One of the best front-to-back albums I’ve heard this year. It’s been late-night listening, whistle-while-I-work listening, cocktail-hour-with-in-laws listening… it’s both interesting and versatile, which isn’t a combination you find too often.
The other thing I love about Poison Season — and you might call this a contradiction, too — is how the songs convey a sense of place and an unreality at the same time.
I didn’t watch the VMAs, and I don’t have much of an opinion on Miley vs. Nicki. I like them both and dislike aspects of this situation on both sides, so I’m sitting this one out.
I feel kind of the same way about Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz — there are things I like and things I don’t like. I can’t tell if it’ll end up being seen as a bold comment on fame and our culture’s obsession with pleasure or a fun side project that could have benefited from editing. (“Pablow the Blowfish” makes me think it’s somehow both.)
There’s one thing I’m not ambivalent about, though: “Lighter” is excellent.
Took this at the turnaround point of yesterday’s run (back at the beach this week). This fence separates the rest of the Corolla beach from the northernmost 4WD-only part, which cracks me up because it makes me think of Jurassic Park, like the trucks and SUVs are going to break out and wreak havoc when they find out the fence isn’t electrified. Whenever I want to run a little further and need to wriggle through the cables, I half expect this to happen.
I had the pleasure of shaking hands with Daniel Clarke on Sunday when I went to Hardywood to fill a growler.
Happy release day to Lianne La Havas!
I spent about an hour of my Outer Banks vacation running on the beach while listening to NPR’s First Listen of Blood and was made deliriously happy. “Green & Gold” and “What You Don’t Do” jumped out as early favorites before “Wonderful” stole the title away for good with its masterful pacing and phrasing — the way languid recollections morph into staccato choruses with lyrics that toe the line between clever wordplay and emotional precision. I found myself thinking back on old relationships, trying to identify which parts of them were “kind of wonderful.” It was fitting for a beach trip I’ve been taking with my family for more than 20 years — decades in which I was trying to figure out what a wonderful relationship was.
A Shamir post is overdue, and I wish I were writing about Ratchet under different circumstances. The whole album is excellent — wildly impressive for a debut full-length by someone so young — but one of his songs feels especially relevant after the events of the last few days.
It’s happening! Megafaun/Bon Iver/Shouting Matches/Hiss Golden Messenger/Matthew E. White fans rejoice – Phil Cook is about to release an album!
You know those people who make you want to be a better person? The ones who make you think things like “I’m going to start writing thank you notes” and “How does one volunteer?”
This Jamie xx album makes me want to be a better music fan.
You Hear That 