Fuck. I’ve only got twenty minutes on the phone to Lee Ranaldo and the fates have already wasted five by refusing to let my phone connect. Fuck fuck fuck. Mercifully fortune intervenes, and after a few more seconds of stress, I hear the familiar beep of an American dialling tone. Problem solved. Now I just have to resolve the issue of how I’m gonna talk to this guy like a regular human being. I mean, it’s LEE FUCKING RANALDO. Shall I talk about how Sonic Youth redefined the electric guitar with their post-no wave skronk-rock in the ...

The late 1960s belonged to Jeffrey Katz and Jerry Kasenetz, who twiddled the knobs on gobs of singles and albums referred to as bubblegum music. Deceptively simple and often carved of lyrics parroting nursery rhythms, bubblegum music was a hot commodity, with bands like the Music Explosion, the 1910 Fruitgum Company, the Ohio Express, the Lemon Pipers, the Archies and [...]

As '90s alt-rock anthems go, L7's "Pretend We're Dead" was a perfectly immediate slice of "bubblegrunge," simultaneously channeling the noisiness of an active trash compactor with the effortless pop of opening a soda can. When deadpan vocalist Donita Sparks delivered the lyric "Just say no to individuality," she echoed the ironic detachment of the previous year's most popular chorus (something something "entertain us"), and the song enjoyed a brief ubiquity in 1992, spending 20 weeks on the Billboard Alternative Song charts. Yet it didn't stick around for as long as it should have. Hell, when CSS ...

by John Crowell • March 2012 It’s difficult to say something about Stephin Merritt that hasn’t already been presented, explored, revised, fretted over, and interpreted already in other pieces. But one thing that thankfully never changes is the remarkably consistent quality of his songs, even through all the wild stylistic changes, that his best-known songwriting vehicle The Magnetic Fields has undergone over the years. Perhaps no time in The Magnetic Fields’ career has brought as much variation as the last decade, which has seen delicate chamber pop (2004’s i ), oceanic guitar feedback (2008’s Distortion ), and pristine folk ...

The lead singer of the 60s band The Archies -- famous for singles like "Sugar, Sugar" -- is completely shocked by Davy Jones' death

The lead singer of the 60s band The Archies -- famous for singles like "Sugar, Sugar" -- is completely shocked by Davy Jones' death

From KCRW DJ Eric J Lawrence: Anyone who knows me knows I’ve got a vicious sweet tooth. I keep an annual ranking of my favorite candy bars (the Milky Way Strictly Caramel held 2011’s #1 spot), and I consider myself somewhat of an expert in all things gummy. But my appreciation for sugary confections applies to music as well. I’m a sucker for a good bubblegum pop tune, whether from The Archies or La Roux. The latest tune to hit my sweet spot is “Heart Attack,” a new track from Danish pop ...

“Sugar”, ahora añádele “oh, honey, honey”. Eureka. Esa es mi recomendación navideña y uno de los temas que va a sonar en mi casa en esta Nochevieja. El título exacto de la canción es “Sugar, sugar” y si algo me llamó la atención del tema cuando lo descubrí hace unos años es el grupo que [...]

The Magnetic Fields’ Love at the Bottom of the Sea will be released by Merge Records on March 6. The band’s tenth full-length album is their first release of new material with Merge since 1999’s highly acclaimed 69 Love Songs . The band will celebrate their new album with a North American tour that passes through the SXSW Music Showcase in Austin, Texas. After putting out three synthesizer-free albums, The Magnetic Fields are returning to the signature mix of synth and acoustic sounds they established in the 90s with Merge releases such as The Charm of the Highway Strip ...

Jane Birkin with Serge Gainsbourg : Je t'aime moi non plus (vinyl) [ purchase ] I bought my first record when I was five years old ( this masterpiece , if you want to know). Before that, I loved playing my grandmother’s singles – of which I remember only a recording of the Slave Choir from Verdi’s Nabucco – and, once I was given my own little record player for my fifth birthday, I liberally borrowed my mother’s singles, which were kept in an album with plastic sleeves. It certainly was an eclectic collection. It included Manfred Mann (Ha! Ha! Said The Clown ...

all listen buttons jump to Spotify Rarities / Subscriptions 05.) Stephin Merritt - Obscurities Compiling rarities from the 1994-1999 Merge Records years, this collection spans tracks from Stephin Merritt, The Magnetic Fields, The 6ths, Gothic Archies, and Buffalo Rome...basically all things Magnetic Fields, Merrit's solo work, and band side projects.  Instead of spending ridiculous amounts of cash on Ebay for these rare 7"s or out of print cassettes, you get everything your heart desires for under twenty bucks.  Even though the track order scatters the various groups/solo works, amazingly, the album works from start to finish and never ...

There's nothing in the setup of modern pop that inherently means X-Factor winners end up with duds. It must be the show itself It's too early to dance on its grave, but saying The X Factor 's popularity has peaked seems a reasonable bet. Swapping the odious (Frankie Cocozza) for the merely tedious (Amelia Lily) has given a short-term boost to weakening audience figures, but the more a reality TV show franchise starts screwing with the format, the more vulnerable it gets. The audience senses weakness. So it's not premature to ask questions about its musical legacy ...

In 2000 I got myself a CD burner. Good thing I did because as my bad luck would have it, I would spend the next few years being absolutely dirt poor with no ability to actually buy CDs. So whatever money I would have left over I would spend on CD-Rs to burn stuff I'd downloaded from Napster (with my 56kps dial-up modem - good times) or to copy CD I'd borrowed from someone. This compilation of songs from a 50s & 60s boxset my mom had was the third CD I ever burned. Hence the titled "Oldies (3)" . For ...

Although the title of this blog sounds like the name of one of those Channel 5 list shows that are on around Christmas (indeed, as we type this we can feel the strawberry flavoured breath of Fearne "BRILLIANT!!!!" Cotton down our neck) it's not. As our gallery shows One Hit Wonders cover many musical sins. 'Novelty' hits from cartoon characters (The Archies), weird one-offs that have some sort of film/TV tie in (M*A*S*H, 'Mad World') or just popstars who never quite had the same mix of luck and radio play with their subsequent singles (Toni ...

Andy says- If ever there was an album cover that just screamed "Just put this down and walk away now for your own good man!" this 1991 album by Tryx is it. Formed in 1986 (first in Fort Lauderdale, Florida before moving to New York, New York before finally taking their "act" to Los Angeles) Tryx released a handful of demos, a EP and this full-length abomination. When people look back at glam metal and snicker you just have to believe that bands like Tryx are the main cause. Where to begin. Well, the album cover is truly awful yes ...