Classically trained pianist Irmin Schmidt and music teacher Holger Czukay studied under Stockhausen. Both tuned into rock music as it progressed in the mid-1960s. Czukay’s student Michael Karoli played him The Beatles’ ‘I Am The Walrus’, while Schmidt discovered the…
Welcome to week 11 in the Sporcle Spotify challenge. Here are the results so far: Participant Week 10 Total Sheik Yerbouti 20 198 Tony 20 197 jprobichaud 20 191 Geoff (1001) 19 190 Scott 19 189 Rich Kamerman 17 188…
This week Aphoristical Album Reviews takes a look at recent releases from two female artists in the Americana/country zone. Both of these records have lovely production and strong songwriting, and are highly recommended. Katie Pruitt Expectations Katie Pruitt grew up…
Faith No More have covered a lot of ground over their career – in particular, 1995’s King for a Day… Fool for a Lifetime utilises a different genre for every track. Mike Patton is one of the most talented vocalists…
Welcome to week 10 in the Sporcle Spotify challenge. Here are the results so far. There’s suddenly a tight tussle for third: Participant Week 9 Total Sheik Yerbouti 19 178 Tony 20 177 jprobichaud 17 171 Geoff (1001) 19 171…
Emmylou Harris was discovered by ex-Byrd Chris Hillman in a folk club. Hillman recommended her to country maverick Gram Parsons. Parsons featured Harris’ harmony vocals on songs like ‘Love Hurts’, and mentored her in country music. When Parsons passed away…
Welcome to week 9 in the Sporcle Spotify challenge. Here are the results so far. We have a new contestant – Scott from : Participant Week 8 Total Sheik Yerbouti 20 159 Tony 20 157 jprobichaud 19 154 Geoff (1001)…
Canadian artists Caribou and Grimes both make music that’s creative and laced with pop hooks. Both have released new albums this year; Caribou’s is more pop-oriented than usual, while Grimes takes a darker path. Try Caribou’s Suddenly for breezy enjoyment…
Arnold Dorsey struggled to break into the music industry until he was advised to adopt a more interesting stage name. Dorsey took the name Engelbert Humperdinck from the German composer of Hansel and Gretel. Already in his early thirties, the…
Welcome to week 8 in the Sporcle Spotify challenge. Here are the results so far: Participant Week 7 Total Sheik Yerbouti 20 139 Tony 19 137 jprobichaud 19 135 Rich Kamerman 19 135 Geoff (1001) 19 134 John (2loud2old) 17…
Last month’s post on best lyricists provoked lots of interesting discussion.The dialogue helped to crystalise my thinking that there’s a Mount Rushmore of rock lyricists (Randy Newman, Bob Dylan, Nick Cave, and Leonard Cohen) and then a bunch of worthy…
Universally beloved soul singer Bill Withers passed away this week. He came from the small coal mining town of Slab Fork, West Virginia, and spent his early career in the Navy. His career as a professional musician was notably short…
Power pop band Fountains of Wayne was formed by Adam Schlesinger and Chris Collingwood – they took their name from a now-defunct lawn ornament store in New Jersey. Apart from one fluke hit (2003’s ‘Stacy’s Mom’) they were never huge…
We’re up to week 7 in the Sporcle Spotify challenge. Here are the results so far: Participant Week 6 Total Sheik Yerbouti 20 119 Tony 20 118 jprobichaud 20 116 Rich Kamerman 18 116 Geoff (1001) 18 115 John (2loud2old)…
Destroyer have the most misleading name in popular music. What you expect is death metal or perhaps a KISS tribute band. What you get is a man sardonically purring and bleating his twisted insights over smooth yacht rock. Like many…
Emma Paki was born in Whakatane, the New Zealand town closest to where White Island erupted in December 2019. She was born to a Maori heritage; and received her first guitar at the age of 8. Paki’s debut single was…
We’re up to week 6 in the Sporcle Spotify challenge. Here are the results so far: Participant Week 5 Total Sheik Yerbouti 20 99 Rich Kamerman 20 98 Tony 20 98 Geoff (1001) 19 97 John (2loud2old) 19 96 jprobichaud…
English sophisti-pop band Prefab Sprout date back to 1970s art-rock; leader Paddy McAloon was sent a rejection letter by Brian Eno’s record label in 1976. They didn’t release their debut album Swoon until 1984, by which time the lineup had…
‘La Bamba’ is a traditional Mexican folk song, from the state of Veracruz. Ritchie Valens, a 17 year old rising star, converted the tune to rock and roll. It’s one of the best known Spanish language tunes in the rock…
