Just because something’s intensely personal, doesn’t mean you can’t share it with everyone. It’s December 2009 and, quietly but surely, music journalists worldwide are being sent a link to two videos and nothing more. And what better way to build a mystery than with bizzare and obtuse imagery combined with incomprehensible snippets of song. And through the next year they continue, with nary a word or explanation. Just the number code, the content of the videos, and the pictures at the end. Blogging about the videos leads to an MTV journalist receiving a package which contained hair [footnote]Presumably from our … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: iamamiwhoami

Back in high school, I would often take lunch in the choir room. It was quiet and safe. On occasion, it was just me and Mrs. Sidener. She would usually eat in her office, leaving me free to mess about on the piano. One of my favorite things to do was to press the sustain pedal and slam my arm across the keys. As the sound would decay, I would lay my head on top and listen to the notes blending together, wrapping around each other and giving birth to new notes and overtones. It was what I imagined heaven, … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: Glenn Branca

I expect this to be among the most unusual of Artist Spotlights we’ve done. To my knowledge, no previous entry in this series has been about a Country act, no previous entry in this series has been done about an artist without national recognition and acclaim, and no previous entry in this series has been about a musician that was a family friend of its writer. This will also be an unusual spotlight in its structure– though I do know Michael Hearne a little bit, I don’t personally know him well enough to have much knowledge of the history of … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: South By Southwest (No, Not That One)

Aaliyah (born Aaliyah Dana Houghton) was a singular talent – the voice of an angel, the ability to project a unique measure of vulnerability and confidence simultaneously, and the effortless swagger of a Hall Of Fame-worthy pop diva, all residing within a credibly “street”, tough-yet-sensitive persona. Unfortunately, the inception of her singing career has a bit of an elephant in its room, which I want to address as early as possible so I can spend the rest of this piece just praising her music. (TRIGGER WARNING for sexual assault discussion in remainder of the paragraph) Her early mentor, producer, and … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: Aaliyah

Retro-futurism is a dead aesthetic. Past ideas of what the future will look like always seem impossibly quaint in hindsight, and pointing that out amounts to kicking the past when it’s down. And yet there was one band who managed to take this sentiment and use it to craft some of the warmest, most achingly beautiful and uplifting music of the modern age, while somehow keeping their style fresh for twenty-plus years. With their signature blend of Krautrock played with bubbly synth drones, weird science fictiony noises, and gorgeous, effervescent female vocals, Stereolab helped create one of independent rock’s defining … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: Stereolab