How The Moog Synthesizers Helped Revolutionize the Sound of Hip Hop
by William Vance When Robert Moog sold his first vacuum-tube theremin kit back in the early 1950s, one would scarcely imagine he envisioned the world-changing i...
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5 Pick Up Lines for Spring Lovers ala David Berman from Silver Jews
Fans of the Silver Jews often recognize the lyrical genius of songwriter and founding constant member David Berman. The band formed in 1989, as an indie rock ba...
A Music Video Introduction to the Wide, Weird World of Sparks
There will always be a region of the music world for which any concession to visual flair is considered anathema, where Vans and sensible jeans are the rule. Y&...
Will Sergeant – a listener’s perspective
It does not happen as often as it used to, but I am sometimes still met with a quizzical face, when I mention that Echo & The Bunnymen are one of my favorit...
“He’s Up There With MAD Magazine”: How Ghoulardi, AKA Paul Thomas Anderson’s dad, Helped Create Punk Rock in Cleveland
It’s never been quite enough to correct the mainstream record, but lots of ink has been spilled over the years on how punk rock’s truest, bluest bug...
Spy Jazz
Following the end of World War Two, the US moved into an era of prosperity. Dad went to work each day. Mom stayed home and raised the kids. The kids went to sch...
Joe Strummer’s boots
I fell down a Clash rabbit hole in the Oxfam used book store on Byres road in Glasgow last fall. I came across Pat Gilbert’s Passion is a Fashion, which details...
Bappi Lahiri the Disco King of India
Bappi Lahiri, also known in India as “The Disco King,” was born in Calcutta, West Bengal in 1952, to Bengali classical singers Aparesh Lahiri and Bansari Lahari...
An Eyewitness Account of Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin Portland, OR 2018
On November 11th, 2018 Jim and I were present in the audience to witness Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin at the Hawthorne Theater in Portland, OR. We approached this...
Schrodinger’s Glass
There stands the glass. Imagine it. That’s the trick, isn’t it. The reveal. The card flop. The turn of a page. Either or. This or that.