Retrospective Review: “The Jezebel Spirit” by Brian Eno and David Byrne
When you type “the jezebel spirit” into the YouTube search engine, without Brian Eno or David Byrne’s names attached to it, their song of the same name is only the sixth result. The previous five videos are from Christian sources, and they all patiently explain the concept of “the Jezebel spirit” without a hint of […]
Retrospective Review: Alice in Chains Unplug and Narrow a Chasm on “Brother”
April 10, 1996. As the lineup of anxiously excited fans gather outside of the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the conversations are all undoubtedly similar. “How do you think they’ll sound?” “How do you think he’ll sound?” It has, after all, been almost three years since anybody has heard or seen Alice in Chains perform live. […]
Retrospective Review: Sinead O’Connor’s “Black Boys on Mopeds” Illuminates the Dark Corners of our Culture
It’s March, 1990, and the world is spinning at full speed. Mikhail Gorbachav has just been elected the first president of the Soviet Union. Boston’s Gardner Museum has been subjected to an early-morning heist which sees multiple Vermeer, Rembrandt, and other masterworks vanish. And elsewhere in the art world, tremors of an earthquake have begun. […]
Why Does Music Exist? And Why Do We Love It So Much?
I’m writing this from a coffee shop in Nashville. The playlist that the baristas have been playing has taken me on an emotional rollercoaster. In the last 20 minutes, we’ve gone from Zac Brown’s “Chicken Fried” to Billie Eilish’s “when the party’s over.” I think they’re playing Counting Crows now, but I can’t be sure […]
Retrospective Review: Hozier’s “Cherry Wine”
It’s February 14, 2016, and millions of people worldwide are waking with typical expectations that Valentine’s Day has implanted within most in the Western world; some will expect gifts. Some will expect acts of revelatory romanticism. Most will hope – perhaps fantastically – to be surprised by somebody in some movie-worthy capacity. For fans of […]
Why The 1975 is Still So Good: The Value of Making Music with Context
The 1975 is the only alternative-pop band that isn’t trying too hard to sound like The 1975. And of course that’s intentionally an overstatement, but I really do think it’s kind of true. And I think it can help us make better art. Here’s what I mean. I remember when their first full-length record came […]
Retrospective Review: On “Deep Six Textbook”, Let’s Eat Grandma Toss The Rulebook Overboard
It’s October 18, 2016. Later…with Jools Holland is set to air its weekly mix of live performances by both iconic and up-and-comers on the international music scene. Tonight, squeezed between KT Tunstall and The Temptations (of “My Girl” and “Papa was a Rolling Stone” fame,) it seems that somebody left the back door open and […]
Retrospective Review: Ben Howard’s “The End of the Affair”
It’s 2013 and Ben Howard is bathing in light. Not necessarily the sunlight that falls like a warm blanket over his seaside town of Devon, England, but in light nonetheless. His first full-length offering, Every Kingdom (Island Records, 2011), has exceeded expectations across the industry, delighting critics, his label, awards panels, and most importantly, Howard […]
Retrospective Review: Tool’s “Not All Therapists Wear Suits”
20th-century psychoanalyst Carl Jung was the first to explore the ‘inner child’ theory and its impact on the development of the adult psyche. While some of his work remains controversial, there exists almost a century of support of his inner child theory within the world of psychoanalysis. According to Jung, every thought, action, and reaction […]
Retrospective Review: Perfume Genius’ “Run Me Through” is an Exercise in Embracing Your Shadow
What does an artist do when they find themselves instinctively and primally attracted to the same toxic masculinity that their culture is so passionately rallying against? Well, if you’re Mike Hadreas, aka. Perfume Genius, you embrace it and write a song about it. Carl Jung pioneered the theory of the ‘shadow self’, claiming that no […]
