The Grammys are one of music’s biggest conversation starters, about who is nominated, who isn’t, what the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) got right but more often what they got wrong. So it’s not surprising that the…
Van Scott Interview: Scott Oatley breaks down his debut album
Van Scott talks music and breaks down his upcoming debut album.
Album Review: Gorillaz perfect the single on “Song Machine, Season One”
Gorillaz were never outstanding at being normal. Their entire concept was built around a unique, cartoon-and-internet band experience that no other group had succeeded with, at the time of their creation. So chalk it up to strange times of pandemics,…
5 Great Movies With Anachronistic Soundtracks
Anachronistic: belonging-to-a-period-other-than-in-which-it-exists. Anachronistic soundtrack: the sexiest kind of film score. Almost every movie uses its soundtrack to create emotion, feeling, tone, and texture. Historical films usually involve music the same way they do costumes: to help transport us to another…
Sherlock Gnomes Movie Review: An unfunny and unnecessary sequel
Sherlock Gnomes opens by tipping its hand, going through major works of literature and pop culture to see which ones lend themselves to cloying, forced gnome puns, and then, between groans, building a loose story around it. It’s as if…
From the Record Crate: Elton John – “Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player” (1973)
In January 1973, Elton John was already four years into his pop career but was ready to release his sixth studio album. That album, Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player, would become his most successful album up to…
Album Review: A Tribe Called Quest – “We Got It from Here… Thank You 4 Your Service”
“Microphone check 1 2, what is this?” A valid question: What is a new Tribe Called Quest album doing in 2016? Rap has stretched and expanded well beyond the parameters Tribe explored in their 90s heyday, so it’s not like…