Happiness through misdirection
A wonderfully sad happy record from Sarah and the Sundays There used to be a genre of music called “progressive.” It was a precursor to alternative and is often referred to as “college rock.” Progressive was understated in a way that alternative was over the top. Progressive songs were spacious and minimal. It was rare…
I ostensibly moved to Atlanta because the drummer in my last band had moved there a year early. He, however, had a job at CNN lined up, whereas I had nothing at all. Not long after I moved, one of the bands from my hometown came to Atlanta to play a show. I went to…
My punk rock journey began in part 1. On the Record I mostly ordered records from Subpop and Dischord, since I knew I liked the Afghan Whigs and I knew I liked Jawbox (although I’d first heard both bands on major labels). Seven inch records cost between two and three dollars, which wasn’t much of…
I don’t mean that the album is transitional, I mean that the album is the perfect encapsulation of being a teenager, perhaps more specifically a white boy not living in a city. I would love to think that my teen years were grunge, but that’s probably more the romanticized view than anything else. The reality…
My brother versus Top 40 Like most kids, I grew up listening to Top 40. I listened to Casey Kasem’s (and later, Rick Dees’) countdown show every Sunday, if I could. My parents listened to a lot of ABBA and Neil Diamond, so that was always in the peripheral. That was pretty much how it…