In the mid-90’s, britpop turned grunge on its ear. Well, in England, anyway. The Oasis vs. Blur war was unfairly represented by the press as a battle between the lager-swilling good ole boys of the working class vs. the arsty and effete privileged lads. Well, it is true on some level that Oasis appeals to the lowest common denominator, while Blur requires […]

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Granted, the first time I ever heard the name Will Oldham was as an actor. My government/economics teacher at Georgetown High School was also one of the many assistant football coaches schlepping it out on the sidelines, and while he was busy drawing up plays that never actually worked for our woefully deficient AAA team, […]

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Alan McGee postulates in the Guardian why Echo & the Bunnymen are ever the bridesmaids of rock. I think he nails it pretty well. After the orchestral majesty of Ocean Rain, the band simply dried up creatively. It really took three years to follow-up that masterpiece with an utterly deflated, self-titled throwaway? Even still, “Lips […]

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Personally, I think all this syncing up Dark Side of the Moon with The Wizard of Oz stuff is utter nonsense, but asses of Dungeons and Dragons clowns with way too much spare time are into that sort of thing, so here’s another one for you: Supposedly, if you play two copies of Radiohead’s Kid A seventeen […]

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Rilo Kiley makes no bones about its commercial aspirations on Under the Blacklight, its fourth record and major label debut for Warner Bros. Since 2004’s More Adventurous, lead singer Jenny Lewis has catapulted to quasi-stardom as the indie it girl, showing up on everything from Bright Eyes to Postal Service records. After years of indie […]

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M.I.A. bursts out of the gate on her second album with both guns blazing. She’s not kidding around at all. Everything about Kala is confrontational. From the patronizing political self-righteousness to the relentless flurry of abrasive beats to the jagged rapping, Kala takes everything that was provoking about her exotic debut, Arular, and intensifies it […]

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Over the years, Lorne Michaels’s little-show-that-could (always-be-funnier) has given us plenty of moments musicaux to talk about while the collection plates make their rounds the next morning at church. From The Replacements’ drunken, f-bomb laden rendition of “Bastards of Young,” to Fear’s Halloween free-for-all, to DJ Muggs of Cypress Hill lightin’ up the ganja during […]

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