Learning to enjoy the 1975 has always required a certain suspension of disbelief. If you can believe that a boy-band-pretty synth-pop quartet from Manchester with a poodle-haired lead singer can create nuanced, voice-of-a-generation anthems hidden inside layers upon layers of irony and bombast, then consider yourself a fan. Matty Healy, …
Read More »Sonic Youth's 'Live in Moscow' is a Snapshot of the Indie-Rock Greats at Their Peak
From anniversary re-creations by the band to its inclusion in the Library of Congress’ National Registry, Sonic Youth’s Daydream Nationhas been rightly defined as one of the landmarks of Eighties indie rock, and possibly its last galvanizing moment before so much of that scene collapsed. The band still played a …
Read More »R.E.M.'s 'Monster' Gets a Mammoth Box Set Reissue that Reveals More Nuance and Depth
Monster wasn’t R.E.M.‘s “comeback” album or their Get Back. After two gargantuan hit albums of down-tempo, mostly acoustic ruminations (Out of Time and Automatic for the People), Monster now sounds more like the next logical step for the band — it’s loose, loud, and unsentimental, something more akin to their …
Read More »Prince's 'Originals' Gathers Blueprints of His Handed-Off Hits
Prince in the early-to-mid Eighties was spitting out hot songs at such a clip, it’s no wonder he shared the wealth. And wealth it was: his “Manic Monday” was the Bangles’ first hit, reaching Top Five in the U.S., while Sinead O’Connor never had a more successful song than “Nothing …
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