A couple weeks I go I offered up part one in a series on poetry vs. lyrics, noting from firsthand experience the differences between the two. In brief, I’ve always felt like it was wrong to call rock stars poets – even if their words are fantastic, as they often are, the very nature of bending words to suit a
Read moreReach out and touch me now Aphrodite said You aren’t the only one with armies in your head We’re fond of calling our great rock stars poets. Dylan is a poet. Springsteen is a poet. John Lennon was a poet. Jim Morrison (*gag*) was a poet. And so on. Certainly the first three (have) produced some marvelous words, but as
Read moreIn a long-overdue move, Boulder prosecutors have officially cleared the family of JonBenet Ramsey in the girl’s December 26, 1996 murder. I say “long-overdue” because for those of us who’ve paid attention to the evidence it’s been clear for years now – painfully, maddeningly clear – that the family was innocent. I emphasize “evidence” in that sentence for a reason.
Read moreI’ve been a very big Don Dixon fan since the late ’70s, so when his new CD, The Nu-Look, dropped I was bouncing around the living room like Snoopy doing a happy dance. Sadly, a lot of people don’t know Don’s music – although many know his work as the producer of Murmur and Reckoning by REM and multiple records
Read moreIn previous Best of Music Video posts (part 1 and part 2) we’ve looked at everything from Johnny Cash to Prodigy to Death in Vegas to NIN and then some – and if you noticed a certain … heaviness … five points to Gryffindor. Today, in honor of the beautiful weather outside, we’re going to look at some of great
Read moreGive me one last dance We’ll slide down the surface of things You’re the real thing Yeah the real thing You’re the real thing Even better than the real thing I figured out a long time ago, even before I began encountering grad-level feminist critiques, that our media’s stylized construction and portrayal of female beauty was problematic. It’s bad enough
Read moreThe results of the latest S&R poll are in. Which of the following best describes your feelings about popular music? Music goes through cycles, but on average the quality of music today is about what it’s always been. (34) Today’s music sucks – I only listen to the old stuff. (27) I don’t listen to popular music. (21) Today’s artists
Read moreOne of my top CDs for 2007 was Walking With Strangers by The Birthday Massacre. And one of the top CDs of 2005 was Violet, also by TBM. About the harshest criticism I could muster for last year’s effort was that it wasn’t appreciably better than the 2005 release, but given how great Violet was, that’s hardly a damning critique.
Read moreThe 2007 YouTube Video Award winners have been announced (see all the nominees here), and they certainly provide fodder for debate. Not that I think the criteria were necessarily about critical standards, of course, but still. For instance, have a look at the human tetris performance, which won the Creative category, and explain to me how it beats this.
Read moreWhen I was in high school back in the Dark Ages we didn’t have music video channels. Kinda like today. But we did have this great show called The Midnight Special, which came on late Friday nights. In addition to live performances by a tremendous range of artists, it also emerged as the place where you could see music videos
Read moreTim Karr has an important read for music lovers up at HuffPo. In it, he covers OK Go’s descent into Washington to promote the importance of Net Neutrality to independent musicians. The band’s success is a testament to an open Internet. OK Go was propelled to national fame via the popularity of their YouTube videos. One, a treadmill dance along
Read moreThe serious bands get all the respect. All the critical acclaim. All the love from all the right people. Which is probably as it should be. But for every Beatles there’s at least one or two Rolling Stones, bands that aren’t terribly respectable and that clearly aren’t worried about cultivating an intellectual legacy. Sometimes you even get a little Beatles
Read moreWelcome to the final SVR of 2007. Let’s drum the old year out and the new one in with some of the year’s best drumming video finds, shall we? First off, somebody get this kid a contract.
Read moreIf there’s a bustle in your hedgerow, don’t be alarmed, now. It’s just a spring clean for Jeff Smith of the Colorado Art Rock Society, who turned us onto these rare gems. The old Australian show The Money or the Gun would always feature musical guests performing their own versions of the Led Zeppelin classic. So today we present a
Read moreWelcome back my friends, to the show that never ends. Or maybe it just seems that way. Today’s episode of SVR owes entirely to the mad genius of our friend Mike Smith (he of Fiction 8 infamy), who has way too much spare time on his hands. Said spare time is apparently spent scouring the frontiers of YouTube for videos
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lullaby pit 