Slow Burn: Bob Marley’s ‘Catch a Fire’ 50 Years Later
Bob Marley’s Catch a Fire is when the Wailers transformed into the vehicle of his ascent to superstardom and reggae’s assimilation into the global pop music melting pot.
Bob Marley’s Catch a Fire is when the Wailers transformed into the vehicle of his ascent to superstardom and reggae’s assimilation into the global pop music melting pot.
King Krule’s Space Heavy is a wild listening experience, more muted and introspective than past outings and seemingly reflecting our pandemic moment.
Squid follow up 2020’s Bright Green Field with a tighter, leaner, more refined version of their signature melding of sonic chaos and compositional ambition.
On Smile, Robocop Kraus still sound like their mandate is to take the cheap disposable postpunk of the early 1980s and make better versions of it.
The always-brazen Deerhoof challenged their process for their new album, giving themselves tight deadlines, tough decisions, and singing it all in Japanese.
In Scritti Politti’s Songs to Remember, Green Gartside comically challenges hegemonic structures in a perfect harmony of philosophy and pop.
A Certain Ratio have always been willing to fiddle with their sound. That they do so in 1982 doesn’t surprise and fits with their rejuvenation in the 2020s.
If you don’t finish this article with a newfound love of U2, at the very least, maybe you’ll leave with a newly-earned respect for the lads.
Post-punk revivalists Shame’s Food for Worms shows a band unafraid to move beyond their sound. The result is anthemic, pulverizing, thoughtful, and expansive.
New Order’s danceable rhythms and quick, clean melodies inspired a slew of paler imitators then and a new onslaught of dance-punk bands in the past few decades.
New Order’s Low-Life is a masterstroke of synthpop glory, but keep your expectations of the word “definitive” nice and low for this set.
Guitarist Wilko Johnson of pub rock band Dr. Feelgood created a polyrhythmic down-and-up chop on open chords that inspired Paul Weller (the Jam), Hugh Cornwell (the Stranglers), and Jon King (Gang of Four) – and many more.