Mr Ben Folds: A retraction & apology

.
Dear Mr Folds,
On various platforms and in private communications, I prematurely passed judgment on the merits of your new long-player entitled Way To Normal. Having exposed myself further to the artistry contained therein, I wish to retract my earlier judgment and assure you that I have identified points of merits which have enhanced immeasurably my [...]

Read Full Post »

Show some love for Josh Rouse

There are many mysteries in the world. I will not bore you with a few witty examples of such mysteries as a set up for stating the conundrum which occupies me today: how the fuck is it that Josh Rouse remains some sort of best-kept secret?
Since his debut set in 1998, Dressed Up Like Nebraska, [...]

Read Full Post »

Show some love for Jens Lekman

When I found out a couple of months ago that Jens Lekman was going to release a new album, the butterflies in my stomach were tripping like hippies on an amphetamine-aided acid trip. I was turned on to Lekman’s music in 2005 by his utterly glorious Oh Jens, You’re So Silent, a compilation of EP [...]

Read Full Post »

Show some love for Rilo Kiley

In an interview with Incendiary magazine in 2006, Rilo Kiley’s frontwoman Jenny Lewis spoke about “selling out”:
“I try not to covet the music that I love, I’ve done that in the past, where something becomes popular and then suddenly I don’t want to go to the shows anymore. I think selling out is a lewd [...]

Read Full Post »

Show some love for Richard Hawley

Richard Hawley was born into the wrong times. The one-time Pulp sideman’s heart resides with the torchsong singers of the ’50s and ’60s, with Scott Walker and his Belgian archetype, Jacques Brel.
While the likes of Rod Stewart and Robbie Williams issue campish karaoke homages (or chash cows, you decide) to the Rat Pack, Hawley has [...]

Read Full Post »