in anticipation of the 4th LP from Titus Andronicus…

A More Perfect Union/Titus Andronicus Forever. Titus Andronicus. 2010. The Monitor.

The final, and at this point in my life, most important song on this list, the “A More Perfect Union”-“Titus Andronicus Forever” suite has reigned supreme as my favorite piece of music for roughly the past year. I really cannot understate the importance that this duo has held in my life over the past twelve months; while it is true that, at some point in my life, every song on this list held the title of “My Favorite Track of…

Back in August, a 21 year old L.A. rapper who had yet to even release an album partook in what I can only describe as a cataclysmic interview with Pitchfork.

http://pitchfork.com/features/rising/9489-vince-staples/

If you even have a moderate interest in rap/hip hop, you need to read this. Because Vince eviscerates the current state of the rap industry, of American culture really, with a level of efficiency, analytical precision and totality I will personally guarantee you have never before seen. No one escapes unscathed.

Prior to Vince, my go-to rap artists for most of this year trended towards Chicago's infamous Drill Rap…

A while ago, I did a Five-Part journal entry on my 50 picks for the greatest tracks of the 00's. You can find them in the five-part series, noted below. *Ignore the warnings, apparently Last.FM is scared of bit.ly*

Part II: http://bit.ly/VKdjGP
Part III: http://bit.ly/VKdlOZ
Part IV: http://bit.ly/1AM5Fv1
Part V: http://bit.ly/1AM5IHf
Part VI: http://bit.ly/YT5m3U

Since posting the list, I have revised it numerous times, and am now cultivating a list of 5 Honorable Mentions (which receive writeups) and 10 Other Classics that just missed making the cut but also warrant a referral. Please find them, and my original Introduction to…

Your taste in music is a slave to time.

Example A: Merchandise – Become What You Are
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdIlsTpf5wM

I fucking loved this song when I first bumped it in February 2013. Then I let it go, thought it was too self-absorbed, too immature, lacking depth. I sensed there was more to it, but because of certain personal circumstances, I wasn't ready to confront those facets of the song.

Returned to the track in August 2014. Did so because this is a song (audaciously) entitled, "Become What You Are," and improbably, I'm starting to feel like I've done that.

I get…

Have spent the past week checking out selected songs from the band's predecessor to Light Up Gold, American Specialties.

"Free Ice," "Square States," "Other Desert Cities," and the title track portend the forthcoming lyrical virtuosity and inventive energy of Light Up Gold and Sunbathing Animal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLwO3m4nEJk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG3RTMnmBbU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVyHwOvV1rs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8pFF3FpIEg

Beyond that, there's frontman Andrew Savage's prior band, Fergus and Geronimo. "Wanna Know What I Would Do" is nothing short of a personal attack on music critics, albeit one that is clearly informed by firsthand experience. "No Parties" and the title track (which sadly, can't be heard on youtube) off the…

The Men have been one of my favorite bands over the past few years, and though I've written at length about some of their releases, Open Your Heart and "Bataille," I want to lay out a brief overview of what makes this band a unique and fascinating entity in the world of Indie Rock.

I have not listened to Immaculada, the first album the band released in 2010 (though it is not considered by many to be the band's first "proper" album). I have listened to the albums they have released, like clockwork, every year since. And boy, what a…

I heard the news via text message from my little brother, roughly around 9:45 a.m. last Tuesday morning. My fraternity brother, musical soulmate, and good friend, Josh Sanders-Wooley, had died. He was 26.

I'm 27 years old, and this is the first close friend of mine to pass away. It's gut-wrenching. Swoo and I's friendship existed on a unique level, in that we always seemed to be on the same wavelength. We saw eye-to-eye on almost everything, and we shared similar experiences. When I was holing up in Knoxville last April, back when I thought I would be residing in…

Lord Infamous, Three 6 Mafia's founding member and most gifted rapper, passed away yesterday. I would be remiss if I did not do a journal entry in memoriam.

Three 6 Mafia is my favorite musical group of all time. Period. Ever since I spent one Friday night riding in my buddy Brent Hogue's car bumping "Weak Azz Bitch" back in 2002, the Mafia has lived with me as an eternal trademark of how I define myself as a human being. I ride with Three 6 Mafia like I ride with the University of Tennessee Volunteers sports teams: they are the…

What’s the difference between true danger and manufactured danger in pop music? Calculation.

In the latter half of the Aughts, if you were asked who were the Dirty South ambassadors to pop music in the genres of rap and indie rock, the standard answer would be Lil Wayne and Kings of Leon. (I’m somewhat of a hater with regard to the former, somewhat of an apologist for the latter, at least with regard to their first two albums). Wayne was the prolific and gifted lovable sleazeball thug, all off-the-wall cadence, drug infused slurring, and cutesy wordplay. Kings were the backwoods…

Who here remembers the band that became the true impetus for the outbreak of the punk rock scene in NYC in the mid-70s? (Waiting. Twiddling my thumbs).

It’s the New York Dolls. A band that became legendary via its full-scale attack on the self-seriousness that had come to pervade and bog down rock at the beginning of the 70s. Dressed in drag, reveling in over-the-top guitar theatrics and lyrical cheekiness, the Dolls were an adrenaline shot in the arm to the smug, self-satisfied early 70’s scene. Taking a number of rock and roll conventions (sexism, “luv,” etc.) and subverting them…