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
Elizabeth Bear’s latest novel is titled Machine, but the term could easily refer to its author. Her literary output is astonishing: 32 novels in 15 years, not to mention a rich assortment of short stories and essays. How does she… Read More
The situation of pianist Joe Castro seems like it came out of one of those low-budget black and white film noir movies about jazz musicians during the mid-20th century. It’s kind of a twist on the Pal Joey plot, the… Read More
Few musicians have succeeded in manipulating and shaping atmosphere as well as Coil. The duo founded by musical (and life) partners John Balance and Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson in 1982 produced 18 astonishingly innovative studio albums (plus dozens of singles, EPs,… Read More
In the 1960s, there was a band that changed the way popular music was made forever. They challenged conventional ideas regarding harmony, form, and instrumentation in pop music. They innovated the way the recording studio could be used as an… Read More
Kelsey Waldon said she feels a special responsibility as a Southerner to improve the human rights of people living in America. She has cited racial injustice and the marginalization of the poor as causes that need to be addressed. That’s… Read More
The synthpads come in, slowly and calmly. You are at peace. It sounds like a Windham Hill record, even. Soon, you are greeted by a calming, deep voice. It’s the voice of Katya, a Boston-born drag queen who has a… Read More
Excerpted from The Smithsonian American Art Museum exhibition catalog, ¡Printing the Revolution!: The Rise and Impact of Chicano Graphics, 1965 to Now, courtesy of The Smithsonian American Art Museum and Princeton University Press. Copyright © 2020 The Smithsonian American Art… Read More
Europe – “The Final Countdown” (Sony, 1986) What better way to start the countdown than with “The Final Countdown”? Originally envisioned as the opening music for Europe’s concerts, it opens our very own list rundown. A song, a career, and a… Read More
15. “Face Up” – Low-Life (1985) Bernard Sumner has claimed he never quite grew comfortable in the role of frontman, and nowhere is that uneasiness more gloriously apparent than “Face Up”. No, Sumner’s voice is nowhere near as distinctive or intuitively strong… Read More