First, I almost violently dislike harmonicas, and it’s the first thing I hear on the openingtrack of The King Is Dead, an album I haven’t listened to in years, not since its release way back in 2011, I’d guess.An early fan, I think I have nearly all of their firstalbums on CD. I liked thatContinue reading “#665: D is for The Decemberists”
Tag Archives: music review
#657: C is for Coulton, Jonathan
Dance like they’re watching you, because they’re watching you. –Jonathan Coulton The first time I heard this guy, a fellow musician by way of comparison told me about this singer-songwriter’s project of writingand releasing a song a weekfor an entire year, while weintrepid songwriting homestudio cats were attemptingsix songs in one day of every monthContinue reading “#657: C is for Coulton, Jonathan”
#654: C is for Costello, Elvis (The Spanish Model)
The first Elvis album I listen to doesn’t haveElvis’s voice anywhere on it, or hardly. A testament to Costello’s cross-cultural reach, Elvishanded over 16 of the original instrumentaltracks from This Year’s Modelto 16+ different Spanish speakingsingers. As a listener, and a huge Elvis fan, and a guy who does not speak Spanish, it’s a tripContinue reading “#654: C is for Costello, Elvis (The Spanish Model)”
#651: C is for Cooper, Alice
I Shock rocker Alice Coopereach tour would devise someway to execute himself at the end of the show. One tour, he hung himself, in anotherhe chopped his head offwith a guillotine, and the timeI saw him on the From The Inside tour, he put himselfin an electric chair. A rockstar with 9 lives, by theContinue reading “#651: C is for Cooper, Alice”
#643: C is for Cheap Trick
In yet another unfortunatecase of an alphabetizing mishap, Chicano and Childish inadvertently show up in the stacks before Cheapand before Cars. I may need to hire a new alphabetizer, as this one keepsmaking these unforgivable mistakes. I’ll cut my guy a little slack for neglecting The Cars altogether,filed as they are, in a box setonContinue reading “#643: C is for Cheap Trick”
We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Program to Talk About Geese
I just don’t want to like them. Everybody loves Geese. Everybody loves their new album, Getting Killed. Everybody seems to be falling down stupid-in-love with their singer and principal songwriter, Cameron Winter. Even people whose opinions I trust and whose art I respect or love, St. Vincent and Marc Maron, as examples, are falling overContinue reading “We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Program to Talk About Geese”
#618: B is for Big Country
I totally sidestepped these guysas a teenage new wave rocker. Decades later, for $3.00, I thoughtI should probably look into, beyond that one eponymouslytitled hit single, what I wasmissing. Not much, it turns out. But that one tune, you know, “In a big country, dreams stay with you like a lover’s voice fires the mountainside”Continue reading “#618: B is for Big Country”
#593: A is for A-ha
I I never leave the shrink wrap on an album I’ve purchased, but I left the plastic on this first A-ha album, purchased used within the last several years, because the original price tag was still there, $6.99 new at Tower Records, 1985.I did some thinking about thisrecently, about the price of a new recordContinue reading “#593: A is for A-ha”
On the Thirtieth Day of 2025…
…I’m thinking about having watched the Björk concert last night on Apple TV. Filmed, I think, within the last year, it was a live performance of mostly material from her Utopia album, the album preceding her most recent project, Fossora. It was a fascinating experience, and while it was not entirely pleasant, I could notContinue reading “On the Thirtieth Day of 2025…”
On the Twenty-third Day of 2025…
…I entered a song I wrote with Adam, my Project MA partner, into a contest for songwriters over the age of 50 sponsored by an organization called Talent Is Timeless. I only know about this organization because somehow (o mystery of mysteries) I started seeing their ads in my social media feeds. Now, I couldContinue reading “On the Twenty-third Day of 2025…”
michael jarmer 