Now is the season of fogged-up shades, oddly shaped sunburns and songs that make us want to stay outside until the last firefly blinks to sleep. As summer dawns, we asked our contributors to choose the songs that will score those muggy days (daze?). Usually, we ask that our contributors write about music that they […]
Prince Rogers Nelson, known to most as simply Prince, was a one-of-a-kind artist. Throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s, he released a series of massively successful and influential albums that blended funk, new wave, blues and dance — ones that continue to shape modern pop music to this day. With his high-pitched squeals and astonishing, psychedelic […]
I may be premiering my first music in a year and a half via a Talkhouse essay, but this time, I don’t feel like talking about the songs. Well, I’m going to talk about some of the music you hear, but the lyrics feel too abstract, tender and personal to deconstruct right now. For this double […]
Guided by Voices are best-known as lo-fi’s beery savants, a hydrant of quirky songs and albums and breakneck live shows. But their best album, 1995’s Alien Lanes – which turns 25 this month — runs much deeper than a bottle of Miller Lite. To me, it’s about noting the seemingly insurmountable barrier around your life, […]
I had just boarded a flight from Newark to Phoenix—and I was having a nervous breakdown. As we reached cruising altitude, I pulled out my notebook to write a final letter to my father, who had passed away less than 12 hours before. Instead, I wrote a song.I’d heard grief albums before. Neil Young famously […]
