Six years ago, in the depths of the pandemic, I wrote about Car Seat Headrest’s then-new record Making a Door Less Open. It had first struck me as a deep disappointment, though I came around to appreciating the way Will Toledo’s confusing, anxiety-ridden song fragments resonated during that incredibly confusing, anxiety-ridden time. I still like…
All posts by Rich Bradley
Who wants to hear my AI album? Wait, where are you going?
Part 1: Yes, You Should Probably Hate This AI in art is a loaded topic. As it should be – plenty of the complaints about it are merited. Aside from the issues that apply to AI more broadly (environmental impact, questionable value vs. the insane levels of investment being funneled into it), AI in art…
“YMCA” – DJ Trump
On Monday, Donald Trump decided to cut a town hall event short and play songs to his audience for 40 minutes. This is the kind of thing that drives liberals up the wall. To do something this bizarre, surely he’s (for real this time!) lost his mind. Kamala Harris’s X account flippantly posted “Hope he’s…
“Fever” – Aldous Harding
I’ve always been drawn to songwriters whose lyrics are too smart for me. I enjoy feeling like I’m in the hands of an artist whose work has layers that are beyond my grasp. Aldous Harding’s lyrics are often mistaken for absurdism. This was my take at least, when I first heard her 2019 breakthrough track…
“You Will Never Work in Television Again” – The Smile
I’ve written before about how impossible it is to have any objectivity about the band that got you through high school. That band for me was Radiohead – OK Computer came out the year I turned 13, which more or less sealed things – and blessedly, they have continued to hold an active and meaningful…