Tag Archives: Sonic Youth

The First Quarter of 2013 in Music

14 Jun

Almost exactly three months ago I posted this article with a list of twenty albums in alphabetical order which I had purchased in the first quarter of 2013.  The intent was to have the article out by mid-April.  In classic SHH fashion I decided that it would be better to do a review of twenty albums Continue reading

Glacial – On Jones Beach

8 Aug

Glacial is an impressively eclectic trio: Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo on guitar, The Necks’ Tony Buck on drums and Highland Bagpipes’ contributor David Watson on, well, bagpipes.  The fact that this album is one 48-minute track, it’s an instrumental and bagpipes are involved might immediately sound like a kitschy experiment Continue reading

Azerrad – Our Band Could Be Your Life

17 May

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

Disappears – Pre Language

9 Apr

Chicago’s Disappears has been busy, busy.  Three albums in three years: 2010’s Lux, 2011’s Guider and this year’s Pre Language.  Disappears is admittedly not doing anything new.  Their three albums reclaim late 60’s garage rock (the Velvet Underground aesthetic on Lux and the White Light, White Heat structure of Guider), early 70’s proto punk and Krautrock, late 70’s post punk (particularly The Fall and Wire) and early 90’s shoegaze.  Their sound also incorporates elements of frontman Brian Case’s former band The Ponys.

Pre Language wasn’t exactly what I expected 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 Self-Hating Hipster’s Top 51 Tracks of 2011

22 Jan

As promised, below you will find the Self-Hating Hipster’s T0p 51 Tracks of 2011 thanks to a scramble at my lake house, indirectly motivated by six girls working on their Masters theses.  I actually mistakenly published the article about a week ago but quickly made it “Private” so as not to give you readers a glimpse of the SHH in his article underpants.  I didn’t realize (stoopit!) what a massive undertaking this article would prove to be as a solo project.  I know it’s too late, but I’m hoping that you don’t find it to be too little.  I’ve been really busy with my job lately, and in the words of Garth Marenghi, “I’m not Jesus Christ…I’ve come to accept that now.”

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51.  Fucked Up – “Queen of Hearts”

David Comes to Life

Fucked Up adds a cute, poppy flare to post-hardcore as evidenced by “Queen of Hearts.”

“Hello, my name is David!”  Hi, David.  “Let’s be together!  Let’s fall in love!”

Stop yelling, David. Continue reading

The Indie Canon

16 Oct

I’ve been meaning to do something similar to this for years now.  Essentially, I want to induct bands and/or specific albums into what I will call the Indie Canon:  those artists and albums that have already exhibited staying power and/or independent scene importance as well as the indie zeitgeist that will hang around if all goes well.  After all, a canon is Continue reading