There’s something to be said for nostalgia, especially when it comes to music. It’s no accident that whenever people put together a “best music of all time” the list tends to skew very heavily to the music that was coming out in their late teens and early twenties; the time when they were singing along…
Frank Ocean’s channelORANGE seems to have topped nearly every “best albums of the year poll” I can think of, and it’s not undeserved. The album is futuristic and retro together, the personal vision of a thoroughly talented individual. It’s also not really my thing: R&B is just not a genre that does a whole lot…
“Archangel” is unquestionably the peak of Burial’s sophomore dubstep album Untrue. The track is a haphazard dirge, with a shuddering, jolting baseline under clipped vocals and melancholic instrumentation. It’s glass breaking gently underwater; it’s simultaneously sad but optimistic, heartfelt but detached. It’s a personal vision which makes it a particular challenge to cover, but Chet…
Once again I seem to have picked the wrong horse in Triple J’s Hottest 100: it seems inevitable that “Oblivion” is going to outperform “Genesis” by a significant margin, which is a shame as the latter is by far more interesting. “Genesis” feels unique; though it’s clearly the sum of familiar parts – a meandering,…
I recently saw someone complaining on Twitter about the use of “cerebral” as a polite way of dismissing music. I don’t agree with the complaint; for me, “cerebral” music is a good thing, music that requires effort to engage and understand, music that is challenging, rewarding and interesting. So “cerebral” isn’t at all synonymous with…
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