Music
Essays, blog posts, playlists, and more focused broadly on music. For more playlists visit my Spotify profile.
- Got a Lot of Light: The Trimmed Hedges ()
Local Minneapolis quartet The Trimmed Hedges attempt to capture a number of genres throughout the band’s first full length release The Seas Elected, released locally through The Missing Stamp Collective. While the release has a general compliance towards diversity (see: banjo & slap bass) the band finds its strongest moments through the use of synth-forward […]
- Dave Fischoff Interview ()
While Dave Fischoff is just one of many talented artists on the recently released SC100, his leanings further into the electronic in recent years allow him to stand apart from the others on Secretly Canadian’s landmark hundredth album. Current roster-mates such as Songs:Ohia, Danielson and Jens Lekman join Fischoff to celebrate the label’s accomplishment with […]
- It May Be Obvious: But With the Exception of “Youth,” “Blender,” “Dosage” and Much of “Disciplined Breakdown” Collective Soul Have Never Released a Bad Album ()
It might be obvious, but Collective Soul used to release really good music. For the most part though, this came to an end around March of 1995… after that, the band’s releases became scattered (at best). I can still remember listening to the local rock radio station’s yearly wrap-up in 1997 and hearing “Precious Declaration” […]
- Common & Lily Allen “Drivin’ Me Wild” Video ()
A video featuring Common alternating between a white tuxedo and a “robot is the future” t-shirt, Lily Allen in a spacesuit and Jeremy Piven in an ultra-brief finger pointing cameo…not necessarily the makings for best video ever, but by no means a bad video. [This post was first published by Culture Bully.]
- Twin Personas: Local Bloggers Greg Swan & Toby Cryns ()
As an outsider looking in on the local Twin Cities music scene one may be left with a simplistic look as to what it is that The Cities and their modern artists have to offer. But aside from conversations surrounding Hüsker Dü, The Replacements or even Tapes ‘n Tapes what does the rest of the […]
- The Majestic Twelve “Break It and Breathe” Video ()
The latest Majestic Twelve video introduces spacemen, aliens and robots in conjunction with a new edit of the fantastic song “Break It and Breathe.” The track is hidden on last year’s Schizophrenology, but it holds one of my favorite lines from the entire album, “We rock our local bar, we’re far from famous man but […]
- Spike Jonze Spends Saturday with M.I.A. ()
VBS recently produced a short series which followed director Spike Jonze through London as he discussed a variety of issues with Maya Arulpragasam (aka M.I.A.). After showering the star with gifts (finger nail stickers and stick-on eye lashes) Jonze and M.I.A. headed to “the asshole of London,” meeting up with the first person to sign […]
- If The Sky Drops Will You Listen? ()
So…would you? Cause it is, kind of. Last May I asked “whether or not stoner rock can flow seamlessly into a melodic pop-guitar crunch;” the answer which was obvious at the time was yes, indeed, and the perpetrators of this unusual output are none other than Delaware’s two-piece The Sky Drops. The band is kind […]
- VBS: True Norwegian Black Metal ()
Peter Beste, one of the brightest photographers in all of music, served as producer for this Vice production surrounding Norwegian black metal and in particular Gaahl of the band Gorgoroth. It is as beautifully shot a piece as it is frightening. Gaahl has served imprisonment on numerous occasions for assault and in this short series […]
- El-P on Spinner’s The Interface ()
Anyone with any remote sense of what’s going on in hip hop knows that El-P’s March release I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead is one of the decade’s most innovative and essential releases within the genre. That being said Christian Hoard, one of the cheeky aficionado’s at Rolling Stone, concluded “If you’re into nodding your head […]
- Dungen: “Tio Bitar” ()
In a little under a month it is expected that at least a few riots are to be started in Stockholm to commemorate the release of Dungen’s forthcoming Tio Bitar release. Why? Have you never seen a football game on television? The kids get crazy and flip cars over because of improper use of yellow […]
- Charlotte Gainsbourg “Everything I Cannot See” ()
After receiving Charlotte Gainsbourg’s 5:55 from a friend back in January I sat on it for a while; much was going on, and exciting times meant that it became easy to overlook many substantial releases that the year was readying. Only casually listening to the album once or twice over the next two months little […]
- Klaxons at 7th St. Entry (Minneapolis, MN) ()
It’s not often that a band plays its set exclusively for one particular person at a show. One person crammed in amongst the rest of an over-sold audience. One person amongst many in the humid, low-ceiling showcase of The Entry. That and it’s hard to honestly believe that the now mythical band from the UK, […]
- It May Be Obvious: But II Was A Better Album Than The Eponymous Debut by The Presidents of The United States of America ()
Call me crazy but II, the sophomore release by The Presidents of the United States of America, is arguably a better album than the group’s 1995 self-titled debut. Self, let’s argue: Me2: Horse Apples! PUSA (which is what the band’s 1995 release will be called from hear on out) had a far better selection of […]
- Aesop Rock Interview ()
Aspiring MCs could prosper from modeling themselves after the likes of New York-based producer/MC Aesop Rock, though doing so would most definitely have negative effects on the global market for gold and platinum grillz. The Boston University graduate recently released the latest in Nike’s Original Run series, titled All Day, which follows last year’s releases […]
