My latest YouTube mix began as an attempt (ill-fated) to make a sound collage of my recently posted Top 50 Favourite Songs list, but quickly mutated into something much narrower, in sound if not in scope. Which is to say I managed to get in four songs from my Top 50, plus two from a previous Top 100 list. The flip side of the coin … Continue reading Caught in the Act of Listening
Roughly a year ago I came across a Spotify playlist with every Christgau A+ album (1,693 songs, 104 hours and 41 minutes long), and one night, listening to it on shuffle play the idea struck me: wouldn’t it be cool to create an “A+” mix? Then, as is often the case, my ambitions went kind of crazy on the thing—neo-Shakespearean recitations? why not—and, well, here … Continue reading A+ (Christgau)
In this “ultra-rare recording,” Richard Meltzer “reads some stuff, in his living room (1990) & at the Lhasa Club in L. A. (198?).” I’m wading through this slowly (it’s almost two hours), but it’s great. Continue reading “Rhymes with Seltzer”
I’m as interested in who doesn’t show up here as who does. Continue reading Ticket to Write
In light of recent and future Pet Shop Boys podcasts around here, this post from a couple years ago is probably worth a revisit — Neil Tennant Recalls Smash Hits Days in Word Magazine Podcast (the podcast is still available) — but even better is this interesting BBC program from 2012 on the same topic, which someone posted for our listening pleasure at YouTube. Continue reading Pet Shop Boys, Critically (4)
Sorta-topical-relevance Friday morning listening. Continue reading My Life in Rock Criticism
“You’ve seen him depicted in the Academy Award winning film Almost Famous. Maybe you’ve read him in Rolling Stone or Creem magazine. Now, see where it all began — El Cajon, California. A Box Full of Rocks: The El Cajon Years of Lester Bangs is a new documentary by Grossmont College instructor Raul Sandelin. The film chronicles the childhood years of famed music journalist Lester … Continue reading A Box Full of Rocks
“Our next story has to do with what may be the last great mystery of the music business…” Brian Williams interviews Greil Marcus and Langdon Winner Continue reading Masked Marauders on NBC
Lester Bangs interviewed by Sue Matthews, May 1980. Continue reading Bangs Audio
RockCritics.com 