Radiohead was the most important band in the world to me between the ages of 13 and 25 or so. No other music can ever do to me what Radiohead did then, when my wiring was at its most fragile. Their mark is indelible, not only as shepherds of my musical taste, but as the…
“Danny Nedelko” – Idles
Earlier this year, the frontman of Nottingham electro-punk band Sleaford Mods accused Idles of class appropriation. “I thought they were kind of a street band,” he told The Guardian, “but it turns out they’re not working class.” He went on to explain why he found their unabashedly progressive second album, Joy as an Act of…
“Bestial Burden” – Pharmakon
A friend who’d never heard Pharmakon once asked me to describe her music, and the best I could come up with on the spot was “body horror.” That may not be a recognized musical genre, but I still wouldn’t know what else to call it; it’s aural Cronenberg. Some might try to roll Pharmakon up…
“Only Tomorrow” – My Bloody Valentine
22 years elapsed between My Bloody Valentine’s iconic second album Loveless and their third, MBV. 22 years is an insanely long time. It’s longer than the duration between “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and John Lennon’s four-years-posthumous album Milk and Honey. To find themselves in MBV territory, The Wrens would have to wait another…
“Two Weeks” – FKA twigs
If I had to pick one song to represent 2010s music for future generations, I’d probably go with “Two Weeks.” There’s that particular minimalist ambience that became so prevalent after Kanye’s 808s & Heartbreak; the processed synth throb perfected by James Blake and Arca (who plays it here); the underlying trip-hop beat over rhythmic, pitch-shifted…