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…
