By Spencer. A lot of the mixes we post on The Mixologist aim for some kind of emotional and sonic coherence — a common atmosphere, if you will. This is not one of them. See, one of the powerful things about music is the way it can swing wildly from pole to pole, and in that moment of transition, slap you in the face with a whole new sound or a jarring new feeling. These songs go from hate to apology, from manic to depressive and back again, and some of the fun is being lulled into one mood, only to be hit with its opposite. True masters like St. Vincent and Elbow can even do this within the same track. So embrace the change and listen. Continue reading
The Sounds
The Conversationalist: U2’s Songs Of Innocence
By Spencer and Antony. In the internet age, we rarely get true surprises when it comes to our entertainment. It’s a world full of spoiler alerts and leaked Instagram pictures from the set. The music industry doesn’t even try to keep anything under wraps for the most part; any moderately anticipated album is often available for streaming in its entirety some weeks or months ahead of its release date. So U2’s surprise release of Songs Of Innocence on Tuesday—as a free iTunes download, no less!—caught me completely off-guard. As Consequence Of Sound so aptly put it, U2 pulled off a Beyonce and a Radiohead at the same time! Continue reading
The Stagediver: The Ryan Adams Album Release Party @ The 9:30 Club, Washington, DC
By Spencer. The tickets sold out in ten seconds. I’ll say that again. Ten fucking seconds. Those kind of expectations are damn near impossible to meet. And Ryan Adams didn’t bother trying. For the official release party and the kickoff to his fall tour, he came to the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC—long considered one of the nation’s top venues—and acted like he was playing a frat party in his best friend’s driveway. The music was loose and the banter with the crowd was even looser, spanning topics from The Amityville Horror 2 to mushrooms to an imaginary cover band called the Dingo Infestation. (Trust me, some of this actually made sense in context). Continue reading
The Critic: Ryan Adams & The Meaning Of Ryan Adams
By Spencer. Ryan Adams has always been two artists: the hard-mouthed alt-country troubadour and the 80s rock nostalgia junkie. So what should we make of the fact that his latest album is simply named Ryan Adams? Is it a rejection of the duality I just described? Does he think this batch of songs represents the real Ryan Adams? Or after thirteen albums as a solo artist, has he just stopped giving a shit about naming these things? Whatever the answer, Ryan Adams the songwriter has clearly touched on something, because Ryan Adams the album is the first truly great rock record he’s put together. Continue reading
The Professor: Glen Hansard 101
By Antony. When in doubt, begin where you began. I set out to familiarize myself with Glen Hansard’s work with The Frames and The Swell Season because I fell in love with his 2012 solo album Rhythm And Repose. Of course that was about two years ago, and I did nothing. The catalyst for finally doing it was that I saw Glen Hansard at the Hollywood Bowl a few weeks ago. He and his large band—about a dozen people—were fantastic. He overflowed with joy and gratitude, and his storytelling was absolutely charming. In fact, my only complaint was that some backstage miscommunication truncated Hansard’s set—though with a flash of Irish rebellion, he played nearly 30 minutes past curfew.
So in the afterglow of the show, I found the motivation to give some time to one of the finest folk musicians working today. What follows is what I’ve learned. Fair warning: I’m sure my list is heretical to any longtime Hansard follower and that doesn’t bother me one bit. Continue reading
The Editor: August Update
Just a little note to let you know we’re not going anywhere. Sadly, many of us at S&N actually have day jobs, and that’s getting in the way of writing much lately. However, you can look forward to reviews of the new Ryan Adams album (as well as his upcoming record release party at the 9:30 Club); a retrospective look back at the catalog of Glen Hansard (of The Frames, The Swell Season, and the movie Once); a few new Conversationalists on the greatest actors working in film today and the most important albums of the 90s; new Historian pieces on the pre-Code Hollywood era and the best in silent movies (no, seriously); new editions of the Mixologist; and the usual previews and rundowns of current and upcoming movies and albums. So hang tight, and be on the lookout for more to come in the next few weeks and months!
