Independence Day: Resurgence
The aliens are back, but this time the ship is bigger, so that implies the danger level is higher. It just doesn’t feel that way. There is not much to get emotionally invested in, or interesting to watch.
No Replacement for ‘Let It Be’
Side one is great, but side two cements “Let it Be” as an album that is not just a classic, but an album that matters to this day.
‘Adult Teen’ a Perfect Pirouette of Pastels & Pain
Robin Edwards’ cavalier and yet biting approach as Lisa Prank is both emotionally cathartic and pastel-driven. Contemporary sonnets of pain and self-awareness are spattered, Jackson Pollock-style, with caffeine and listlessness.
Jeff Tweedy: Lonesome Guy
In my early twenties, Jeff Tweedy’s morose, downtrodden, one-foot-in-the-grave rock was sad chic. The frontman of Wilco wasn’t enigmatic, but rather a bedraggled dude who wore his heart on the sleeve of his flannel.
Peter Bjorn & John Reassert Their Pop Significance
During that sun-baked weekend of ire, sweat, and $30 lemonade (I spent at least $500 dollars on the sticky stuff while I was hallucinating from dehydration) I ended up with a copy of Peter Bjorn and John’s limited edition Record Store Day vinyls. I didn’t want the unwieldy thing.
Interview w/ Avery Trufelman
Avery Trufelman, one of the amazing producers of 99pi, curates, organizes, and presents many of the show’s terrific stories (her episodes will change your life, I’m not even kidding).
War & Film: Of Memory & Mirrors
I got to my parents’ house and he greeted me at the door, with one of his typical Leo Buscaglia hugs. “How ya holding up, Champ?” he asked. “Liked I want to scream, laugh, pass out and cry all at once,” I said.
Essential Albums Turning 20
Some, none, or maybe all of these may widely be considered noteworthy records from the class of 1996, but they are most certainly the most essential choices from my personal canon of appreciation.
Zero Days
Feeling paranoid? Worried that you may wake up one morning, log into your computer and realize you’ve been hacked? Not just hacked but your life has been gutted. Every secret ever put on your computer has been simultaneously destroyed and made public?
The Music of Strangers
Yo-Yo Ma’s brume of calm, carefully contained humor and self-effacing humility is the perfect sidecar to the brilliant and celebrated composer’s oeuvre. He is meditative, funny, and full of humanity and wisdom – and yet he is never pretentious.
