Olivia Rodrigo – Guts [Geffen 2023] What she has that her heroes don’t is the skills that her time as a theater kid gave her – meaning she’s not just able to perfect her superlative comic and dramatic timing but also conceptualize scenarios as a writer that, whether or not autobiographical, come alive with the …
Continue reading "There’s too much Disney Food Blog on my TV at any given time."
Back again after a long break between posts, since this batch in particular proved frustratingly middling. The records have good and even great songs bogged down with so much unnecessary filler that you might as well call it fast food. Even the good records come with a lot more baggage than I'd like. But that's …
Home is Where – I Became Birds [Father/Daughter Records 2021] Though they allegedly bristle at comparisons to The Hotelier (but not their hero Jeff Mangum) it’d be almost impossible to ignore the spiritual influences in 25-year-old frontperson Brandon MacDonald’s finished product. Impressionistic writing, a voice like a horn, and a sound that toggles between the …
Continue reading "Queer Emo Up-and-Comers & Classic Hip Hoppers"
Drive By Truckers – A Blessing and a Curse [New West Records LLC 2006] It feels forced, like a piece that was so frustrating they just put it out to get it off the workbench. From the schlocky drumming that opens to the way Cooley splits the difference between Mick Jagger & Rob Thomas to …
Wednesday – Rat Saw God [Dead Oceans 2023] Initially I’d almost written it off completely as a Difficult Listen, a minus considering how appealing the “country + shoegaze” descriptor really is since everyone seems to be ‘gazing and mashing up with disparate sounds. Good shoegaze isn’t just a blast of atonal powerchords, there’s riffs and …
Continue reading "This whole commuting an hour thing really drains a fella"
Failed attempts at corralling bodies for a podcast has left my energies elsewhere. But also I work on my own time anyway so what does it matter lol. This batch is stronger than most, nothing under a 3 which means there’s probably something for everyone. As always, I’m continuing my journey through the Drive-by Truckers, …
Sleater-Kinney – Call The Doctor [Chainsaw 1996] Riff kweens, truly. But also, friends and lovers. Sometimes when youthful desperation sounds this loud there’s a chance it gets written off as pure histrionics, but I think the clear intelligence of the two songwriters tempers some of the callowness associated with such drama. For explosions, please turn …
The word itself means “a collection of concise but detailed information about a particular subject”, so think of a canon or anthology except it sounds more esoteric than it actually is, which is pretty in line with my aesthetic. It's going to serve (I hope) as a collection of a single artist’s releases, usually chronological, …
Cosmic Hero