It’s been three years since we’ve had a full length from Chromeo, and 2010’s Business Casual carried on in much the same vein as their previous work. The funky duo let “Over Your Shoulder” loose last month, and now we get another taste of the upcoming White Women LP in “Sexy Socialite.” (Props for the Morris Day and the Time reference!) The track is more of the same: a sleek, funky throwback to early ’80s electro and italo disco. It’s […]
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Songs in the Key of Life: “You Get What You Give”
This edition of Songs in the Key of Life begins with a confession: I’d completely forgotten about this song for over a decade. It wasn’t until a few years ago when a student DJ played it on WIUP that I reacquainted myself with the New Radicals’ 1998 hit, “You Get What You Give.” The music video emphasizes youthful mischief-making in the face of authority and impending adulthood, and sure enough, a portion of the song’s lyrics reflect a similar sentiment. But […]
Reconfigured: Prince and the Revolution, Around the World in a Day
In “Reconfigured,” we take liberties with revisionism by reediting, reimagining, and resequencing a particular album or albums in an effort to reconfigure the work into a stronger whole. Without a doubt, Prince’s musical output in the 1980s remains one of the most consistently innovative runs in pop music history. The only artists that immediately come to mind as matching or surpassing consistency, quality, and volume of Prince’s 1980s output are the similarly legendary runs of David Bowie and Stevie Wonder […]
Songs in the Key of Life: “You Can Make it if You Try”
Gonzo considers the motivational message of Sly and the Family Stone’s “You Can Make it if You Try” as a means to push through highly stressful periods.
Reconfigured: Guns n’ Roses, Use Your Illusion
In “Reconfigured,” we take liberties with revisionism by reediting, reimagining, and resequencing a particular album or albums in an effort to reconfigure the work into a stronger whole. In 1991, Guns n’ Roses finally reemerged with the first full length album’s worth of material since their multiplatinum 1987 debut, Appetite for Destruction. The four year gap proved to be a fruitful one, as the band simultaneously released two full length LPs, totaling 30 tracks spread between them. Although well received […]
Blerd Radio: Breaking Badcast
In this special edition of the Popblerd podcast, Zack (“ Gonzo “) and Tristan are joined by special guests Brandon Szuminsky and Matt Albright (of Hyped Up Hockey fame) as the group chats about five years of AMC’s Breaking Bad, lauded as one of the best TV dramas of the last decade. We laugh, we guffaw, we do some armchair analyzing of the series, and truthfully, we just scratch the surface of this drama-rich program in this spoiler-rich podcast. -We start off with our visceral reactions to the show’s […]
Mazzy Star, Seasons of Your Day: Album Review
17 years is a mighty long time between albums, yet that’s precisely how long it’s been since Mazzy Star’s previous release, 1996’s Among My Swan. In 2011, murmurings of new Mazzy Star material began to reverberate through the Internet, culminating in the release of a single by year’s end. The “Common Burn”/”Lay Myself Down” single was our first taste of a reported new album, initially slated for 2012. The album’s proposed release date met a number of setbacks, until finally, […]
The Julie Ruin, Run Fast: Album Review
For more than two decades, Kathleen Hanna has been a central figure in the marriage of activism, music, and politics. By now it seems to go without saying that together with her bandmates in Bikini Kill, Hanna helped an unapologetically feminist discourse to bubble into the mainstream, fomenting the Riot Grrrl movement of the 1990s. The aughts saw Hanna incorporate more electronic elements into her music with Le Tigre, a power trio whose lyrics were no less political, continuing to […]
Reconfigured: The Rolling Stones, “Emotional Tattoo”
We are pleased to debut a new regular column, “Reconfigured.” Here we take liberties with revisionism by reediting, reimagining, and resequencing a particular album or albums in an effort to reconfigure the work into a stronger album. By the dawn of the 1980s, The Rolling Stones’ best years were certainly behind them. The band’s previous album (1978’s Some Girls) was the most cohesive they’d produced in years, but that kind of cover-to-cover quality would evade the Stones for the rest […]
The Viewfinder: Bad Rabbits, “Dance with Me”
Despite having just wrapped up a tour to support their American Love LP, Boston’s Bad Rabbits are already dishing out new music. Last week, the band dropped the new single, “Dance with Me,” from their forthcoming LP produced by the king of new jack swing, Mr. Teddy Riley. You can read more about that project in our interview with the band . For now, here’s a brand new video for “ Dance with Me ,” featuring Clinton Sparks. The video vividly captures the party vibe of “Dance with […]
Guns n’ Roses, “Going Down”: The Singles Bar Review
From the “out of nowhere” file, a new Guns n’ Roses track is now making the rounds online. With no contexts provided, it’s unclear as to whether this is a brand spankin’ new cut, an outtake from the abominable Chinese Democracy album, or some other unknown project. Truthfully, I wanted to hate “Going Down.” But lo and behold, it’s actually a decent track. Nothing groundbreaking, but a good listen, save for Axl’s “harmonies.” Current (as far as we know) bassist […]
Songs in the Key of Life: “Can’tneverdidnothin'”
Part of me wants to launch into a discussion about the fact that Nikka Costa should have blown up much more than she did a decade ago, but that’s another discussion for another post. For this edition of Songs in the Key of Life, we have the title track from Nikka Costa’s 2005 album Can’tneverdidnothin’. The album is a notable followup to 2001’s Everybody Got Their Something – an easily digestible blend of funky rock/pop carried by Costa’s fantastic vocals. […]