Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in July 2013 There’s really nothing truly new and original going on in new music today, and the adage “everything old is new again” was truly on full display throughout the three-day Pitchfork Music Festival. Several threads can be drawn through the music presented at Pitchfork this past weekend, […]
Song Of The Day – “I Married Myself” by Sparks
American brothers Ron and Russell Mael formed the group Halfnelson in 1970. Their first two albums were recorded in Woodstock, New York, produced by Todd Rundgren and released on the Bearsville record label. Both records tanked on these shores, so the brothers broke up the band, changed their name to Sparks, moved to England, got […]
Song Of The Day – “Around The Way Girl” by LL Cool J
“Don’t Call It A Comeback, I been here for years…,” so begins the title cut from the 4th album called Mama Said Knock You Out by James Todd Smith…aka Ladies Love Cool J…aka LL Cool J. And back in the day in my hood, the strains of LL could be heard emanating from booming systems […]
Song Of The Day – “Collide-A-Scope” by Todd Rundgren
I love Todd Rundgren. I’ve been a fan since the early 1970s, and at this point I don’t see that ever changing. Like Neil Young, Todd is one of the most mercurial of artists who still makes interesting records in all sorts of genres mainly to please himself. That’s made for lots of experimentation along the […]
Song Of The Day – “Pusher Love Girl” by Justin Timberlake
Growing up in public is nothing new. Sammy Davis, Jr. did it. So did Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson. Heck, even Justin Bieber’s doing it now. Some have handled it better than others, and while it’s probably not the easiest thing to do, there are some that make it seem effortless. Justin Timberlake is one […]
Song Of the Day – “On The Air” & “Moribund The Burgermeister” by Peter Gabriel (Live from Rockpalast, 1978)
By the time of the broadcast from this 1978 Rockpalast show, Peter Gabriel was three years past his Genesis days and was out on the road promoting his second solo record, Peter Gabriel (which also goes by the names Peter Gabriel II and Scratch because of its album jacket image). I’ve already written several pieces […]
Song Of The Day – “What The Eyeballs Did” by Atoms For Peace
The first thing that grabs you is the rhythm – jittery, squiggly, purely wiggy and totally glitchy rhythm. Rhythms that don’t make you dance, but do make you move. The ghost of Talking Heads’ Remain In Light lives here. Their fingerprints are all over songs that have been built up from rhythm. They inhabit the […]
Song Of The Day – “While I’m Alive” by STRFKR & “Young Turks” by Sexton Blake
Sure, you’d be hard-pressed to forgive them for a band name as over the top as STRFKR (which is short for Starfucker). But props are firmly in order because over the past few years they’ve released three solid albums; chock full of deliciously danceable and tuneful electro pop confections. STRFKR’s roots are in solo projects […]
Song Of The Day – “Cosmic Convoy” by Todd Rundgren & Utopia
If it had come out when it was recorded, it would have been met with shrugs, or even worse, total disdain. Instead, except for those lucky few who could afford an expensive Japanese import box set, we’ve had to wait 36 years for it to finally get a legal release, and then only in the […]
Song Of The Day – “Today’s Supernatural” by Animal Collective
Psychedelia is alive and well and living in…Maryland? Well at least in Animal Collective’s case, it hails from Maryland. In a musical world where little is truly ever new, Animal Collective consistently tap into the past to create a sound that’s wholly their own. Like a wigged out Yes or a Beach Boys on acid, […]
