Tor, one of the musicians who topped my “Best Free Albums of 2009” list and one brilliant mash-up artist, is at it once again. Eight hours ago, Tor dropped a new mash-up. Instead of another re-mixing of Sufjan Stevens, Tor tossed wordmaster Q-Tip onto some fine violin-work by Final Fantasy, otherwise known as Owen Pallett. … [Read more…]
The new year is almost here, and with it comes a maelstrom of “End of the Year Lists.†Here on Ex-Spectator, I’ll be rolling out a few “End of the Yearâ€/â€End of the Decade†lists. Today’s list: The Best Overlooked Albums of the Aughts. A while back I started an ongoing feature called “Overlooked in … [Read more…]
The new year is almost here, and with it comes a maelstrom of “End of the Year Lists.†Here on Ex-Spectator, I’ll be rolling out a few “End of the Yearâ€/â€End of the Decade†lists. Today’s list: The Best Albums of 2009. As I’ve mentioned previously, there are a lot of pitfalls for “best of†… [Read more…]
The new year is almost here, and with it comes a maelstrom of “End of the Year Lists.†Here on Ex-Spectator, I’ll be rolling out a few “End of the Yearâ€/â€End of the Decade†lists. Today’s list: The Best Music Books of the Aughts. I would be lying if I said I’ve read every music … [Read more…]
The new year is almost here, and with it comes a maelstrom of “End of the Year Lists.†Here on Ex-Spectator, I’ll be rolling out a few “End of the Yearâ€/â€End of the Decade†lists. Today’s list: The Best Free Albums, EPs and Mixtapes of 2009. Since Radiohead made the pay-what-you-want model so notable with … [Read more…]
Usually, newspaper corrections tend to fly under the radar. They appear in the paper days after the initial article with the mistake in question was published. By that time, most readers have most likely forgotten about the mistake and/or article and have moved on. That’s not the case with Akeya Dickson’s Washington Post article on … [Read more…]
The Grammy Award nominees were officially announced last night. Most criticisms of its blatant populism and lack of any surprise nominations aside, let’s tackle the really big issue with this years nominees: No Mickey Rourke. This is bigger than his Oscar loss last year to the overrated performance by Sean Penn in Milk. But wait. … [Read more…]
Another day, another journalist seeks to kill a genre of music. Today’s suspect is news.com.au‘s Neala Johnson. The weapon – My Chemical Romance. What got the axe? Emo, of course: NO MORE angst. No more whingeing. No more playing the victim. When My Chemical Romance re-emerge in early 2010 with their fourth album, any trace … [Read more…]
Late Night Jamz is an ongoing feature dedicated to newly discovered tracks that are sure to get stuck in your head. Uncovered in the wee hours of the evening just before bed after a long day of work or play, these are the gems that make the adventures in finding music so enjoyable. Tonight’s track … [Read more…]
The A.V. Club featured a very interesting surprise on their site today: News of a new MC Paul Barman album. According to an email he sent me, he’s sired two sons, appeared in friend and collaborator Michel Gondry’s Be Kind Rewind and recorded a new album called Thought Balloon Mushroom Cloud, which will be released on November … [Read more…]