Georgia Ellery and Taylor Skye are the electronic experimental Englishpop duo of Jockstrap, who, with I Love You, Jennifer B, have released the only album I am aware of for which the listener gets to design their own album cover. The absolutely blank bright greenrecord jacket contains the record, of course, in translucent green, andContinue reading “#768: J is for Jockstrap”
Tag Archives: record collection
#765: J is for Joan As Police Woman
I don’t know how I found her. In 2008, either because I hadread something or someonehad recommended her to me, I bought a CD. I don’t think I had a clue at the time about her collaborations with otherfamous artists or that she wasJeff Buckley’s fiancee up to thepoint of his tragic drowning.So beyond allContinue reading “#765: J is for Joan As Police Woman”
#761: J is for Jethro Tull
Sitting on a park bench. Snot dripping down his nose. Both of my Jethro Tull albumsare used acquisitions, Aqualungstill has a price tag on it of $1.99. Aqualung, my friend, don’t you start away uneasy. You poor old sod, you see, it’s only me. And I want to know who has a friend namedafter aContinue reading “#761: J is for Jethro Tull”
#746: J is for Japan
Even though I have never thought thatplace proper nouns make good names for rock bands, it makes some sense thata band from Kansas would call themselvesKansas, or a band from Boston would callthemselves Boston, or a band from America might call themselves America. This band here, Japan, one of my lasting absolute favorite bands fromContinue reading “#746: J is for Japan”
#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”
#732: H is for Hozier
My first Hozier experience, like it was for most people,was “Take Me To Church,” an unlikely pop song that managed to take the Catholicchurch to task while soundinglike a spiritual, or gospel music. There were those smart, literarylyrics and that gigantic voice. It didn’t really matter to me that stylistically it was not musicin myContinue reading “#732: H is for Hozier”
#728: H is for Honorary Astronaut
Moving through my collection as I’m doing, it’s a joyous occasion when I come across artists I love from the end of the alphabet who arecollaborating with artists from an earlier letter of the alphabet (David Byrne and St. Vincent, Robyn Hitchcock and Andy Partridge from XTC) or when I arrive at a solo artistContinue reading “#728: H is for Honorary Astronaut”
#727: H is for Hitchcock, Robyn
The first album from Robyn Hitchcock I ever heard after I bought the CD in 1988 is also thelast Hitchcock record added to the collection on vinyl, the 2025 remixedand remastered Globe of Frogs. It remains today, I think, my favoriteRobyn Hitchcock record. “Tropical Flesh Mandala” had about the strangestlyric lines I had ever heardContinue reading “#727: H is for Hitchcock, Robyn”