My new new column is up at PopMatters: "Kanye West: The Iconoclast Gives In." Go there now! So, yeah, the essay is about exactly what you think it's about: how newness has led Kanye astray. (That's what you were expecting, right?) Unfortunately it's not exactly an artistic newness, which is why it's taken him into… Continue reading PopMatters Updates
My most recent column at PopMatters is here. After being emotionally and ideologically messed with (in a good way) by the documentary Wild Wild Country, I had to write about Bill Calahan's song "Drover," how it's used in the film, and the many layers of meaning and response--which, like the film, kept expanding. Here's an… Continue reading PopMatters: Wild Wild Country
Nothing Has Been Done Before reviewed at PopMatters. Grateful for such a thoughtful review of the book!
I had the opportunity to interview Kevin Erickson from Future of Music Coalition about the impending vote to end net neutrality and its impact on musicians and the broader music ecosystem. Many thanks to Kevin and PopMatters for turning this around so quickly. Read the interview here. An excerpt: You can also read my… Continue reading Net Neutrality and the Music Ecosystem
My most recent column is up at PopMatters. This month it concerns the awesome Detroit band Protomartyr, mentioned briefly in Nothing Has Been Done Before. Here's an excerpt from the essay: Relatives in Descent is, musically, a more contemplative and less full-throttle Protomartyr album than the three which precede it. I almost wrote "intellectual", which… Continue reading Not NHBDB: Protomartyr at PopMatters
My latest column at PopMatters concerns the great band Protomartyr, from its first album to its latest, Relatives in Descent. Here's an excerpt:Relatives in Descent is, musically, a more contemplative and less full-throttle Protomartyr album than the three which precede it. I almost wrote "intellectual", which in some circles -- (some) punk, pop country, the… Continue reading Protomartyr at PopMatters
A day late and a dollar short, as usual, but here we go:My review of the rock 'n' pop writing anthology SHAKE IT UP is live at Los Angeles Review of Books, one of my favorite sites for criticism. A lot of leftovers from this one which I hope to get posted here in an… Continue reading The Latest: Shake It Up and Twin Peaks
I had the great fortune to interview Greg Dulli of the Afghan Whigs last month for PopMatters. I don't conduct interviews very often, but as a Whigs fan since 1994, I jumped at the chance. It came a difficult time for Dulli and everyone in the Whigs/Twilight Singers extended family--it's explained in the article--so I… Continue reading The Latest: An Interview with Greg Dulli of The Afghan Whigs
My July column, "Algiers and the Political Structures of Noise," is up at PopMatters: read it here. I've been a fan of the band Algiers since their debut self-titled album. Nobody else sounds like they do: a bucketful of warm soul and cold techno-punk...or is it cold soul and warm techno-punk? Their fusion is utterly… Continue reading The Latest: Algiers at PopMatters
My new column is up at PopMatters. Read it here. One of the more interesting discoveries in researching this piece was finding the videotaped interview from Toronto 1988 from which the prominent quote about "First We Take Manhattan" is taken. The quote from Part I of the interview that I included sheds a little light… Continue reading Power Play: Brian Williams, Leonard Cohen, and “First We Take Manhattan”
Robert Loss 