Author Archives: Black
Warzone
I’ve recently reunited with my record collection after three years living without it. On the one hand, the mass of vinyl has caused some difficulties in living space organization with all the other things I’m reclaiming from storage. But it’s pretty awesome having them back. I remember growing up with my Dad’s large home-made modular [...]
Scott Walker
If you haven’t heard of Scott Walker, he’s worth some research. I highly recommend all of his solo albums Scott I-IV. There’s also an excellent documentary with David Bowie executive producing (he was a big influence on Bowie throughout his career) called 30 Century Man I hunted down and watched today. It’s definitely worth a [...]
Posted in mp3s Tagged 30 Century Man, Nite Flights, Scott Walker, The Walker Brothers Leave a comment
A Slow Jam Christmas
It’s been way too long since we’ve updated this joint. Good lord. Maybe we can get our act together for the New Year. In advance of that possibility, I would like to share the two hottest slow jams of the winter to melt this frigid white Christmas. The first is initially novelty–a cover of The [...]
St. Vincent – Actor Out Of Work
In the time since we started slacking on this here music blog, there were four albums that really got me all at once: White Rabbits’ It’s Frightening, Cymbals Eat Guitars’ Why There Are Mountains, Grizzly Bear’s Veckatimest, and St. Vincent’s Actor. The first single to Actor, “Actor Out Of Work” apparently had a video that [...]
Cosmic Sufjan
Well, I don’t know too much about all the hullabaloo for Sufjan’s BQE Suite or Opus or whatever it is. But I can sure feel this FutureSufjan/LoveStevens R&B business he’s conducting. All that echo explodes him from the typical marsh and reed and back-country road compositions into some cosmonautical sweetness. I’m not sure about the [...]
Rock SNL Like A Boss
Great timing, right? Phoenix just performed the two songs I shared in the last post on this weekend’s Saturday Night Live with host Seth Rogan. Reaction? I like them even more now. I love how unassuming and casual the lead singer is. And watch the drummer kill it back there. His kit sounds exactly like [...]
Posted in Videos Tagged 1901, Like A Boss, Lisztomania, Phoenix, Saturday Night Live, SNL, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix Leave a comment
Wolfgang Amadeus Awesome
I love Phoenix. Once hastily dubbed “the French Strokes”, they’re so much more than that silly comparison. And that’s at least evident in their ability to produce consistently good music that’s consistently themselves without being tempted to teeter over the edge of some hideous experiment in self-reinvention (First Impressions Of Earth, thank you very much). [...]
This Tornado Loves You, Neko
When sifting through the millions of songs we’re barraged with in any given day, week, month, year, there are plenty that are worthless wastes of time. There are some that deserve loathing. There are inoffensive others, enjoyable many, and likable some. And no matter your background or criteria, there are a few that you love. [...]
Heavy Riffage
My friend and poet extraordinaire Tim Ramick just sent me a link to a post on Rick Moody’s blog that mentions him along with a slew of other artists offering a respite from the instant consumption attitude of much of modern art and media. Congratulations to Tim. His work is mammoth. And while Rick’s is [...]
Fore & Aft: Drinking Songs