Scatman John’s Forgotten Jazz Album Is a Little Masterpiece
Before his unexpected rise to pop stardom as Scatman John, John Larkin spent years working as a fierce, volatile jazz pianist, crossing paths with some legendary names in the genre.
All Things Reconsidered
Casey Defined Musical Sorrow 10 Years Ago with ‘Love Is Not Enough’
Ten years ago, Casey released Love Is Not Enough. It fused furious hardcore with atmospherics, dynamic structures and singing. It was all in aid of its sorrow.
Dante’s Peak Is the Disaster Movie the Inland Northwest Will Never Forget
The rest of America may have moved on from this 1997 disaster movie, but Dante’s Peak still percolates in the collective Northwestern consciousness, like slow-moving magma that never fully cools.
Between the Grooves of Radiohead’s ‘Kid A’
After a quarter of the century has passed, Radiohead’s Kid A still stands as one of the 2000s era-defining artistic statements. Ten writers reflect on the songs.
TV on the Radio’s 20-Year-Old LP Has Power and Righteous Fury
TV on the Radio’s sophomore release, Return to Cookie Mountain, is a savage critique of Republican regimes that retains an unnerving relevance.
The Resonating Hypnotism of ‘Orange Twin Field Works Vol. 1’
Listening to Orange Twin Field Works Vol. 1 today – not as ethnography but as a fully realized composition – Jeff Mangum’s pre-Bulgaria sensibility appears.
Kyle Craft’s ‘Dolls of Highland’ Is Genuine Theater
Kyle Craft created high-drama with high-stakes, a Freudian fantasy, wherein sex and death interweave, or, rather, Thanatos and Eros commingle, like a seductive dance.
Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes” and the Love of Myth and Ritual
There is far more to the title and meaning of Peter Gabriel’s song “In Your Eyes” than meets the eye, as it turns the lover’s eyes into a dwelling of belief.
The Afghan Whigs’ ‘Black Love’ Is an Underappreciated Masterpiece
Thirty years ago, the Afghan Whigs doubled down on their obsessions with funk and soul to create a song cycle that’s closer to a concept album than it isn’t.
When the Door Nearly Closed on Evanescence
With the success of Evanescence’s Fallen and The Open Door, which held to Amy Lee’s vision, she should have earned Wind-Up’s trust, not its vitriol.
Shawn Colvin’s ‘Whole New You’ Is a Revelation at 25
Shawn Colvin knows who she is, and she wasn’t about to start chasing someone else’s pop dreams. That’s what makes Whole New You so captivating still.
Touché Amoré’s ‘Stage Four’ Is a Harrowing Journey Through Grief
Time doesn’t heal all wounds, but we have music to help. Touché Amoré’s Stage Four is as raw a statement on grief as there has ever been.