Tag Archives: R.E.M.

Jovanovic – Seeing the Light: Inside the Velvet Underground

17 Jul

Seeing the Light: Inside the Velvet Underground by Rob Jovanovic (2010)

Republished on Pop ‘stache after some tidying up…

Lou Reed: “We put a ship in the water, it turned out to be a turbo-powered sub and it took a while for it to land wherever it landed.  Time was the real judge.  The proof was in the work, and the work is on the record.”

SHH: “Rob Jovanovic put out a book on The Velvets, it turned out to be a slow-chugging sub and although it infrequently put its periscope up for an interesting anecdote, it never lands.  The proof is in the shlock, and the shlock is in the book.”

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Rob Jovanovic has penned very competent and comprehensive books on artists including R.E.M., Pavement and Big Star.  His latest book on music is Seeing the Light Continue reading

Indie Canon Inductee: Guided by Voices

30 Jan

Guided by Voices is a band that you may know by name but have never listened to.  If that’s the case, this article will hopefully warrant a listen.  I myself hadn’t listened to GBV until a few years back outside of a few tracks of theirs I had on a Matador Records sampler.  Since then, they have become my most listened to artist according to last.fm, surpassing Beat Happening and Joy Division a few days ago thanks to my non-stop research over the past week.  I wouldn’t consider Guided by Voices my favorite band, but there are reasons why I’ve listened to them as much as I have… Continue reading

The Feelies at Mass MoCA 11/11/2011

16 Nov

I discovered The Feelies in the summer after high school.  I was screwing around on allmusic.com looking at Pavement’s page when I noticed the “Influenced By” section.  At the time (and not much has changed) I was totally obsessed with Pavement.  I figured, why not give some of these bands a shot that supposedly influenced them?  As it turns out, the list was a gold mine.  I recognized some bands, but that list introduced me to Wire, Can, Swell Maps, Half Japanese, Pere Ubu, oh, and The Feelies.  I downloaded their 1980 debut (I was a poor-ass college kid…I’ll make up for it later).  “Crazy Rhythms” became one of my most listened to albums of that year. Continue reading