The High-Fiver: Definitive 80s Albums
1. Michael Jackson – Thriller
2. Prince – Purple Rain
3. U2 – The Joshua Tree
4. The Clash – London Calling
5. Depeche Mode – Violator
Contributed by: Spencer
The Consumer: Spoon, Angus & Julia Stone, The Raveonettes, & Jenny Lewis
By Spencer. In this edition of The Consumer, we feature new releases from several old favorites — Spoon, Angus & Julia Stone, Jenny Lewis, and The Raveonettes. Continue reading
The Futurist: Upcoming Albums For September & October
By Spencer. This month’s Futurist looks at the most interesting music releases coming along in September and October. Heavy on solo albums and side projects, there are a lot of interesting possibilities on the horizon. Which of them will hit the sweet spot? Continue reading
The Confessor: Guns N’ Roses In The Use Your Illusion Era
By Spencer. As I wrote in the very first post on this site, S&N promises to take seriously both the artistic and the lowbrow. Hopefully you’ve seen that in some of the songs we’ve included in our Mixologist series, as well as in some of the topics we’ve taken on so far. But with our new series, The Confessor, I want to give our contributors the chance to come clean about some of their favorite guilty pleasures in movies and music. Because let’s face it, the line between bad and good has a funny way of moving around when it’s something you love. Continue reading
The Mixologist: The Forgotten, Vol. 1
By Spencer. Great bands still make forgettable songs. And forgotten songs, sometimes, can still be pretty damn great. For this edition of The Mixologist, I’m featuring some lesser-known tracks from some of the best bands of the 90s. Some of them were singles that tanked. Some of them were album tracks that were wrongly overshadowed. Some were B-sides that only saw the light of day among the true fanatics. Whatever the case, these are songs that deserve your love, and hopefully when heard in a different context, they’ll get the audience they deserve. Continue reading
The High-Fiver: Songs About Texas
1. George Strait – “All My Exes Live In Texas”
2. Lyle Lovett – “That’s Right (You’re Not From Texas)”
3. Jackopierce – “Texas”
4. Pat Green – “Texas On My Mind”
5. Alabama – “If You’re Gonna Play In Texas (You’ve Gotta Have A Fiddle In The Band)”
Contributed by: Spencer
The High-Fiver: 90s Hip-Hop Albums
1. Dr. Dre – The Chronic
2. A Tribe Called Quest – The Low End Theory
3. The Notorious B.I.G. – Ready To Die
4. Wu-Tang Clan – Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
5. Jay-Z – Reasonable Doubt
Contributed by: Spencer
The Historian: Smashing Pumpkins Discography, Vol. 4 (1998-2015)
By Spencer. “Everything ends badly. Or else it wouldn’t end.” — Tom Cruise, Cocktail.
By 1998, the Smashing Pumpkins were already falling apart. Their drummer, Jimmy Chamberlain — whose frenetic style had been a long-underrated X-factor in the band’s success — was gone. The famously frosty relationship between Billy Corgan and his bandmates, James Iha and D’Arcy Wretzky, was only getting worse. And for the first time in their musical career, they seemed spent. With every release bigger than the last, a bubble had been created, and bubbles always burst. It’s a tribute to the Smashing Pumpkins that, in such a time of turmoil, they created their most intimate, their most personal, and their most mature album. Continue reading
The Stagediver: The 2014 Buckle Up Music Festival, Cincinnati, OH
By Jeremy. “That’s what I think country music sounds like, Jason Aldean, and you can tell him that I said that!”
