Record #224: James Blake – James Blake (2011)

It is my understanding that the term “dubstep” means different things depending on what side of the Atlantic you’re on. Stateside, it means the sort of bro-friendly, attention deficient, robot-sex music that’s made its way into car commercials and cheap summer movie soundtracks. In Britian, however, dubstep is a little more subtle–shifting textures over time, setting grooves and resting in them, forming a subset of electronic music much more suited for a late night drive than a trailer for the new Transformers movie.

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Record #223: Jackson 5 – ABC (1970)

It is not difficult to argue that the Jackson 5 were a novelty act. But it’s almost impossible to dismiss them as a such. Sure, the lead single’s target audience doesn’t seem to be much older than Michael’s own twelve years, and yeah, all of their originals (four of the twelve tracks) were written by a Motown Records production team dubbed The Corporation (not very punk rock) that was tailor made to write songs for the Jackson 5, but I defy anyone to tell me that they weren’t some of the best performers the world has ever seen.

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Record #220: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – Deja Vu (1970)

Neil Young is not exactly the most neutral person in the world. His discography is filled with jagged guitar solos, caustic finger pointing, lawsuit-causing genre jumps, and a fierce artistic integrity. Even among his listeners, there is no middle ground. Those who love him love him fiercely and without apology. Everyone else can’t stand him.

So anyone who thought tossing him into Crosby, Stills & Nash would keep the boat from tipping doesn’t know who they’re dealing with.

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