My understanding is that this is the first Elephant 6 album. So, for people who care about such things, that’s a really big deal. For the rest of us, it’s certainly much less of a big deal. Moreover, the degree to which The Apples in Stereo truly represent that beloved “lo fi indie pop” aesthetic …
Pod (1990) by The Breeders
I can’ really decide what to do with this one. The songs are okay but I like the aesthetic. But I don’t like the production. I keep going back and forth.
Wilson Phillips (1990)
My memory of “Hold On” was that it was catchier than it is. I’m not saying it’s not catchy, it totally is. But I’m not sure it’s as memorable as I remembered it being. (I have some vision of somebody – in a film? – singing along to it.)
Low-Life (1985) by New Order
I generally don’t like and don’t get the gradual drift tin dance music of so many of the trailblazers and followers of the initial wave of post punk. It doesn’t make much sense to me to be excited by the possibilities of punk, and want to expand it, and then to decide that what you …
Sleepwalkers (2019)
I have long been stuck on what to do about reviewing podcasts: do I review them when I finish their first reason? do I review each season? do I wait to the end – like a TV show – and review? The solution I’ve come to now is to review the first season and maybe …
Vince
Vince Carter retired yesterday (June 25, 2020). Almost immediately a bunch of Raptors fans online were talking about how he might deserve a statue, maybe, but his jersey number can never be retired. So let me briefly yell at a cloud and say: only people who are so immature they cannot get over a trade …
COMMONS: Dynasties (2019)
This is an interesting but flawed podcast about major recent familial dynasties in Canada. I have a bunch of reservations about it but, given that I know of no other coverage of this subject in Canada, I still recommend it to you if you are at all interested on the impact of inter-generational wealth and …
I Just Can’t Stop It (1980) by The [English] Beat
Remember when 2 Tone was a really big deal?
diana (1980) by Diana Ross
Diana Ross’ biggest hit, which I really had no idea about. In part, I guess, because I didn’t know “I’m Coming Out” was her song. I knew it, but I didn’t know it was her. Teaming with the creative team behind Chic seems like a pretty inspired idea, at least from a commercial standpoint. Also, …
Joan Jett aka Bad Reputation (1980)
Joan Jett was pretty young when she made this record – only 19 or 20 – but it sounds like it was made by someone 10 years her senior. That’s often a compliment but it’s not here: like so many punk-adjacent albums of the late ’70s and early ’80s, this one is obsessed with the …
Freedom of Choice (1980) by Devo
As someone else put it: Devo have actually devolved – as they claim was happening to culture – only to produce their biggest hit. This contains “Whip It” – far and away their most famous song – and, as a result, the album was their biggest hit.
Steppin’ (1975) by The Pointer Sisters
This is the extent of my knowledge of The Pointer Sisters: I’ve heard “Jump” a million times. Sure, it’s possible I know some other hits of theirs. If I played all their Top 20 hits maybe I’d recognize a few of them, but the only one I could identify by name (and would know as …
There’s No Place Like America Today (1975) by Curtis Mayfield
My general, um, impression of Curtis Mayfield is that his version of soul is just way too slick for me. I’ve felt this about the limited albums of his I’ve heard, be it solo or the Impressions. I don’t feel that way as much about this record and I’m not sure if that’s me getting …
Venus and Mars (1975) by Wings
Every Wings album is a reminder why the Beatles were great. Every Wings album is a reminder that, though they may have hated each other at the end, Lennon and McCartney needed each other artistically.
Captain Fantastic and the Dirt Brown Cowboy (1975) by Elton John
I keep having the same experience over and over again with artists I’m relatively unfamiliar with, like Elton John: I listen to 2 or 3 or 4 albums and I’m unimpressed and then I get to like the 5th album (or sometimes even the 6th) and I have some kind of epiphany and suddenly worry …
ABC (1970) by Jackson 5
This is a slickly produced Motown record with a lead vocalist who is entirely too young. I don’t necessarily blame the people alive in 1970 who celebrated this group for what happened with Michael Jackson, but did nobody stop and wonder about this? It was probably “cute”, right?
