Back in 2015, I embarked on a journey to build the ultimate Christmas playlist. Now, 10 years later, it's a 10-hour-long behemoth capable of soundtracking an entire night of yuletide debauchery without repeating (and hopefully without skipping). Every passing year brings new additions from friends' recommendations, lightning-fast Shazam-ing, and happy accidents. You'd be surprised how... Continue Reading →
Must Hear Tracks: "mq9" "Is It Now?" "Don't Wanna Dance" Some bands just sound like their name. Los Angeles trio Automatic fulfills this phenomenon to a tee. As their name suggests, they are a well-oiled machine, cranking out precise and danceable new-wave with mechanical precision. In their finely tuned sound, you hear traces of The... Continue Reading →
Must Hear Tracks: "Long Island City Here I Come" "Au Pays Du Cocaine" "Taxes" "Getting Killed" God invented the rock band to do two things: lay down tasty riffs, and say cryptic shit. The legends of rock history understood this calling. The Zeppelins, Beatles, Stones, Velvets, T Rexes, all the way down the line to... Continue Reading →
Must Hear Tracks: "Wild, Wild, Wild Horses" "Eyeballs" "Thawing Dawn" "Phantom Limbo" Artist's self-portraits have always been fascinating to me. The melding of technical prowess, aesthetic sensibility, and psychological self-image. How do people with the skills to render themself choose to do it? Van Gogh's teeming blue-grey textures, Khalo's accentuated unibrow and wayward gaze, Picasso's... Continue Reading →
Must Hear Tracks: "The Rolling Stones" "Love Takes Miles" "Nina + Field of Cops" "Drinking Age" "Cancer of the Skull" "Try as I May" I almost wrote this album. When I was 22 years old, I almost wrote this album. I have friends who almost wrote this album. I followed people on Twitter, saw people... Continue Reading →
Taking over the family business The old adage invokes restaurants, laundromats, corner stores, and the like. In the D'Addario family's case, though, the family business is . . . 70s AM radio gold. Not quite as cut and dry as a laundromat, but not without precedent either. Jakob Dylan has the raspy, road weary voice... Continue Reading →
My favorite song of the 90s.
A song about becoming who you're meant to become. An endless cycle.
Must Hear Tracks: "Favourite" "Horseness is the Whatness" "Starburster" "Motorcycle Boy" (Note: I recently had a lively, drunken discussion with an Irishman about this very band and album, and while I was quick to mention Fontaines D.C. is an authentically Irish, blue collar type band, my companion was adamant they they're actually just a bunch... Continue Reading →
My favorite Simon and Garfunkel song. A "sonic soulmate," if you will.
The Healthy Alternative 