“You don’t discover [The Beatles], you reclaim them… You have to take [them] back from everyone who’s admired [them] before and find your own way in, even if what you’re really looking for in the music is the same thing those old admirers found there.” – Alex Pappademas What, in the name of Saving Private Ryan,…
Whoo! After more than six months, we’ve finally made it to the tenth and final entry in the “10 Things Brian Likes” series. On that sentimental note, I thought I’d end with a tearjerker. Provided I ever actually finish my “Small-Screen 66 Countdown” over at Brian Terrill Movie Night, The Muppet Show is set to rank…
Conor Oberst is 34?! No part of that makes sense, and I’m not even sure why. Given that his first major album (as Bright Eyes) came out the same year as Michael Jordan’s last championship, you’d certainly be forgiven for assuming he’s old enough to run for president. On the other hand, 34—with all the marriages…
Nothing about U2’s new album Songs of Innocence makes any sense. Suddenly foisted on everyone this September, the album is the group’s 13th and first since 2009’s largely ignored No Line on the Horizon, which was the first since 2004’s largely terrible How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb. Despite working with a smorgasbord of producers for…
As most music fans know, rock music is hardly the most popular kid at the table these days. Yet even while rock as a whole has lost some of its prominence in our culture, one strand has recently flourished : pop-emo, a ’90s/2000s movement that crystallizes the transformation of emo from Rites of Spring’s thrashing…
Bzzzt! *click* “May I have your attention please! Welcome to the Wide World of Music! For songs you already know, please stand in the Spotify line to your left. For songs you haven’t heard that sound like the ones you know, use the Pandora line to your right. Radios are available in the back of…
Rising up through the ranks, CrashFuse has arrived to put the city of Buffalo on the musical map. They’ve earned cred the hard way through dedication to craft while pleasing local fans with frequent shows around their part of the state. But enough from me: let’s let the boys introduce themselves. (Earn This:) For the…
Download link (you may have to right click and “Save As”) This is part two of the podcast in which Colton and I select the most iconic music by decade. You can listen to part 1 here. In part two, we discuss the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s. We debate the merits of “Mmmbop.” Subscribe on iTunes!…
Download link (you may have to right click and “Save As”) Colton and I sat down recently to discuss the most iconic pop songs by decade. We each ranked our own top five for every decade from the ’50s through the 2010s (so far). We had a lot of fun, and I conversation extended out into…
Yesterday I went to see Billy Joel in DC. This was my second time seeing him — I had previously seen him at the Verizon Center in 2006. I wanted to share the set-list as well as some of my thoughts, so I put together this article. Below is a journal of my day, with…