Oct
11
2010
Oct
9
2010
Rocking Retro: Men At Work – Business As Usual
Last night, while winding down from an amazing evening watching Monsters of Folk at Stubb’s (M. Ward is god, for those not in the know), my friend Derin, acting as evening DJ for our small party, put on the album above – the successful 1981 debut from Men At Work. It was a wise selection.
Business As Usual is best known for the hits “Who Can It Be Now?” and the would-be litigious nightmare “Down Under.” It is one of the most successful albums of the early 1980’s (in good company with a little album called Thriller), selling 15 million albums worldwide, 6 million of those stateside. In the US alone, Business As Usual spent a surprising 15 weeks at #1, and Men At Work remain the only Australian band to score the #1 song (“Down Under”) and #1 album in America simultaneously.
The album is heralded as an 80’s pop classic, obviously, and for good reason. Main songwriter Colin Hay could certainly craft a pop gem (with the occasional help, it should be noted, from Ron Strykert and Greg Ham) and the album’s contribution to the then-burgeoning New Wave sound is unmatched.
Oct
8
2010
My Top 300 Songs of the 2000s – 150-141
Today I continue my ongoing feature showcasing my personal picks for the best songs of the past decade, posting ten songs at a time.
150. Kanye West – Stronger
The Daft Punk-sampling first single from Graduation not only showed a compelling progression in West’s production, but it showcased his always-improving lyrical prowess. Kanye’s known for his incessant bragging and unfathomable ego, but with beats and words this precise, this banging, this funny, he continued the consistency of delivering on his Cassius Clay-channeling talk.
Oct
7
2010
Recommended Reading 10/7/10
Oct
6
2010
Five Reasons Not To Attend ACL
1. The Crowds
As with any major festival, there are thousands of people clamoring around each other in a heated, sun-screened swarm of deck chairs, umbrellas, flags, and people who actually want to see bands and elbow their way to the front. Bottom line: there’s way too many fucking people to have any sort of intimacy with the performer you’re watching. Chances are, you’re probably just watching them because you are NOT missing whoever’s next from far away. A word of advice for ACL virgins: stick with someone ALWAYS because you may never see them again if you lose them. Find a meeting place, a landmark, and forget about your cell phone working. It will not. Especially if you’re on AT&T.
Oct
5
2010
Currently Digging: Superchunk – Majesty Shredding
The now-elder-statesmen of the Chapel Hill music scene (and the currently immensely popular indie rock machine), Superchunk have been off the radar for a while now. Majesty Shredding is the group’s ninth album and their first in nine years. While the band didn’t break up, they certainly have been busy with other projects (namely the cash cow Merge Records, which was founded by a portion of the group). But while the terms previously used to describe the band’s sound -“indie,” “emo,” “power pop”- have changed since their 90’s heyday, they certainly haven’t.
And so we could surmise that time apart is, indeed, healthy – Majesty Shredding is one of the sharpest-sounding and hook-laden CDs of this year, and probably the strongest of Superchunk’s career. It’s more energetic than anything most of Merge’s current roster could muster up, and it shows a mature, seminal 90’s band injecting a little perspective into today’s musical state. The sound, for the most part, hasn’t changed, so how do they make it sound so fresh? The answer is the same as it was then – no one does it like Superchunk.
Superchunk – Digging For Something
Oct
4
2010
Five MP3s You Must Grab 10/4/10
Oct
2
2010
Quarterly Review: July-September 2010
Once every three months I list the best of what I heard in albums/songs/remixes for the quarter. I do this to personally keep up with all the awesome music I hear, as it ultimately helps me at the end of the year when I do my overall listing for the previous twelve months. I also do it to introduce you cool cats to tunes you may have missed independently.
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