RFC Article: Wiping Off The Dust: Ride - Nowhere

The following is an excerpt from my article for Radio Free Chicago.

Back in the waning years of the 80's, the music genre known as shoegaze had sprouted from the the roots of different bands, labels and movements. The beginnings can be traced through many different roots. The punishing pedal work and feedback of Jesus and Mary Chain, the delicate swirls of 4AD pillars Cocteau Twins and the distant harmonies of 60's British Invasion and psychedelica can all be excavated in this musical movement. The reigning champion of shoegaze was My Bloody Valentine despite putting out two LP's and a handful of singles and EP's. Of course, one of those albums was Loveless, which still is a tour de force in beauty and cacophony. There were many other great shoegaze bands such as Lush, Slowdive, Chapterhouse and later The Verve and The Catherine Wheel. So many amazing albums from the annals of Brit-pop that were birthed by shoegaze as well: Primal Scream - Screamadelica, The Charlatans UK - Some Friendly, Swervedriver - Duel and the self titled debut album from The House of Love all immediately come to mind. In my opinion, none of these bands or albums found that perfect balance in amazing songs, incredible musicianship and fiery passion that the Oxford quartet Ride captured on the 1990 album Nowhere.

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Read the rest of the article and listen to more tracks at Radio Free Chicago.

Pre-order the 20th anniversary edition of Nowhere here.

Ride - Taste

RFC Article: Wiping Off The Dust: The Feelies - The Good Earth

The following is an excerpt from my article for Radio Free Chicago.

Just a few scant days ago, I heard some tremendous and jawdropping news. The Feelies are releasing an album of all new material this coming spring. Obviously this may not garner as much excitement for anyone under 35 and from most of said age bracket it would most likely inspire a quizzical "Who?". Notoriously reclusive and frustratingly sparse in their material, they are putting out their first full length since 1991's Time For A Witness. That's 20 years, my friends. If you have only heard of this influential band, you may have knowledge of their much lauded debut LP Crazy Rhythms as it tends to land on any respectable critics best of the 80's list. If you were a child of MTV, perhaps you caught the video for single "Away" off of their 1988 LP Only Life directed by their biggest fan Jonathan Demme. Proof of this is evident as The Feelies always seem to get wedged into his movies and on their respective soundtracks. Nevertheless, The Feelies are one the connecting links between The Velvet Underground and what was coined as "college rock". Without The Feelies, there is quite simply no stage being set for bands such as the dB's, Camper Van Beethoven and R.E.M.. It is scary how dull would the indie landscape be without these godfathers of jangle pop and indie folk.

Read the rest of the article at listen to more tracks from The Good Earth at Radio Free Chicago.

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Purchase the reissue of The Good Earth here.

The Feelies - Slipping (Into Something)

RFC Article: Love For The Ladies - Hesta Prynn

The following is an excerpt from my article for Radio Free Chicago.

Sometimes hip-hop, sometimes electro, Hesta Prynn is a true millennial artist whose sound is a mashup of influences making her genre undefinable. Her sound evokes many of her female contemporaries such as M.I.A., Amanda Blank or Santigold. The sound is thick, with actual drums, guitars and bass rather than samples that is a bedrock for Prynn to stand upon firmly while her vocals take off in any direction she chooses. Whether she coos like a disco diva, rocks either a Butthole Surfers or Neon Indian cover or croons a duet with Les Savy Fav's Time Harrington, Hesta Prynn chameleon ways can seemingly do it all. But let me veer off course, if only for a moment... We have a everywoman here that is as smart as a whip, as sweet as they come, an obvious open arms approach to music AND digs a good horror flick. Place that within the stunning package as viewed in the given pictures and you have what my Daddy would call "marriage material". If only she bothered to listen to your overtures. Her digital EP Can We Go Wrong hit the Internets back in July. Give it a listen on her website or purchase the EP here.

Read the entire article at Radio Free Chicago.

Hesta Prynn - Can We Go Wrong


Hesta Prynn - Can We Go Wrong (RAC Extended Mix)


Hesta Prynn - Easy Bear (Feat Tim Harrington)

Wiping Off The Dust with RFC: Pixies - Come On Pilgrim

My plan, along with the garden variety album and concert reviews, will be to wipe the dust off my old CD's and bask in the glow of fond memories. Hopefully, you can wistfully stroll with me and give these nuggets another spin. If you are one of the unlucky folks who have not experienced these "dusties", let my fawning praise inspire a listen and, perhaps, a future investment for you to make your own memories.
My choice for my first installment is a calculated one for sure. Often times when referring to one's music affections, one uses the phrase "biggest fan". My inner snob often snorts in disbelief in the face of such a superlative. This statement, I feel, is saddled with strict requirements. Examples are:

• owning copies of all albums, including many EP's and singles.
• seeing a band multiple times in concert, especially in smaller venues, if applicable.
• starting your fandom early in a band's career. (sorry, but the biggest Beatles' fans are at least 55 years old)
• having encyclopedic knowledge of the band's output. (e.g. knowing all song titles and their proper order on the album, reciting a song's lyrics while being able to state the song's meaning, knowing the place of origin of the band and it's members)

With these strict requirements imposed, I cannot claim "biggest fan-ness" with very many artists. However, I can definitely attempt to align with one group: Pixies. For those who don't know them, this four-piece group formed in Boston area filled the late 80's-early 90's with creative alternative (back when that word meant something) rock delivered with dynamic hooks. To call the Pixies influential is compulsory; many bands cite them as an inspiration including Kurt Cobain referring to Nirvana as "ripping off the Pixies".
And so we go back to me, circa 1987, a suburban teenager just starting to form his music tastes. I was consuming a heady diet of progressive sounds around that time: R.E.M., The Smiths, New Order, Echo and the Bunnymen. Luckily, I could buy most of these cassettes tapes (!) at my friendly neighborhood corporate record store without much fuss. Often, I would have to travel to downtown Minneapolis and enjoy the incredible amount of independent record shops to find the newest, most obscure cuts. However, that day I was at the mall, trudging through the alternative rock section when the album cover above caught my eye. Come On Pilgrim was stark and spooky, but not in your typical Iron Maiden/heavy metal way. There was art behind this creepy photo, and it sucked me in. Since it carried the moderate price of an EP, I gave it a whirl. That is how it all began.

Check out the full article with more listening pleasure included at Radio Free Chicago.

Pixies - I've Been Tired