So, I know I normally write about films with soundtrack albums that are out of print or hard to find. I’ve avoided writing about Valley Girl (1983) because A) part…
Today is Record Store Day in the United States and 17 other countries worldwide. According to the website, “This is the one day that all of the independently owned record…
“You are no longer a river to me,” Miles Seaton sings on “River,” the new single from Akron/Family’s upcoming album, Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free. Akron/Family, “River” (download) He…
Late last summer a DVD of August, which features David Bowie in a cameo, showed up at the office where I used to work. If you haven’t heard of this…
The Call – I Still Believe (Great Design) from The Best of the Call (1997) Tom Waits – New Coat of Paint from The Heart of Saturday Night (1974) Rush…
If I were Allen Toussaint, I’d have taken a decade’s hiatus from making solo records, too. While the great New Orleans pianistÁ¢€”right up there on the city’s piano Mount Rushmore…
Hollywood’s summer crop is almost ready for market, and Lance Berry’s made a list of 10 blockbusters he may (or may not) remember fondly come fall.
IÁ¢€â„¢ve been watching a lot of Alfred Hitchcock’s work lately. When searching for a new project, I tend to immerse myself in that which I wish to imitate. I have…
Introducing an occasional series wherein we take a look at some of the most massive-sounding songs in pop history. A funny thing happened around 1971, or maybe 1972 — it…
Have right-wing evangelicals won their last battle? Maybe not, but Jon Cummings thinks it’ll take them more than three days to resurrect their political fortunes.
Be still my soul. Lawd have mercy. When soul first came out, so many social issues made so many people so PO’d (civil rights, Vietnam, rioting in seemingly every urban…
I wasnÁ¢€™t supposed to be at this concert. A conscious decision was made not to spend money on a ticket to see Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band when…
John Hughes is lost in the ’90s once again…and this time, he’s got Shirley Manson sitting bitch in the wayback machine.
As a consumer, viewer, and overall commentator of pop culture, I find myself looking for those dreaded paradigm shifts, those touchstone moments where I can say, “This is the moment…
In 1977, disco music was extremely popular. Wanting to cash in on the fad, Peter Pan Records decided to release albums of disco music for kids, hosted by Irwin the…
The Grateful Dead collection at the Live Music Archive contains not only thousands of Grateful Dead concerts, it also holds a good number of band rehearsal, soundcheck, and studio session…
“There are so many of these indie-rock shows that you go to that are so joyless. I just want people to feel this joy and celebratory nature of rock and…
When I first heard that the new Doves album, Kingdom Of Rust, hearkened more toward their first album, Lost Souls (2000), than their most recent, Some Cities, even though that…
As the frontman for blues rock duo the Black Keys, Dan Auerbach is known for his raw, powerful rock ‘n’ roll songwriting and guitar playing. But on his first solo…
I still feel bad about Kelly Clarkson. Weird, no? All I Ever Wanted has been out awhile now, the first single, “My Life Would Suck Without You,” is the big,…
Dave Steed’s Bottom Feeders series has reached the end of the letter J, and you know what that means — Grace Jones sighting!
I can’t say I’m a huge Dave Matthews fan. I have his solo disc because the song “Gravedigger” struck a chord with me, and I picked up Stand Up (2005)…
April 15, 1990, is Easter Sunday. The nuclear-armed nations of India and Pakistan remain nose-to-nose over the disputed province of Kashmir. At Cape Canaveral, preparations continue for the April 24…
Wouldn’t it be cool to be Cheap TrickÁ¢€â„¢s Robin Á¢€Å“The VoiceÁ¢€ Zander?Á‚ I mean, the guy’s, like, 85 years old and looks the same as he did on the cover…
In “There’s No Secrets this Year,” the first song on Swoon, the Silversun Pickups come out swinging for the fences.Á‚ If the band has been bothered by frequent comparisons to…
Different countries are…well, different. They have different laws and languages, funny stamps, and candy that you canÁ¢€â„¢t get at home. We usually think that part of being a distinct country…
Now, I know what you’re thinking.Á‚ How can one of Devo’s most famous songs outside of “Whip It” be Lost in the ’80s?Á‚ How can a song whose video was…
The album art for Bitte Orca, the Dirty Projectors’ upcoming fifth album, shows band members Amber Coffman and Angel Deradoorian, their faces painted over in connecting red and blue circles….
DOWNLOAD THE FULL MIX HERE By the early Á¢€Ëœ90s, there was a real fracturing of the musical landscape when it came to pop music.Á‚ To me, the popularity of rap,…