I may as well come clean.After my initial childhood, pre-teen, and early teenage infatuation with Rush, entering my punk and new wave phase, I put away childish things, I thought, and distanced myself from the Canadian prog rock power trio. I came to see the band as nerdy, taking itself far tooseriously for it’s ownContinue reading “#850: R is for Rush (Farewell To Kings)”
Tag Archives: Reviews
#849: R is for Rosalía
I heard Rosalía for the first timeon the 2026 Brit Award show where sheperformed “Berghain” with a guest appearance from Björk. Maybe the secondtime on SNL in the same year; or maybe those two experiences were reversed, I don’t know. What I do know is this: I was transported, transfixed, blown away, taken aback, gobsmacked,Continue reading “#849: R is for Rosalía”
#848: R is for Rostam
File under R, becauseRostam Batmanglij useshis first name only ashis artist moniker. This guy, one of the founding members of theAmerican super nerdy butvery cool Vampire Weekendand the producer of theband’s first three albums, goes solo and releaseshis debut record, Half-Light,in 2017. It has probablybeen since 2017 when I listened to this albumlast, so IContinue reading “#848: R is for Rostam”
#847: R is for The Rolling Stones
Took me forever to collect anythingfrom The Rolling Stones. My love forthem has always been luke-warm at best. I have early childhood memories of listeningto my sister’s records, many of which wereStones records, the earliest ones, andthose albums did float my little rock androll boat. “Under My Thumb,” “Satisfaction,”“Get Off My Cloud,” were undeniably coolContinue reading “#847: R is for The Rolling Stones”
#846: R is for Rhye
In the throes of the pandemic, what I most remember about this albumbefore putting it on again tonight, is that this was my go-to take-it-easy and don’t-panic album of 2020. Through my earliest days of streaming, I listened to thisthing over and over; almost every night I fell asleep to it, lullaby-like, a soulful, quiet,Continue reading “#846: R is for Rhye”
#845: R is for Reed, Dan (Network, The)
The music made by local 80’s-eraPortland heroes The Dan Reed Networkwould never have been on my radar, aesthetically speaking, as a 21 year-oldbudding new wave musician. And yet, I carry with me a tremendousdebt of gratitude to these playersand their management at the timefor inviting my wacky band, Here Comes Everybody, to open forthem onContinue reading “#845: R is for Reed, Dan (Network, The)”
#844: R is for Radiohead
There are stand out, memorable tunes, like “Creep” from the debut album, like“Airbag” or “Karma Police” from OK Computer, but I have always been a little bit unsurewhether I love Radiohead or hate them. No, let me rephrase, because I KNOW I don’thate them; It’s just that, even though I own three classic albums onContinue reading “#844: R is for Radiohead”
#843: Q is for Queen
I was nine years old when Queen releasedtheir first single in 1973. “Keep Yourself Alive” must have reached myears through AM pop radio, and whileI don’t remember the first time I heardit, I can’t imagine that I was not enthralled by its exuberance. And two yearslater, in grade school, I had a musicteacher so impressedContinue reading “#843: Q is for Queen”
#842: Q is for Quasi
The king and queen of Northwest noise rock, the married couple of Sam Coones and Janet Weiss came to Portland, Oregonand started making records as Quasi in the late 90’s. Interestingly, they ended the marriage but held on to the friendship and the musical collaboration right before their successful career as Quasi got off theContinue reading “#842: Q is for Quasi”
#838: P is for Prince
In the late 80’s, during a brief windowin the reign of the artist formerly known as Prince, later formerly knownas the artist formerly known as Prince,I became somewhat obsessed with the guy’s music, inparticular with the stuff he was puttingout then, decidedly psychedelic, unabashedly provocative, musically innovative. This, Sign of the Times,my favorite Prince album,Continue reading “#838: P is for Prince”
