Mar 24, 2023
What grabs you as a kid
listening to songs on the radio may still grab you as an adult...
but the nuances often come out after you’ve had years to process
them, all informed by life experience. This was true for Rob and
Steely Dan’s 1972 debut record Can’t Buy a Thrill. It was an album
he immersed himself in his...
Mar 17, 2023
When you find out your
friend is in a band and has made a record, it’s like finding out
that they’re a practicing wizard, a superhero, or secret agent. It
often turns music fans/friends into evangelists – “Everyone! Listen
to what my friend made!” In the heady days when melancholic
northern new wave roamed...
Mar 9, 2023
Music runs deep and has
the power to enlighten, educate, and empower. This doesn’t have to
be a didactic thing and the best of it isn’t. Great songs can do
all of those things as one listens and enjoys them. It does all
that at the soul level. Music is weird – and sometimes very, very
sneaky.
Shannon connected...
Feb 22, 2023
There reaches a point in
a young music fan’s life when they begin to detect the emotional
complexities of the songs and albums they love. This usually
corresponds with a capacity for sensing these things in real life
between real people. One discovers that some things can seem happy
on the surface, while being full...
Feb 7, 2023
We often find an
attachment to certain music during times of emotional upheaval and
loss. And it can be a double-edged blade. We love it and find it
painful at the same time... because, hey, music is weird – and
mysterious. For Graeme, the ending of a relationship led him to
this exact place. Around that time, Sarah...