‘Waterloo Sunset’ is one of the best songs ever recorded by anyone ever. And of course that’s an overstatement. Nevertheless, it fizzles in as you’re scanning the radio stations, its number comes up on the jukebox, it swirls overhead in its Muzak-ified incarnation at the grocery store—
Pete: And how do you take your coffee, Agent Cooper? Cooper: Black as midnight on a moonless night. Pete: Pret-ty black. It’s an exchange from an episode of Twin Peaks, if you didn’t already guess. And it’s a pretty good descriptor of this album, too: Black
Four terms this column will not use to describe the album: ‘Joy Division,’ ‘Ian Curtis,’ ‘New Wave,’ ‘Eighties.’ One that it will: ‘one of the finest albums of the year.’ Yes, Interpol may never shirk its reputation. After all, there’s that voice. It’s a strong, booming voice singing
Don’t be fooled: yes, the first track of the EP, ‘The She Trilogy,’ begins just like The Who’s ‘Baba O’Riley.’ It’s got all those synthesizer arpeggios. You know the bit. This sounds just like ‘Baba O’Riley,’ you’ll say. And then—GOOD GOD—this voice.
The 30th anniversary of the release of David Bowie’s glam-rock magnum opus—and the album that defined the genre—is commemorated with this two-disc special edition, released last week. The album proper, should you have not heard by now, is required listening. It’s everything everyone’s
Full-throttle, straight-up Rock and Roll. Blow-your-mind, wreck-your-house Rock and Roll. This is Rock and Roll. At least, what we think of when we say ‘Rock and Roll’ these days. That’s to say, no—it’s not Elvis. Nevertheless, if I put this album
Sonic Youth’s new album—their sixteenth—is named after the block in Lower Manhattan where their studio is located. Murray Street is also where a jet engine landed on September 11. This album, however, seems to have little to do with any of that. Produced by Jim O’Rourke
This, the long-awaited follow-up to 1996’s monumental Endtroducing…, was worth it. Worth every month, worth every day. It’s catchy, it’s spontaneous, it’s gorgeous. (Again) Shadow generates tracks that utterly defy categorization. It’s definitely more mature and there are a number of instances where
This is a very personal album. A look at singer Jamie Stewart’s message on the cover sticker says it immediately: ‘When my mom died I listened to Henry Cowell, Joy Division, Detroit techno, the Smiths, Takemitsu, Sabbath, Gamelan, ‘Black Angels’ and Cecil Taylor.’ Nothing held back here. No real
Three new songs from New York City’s Interpol. Their recent signing to Matador has definitely given them access to higher production values, and it’s immediately apparent, right from the first track—the re-recorded ‘PDA.’ A well-written song any way you cut it, it’s had new
