This is where I'm supposed to summarize the past year, find some overaching theme or thread running through my choices, spot trends, or something along those lines. Instead it's just another mea culpa for my continuing and accelerating estrangement from mainstream pop music. Don't mind me, I'm just a grumpy old fart. But these twenty new albums made me less grumpy.
1. Diiv: Is the Is Are (Captured Tracks)
I enjoyed their first album, and far from a sophomore slump, their second is even better. Sure, I'm heavily predisposed to love bands that conjure a moody '80s vibe with thrumming bass, chiming guitar jangle, and submerged vocals, but this is greater than the sum of those parts, simultaneously updating the sound while tapping into a new level of melodicism for this band.
2. David Bowie: Black Star (Sony)
I wrote about this at length. What can I add now that...
1. Diiv: Is the Is Are (Captured Tracks)
I enjoyed their first album, and far from a sophomore slump, their second is even better. Sure, I'm heavily predisposed to love bands that conjure a moody '80s vibe with thrumming bass, chiming guitar jangle, and submerged vocals, but this is greater than the sum of those parts, simultaneously updating the sound while tapping into a new level of melodicism for this band.
2. David Bowie: Black Star (Sony)
I wrote about this at length. What can I add now that...
- 1/18/2017
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
Another year, another move further away from caring about pop. Whether that's pop's fault or mine, I'm not sure. But there was still plenty of great new music released in 2015, and here, according to my idiosyncratic tastes, are the best albums, or at least my favorites.
1. Wire: Wire (Pink Flag)
This is said to be the first time that Bruce Gilbert's replacement, guitarist Matthew Simms, was heavily involved in the creation of a Wire album, and the result is...the closest Wire has ever come to sounding like a Colin Newman album. I exaggerate for effect, but only slightly: most everything thrums along smoothly and motorik-ly, he takes all the lead vocals (though Graham Lewis supposedly wrote many of the lyrics), and there are none of the post-punkier outbursts of the group's previous two reunion albums, though near the end of Wire, the one-two punch of "Split Your Ends" and "Octopus" come close.
1. Wire: Wire (Pink Flag)
This is said to be the first time that Bruce Gilbert's replacement, guitarist Matthew Simms, was heavily involved in the creation of a Wire album, and the result is...the closest Wire has ever come to sounding like a Colin Newman album. I exaggerate for effect, but only slightly: most everything thrums along smoothly and motorik-ly, he takes all the lead vocals (though Graham Lewis supposedly wrote many of the lyrics), and there are none of the post-punkier outbursts of the group's previous two reunion albums, though near the end of Wire, the one-two punch of "Split Your Ends" and "Octopus" come close.
- 12/27/2015
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
My alienation from current pop is almost complete; the only 2013 Top 40 material I enjoyed enough to play repeatedly was Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, from an album released in 2012. So I am officially a cranky old fart. But there are more and more of us, and maybe fellow COFs will find this list useful. By the way, crossing that border of alienation made me think more than ever that saying my lists are of the "best" albums is nearly absurd, hence the new headline.
1. Wire: Change Becomes Us (Pink Flag)
This is my favorite Wire of this century thanks to more emphasis on Colin Newman's brooding. When allied to their chugging motorik beats, it's irresistible to me. There are still some uptempo burners that recall their beginnings in punk, and some more whimsical though still musically solid songs, but it's Newman's dark musings that made me play this repeatedly.
2. Kitchens of...
1. Wire: Change Becomes Us (Pink Flag)
This is my favorite Wire of this century thanks to more emphasis on Colin Newman's brooding. When allied to their chugging motorik beats, it's irresistible to me. There are still some uptempo burners that recall their beginnings in punk, and some more whimsical though still musically solid songs, but it's Newman's dark musings that made me play this repeatedly.
2. Kitchens of...
- 1/1/2014
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
Day 1 of the 2013 Pitchfork Music Festival started sweat-soaked and lively with impressive turns from artists playing amid oppressively hot heat and a dazzling Friday finale from Björk.
Humid conditions that saw a "low" of 90-degrees by nightfall sapped little energy from fest-goers. There were no hula hoopers or cosmic jam dancers (maybe they were all at Northerly Island for Phish?) but we did spy one man being led out of Björk's performance in a headlock.
As a nice gesture/safety precaution, Pitchfork Fest staff posted a few clean garbage pails of bottled water for fest-goers to grab for free; within 90 minutes, little more than wilted labels and melting ice were left behind.
(See more photos of the festival below.)
Here's a look at some of the Friday highlights:
Arrived just in time for the tail end of Canadian Mac DeMarco's set which consisted entirely of a strange array of...
Humid conditions that saw a "low" of 90-degrees by nightfall sapped little energy from fest-goers. There were no hula hoopers or cosmic jam dancers (maybe they were all at Northerly Island for Phish?) but we did spy one man being led out of Björk's performance in a headlock.
As a nice gesture/safety precaution, Pitchfork Fest staff posted a few clean garbage pails of bottled water for fest-goers to grab for free; within 90 minutes, little more than wilted labels and melting ice were left behind.
(See more photos of the festival below.)
Here's a look at some of the Friday highlights:
Arrived just in time for the tail end of Canadian Mac DeMarco's set which consisted entirely of a strange array of...
- 7/20/2013
- by Kim Bellware
- Huffington Post
It’s easy to get lost in the flurry of movie marketing which assaults the senses on a daily basis. For every Saul Bass masterpiece there are ten dozen blue and orange backed face collages. For every hazy photo-perfect Drew Struzan there are many handfuls of uninspired collisions of well known faces and names. The lowest common denominator is an easy target when you’re looking to grab each of the four quadrants by the scruff of the ignorance.
In an age when fan made posters are easily mistaken, and then preferred, to the real deal and pioneers like Olly Moss and the multitude of Mondo posters and their variants find their work snapped up within seconds of their being made available there is a case to be made that a decent, memorable poster may not be the one seen on the bus stops and tube stations of the land.
In an age when fan made posters are easily mistaken, and then preferred, to the real deal and pioneers like Olly Moss and the multitude of Mondo posters and their variants find their work snapped up within seconds of their being made available there is a case to be made that a decent, memorable poster may not be the one seen on the bus stops and tube stations of the land.
- 4/30/2013
- by Jon Lyus
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
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