I’m earnest in my appreciation and support for women and homosexuals. As I mature and learn and listen, I become more aware of the discrimination, injustice, and violence with which people have to contend simply because of their gender and/or orientation. With that awareness, I’m confronted by my own incongruity, discovering unexplored prejudices that appall …
As legend has it, 16 year old Earl Sweatshirt’s hip-hop career was a secret to everyone but his OFWGKTA cohorts and fans. Then, his parents found out about his music. So disturbed were they, upon listening to his raps, that they sent young Earl to military school. As a result, his crew is left shouting, …
The excess of Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy — the most celebrated 2010 album in hip-hop, and maybe any genre — left me feeling more than a little turned off. A thought that entered my mind (but not my blog) was that the album represented a moment in hip-hop that mirrored some kind …
An old album, upon first listen, can make great demands of the listener’s imagination. In a similar fashion, music from the 1980s typically requires the listener to keep in mind that it is from the 1980s. Not that a listener has to work had to remember that, as there seems to be a yellowy sonic …
Toro Y Moi’s second album, Underneath the Pine, was released on February 22, 2011, a few days after Radiohead announced and then rapidly released their newest album, and just over a week after Arcade Fire surprised everyone who cares about the Grammy Awards by winning Album of the Year. Although it was highly anticipated, heavily …
Maybe it’s the nature of language, or maybe it’s the nature of marketing, but, for whatever reason, it’s not uncommon for descriptors of popular music to lose all meaning. Some recent and familiar examples include the words “alternative,” “indie,” and “emo.” Another is “old school,” the meaninglessness of which was an inevitability, given its dependance …
It’s no secret that I’m a Destroyer devotee. If you’ve ever wondered why, the latest full-length, Kaputt will either clear things right up or confuse you even further. It’s possibly Destroyer’s most accessible album, and at the same time, it’s possibly Destroyer’s most off-putting. Or, neither, I really don’t know. Maybe it’s more like the …