I love Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis , I love Habibi, and I love Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman. However, there’s one word choice that I’ve always hated having to make when talking about these books with other people: Do I tell them… Read More
10. Bridget St. John – Ask Me No Questions (1969, Dandelion) Singer-songwriter Bridget St. John became a British cult figure in the wake of her critically-lauded sophomore LP Songs for the Gentle Man (1971), though it’s in her debut album Ask Me No… Read More
With Eraserhead (1977) there is only ever the first time. Re-watching director David Lynch’s debut feature, the experience is entangled with the impact of that initial viewing. Subsequent screenings lead back to deeper recesses of an experience, remembered as equal… Read More
Losing Sharon Jones to cancer in 2016 felt particularly unfair. Jones didn’t breakthrough until she was in her mid-40s when Dap Dippin’ with Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings launched Daptone Records and played a pivotal role in the retro-soul movement.… Read More
It’s hard to imagine why Chris Stapleton would feel the need to start over just now. Five years ago, his debut solo album Traveller put him into permanent stardom (such as stardom ever is), and he’s only followed that with… Read More
By the late 1980s, the Fall were in as stable a place as their confrontational frontman, lyricist, and only constant member Mark E. Smith would allow. Guitarist Craig Scanlon and bassist Steve Hanley, who joined at the same time, had… Read More
On 23 June 2016, the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union after months of campaigning. The vote – coined Brexit (a portmanteau of Britain and Exit) – was predicted to end in Remain’s favour. Much of the polls… Read More
North Carolina’s deep-rooted musical history has more to offer than James Taylor singing “Carolina in My Mind”. Like its geography, the Tar Heel state’s music comes from the backroads, the dirt paths, the main streets, the warehouses, street corners, and… Read More
Trent Reznor: industrial auteur, Generation X icon, Grammy Award winner, lavishly-praised film composer. When Reznor was toiling late nights to piece together the first Nine Inch Nails album Pretty Hate Machine (1989), did he ever conceive that the angst-laden electronic/rock… Read More
Yes, the band created the template for heavy metal and thrash, but even now, it’s instructive to acknowledge just how unique Black Sabbath were when they first emerged; how different from anything else anyone was doing. It’s not just that… Read More