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.
All Things Reconsidered
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.
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.
Jay-Z’s 1999 Album ‘Vol. 3’ Is His Most Aggressive
In Jay-Z’s Vol. 3… Life & Times of S. Carter, the ever-undeterred MC sounds anything but as he fulminates on one end and tightens his durag on the other.
Gorillaz at 25 Are a Cultural Force for the Good
Assuming personal stability is necessary for collective betterment, it’s high time that Gorillaz share their newest, loving, bizarre journey with the rest of the world.
Massive Attack’s ‘Blue Lines’ Changed Everything
Massive Attack provided the first truly viable British response to the then-rising—and stubbornly indigenous—sensibilities of American hip-hop culture.
Music/All Things Reconsidered/Feature Sub Head/Featured: Top of Home Page/Features/Music Features/Pop Past
Talk Talk’s Lost Chapter: ‘The Colour of Spring’ at 40
With its organic instrumentation and ecological visual and lyrical sensibility, Talk Talk’s third album was a holistic concept rooted in the natural world.
Dead Kennedys’ ‘Frankenchrist’ Is Sadly Relevant at 40
Dead Kennedys’ Frankenchrist is a full-scale assault on Reagan’s America–the hypocrisy, seedy undercurrent beneath the slogans, and institutional racism.
Tom Waits’ Perfect Performance 50 Years Later
Nighthawks at the Diner has received a 50th anniversary reissue. It remains a jazzy, captivating portrait of a young Tom Waits deep in character.