This was the proclamation of Ketch Secor, co-founder of the Old Crow Medicine Show, near the end of their one-hour set at the first annual Buckle Up Music Festival. On this evening it was a tale of two cities, or rather a tale of two countries – music that is. At its home on Pete Rose Way, The Great American Ballpark was hosting contemporary country music stars Jason Aldean, Miranda Lambert, and the Florida Georgia Line. And a few blocks away from that, hugging the banks of the Ohio River, Sawyer Point Park served as the backdrop for a three-day festival celebrating a different kind of country music. While only a short walk separated these venues, an apparent schism existed between the mass popularity of country-pop and the diverse representation of the Buckle Up Music Festival. Continue reading
The Historian: The True Genius Behind Metallica’s Ride The Lightning
By Jason. Thirty years ago, the battle for the best in thrash metal was just getting started. Megadeth recently formed; Anthrax released their debut album, Fistful Of Metal; and Slayer was only a few years from releasing Reign In Blood. But on July 27, 1984 — exactly thirty years ago this Sunday — four California metal heads effectively ended the competition as it was just getting started with the release of their band’s second studio album, Ride The Lightning. Metallica was on the path to becoming synonymous with metal music. And they would never look back. Continue reading
The Mixologist: Spin The Bottle
By Spencer. Bartenders used to be “bartenders” — now they’re “mixologists.” So it’s appropriate that we devote an edition of The Mixologist to the joys of alcohol.
Like a lot of benders, it starts with a headache (“Hangover”) followed by a rallying cry (“Let’s All Go To The Bar”). There’s tall boys (“Cheap Beer”), hard stuff (“One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer”), bottles of the finest bubbly (“Pink Champagne”), and even a brown bag special (“St. Ides Heaven”). And because it happens to the best of us, it closes with the usual questions (“Why Don’t We Get Drunk And Screw”), consequences (“Too Drunk To Fuck”), accusations (You only kiss me when you’re “Drunk”), and grand exits (“Lived In Bars”). All in all, it’s an entire night out in just sixteen songs. Continue reading
The High-Fiver: Albums That Should Only Be Listened To At Night
1. The XX – xx
2. Radiohead – Kid A
3. The Smashing Pumpkins – Adore
4. Miles Davis – Kind Of Blue
5. Depeche Mode – Violator
Contributed by: Spencer
The High-Fiver: Albums You Overlooked, Vol. 1
1. Josh Ritter – The Golden Age Of Radio
2. Fiona Apple – When The Pawn…
3. Josh Rouse – Nashville
4. Freedy Johnston – Can You Fly
5. ZZ Top – ZZ Top’s First Album
Contributed by: Jeremy
The High-Fiver: Songs About Food (Sort Of)
1. The Rolling Stones – “Brown Sugar”
2. Warrant – “Cherry Pie”
3. Led Zeppelin – “The Lemon Song”
4. Van Halen – “Poundcake”
5. Beck – “Peaches And Cream”
Contributed by: Jason
The Critic: First Aid Kit’s Stay Gold
By Antony.
Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
First Aid Kit’s Stay Gold is, in a way, a long meditation on Robert Frost’s “Nothing Gold Can Stay.” I don’t know if the Söderberg sisters found the poem as a nice way to sum up what they were already writing or if the poem itself opened previously locked doors to them. Either way, as a listener, the album and poem should be taken together, allowed to work on one another in turn. Continue reading
The Consumer: Glass Animals, Alcest, Sturgill Simpson, & Broken Twin
By Spencer. Today, we’re kicking off a brand new feature on S&N: The Consumer. This is a space where our S&N contributors can give a brief sampling of some of the recent releases we’re listening to right now — not full album reviews, just a taste. Today, I’m looking at a few recent favorites from Glass Animals, Alcest, Sturgill Simpson, and Broken Twin. Continue reading
The Historian: Smashing Pumpkins Discography, Vol. 3 (1996-1997)
By Spencer. If Spinal Tap taught us anything, it’s that rock is all about volume. Looking at the Smashing Pumpkins catalog, though, it’s easy to take a slightly different spin on that lesson. Because to them, volume isn’t just a matter of loudness – it’s a matter of quantity. Their wealth of extra material had already given us the 1994 B-sides collection, Pisces Iscariot, but after a double-album as epic as Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness, there couldn’t possibly be leftovers, right? Right?
