Fiona Apple and Elvis Costello performing “I Want You”, the classic closer of Costello’s 1986 album, Blood and Chocolate. Easily one of my top-five all-time Costello songs. Apple’s wrenching mania adds even more spite to an already bile-infested treatise on love. It was part of the Elvis Costello and Friends conert on VH-1, which aired […]

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In an interview with XFM, New Order bassist Peter Hook confirmed that electronic pop pioneers New Order have broken up permanently (probably for the best, considering recent output). For those assuming this is just another notoriously long break, Hook explains: “Well, yeah, me and Bernard [Sumner – New Order singer] aren’t working together. Bernard went […]

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I was lucky enough to interview Shannon Wright back when she was in Crowsdell, an indie pop band with a dark underbelly from Jacksonville, Florida. She sang live on the air at WUSC after our interview, and I was blown away by her voice. Crowsdell’s second album got shelved when their label, Big Cat, got […]

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The AP has a surprisingly decent piece on jazz legend Sonny Rollins. At 76, Rollins is still recording and performing. He made his mark in the early 1950’s, recording with Miles Davis and Thelonius Monk. He broke new ground with his strict use of only bass and drums as accompaniment to his sax solos. When […]

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The reunited original Dinosaur Jr. line-up performed a blistering version of “Almost Ready” off Beyond, the band’s remarkably great new album, which came out Tuesday on Fat Possum. The sound on late night chat shows is always horrible, but you can still tell Dinosaur Jr. tore it up. Even Letterman was impressed by the sheer […]

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Just stumbled on this, even though it came out last fall. If you’ve already seen it, please ignore. This mash-up kind of works in a weird way. It certainly sucks all the joy out of “Smile”, making it sound very cryptic and strange yet still infectious. Lily could make it as a faux-gangster goth. My […]

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BBC6 is having a vote on the worst lyrics of all time. The top ten nominees could have been far worse had anyone thought to include the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who will beat anyone in a shitty lyrics contest any day of the week. Doubt me? Here’s a stanza from “Snow” off Stadium Arcadium […]

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