Totally Wired: Post-Punk Interviews and Overviews by Simon Reynolds (2010)
Simon Reynolds is one of the most critically acclaimed music journalists of the past decade and has found himself the authority on both 90’s electronic dance music and the post-punk movement of the late 70’s and early 80’s. If his 2006 release Rip It Up and Start Again: Post-Punk 1978-1984 is Continue reading
At 7:41AM on Thursday May 31st I received a text message from my father:
“I’m sure you read that the Psychedelic Furs are at The Egg Saturday at 8PM?”
I hadn’t heard. And so, this article is going to prove two things:
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Punk as a genre has seen countless quick and powerful bursts followed by unbearably long dwindles in mainstream mediocrity. Punk seems to thrive in bleak, industrial cities that are otherwise devoid of culture. Surprisingly, the brightest spot on the punk map of late is the burgeoning scene in Copenhagen, Denmark, a city known for its jazz, architecture and clean environment.
Early last year, the Copenhagen-based punk quartet Iceage released their debut LP New Brigade to near universal acclaim. In late March 2012, Iceage’s Escho Records lablemate Lower released Continue reading
Most people think of Beck’s Guero when they hear “Black Tambourine,” but Black Tambourine was a band long before a song, and a musical anomaly at that. The four-piece of Pam Berry, Brian Nelson, Archie Moore and Michael Schulman formed in the greater Washington D.C. area in 1989, recorded a total of ten original songs, played a small handful of live shows and then disbanded in early 1992. They released only two EPs and Continue reading
Mark Kozelek made his name during the early 90’s as the leading man and singer/songwriter behind Red House Painters. Since the Red House Painters’ disbanding in the late 1990’s, Kozelek has continued to release acclaimed albums under the guise Sun Kil Moon. Kozelek’s latest installment as Sun Kil Moon, Among the Leaves, comes 20 years after the RHP’s epic debut Down Colorful Hill. With the possible exception of the confused Modest Mouse cover album Tiny Cities, he has a critically untarnished record. Sun Kil Moon is Continue reading
Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground 1981-1991 by Michael Azerrad
Our Band Could Be Your Life is probably the most compelling book on music that I’ve read since Simon Reynolds’ Rip it Up and Start Again. Published in 2001, Michael Azerrad was the first to sing the praises of an era of music largely overlooked: the American independent scene from 1981-1991. Our Band Could Be Your Life documents thirteen bands in particular: Black Flag, The Minutemen, Mission of Burma, Minor Threat, Hüsker Dü, The Replacements, Sonic Youth, Continue reading
Passion Pit’s first LP Manners exploded onto the east coast music scene in 2009. The Kidz Bop electro-twee of Manners is sweet enough to rot teeth at times, but several of the tracks are mercilessly catchy and were played on repeat in my apartment. Passion Pit’s sophomore record Gossamer is due to be released this July but unfortunately, the debut single ‘Take A Walk’ will have fans of Manners and the earlier Chunk of Change EP wanting to do the same.
Passion Pit fell off the musical map for only three years Continue reading
When I heard that there was going to be a Trailer Park Boys live show locally at The Egg in Albany, I immediately bought a ticket. Trailer Park Boys is a show that I have been drunkenly plowing through for the past three months. I was unsure as to how Ricky, Julian and Bubbles would pull off a live performance, but I figured that they had a better shot than most television comedians because some of the funniest moments in the show are seemingly off-the-cuff exchanges between characters. I could not have anticipated Continue reading
Bristol’s Nick Talbot has been releasing music as Gravenhurst for over a decade now. That being said, The Ghost in Daylight is his first release in half a decade. Since 2007’s The Western Lands Talbot jettisoned the band that he had toured and recorded with. On The Ghost in Daylight he melds elements of finger-picking folk, shoe gaze and Continue reading
the self-hating hipster 