Science, social studies, and school spirit—these three “sâ€-named studies are what many high schools build their curricula around. via Yo, Teach! Can you teach me how to Huskie? | Music | The A.V. Club Chicago. This sure beats whatever random videos the SGA rolled out at my high school. It’s quite entertaining.
The Best 70 Albums of 2010 < PopMatters. I covered No. 20, Das Racist’s Sit Down, Man.
RedEye designer Trent J. Koland made the cover image of Kanye, which happens to look a lot like the cover of Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life, the first book in O’Malley’s popular graphic novel series. O’Malley took to Twitter and wrote, “this is both an honor and an outrage: chicago redeye portrays kanye west as … [Read more…]
Perhaps everything is free in the age of downloading, but more and more artists are releasing music free of charge. Or, rather, free of the idea of initially charging for music. Though it’s a tough environment for musicians to try and make a living, some artists—such as Brooklyn hip-hop duo Das Racist—have built and broadened … [Read more…]
Emo, as we’ve come to know it, gets fairly bad press. But Monument is one of a handful of bands across the country that is reimagining the sound by resurrecting something akin to the ’90s version of it. At gigs on the local house-show circuit, Monument can draw 50 or more kids, but sometimes just … [Read more…]
The 60 Best Singles of 2010 < PopMatters. It’s end-of-the-year list time, and here’s the first offering: PopMatters “Best Singles of 2010.” I wrote about Here We Go Magic’s “Collector” and the Arcade Fire’s “Sprawl II.” The latter write-up can also be read in the Sacramento Bee‘s “Riff Report,” which focused on the list’s top … [Read more…]
Artificially Sweetened is best treated as something akin to a The Death Set for Dummies: Clearly, the dudes in The Death Set are big fans of all the artists featured on the mixtape, and the brief selections and odd mash-ups of hip-hop acts and punk bands certainly show their mark on the frenetic punk act. … [Read more…]
Drummer Zach Hill collects superlatives like some people collect baseball cards. And for every new review that calls Hill “the greatest,†“the most inventive,†or whatever newfangled expression one can come up with, Hill produces another record or creates another band that challenges even his own fans’ expectations. via Zach Hill: Face Tat < PopMatters. … [Read more…]
Pitchfork picked up reports of a new band from indie figurehead Will Oldham, sometimes better known as Bonnie “Prince†Billy, called The Babblers. Much about the band remains a mystery, but The A.V. Club is absolutely sure that Oldham’s co-singer in the band—who is listed in many of the write-ups as Angela Babbler—is none other … [Read more…]
For the past year, Chicago musician Matthew Hord has produced a slew of tapes by local bands with his cassette label, Priority Male Tapes. via Tapes ’n’ Tapes: Priority Male Tapes | Music | A.V. Local Video | The A.V. Club Chicago. Vol. 2 for my video series!