Ryley Walker is a fluid guitar player whose songs rarely take you in any expected direction and a proud torch-bearer for the vaunted croon-through-your-beard school of indie-rock singer-songwriters. His very fine 2018 LP Deafman Glance is definitely worth your time, setting warmly abstruse mumblings to delicate avant-woodsy guitar magic, updating the Nineties experimentalism of David Grubbs, Jim O’Rourke and Smog’s Bill Callahan the way those guys modernized John Fahey, Sandy Bull and Michael Hurley for the post-Slint era.
Walker recently showed off his Deep Nineties erudition with a Spotify playlist called “van jams,...
Walker recently showed off his Deep Nineties erudition with a Spotify playlist called “van jams,...
- 10/25/2018
- by Jon Dolan
- Rollingstone.com
Jann Wenner, the legendary founder of Rolling Stone magazine, may have revoked his blessing of the new biography on his life, but that doesn’t erase the insight he gave into his drug and infidelity infused marriage—which eventually ended after he revealed he was in love with a man.
Written by veteran journalist Joe Hagan, Sticky Fingers: The Life and Times of Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone Magazine is a 547-page dive into Wenner’s life, his ambition, and his magazine that continues to trade in cultural influence. The biggest guiding force in his success was his then-wife and business partner Jane Wenner,...
Written by veteran journalist Joe Hagan, Sticky Fingers: The Life and Times of Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone Magazine is a 547-page dive into Wenner’s life, his ambition, and his magazine that continues to trade in cultural influence. The biggest guiding force in his success was his then-wife and business partner Jane Wenner,...
- 10/26/2017
- by Sam Gillette
- PEOPLE.com
Another year, another move further away from caring about pop. Whether that's pop's fault or mine, I'm not sure. But there was still plenty of great new music released in 2015, and here, according to my idiosyncratic tastes, are the best albums, or at least my favorites.
1. Wire: Wire (Pink Flag)
This is said to be the first time that Bruce Gilbert's replacement, guitarist Matthew Simms, was heavily involved in the creation of a Wire album, and the result is...the closest Wire has ever come to sounding like a Colin Newman album. I exaggerate for effect, but only slightly: most everything thrums along smoothly and motorik-ly, he takes all the lead vocals (though Graham Lewis supposedly wrote many of the lyrics), and there are none of the post-punkier outbursts of the group's previous two reunion albums, though near the end of Wire, the one-two punch of "Split Your Ends" and "Octopus" come close.
1. Wire: Wire (Pink Flag)
This is said to be the first time that Bruce Gilbert's replacement, guitarist Matthew Simms, was heavily involved in the creation of a Wire album, and the result is...the closest Wire has ever come to sounding like a Colin Newman album. I exaggerate for effect, but only slightly: most everything thrums along smoothly and motorik-ly, he takes all the lead vocals (though Graham Lewis supposedly wrote many of the lyrics), and there are none of the post-punkier outbursts of the group's previous two reunion albums, though near the end of Wire, the one-two punch of "Split Your Ends" and "Octopus" come close.
- 12/27/2015
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
Asia: XXX (Frontiers)
That title's not triple-x as in porn, it's Roman numerals marking this supergroup's thirtieth anniversary (though I bet the confusion will increase this page's hits). Yup, three decades ago, "Heat of the Moment" was a massive hit. However, critics have tended to dislike Asia, either for dealing in pop rather than the glorious prog-rock of its members' previous bands -- Yes, Elp, and King Crimson -- or (if said critics are on the other side of the great divide) as dinosaurs still too proggy for naysayers in the post-punk era. Not this critic, through; I have always enjoyed John Wetton's voice, layered vocal harmonies, and melodic sense in every context, and never found Geoff Downes's keyboards and catchy songwriting/production the sacrilege that purist proggers did.
While there are some slight production differences from thirty years ago, basically this third studio album since the original lineup (Wetton,...
That title's not triple-x as in porn, it's Roman numerals marking this supergroup's thirtieth anniversary (though I bet the confusion will increase this page's hits). Yup, three decades ago, "Heat of the Moment" was a massive hit. However, critics have tended to dislike Asia, either for dealing in pop rather than the glorious prog-rock of its members' previous bands -- Yes, Elp, and King Crimson -- or (if said critics are on the other side of the great divide) as dinosaurs still too proggy for naysayers in the post-punk era. Not this critic, through; I have always enjoyed John Wetton's voice, layered vocal harmonies, and melodic sense in every context, and never found Geoff Downes's keyboards and catchy songwriting/production the sacrilege that purist proggers did.
While there are some slight production differences from thirty years ago, basically this third studio album since the original lineup (Wetton,...
- 7/7/2012
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.