Category: special guests
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Andrew Demcak on Eyeless in Gaza’s Photographs As Memories
I know what you’re thinking: Who? Eyeless in Gaza? Isn’t that an obscure Aldous Huxley novel? Yes, it is an obscure Huxley novel, but also one of the most underrated synth-pop duos to emerge from England in 1981. I first heard Eyeless in Gaza from my friend Diane, who was my pen pal I met […]
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Jory Mickelson on The Cure’s Disintegration
Coming Out & Coming Apart Plainsong I can feel the heavy wash of synthesizers vibrating their way out from the scratchy foam headphones of my walkman, even though I haven’t played this album on cassette in over a decade. Seventh grade, the album out for a year. These over-the-top synthesizers are the beginnings of my […]
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David Dombrosky on Tori Amos’s From the Choirgirl Hotel
Throughout the past 20 years of my life, I have held a special place in my heart for Tori Amos. In addition to being an insanely talented musician with a distinctive voice, she has a wonderful tendency to reinvent her sound with each successive album. Correspondingly, I find that I usually need to spend a […]
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Bill Beverly on Neil Young’s Everybody Knows This is Nowhere
Neil Young’s second record, Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, was never a big hit. No hit singles; it never cracked the top thirty. My reverence for it stems from my belief that when I was young, it was my father’s favorite record. About this I may be right or not. Everybody Knows This is Nowhere […]
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Julie E. Bloemeke on Neil Diamond’s Greatest Hits Volume 1
Neil Diamond: Beyond Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon Yes, I know. Neil Diamond of Pulp Fiction, The Jazz Singer. Neil Diamond of “Red, Red Wine” before UB40 UB40-ed it. Neil Diamond of the groaner “Turn on Your Heartlight.” Neil Diamond of leather jacket and motorcycles and–dun dun dun– “Sweet Caroline.” But in the turbulence […]
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Matthew Hittinger on P.J. Harvey’s Is This Desire?
AND THERE WAS TROUBLE TAKING PLACE Ah, 1998. A big year for me. Half-way through college. Getting serious about writing poetry. I had just experienced a year of coming into an adult consciousness and skin to which I still feel connected. It was the year of first deaths, both my grandmothers dead on the same […]
Charles Jensen | Writer 