Tag Archives: music

#759: J is for Jellyfish

I cannot think of a better 90’s bandthat did not sound like the 90’s. Maybe The Posies or They Might BeGiants both come close, but thesecats, this Jellyfish band, I saw liveonce in their first iteration at a smallclub downtown shortly after that firstalbum, Bellybutton, and it was nearlya religious experience. Andy Sturmer, lead singingContinue reading “#759: J is for Jellyfish”

#756: J is for The Worst of Jefferson Airplane, or the Worst of American Airlines

Coming home from Dayton with a short layover in Chicago, our flight, scheduled for take-off from O’Hare at nine, is delayed because of “technical issues.” That’s just the thingyou want to hear waiting to boarda plane. Your thinking goes to uglyplaces. And then, on the other hand, statistically speaking, you are safer ina plane thanContinue reading “#756: J is for The Worst of Jefferson Airplane, or the Worst of American Airlines”

#751: J is for Japanese Breakfast

Even though the two albumsI have from Japanese Breakfastare titled after opposites on the emotional spectrum, jubilation and melancholy, when I listen to Michelle Zauner’s music, my own emotions run to the former of the two. Even the sadsongs evoke joy for me. I maybe wiping tears from the corners, but there is at theContinue reading “#751: J is for Japanese Breakfast”

#743: J is for Jackson, Kara

I can’t remember the last timeI was as hypnotized by a voice. Or the last time I fell in love withan album that was, ostensibly, folk. When Kara Jackson tours, I think, she’s just a singer with an acoustic. And while the songs are powerful delivered in this stripped down way,this record is sonically complex.Continue reading “#743: J is for Jackson, Kara”

#741: J is for Jacklin, Julia

Somehow Joe Jackson snuck in frontof Julia Jacklin in the stacks. One of my favoriterecords of 2022, Julia Jacklin’s Pre-Pleasure is a mellow, moody mix of singer-songwriter goodness, smart, evocative, sometimes funnylyrics and Julia’s soft but rich singing voice.“Lydia Wears A Cross,” the album opener, is a vivid study of children in church and allContinue reading “#741: J is for Jacklin, Julia”

#739: J is for Jackson, Joe

At first, Joe Jackson struck meas the “other” Elvis Costello, and at the time, in my teens, I could not imagine needing another one. I was wrong aboutthat, of course, and I knew itas soon as Jackson released the big band album, Jumpin’Jive. He actually beat Costelloto the punch with the genrehopping. But this, NightContinue reading “#739: J is for Jackson, Joe”

#737: I is for It’s A Beautiful Day

The first time I heard this record, it was January in 2024 as I was goingthrough a stack of records bequeathed to me by my brother-in-law, Kevin. This is what I wrote: Embarrassed a little bit to admit it, but even though I have seen this album cover a thousand times, and wondered in stupefactionContinue reading “#737: I is for It’s A Beautiful Day”

#736: I is for Illuminati Hotties

“Pool Hopping” has to be one of the mostcrushing power pop punk rock songs in recentmemory. Followed immediately on the albumLet Me Do One More by the equally sassy andwildly exuberant “MMMOOOAAAAAYAYA.” One would be hard pressed to find two more powerful opening tracks in the wholeof the year of our pandemic, 2020-21.The project ofContinue reading “#736: I is for Illuminati Hotties”

#734: I is for Icehouse

“It’s always cold outside the Icehouse.”And “there’s no love inside the Icehouse.” It’s 1981 and I’m 17, totally immersed in what they call New Wave music, neverto return, or to return only nostalgically,to the hard rock of my pre-teen years.Certainly, I saw the video for the titletrack and theme song for this new bandon MTV,Continue reading “#734: I is for Icehouse”