Just one year later we got our answer. Five discs, thirty-three songs, and a ridiculous Buck Rogers-looking package that put the “box” back in “box set,” The Aeroplane Flies High was a case study in showing off. It was a message to the rest of the music world: the only person who could ever top Billy Corgan was Billy Corgan, so don’t even bother trying. Continue reading
The High-Fiver: Bitchin’ Metal Album Covers
1. Iron Maiden – The Number Of The Beast
2. Rainbow – Rising
3. Judas Priest – Painkiller
4. Quiet Riot – Metal Health
5. Megadeth – Youthanasia
The High-Fiver: Soundtracks Essential To Their Film
1. Pulp Fiction (1994)
2. The Graduate (1967)
3. O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
4. Rushmore (1998)
5. Goodfellas (1990)
Contributed by: Jeremy
The Historian: Smashing Pumpkins Discography, Vol. 2 (1995)
By Spencer. How do you top an album as big as Siamese Dream? By going bigger. Now most rock stars would have just stopped there, but with Billy Corgan, nothing can ever be so simple. He had to make an album so big that nobody could ever top it. What else could explain a double album so overflowing, so all-over-the-map, and so ludicrously named as Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness?
In the fall of 1995, the Smashing Pumpkins reached a crucial turning point from which they could never go back. No, I’m not just talking about Billy shaving his head. Or the unnecessary “the” they added to the front of their name. (Though I’m sure we all slept easier knowing, finally and definitively, that “Smashing” was an adjective and not a gerund). The turning point achieved on Mellon Collie was the completion of Billy Corgan’s lifelong mission to become the biggest rock star in the world. And he did it by simultaneously embracing every caricature of rock stardom – and, whether intentionally or not, every caricature of himself – that he could cram into 28 songs. Continue reading
The Critic: Lana Del Rey’s Ultraviolence
By Spencer. It’s not cool anymore to like Lana Del Rey. It was cool for about a month, back when she was blowing up the internet with the song “Video Games” and she didn’t even have an album yet. But as soon as Born To Die was released and she started making promotional appearances, it became immediately apparent that she was actually trying to be cool, and there’s nothing more uncool about that — even if she was doing it ironically, and doing things ironically is the pinnacle of cool. The thing is, Lana Del Rey knows all this. It’s practically all her music is about. And cool or not, her new album, Ultraviolence, stays true to all that Lana Del Rey is while also managing to take a few small steps forward. Continue reading
The High-Fiver: Movies About Music
1. Almost Famous (2000)
2. Once (2007)
3. This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
4. A Hard Day’s Night (1964)
5. Walk The Line (2005)
Contributed by: Spencer
The Critic: Noah Gundersen’s Ledges
By Spencer. “Don’t you wish you could go back? / When your heart sang like a burning branch / When your songs sang themselves from the bottom of a well,” Seattle singer/songwriter Noah Gundersen sings on “Separator,” from his latest album, Ledges. And yes, I do wish that. I wish more music still felt that way. But even though Gundersen asks the question in the past tense, he doesn’t need to — at least not where his own music is concerned. Because the songs on Ledges feel like something out of the past, something that aches like lost chances and burned-out youth. Which is to say, they make you feel alive in all the best ways. Continue reading
The Mixologist: Summer At Night
By Spencer. Summer nights are for dancing past dark, the heat clinging to your skin while the music beats and sways. They’re for driving along the cliffs at sunset, the last shreds of light hugging the horizon. They’re for bonfires on the beach and quiet nights on the patio with a cold beer and the ones you love. They’re for waving your arms side to side and shouting out the words with a few hundred complete strangers.
Summer is finally here, and S&N Mix 2 celebrates with a slew of 2014 releases handpicked for hot, sweaty nights. Continue reading
Shadows & Noise 