Author Archive

Wikked Hipstah: Animal Collective-How I Learned to Stop Worrying & Love the Noise: Part 1

By all accounts, this discussion on Animal Collective should not have to exist. Understandably,  the independent music community has opinions, and judging by the unencumbered plethora of music blogs that exist; these opinions will be far and away the most obnoxious and self-serving (ed. note: present company excluded, I hope). Why we like something is unequivocal to the purpose of understanding a sonic landscape in how it relates to our aural pleasure. Sometimes it just sounds good; a lot of the time, however, […]

Wikked Hipstah, Kid!: Sigur Ros’ “Takk”

The concept behind Sigur Ros is simple. They are a traditional and modern band in thesense that they write and record albums at an increasingly dramatic pace and millions of listeners worldwide buy their records. Lyrically, the songs themes range from the simplistic [Hopping in Puddles] to the ethereal[Sleepwalkers], from the new [The First Song] to the old [The Death Song]. Most of thesesongs follow a traditional verse-chorus-bridge pattern and each of Sigur Ros’ 5 LPs are amanageable forty-five to […]

Spin Cycle: James Blake “James Blake”

In recent years, hype has often led to fantastic letdown. Most notably in the digital age, where no hope still exists for a proper release, artists have had to combat the wave of early releases mixed with harsh criticism before the work gets a proper release. Arcade Fire, whose 2004 album Funeral brought with it a trove of heartache and hope that has defined our zeitgeist, bled into 2006’s Neon Bible, an album so canonized, its release almost seemed dwarfed by its grand hype. Fast […]

Popblerd Staff Presents: Sam’s 2010 Top Tens

Popblerd! staffer Sam lists his top albums, singles and discoveries for 2010, and also lists his top hopes for the new year!

Blerditorial: Why We Like What We Like (Part Two)

Popblerd! correspondent Sam asks a very simple question in the first part of a two-part feature article. Why do we like the music that we like?