- Type O Negative at First Avenue (Minneapolis, MN) ()
Type O Negative is the type of band that people—often, young adults who were furiously trying to find an identity—listened to when they wanted a taste for a gothic lifestyle without necessarily giving it the old college try. The band is fairly accessible, its landmark 1993 release Bloody Kisses went platinum and its 1996 follow-up […]
- Clutch “From Beale Street to Oblivion” Review ()
Has it ever crossed your mind how bands like the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin released albums so frequently and so consistent that it absolutely crushes the modern three year turn around many bands consider safe? It seems that Clutch has put an album out every year since the mid 1990s (though while not entirely […]
- Twin Personas: Stook & Martin Devaney ()
As an outsider looking in on the local Twin Cities music scene one may be left with a simplistic look as to what it is that The Cities and their modern artists have to offer. But aside from conversations surrounding Hüsker Dü, The Replacements or even Tapes ‘n Tapes what does the rest of the […]
- Social Distortion “Live at The Roxy” ()
The album that had the greatest influence on the way I listen to music is Social Distortion’s 1998 live album Live at The Roxy. It isn’t entirely important for its musical influence, as I’d already been a fan of the band for a number of years and was quite familiar with the songs before purchasing […]
- Air “Pocket Symphony” Review ()
Why is there air; or for that matter Air? As humans our bodies necessitate the need for air but since electronica’s booming 1990s wave it doesn’t seem as functional to still maintain a similar relationship with Air. The French-electropop duo still elude even the finest of dancefloor fan with its latest release, Pocket Symphony, a […]
- House of Pain, “O.P.P.” & Fake Reggae: My Regrettable Introduction to Hip Hop ()
An old friend recently reminded me of something that I had blocked from my memory, my embarrassing introduction to hip hop; and in particular the exact time when I fell in love with “Jump Around.” I suppose that’s the problem with talking to friends you haven’t spoken to in over a decade, you start remembering […]
- Twin Personas: Local Bloggers Kyle Matteson & Steve Engelmayer ()
As an outsider looking in on the local Twin Cities music scene one may be left with a simplistic look as to what it is that The Cities and their modern artists have to offer. But aside from conversations surrounding Hüsker Dü, The Replacements or even Tapes ‘n Tapes what does the rest of the […]
- Deftones “Mein” Video ()
Breakdancing, extreme sports and cars sporting hydraulics on a rooftop – would you expect anything less from a Deftones video? It’s a whole different feel than the video for “Hole in the Earth” which was based on its totally 80s graphics for the most part…no theme, just waves of light. In comparison a few BMXers […]
- Nine Inch Nails “Survivalism” Video ()
As the comments of the YouTube upload read “The official video for ‘Survivalism’ distributed via USB pen drives at the London show on March 7, 2007.” Keeping in tune with the rest of the album’s theme the video monitors a set of surveillance cameras, with the government monitoring the nation’s people and weeding out the […]
- Klaxons “Myths of the Near Future” Review ()
One of the most relieving aspects of actually hearing Myths of the Near Future is that new-rave sounds nothing like it sounds…that makes sense, right? New-rave, a term self proposed by the band to surround the idea of its music, had the overwhelming charm of jock-rock when it first crossed my path and still does […]
- Twin Personas: How Was the Show’s Andrea Myers & Bob Longmore ()
As an outsider looking in on the local Twin Cities music scene one may be left with a simplistic look as to what it is that The Cities and their modern artists have to offer. But aside from conversations surrounding Hüsker Dü, The Replacements or even Tapes ‘n Tapes what does the rest of the […]
- Reverend Horton Heat at First Avenue (Minneapolis, MN) ()
One of the best parts about going to a Reverend Horton Heat show is just sitting back and seeing the crowd. Skinheads, greasers, played the show in support of no new material, with no publicity surrounding a new DVD or compilation, but rather the Reverend Horton Heat played because it’s the band’s job. Unlike many […]
- Paul Revere & the Raiders ()
A year or so ago I began attempting to rip some of my father’s music for him so that he could relive some old memories while spending his days and nights on his Mac. My conquest was short lived as I only made it a few 45s into the project before realizing the unfortunate reality […]
- Recalling Commitment: Only Crime ()
Only Crime’s lineup alone begs for attention; it includes Russ Rankin (Good Riddance), Bill Stevenson (The Descendents/All/Black Flag), Aaron Dalbec (Bane/Converge), Zach Blair (Hagfish/Gwar) and Doni Blair (Hagfish). The music is somewhat expected from this mash of musician, it’s grinding at times, occasionally it sounds brash and hasty, but even at its most consumable (”Take […]
- Type O Negative “Dead Again” ()
Peter Steele, lead singer and bassist for Brooklyn, NY based group Type O Negative recently gave a humorous description as to the reasoning behind the band’s cover art for the upcoming album Dead Again during an interview with Tina Cederberg of GetMetal.com, “Me being the songwriter and art coordinator for the band I thought the […]