Sometimes I worry every viable blend of genres has been explored, and that there’s only so much innovation that can still happen in pop music without fundamentally changing what pop music is. Other times: flamenco R&B! This is suddenly a thing now! And it’s really good! Rosalía Vila Tobella is a Catalan singer, formally trained…
All posts in December 2019
“Crescent” – The Wrens
I had the opportunity to listen to The Wrens’ new LP in November 2016. If you’ve heard it too, it was almost certainly in the same place I did: Charles Bissell’s basement. The Wrens are one of rock’s great hard luck stories, an energetic band from New Jersey armed with memorable hooks, furious guitars and…
“Ohm” – Yo La Tengo
I have a vague memory of watching some proto-reality show on MTV as a kid, where a group of people were watching clips from different music videos they’d selected. It was mostly mainstream stuff, but then some super lo-fi, homemade-looking thing came on: Yo La Tengo’s “Sugarcube.” I think everyone was pretty nice about it,…
“Ain’t It Funny” – Danny Brown
Detroit rapper Danny Brown has seen hard times. He’s faced poverty, jail, addiction and depression, and he’s continued to be tagged as an outsider even after finally getting some recognition in his 30s. He is okay telling you about all this at length. How you address such bleak topics when you’re known for delivering raunchy…
“Video Games” – Lana Del Rey
I’m not going to pretend to have a new angle on what Lana Del Rey represents, or her disastrous SNL debut, or her sustained popularity in the aftermath of all that hate to close the decade as one of the most widely admired artists in pop. That story is an interesting one. Her music is…