The Golden Compass (2007, Chris Weitz)
This is a pretty-looking but witless family fantasy film which fails to function as anything more than a pale Chronicles of Narnia imitation and the ending of which truly shows how ill-conceived this whole thing was.
Figure 8 (2000) by Elliott Smith
I think Elliott Smith is a good songwriter. As I have said when reviewing his other albums, I really don’t get the idea that he is one of the great songwriters of his generation, but he’s certainly very good. His songs are a little too poppy for my tastes, but I can at least appreciate …
The Discovery of a World Inside the Moone (2000) by The Apples in Stereo
I read that this was an attempt by Apples in Stereo to sound more like they do on stage, so it’s rawer than normal. I’ve heard one of their earlier albums – Tone Soul Evolution – but I don’t remember it. But reading my review that sounds like it might be true. But it’s kind …
Things to Make and Do (2000) by Moloko
I don’t know Moloko at all, so I don’t know how this album changed their sound from previous record. I read that they were considerably more electronic before this record, but I’m taking that on faith. All I can really talk about what’s here, whish might be described as soulful, funky, dancier Portishead – like …
Dongs of Sevotion (2000) by Smog
During one of our podcast episodes, we were discussing Palace Brothers and one of the guests said he reminded him of Smog. When I first listened to Smog – the earlier, weirder, more lo fi Smog – I had no idea what he was talking about. But listening to this record I really, really do. …
John Dies at the End (2009) by David Wong
Full disclosure: I didn’t read this when it was on the web, before it was published. But I saw the film at Midnight Madness TIFF in 2012. I don’t really remember the movie much any more but my review suggested I enjoyed it except for two things: 1) the CGI (which I remember being awful) …
Astro-Creep: 2000 – Songs of Love, Destruction and Other Synthetic Delusions of the Electric Head (1995) by White Zombie
Like so many albums, I am coming to this backwards: I’ve heard a Rob Zombie solo album before listening to this. It’s possible that this colours my experience of this record and will make my review unfair. It’s also possible that I just don’t like what Rob Zombie does nor what his band does, whether …
Nihil (1995) by KMFDM
So I don’t like KMFDM. And I’m starting to think I know why. But my general dislike of a band always makes it kind of hard to fairly review them. This record seems to be the consensus best or second best of their career. But I do not like what they do here. I gave …
Tindersticks [II] (1995)
I’m not sure exactly what it is, but Tindersticks hit me in a place where I am just incapable of disliking them. It’s like Staples et al. just stumbled upon the formula for music I like, and for convincing me that it’s totally okay to release three double LPs to start your career. (If another …
Chungking Express (1994, Kar-Wai Wong)
This is a maddening, bizarre and provocative film that has dated really poorly from the time when it was greeted rapturously in the West.
Ready Player One (2018, Steven Spielberg)
It’s possible that reading bad reviews of this book and this movie prejudiced me ahead of time. But I’m not sure it would have mattered. This is a bad movie. And it’s somewhat shocking that a director as skilled at making popcorn entertainment as Spielberg couldn’t turn it into a passable film.
Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018, Christopher McQuarie)
This is now the sixth Mission: Impossible film and the third in the 2010s reboot. Things are tired: there are too many damn characters and the plot echoes the plots of previous movies (i.e. some element in the US government doesn’t trust/disavows Hunt and the IMF, again). I’m bored and I’m not laughing as much …
Life (1990) by Inspiral Carpets
Full disclosure: I listened to this on YouTube and two songs were missing. I don’t think those two songs would have changed my mind but you never know.
The Good Son (1990) by Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds
I love Tender Prey. For me, it’s the culmination of the Seeds through their first era, a powerful combination of punk-influenced music and songwriting well beyond the quality of most punk albums.