We’re up to week 5 in the Sporcle Spotify challenge. Here are the results so far: Participant Week 4 Total Sheik Yerbouti 20 79 Geoff (1001) 20 78 jprobichaud 20 78 Rich Kamerman 20 78 Tony 20 78 John (2loud2old)…
The Red House Painters took their name from a Tennessee painting crew named The International League Of Revolutionary House Painters. Leader Mark Kozelek came from Ohio, but formed the band in San Francisco. Kozelek was joined by drummer Anthony Koutsos,…
Neil Finn joined the band Split Enz as a guitarist when he was still a teenager. His brother Tim was the band’s leader, writing most of their material, but Neil Finn wrote many of the band’s successful singles in the…
Welcome back for week 4 of the Popular Spotify Song challenge. This is how the leaderboard looks: Participant Week 3 Total Sheik Yerbouti 19 59 Geoff (1001) 20 58 jprobichaud 20 58 Rich Kamerman 20 58 Tony 20 58 John…
An Explanation I wanted to provide an explanation to my fellow bloggers who may have noticed that this blog has undergone a name change, and that I’ve had to un-follow and re-follow your blogs. A few weeks ago, I noticed that I…
Math-rock band Tricot formed in Kyoto in 2010, released their debut album in 2013. Their fourth studio album 真っ黒 (Japanese for Pure Black) marks their major label debut. Tricot spent time as an all-female trio, but drummer Yuusuke Yoshida was…
It’s a long way to the top (if you wanna rock ‘n’ roll), and Australian hard rock band AC/DC spent much of the 1970s building their profile. They cracked the big time with 1979’s Highway to Hell, which peaked at…
Welcome back to the third week of the Spotify quiz series. Eleven contestants have completed the first two week of Spotify quizzes. The leaderboard now looks like this: Participant Week 2 Total Sheik Yerbouti 20 40 Geoff (1001) 19 38…
In popular music, lyrics are less important than the music. Often the words of popular songs float past innocuously. Stringing together meaningless words that sound good together can be an effective strategy – ask Jon Anderson or A.C. Newman. Bad…
Of all the b-sides that I’ve covered in this series, Elvis Presley’s cover of ‘Mystery Train’ is the most iconic. It was voted on a 2003 Rolling Stone as the 77th greatest song of all time, an astounding feat for…
Welcome back to the Spotify quiz series. We had ten contestants in the first week of Spotify quizzes, and the leaderboard looks like this: Participant Week 1 Total Rich Kamerman 20 20 Sheik Yerbouti 20 20 jprobichaud 20 20 Jim…
I didn’t enjoy any single album from 2019 as much as I liked Mitski‘s Be The Cowboy in 2018. Nevertheless, 2019 was a strong year – albums that I enjoyed by established favourites like The New Pornographers and Taylor Swift…
Welcome to the final batch of 2019 reviews. One record I thoroughly enjoy, but only picked up on year end lists a couple of weeks ago, while the other two I’ve had on the backburner for months. These New Puritans…
It looks like noone scored more than 24/28 in last week’s royal artists quiz. Congratulations to Rich and J who tied for the best score. This week you need to name the artist, based on their top five Spotify songs.…
It’s important to be a lifelong learner. At the age of twenty I would have unequivocally hated all of these albums. Now mainstream rock seems stagnant, and lots of the interesting action is in genres that I would have dismissed.…
Power-pop legend Matthew Sweet was born in Nebraska, but moved to Athens, Georgia, to join the local alt-rock scene. He recorded two unsuccessful records in the 1980s, before his 1991 breakthrough Girlfriend. The record showcased the brilliant lead guitar of…
Congratulations to Sheik Yerbouti, who just pipped Tony on the squirrel quiz. This week you need to link the hit songs to the artists with royal names, including Duke Ellington, Chaka Khan, and Carole King. Note the hit clause; Prince…
Here are three 2019 albums that are quirky and full of exotic sounds. I’ve ordered them in magnitude of weirdness, with the least eccentric first. Enjoy! Cate Le Bon Reward Cate Le Bon was discovered by Super Furry Animals front-man…
