Music
Oddballs
If you could think of any word to describe the collaborative brainchild of former Dungeon Family rapper Cee-lo Green and pop producer Danger Mouse, you would probably think of the word odd.
Spirit Animal
Ever wondered what it's like to drop acid in the Canadian wilderness? You can get a rough idea by watching Caribou, aka Dan Snaith.
The Week in Music
4/4: Handsome Furs North Star Bar, 21+ One of the best new offerings from the beleaguered Canadian indie rock scene, Handsome Furs succeeds by avoiding the over-instrumentation that spelled death for many other Wolf Parade member collabs.
Best Album to Pregame To
The best pregame album is actually not an album at all, because who has the patience to listen to a full album while pounding back shots?
Best Album to Ghostride the Whip To
Whether for riding dirty past the Quad or getting your roll on down 40th, no album will ever match the cruising potential of Dr. Dre's The Chronic.
Best Album to Study To
Erik Satie, an early 20th century avant-garde composer, basically invented the study album when he created the world's first "furniture music" - organized sounds that, much like a nice ottoman or rocking chair, can fill a room without becoming its focal point.
Defibrillator
The Dukes of Stratosphear Chips from the Chocolate Fireball 1987 As a break from their somewhat more somber projects, the British new-wave group XTC traveled back in time to pay homage to their musical influences under the pseudonym The Dukes of Stratosphear and produced Chips from the Chocolate Fireball.
Best Album to Cry To
The Smiths' best album, Meat is Murder, is not music for a light sob. This is an album for a "I am human and need to be loved" hardcore cryfest.
Defibrillator: The Get Up Kids, "Something to Write Home About" (1999)
As a precocious 12-year-old at summer camp, I worshipped my 20-year-old senior counselor. She had a boyfriend and a tattoo and was impossibly cool.
American Beauty
Although it has been nearly five years since her last studio release, Erykah Badu's fourth LP New AmErykah was well worth the wait.
Mountain of Difficulties
The Mountain Goats - started in 1991 as a lo-fi solo project by songwriter John Darnielle - played in the basement of the First Unitarian Church last Thursday, March 20.
Bossy
"First of all I would like to thank God for making me the boss I am." That's how Rick Ross begins his acknowledgements in the liner notes of his new album Trilla.
This Week In Music
3/28: The Raveonettes World Cafe Live, All Ages WXPN's Free at Noon Concert Series brings The Raveonettes, an alluring Danish duo whose sugar-coated harmonies and feedback-drenched guitars will please anyone within earshot.
All That Jazz
My dad told me when I was younger that he first started listening to jazz when he was in college. At the time, I couldn't believe it - it seemed impossible anyone could, firstly, adopt an entire genre of music into their listening palate so late in life (yes, college students still seemed very old to me at the time) and secondly, could do so entirely on his own. As I think about it now, the reason for his late-blooming appreciation for jazz is all too obvious.
Defibrillator
Grandpaboy Mono 2002 Back in 2001, The Strokes released Is This It, claiming to "save" rock with their punk snotitude and delicate attention to not really caring.
This Week In Music
Thursday, 3/20: The Mountain Goats First Unitarian Church, All Ages Prolific lo-fi veterans The Mountain Goats are beloved for their intelligent lyrics and warm experimental folk style.
Teen Angst
On their debut album Reality Check, The Teenagers espouse the hormonal tribulations of that eponymous age range with a twisted Parisian/Californian adolescent perspective.
The Defibrillator
Robbie Robertson Storyville 1991 Robbie Robertson, guitarist and songwriter from The Band, was always an amazing musician (everyone's soul aches, wishing they had written "The Weight"). Storyville, his second solo album, is a wonder, and though I've never seen it on anyone's shelf, it is filled with his most beautiful songs.
Pet Sounds
Last Saturday, packed into a South Philly basement stood roughly 100 of the city's most in-the-know music fans.
