Tuesday, March 19 2013
In Defense Of ... Going to South By Southwest
Four days, six stories, one column, dozens of tweets and nearly 10,000 words later, I'm still wondering how we define success at SXSW.
Monday, March 18 2013
Anatomy of a Viral Smash: Bauuer’s ‘Harlem Shake’
So are you ready to gouge out your eyes and slice off your ears if forced to endure one more version of “Harlem Shake”? With 700 million views and counting, someone’s paying attention. The question is: What made it into such a viral smash?
Monday, March 11 2013
Sleazed to Meet You, Don’t Forget My Name
Sometimes, no matter how detrimental to well-being, we indulge in things we know are very wrong. Welcome to hair metal. Don't forget to wash your hands after.
Friday, March 8 2013
Everyone Lost: Protest Art and the Iraq War
While people were killing and dying, what did it matter whether there were decent songs being sung, insightful films being produced, appropriate art being inspired? When did poetry ever stop a war?
Thursday, March 7 2013
1967 and the Prog-Rock Progenitors
If 1967 characterizes a high point where rock music could be appraised as Art, it also initiated an explicit realignment of what was henceforth possible.
Thursday, February 21 2013
‘Why Jazz Happened’ Makes Its Points Like a Snazzy Lawyer in the Courtroom: Zip, Zam, Zot
New Orleans to swing, swing to bop, bop to cool, cool to hard bop, hard bop to free jazz—"jazz style periods" are so often presented like this. But jazz's transformation often shifted independently of cultural happenings, and those shifts were far from linear.
Tuesday, February 19 2013
Jonathan Goes Country, Country Goes Jonathan
Revisiting Jonathan Richman’s brief “country moment” offers another window, through the eyes of an outsider into the genre.
Monday, February 18 2013
Why the Grammys Matter
So your favorites didn’t win, huh? Get over it. Bashing the Grammys is too easy. Try recognizing them as markers of what is happening in the music industry, not on your iPod.
Friday, February 15 2013
The Ethics of Control: ‘Paul Williams Still Alive’
Having experienced decades in the spotlight, Paul Williams, a reluctant subject, is a more powerful opponent than his director suspects.
Thursday, February 14 2013
In Defense Of ... Opening Acts
You know how you're planning to go to a concert and you wonder when you should arrive, so that you miss the opening act? Not so fast: You could be missing out on your next musical obsession.
Wednesday, February 13 2013
Queen of Disco: The Legend of Sylvester
As America moves forward into a new era of equality, it would be only right for music fans to look back on the career of Sylvester with both enthusiasm and regret.
Monday, February 11 2013
If It Dances, It’s Probably from This Is American Music
This Is American Music is thriving in these challenging times because it hasn't lost sight of its core purpose: to champion good music, especially from its Southern surroundings, and to do it because it knocks you on your ass with emotional recognition or gets your ass up and moving because the music rocks so hard.
Friday, February 8 2013
Old Ideas and New Generations: What Leonard Cohen Means to Us
Leonard Cohen endures and conquers. But does he mean something different to Millenial audiences than he did to their parents? Can the legend of Cohen escape its own clichés?
Thursday, February 7 2013
Why Is Prog Rock So Inadequate, Simplistic, Reductive, Portentous and Perfect?
Somewhere between the first hit of acid and the last ray of light from the disco ball, rock music got ambitious. What we would come to know as prog rock would go on to launch a million air guitars.
Wednesday, January 30 2013
What James Bond Can’t Teach You About British Music History
If you want lessons in womanizing, dressing to the nines, or ordering martinis, James Bond is your man. If, however, you’re looking for a review of British music history over the last 50 years, the world’s favorite secret agent has no idea what he’s doing.
Saxophonist Jon Irabagon Takes Us By Storm
Suddenly saxophonist Jon Irabagon is everywhere: releasing his own music, starring as a sideman on wildly varying projects, constantly showing us that jazz can be whatever we want it to be.
Monday, January 28 2013
Abandoning the Ear? Punk and Deaf Convergences Part II
Deaf and punk cultures seem to share a similar outsider status, and Deaf clubs and social media, like punk bars and fanzines, offer refuge and regeneration, community-building and cures for boredom.
Friday, January 25 2013
Rocket to Nowhere: A Proto-Punk Dream
"Rocket to Nowhere" may be considered proto-punk by record collectors and rock critics, but that doesn't do enough justice to its primal, destructive glee.
Wednesday, January 23 2013
New Zealand Metal 101: Filth, Squalor and Noise from the Antipodes
New Zealand has some very pretty scenery, but don't let that fool you, the nation is replete with filth and squalor. In this month's Ragnarök we look at the best of that corruption, with New Zealand Metal 101.
Friday, January 18 2013
Songza: The Thinking Listener’s Playlist App? or Another Reinforcer of the Same Old Taste?
Part party starter, part music discovery engine, Songza employs a cadre of “music experts” rather than an algorithm. This is strangely comforting.
