The first decade of the 21st century feels like my home territory. I spent my teenage years in the 1990s catching up with the 1960s and 1970s, so the 2000s were the first decade in which I actively engaged with new music.
In the 2000s music splintered further into sub-genres – it’s more difficult to find consensus favourites. Acts that I enjoy and would like to cover include Spoon, Girls Aloud, and Phoenix.
For a band, there are essentially two different career trajectories for a recording career. Like Radiohead or The Beatles, you can start your career with a promising album and work...
Caroline Polachek formed Chairlift with her college boyfriend Aaron Pfenning. The pair initially planned to make music for haunted houses but ended up following the time-honoured path - recording an...
The band most likely to win a Scrabble tournament, The Decemberists hail from Portland, Oregon, and are notable for flaunting their extensive vocabulary in song. Despite their American heritage, they're staunch...
Vocalist Craig Finn and guitarist Tab Kubler started their careers with the indie-rock band Lifter Puller. They formed The Hold Steady after watching The Band's The Last Waltz. But unlike...
Miranda Lambert was born in Longview, Texas. Her parents were private detectives and then ran a shelter for abused women - both of these experiences feed into Lambert's songwriting. Lambert's...
Ray LaMontagne worked in a shoe factory in Maine. One morning he was woken by his alarm at 4am for work. The alarm clock's radio served up Stephen Stills' 'Treetop...
James Murphy’s LCD Soundsystem blurred the lines between electronic and rock music in the 21st century. Murphy's original career plan was to become a sound engineer or a drummer, but...
When Jenny Lewis released her first solo album in 2006, it was her third high-profile career. She'd already enjoyed success as a child actor in the 1980s, appearing in movies...
Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam was born in London but spent most of her childhood in Sri Lanka, where her father was a Tamil activist. She originally planned a career in the...
Allan Carl Newman is best known as the driving force behind Vancouver's indie-pop supergroup The New Pornographers. Newman started a solo career because fellow New Pornographer Neko Case was working...
Canadian indie pop band The New Pornographers took their name from a 1966 Japanese anthropological film, The Pornographers. The term super-group has always felt a little misleading for this conglomerate...
Paramore lead singer Hayley Williams moved from Mississippi to Tennessee at the age of 13. She met Josh and Zac Farro in a program for home-schooled students. Drummer Zac Farro...
Nebraskan-born singer-songwriter Josh Rouse grew up inspired by British bands like The Smiths and The Cure, and his music reflects both the homespun feeling of the American Midwest and the...
Iceland's most famous post-rock band is named after the sister of singer/guitarist Jónsi Birgisson, who was born on the same day as the band was formed in Reykjavík in 1994....
One of the most consistently fascinating musicians to emerge in the 21st century, Sufjan Stevens is nominally an alt-folk artist, with his hushed, vulnerable vocals and predominance of acoustic instruments....
Transatlantic are a progressive rock supergroup, plucking members from other successful neo-prog acts. Bassist Pete Trewavas has been a member of Marillion since 1982, while drummer Mike Portnoy is a...
There are many examples in popular music of stripping away the superfluity and getting back to basics, but it doesn’t get much more basic than Detroit’s The White Stripes. Dispensing...
This page collects miscellaneous reviews for artists who don't have their own page. Coldplay | David Gray | The Mendoza Line | Andy Thornton | Steve Wynn Coldplay Parachutes 2000,...
Aphoristic Album Reviews is almost entirely written by one person.
Graham Fyfe is probably the only music blogger to appreciate both Neil Diamond and Ariana Grande. Based in Fleet Street (New Zealand), he's been writing this blog since around 2000. Aphoristic Album Reviews features reviews and blog posts across a growing spectrum of popular music.
Review Pages
Read about the discographies of musical acts from the 1960s to the present day. Browse this site's review archives or enjoy these random selections:
L.A.’s Randy Newman was born into the music business – his grandparents, uncles, and cousins all worked as film score composers. Newman’s also best-known for his film scores, such as Toy Story and Ragtime. ‘You’ve Got A Friend In Me’ from Toy Story is arguably his most well-known song, while […]
Buffalo Springfield were a short-lived, but fascinating band. It’s easy to draw parallels with The Byrds – both were 1960s Californian folk rock bands, with volatile lineups, who spawned many notable acts. Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Richie Furay of Poco, and Jim Messina of Loggins and Messina all launched their […]
Album reviews of 1960s artists who don’t qualify for their own page. Johnny Cash | Arlo Guthrie | Dusty Springfield Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison 1968, 6/10Johnny Cash always had a bullet proof reputation, both a respected elder statesman of country music and an anti-authoritarian hero. His baritone is authoritative, […]
The first decade of the 21st century feels like my home territory. I spent my teenage years in the 1990s catching up with the 1960s and 1970s, so the 2000s were the first decade in which I actively engaged with new music. In the 2000s music splintered further into sub-genres […]
Siblings Eva and Sam Hendricks grew up in Westport, Connecticut. Eva Hendricks dabbled in musical theatre and sang jingles for commercials. In 2011 Eva Hendricks, vocalist and guitarist, recorded an EP with guitarist Spencer Fox. The duo were joined by Eva’s brother Sam on drums, and eventually bass player Dan […]
These punk and new wave artists are covered briefly below:The B-52’s | Buzzcocks The B-52’s Time Capsule: Songs for a Future Generation 1998, 7/10Despite ubiquitous songs like ‘Love Shack’ and ‘Roam’, The B-52’s are an acquired taste. I blame it on Aqua; the Swedish pop band had their five minutes […]
Blog Posts
I add new blog posts to this website every week. Browse the archives or enjoy these random selections:
The United Kingdom’s most likeable pop star, Jessie Ware is charming where other mainstream acts leave me cold. She has a gorgeous voice, but she’s closer to the sophisticated poise of Sade than the vocal histrionics of Celine Dion. Ware’s body of work – dance-pop and blue-eyed soul – is […]
The New Pornographers emerged in 2000, a conglomerate of talent from nationally successful Canadian bands like Zumpano, Destroyer, and Limblifter. While A.C. Newman is the group’s main creative force, the band spotlighted Neko Case’s warm, sumptuous voice and Dan Bejar’s offbeat songs on a handful of tracks on each album. […]
Caroline Polachek has enjoyed a breakout year, enjoying critical adoration for her second solo album, Desire, I Want to Turn Into You. Her 2019 single, ‘So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings’ turned into a sleeper success via TikTok, paving the way. But she was already a veteran, first attracting attention […]
Don McGlashan had already made an impact on the New Zealand music scene before he formed The Mutton Birds. He was the drummer for the punk-influenced band Blam Blam Blam, remembered for fabulously titled songs ‘There Is No Depression in New Zealand’ and ‘Don’t Fight It Marsha, It’s Bigger Than […]
Between 1967 and 1972, Birmingham’s The Moody Blues released seven studio albums, commonly referred to as the core seven. They stayed in step with the times, transitioning from richly orchestrated psychedelic pop to more stripped-down albums in the 1970s. At the same time. The Moody Blues were twee, moustachioed and […]
Despite a dozen years with the 10,000 Maniacs, Natalie Merchant was still in her twenties when she departed for a solo career. She told Entertainment Weekly that she “didn’t want art by committee anymore,” and opted for a simpler sound for her solo debut. She met with immediate success – […]
