like a poor music explorer, partially because I poured so much time and energy into job searching and partially because I took time to travel off the grid. So I am honestly more excited to have read Antony and Spencer’s pieces because I have some albums to check out by artists I love yet whose new albums have eluded me. Obviously I need to start paying attention again. But honestly, there are years where I try to be adventurous with my music taste, and this year I suppose I played it safe. My list is comprised of mostly familiar, previously beloved artists, with a few new guys: Hozier and Fink. Continue reading
The Year In Music 2014: Antony’s Picks
By Antony. This was a good year to be into “bluegrass”—which has apparently become an umbrella term for all things folky, Americana, and alt-country. Eight of my fourteen picks land rather comfortably in that genre, and if I’d made the list longer it would be even clearer that this was a bluegrass year. Continue reading
The Year In Music 2014: Spencer’s Picks
By Spencer. As a music blogger, there’s no better time of year than now. Ranking the year’s best releases isn’t just an exercise in appreciating greatness; it’s food for argument. So expect plenty of that as our S&N contributors use the next few weeks to rank their favorite music of 2014. The comments section will no doubt be heated!
If you read my 2013 list over at After The Radio, you know I was less than impressed with last year’s output. My principal complaint? In a year of many good albums, there were no great ones. I’m happy to report that 2014 did not follow that trend. My top five albums this year were each perfect from start to finish. Continue reading
The Mixologist: Whatever Is Given Can Always Be Reimagined
By Antony. Some people journal. I’ve been known to record my thoughts here and there. But really, I try to channel my energy into projects that aren’t quite confessional. So I make mixes.
I collect songs. The list builds, gets unwieldily and jagged, and then, it begins to emerge. It’s rarely so purposeful as to have a unifying rule or even thematic consistency. It simply sounds right to me today. Continue reading
The High-Fiver: Best Final Albums
1. Nirvana – In Utero
2. Elliott Smith – Figure 8
3. The Beatles – Let It Be
4. Nick Drake – Pink Moon
5. Fugazi – The Argument
Contributed by: Spencer
The Critic: Thom Yorke’s Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes
By Spencer. As pissed as much of the American public seemed to be at getting a free U2 album dropped into their iTunes library by surprise, no one must be more pissed about it than Radiohead’s Thom Yorke. He had probably been planning the surprise release via BitTorrent of his new solo album, Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes, for weeks or months, and now a band as unhip as U2 is beating him to the punch? What’s more, I’m sorry to say that U2’s album is a thoroughly better piece of music—more adventurous and way more entertaining. By comparison, Yorke’s latest sounds stuffy, uninspired, and may I say, a little boring? Continue reading
The Mixologist: This Is Rock
By Spencer. If you missed last week’s post on whether rock is really dead, then you also missed our surprise, monster-sized, 50-song mix spanning the entire history of rock music. From what many would call the very first rock song (“Rock Around The Clock”) through all the greats—Zep, the Stones, Clapton, Sabbath, the Boss, Aerosmith, Queen, AC/DC, Jon Bon, GNR, Nirvana, Oasis, the White Stripes, and of course, Kiss—this one’s got it all. So whether you like the old stuff or the new stuff, punk or hair metal, grunge or Brit rock, Cobain or Grohl, S&N Mix 7 has something for you. Take a tour of rock history in just under four hours. Continue reading
The Theorist: Is Rock Really Dead?
By Spencer. By now, you’ve likely seen the quote making its way around the internet from the interview Kiss frontman Gene Simmons gave to Esquire Magazine: “Rock is finally dead.” If you read the interview in its entirety, you see that he’s not really eulogizing rock music as a genre; he’s speaking about all music, insofar as the record industry has passed into irrelevancy as a means of financing and distributing it, and he’s critiquing the role that internet file sharing has played in making songwriting and recording a virtually profitless enterprise for the aspiring musician. Simmons isn’t wrong about any of that, and he’s not exactly treading new ground in pointing out what a thousand writers for Slate and Salon have been saying for a decade and a half now. I’m not here to add to that tired storyline.
I was much more intrigued by the question I thought Simmons was addressing: is rock music, as we’ve always understood that term, dead? Continue reading
Shadows & Noise 