Marillion were named after JRR Tolkien’s The Silmarillion, and were formed in 1979. Early Marillion were often compared to the progressive-rock era of Genesis – lead vocalist Fish’s theatricality was similar to Peter Gabriel. The core lineup of guitarist Steve…
For some reason, Wordpress Feed didn’t display this week’s quiz yesterday. If you missed it, it’s at: In other news, one of the joys of music blogging is the occasional interaction with the artists you’re blogging about. I received…
Congratulations to John from , who scored the fastest time in last week’s 1980s Music Video Quiz. This week quiz involves squirrels: The pictures are adorable, and the clues are often funny. I do think it’s pretty easy so…
I’ve been chewing through 2019 releases with three more album reviews. Two of these albums could have come straight from the 1970s – the soul of Michael Kiwanuka and the retro country of Michaela Anne. FKA Twigs’ Magdalene has a…
Here are three reviews of 2019 releases that fit under sub-genres of rock – the progressive rock of Big Big Train, the punk rock of Fontaines, D.C., and the experimental math-rock of Black Midi. All three are from the British…
English art-rock band Roxy Music was formed by vocalist Bryan Ferry and bassist Graham Simpson in 1970. They recruited saxophone and oboe player Andy Mackay and synth player Brian Eno (who “treated” the other players’ instruments through his synth). Drummer…
Nigeria’s Burna Boy was born Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu. He’s connected with Nigerian musical royalty – his grandfather once managed Afrobeat star Fela Kuti. After four albums, his star is clearly on the rise; he’s currently at UK number one for…
Congratulations to Sheik Yerbouti, who scored the fastest time of the correct entrants in last week’s Back the Block challenge. This week you need to connect the flags with the male musicians. Everyone will beat my score this week…
This week’s reviews of 2019 albums covers indie releases. Indie is a nebulous word – technically it means releases from an independent label. But it’s come to define a specific approach as well – often music with shades of artiness…
Patti Smith was one of the first punk artists to make a record. 1975’s Horses, produced by John Cale, was a confronting album. Musically it drew from 1960s garage-rock, while lyrically it was provocative. Smith was clearly influential on an…
Congratulations to Max at who achieved last week’s only perfect score in the duo quiz. This week you need to answer some trivia questions. As you fill them in, you complete a word find. This makes it easier to…
So I don’t clog up your Wordpress feeds, I’ve combined 2019 album reviews for three US artists into one post. They all mine different genres, but they’ve all achieved significant commercial success this year, reaching #1, #2, and #3 on…
Sir Elton John is one of pop’s biggest hit machines, churning out top forty singles through the 1970s, 1980s, and much of the 1990s. He set Bernie Taupin’s lyrics to music, using his piano skills and agile voice to transcend…
English folkie Richard Dawson is onto his sixth album and pushing forty, but he’s certainly not a household name. Instead, he’s beloved by music critics but too much of an acquired taste for most. His folkish guitar playing is rough…
It looks like John from won last week’s challenge, scoring 20/20 with 2:37 remaining. Congratulations to John and all the other full marks. This week you need to link the top 5 hits to the duo. I scored…
Chicago born poet and singer-songwriter Jamila Woods dedicated her second album to twelve of her heroes. Each of the tracks is named for one of Woods’ role models, and are intended as self-portraits of these ground-breaking creative forces. Legacy! Legacy!…
A guest article by Scott Floman I love lists, in fact it’s right there in the title of the book I’ve written (and continue to periodically update) about music: The Story Of Rock and Soul Music: Album Reviews and Lists.…
Born in a nomad camp, Niger’s Mdou Moctar first came to prominence after the release of his debut album, 2008’s Anar. Its songs were hugely popular throughout the Sahel region of Africa, traded on cell-phones. Thanks to the compilation Music…
Congratulations to new contestant getonmynick, who used a technique of looking at the last emoji to blitz the Christmas songs in emojis quiz. This week you need to identify the named band member. There are a couple of earlier editions…
