Released: February 26, 2021 Years ago, my friend Kelly and I would listen to music and dance for hours on the roof of his Greenwich Village apartment building. It was a celebration of music and movement and friendship on starry Saturdays when we had no money or cloudy Mondays when the city that never sleeps was sleeping. Looking back, dancing… Read more »
Released: February 26, 2021 One thing that is exciting about good dance music is its ability to manage energy, whether it is a DJ set or an individual artist’s record. “Don’t Leave Me This Way” is a great example. Whether you’re listening to Harold Melvin, Thelma Houston or the Communards, the song kind of simmers and then just soars at… Read more »
Released: 1985 The Paul Stolper Gallery is showing the video for Thursday Afternoon in their front window and on their website (with a helpful write-up) from February 24 through March 15, 2021. Reverb Machine has an interesting analysis of the music. Thursday Afternoon is a single piece of music (60 minutes on album or 82 minutes in the video) that… Read more »
Released: February 8, 2021 Akira Ifukube is best known for composing the scores for Godzilla movies. Of course, I only know this, because I googled him, being unfamiliar with his work prior to Reilo Yamada’s recent recording of his Ritmica Ostinata. It’s interesting, because nothing about this composition made me think of old Japanese horror films known more for bad… Read more »
Released: November 22, 2019 Amelie Lens’ first mix for Fabric opens with the kind of ebb and flow that makes me love electronic dance music. The ambient soundscape in “Theory of Relativity” drops into a beat that makes your heart rush a little faster, and the retro techno melody of “Limits of Real” builds and evolves and builds and evolves… Read more »
Released: December 1978 When I think of Kenny Rogers, I think of a storyteller. He wasn’t known for being a songwriter, and a 2020 Billboard article quotes him as saying, “Most (of the story songs that writers sent me) were stupid and not well-written, but boy, when you found a good one, it made it all worthwhile.” There are some… Read more »
Released: February 19, 2021 I’ve always steered clear of compilations like this. The reasons became painfully clear as I listened to Trance Party 2021. First, it’s not a mixed set. Part of the joy of this kind of music is the seamless movement from one song to the next, one mood to the next. Second, there’s no flow. Anyone who… Read more »
Released: October 2, 2012 Every time I listen to this record, I hear something different. One day I hear Bill Laswell, the next Parliament, the next Bowie or Prince or Zappa. I heard the Grateful Dead once, but even though I’ve tried, I just can’t find that vibe again. I hear dodgy wanker music on Monday and then on Tuesday… Read more »
Released: July 1, 1986 The list of records that I love that a lot of people hate is probably not all that short, but the one that always comes to mind first is Discharge’s 1986 LP, Grave New World. Some treat it as a departure or even a sellout (the worst of all punk rock sins) by the godfathers of… Read more »
Released: March 19, 2013 As a DJ, producer, and label owner, Ellen Allien has pushed the boundaries of techno and electronic music for decades. Her music recreates the energy of Berlin much in the same way Coltrane’s music recreates the energy of New York City. One thing I like about Ellen Allien is her willingness to experiment, to risk failure… Read more »