😠
The Basher (so called because of his rough/ready "bash it out, we'll tart it up later" production style) remains one of the most underrrated/unsung artists of the last 40 years.
He produced so many great records -- punk/new wave period classics you'd know from Elvis Costello, the Damned, Wreckless Eric, Pretenders, Graham Parker, Dr. Feelgood, Johnny Cash, Carlene Carter, Paul Carrack from Ace/Squeeze fame -- plus his time as a member of the bands Brinsley Schwarz, Rockpile and Little Village. But it's solo work I've kept closest to me over the years and this one has a special place in my (busted) heart. ❤️
Mar 24, 2025
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I am still kind of in shock, just processing this loss.
Albini was SO central to the late 80s and 90s underground.
Not just the music (that he created, but also "engineered" since he loathed the word "producer") but the ethos.
He's irreplaceable. He was irascible, difficult, a crank. But he was our crank and vital to the sound of so many bands and artists: PJ Harvey, Slint, Tar, Helmet, Pixies, Urge Overkill, the list goes on and on and on.
I interviewed him once for "Paste." My editor from that time wrote me this morning, saying he remembered that it was a "hard edit" (ha; Albini was a "hard guy" in his way). I remember him being prickly but principled. That's a good summary of who he was.
RIP Mr. Albini. This is a left-field musical choice but is pretty much perfectly emblematic of his desire to translate the sound of a band almost perfectly uninterrupted to tape and to listener. A purist in the best sense of the word.
PS: Engine Kid became SUNN 0))) for those who dig the heavy stuff.
May 8, 2024
This might be Damon Albarn’s greatest musical achievement.
A song about missing the comforts of home 🇬🇧 while on the road
Using the BBC’s nightly Shipping Forecast (itself, the most British thing ever - a specific platform to obsess about the weather) as a metaphor
Loaded with obscure place names, English totems of days gone by (like a more jaded Ray Davies) and allusions to a fracturing relationship with Elastica’s Justine Frischmann (due in part to her heroin addiction and his dabbling, something Albarn wouldn’t discuss publicly for years).
And some of Graham Coxon’s most inspired guitar soloing.
‘Finding ways to stay solo.’ ☔️
Instant Britpop classic.
Feb 2, 2024
In 1982, when his debut LP "The Golden Age of Wireless" came out (42 years ago today), Thomas Dolby was something of a British pop curiosity, better known for his catchy one hit wonder "She Blinded Me With Science" -- an early MTV hit -- than as any kind of serious album artist.
But this track put his English-eccentric early image to rest -- it encompassed all the paranoia and fear of global armageddon that was making the rounds at the time but also the diminishment of empire/colonialism and even a personal sort of melancholia ("And I can trace my history down a generation to my home/in one of our submarines" is a true story, with Dolby having lost his uncle in a submarine during the Second World War, while his father worked in intelligence overseas).
I love multiple meanings/interpretations and this song -- catchy and up-to-the-minute as it was then from a techno-pop standpoint -- is loaded with 'em. I also love songs that can be both poppy/radio-friendly and fraught with mournfulness all at the same time.
"Bye-bye empire, empire bye-bye."
"Rather than talk generally about World War II, and it was more just a case of, well, in any war situation, how does that affect life, and love? That was something that really appealed to me."
Dolby got his A-levels at Abingdon School in Oxford (future home of Radiohead) and was elementary school friends with the late, great Shane MacGowan too.
Doesn't get as much attention as he should but still touring/making music today.
May 13, 2024
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The man responsible for dozens of Teenage Symphonies to God
"Sad songs about happy things" (the first time, as a kid, I can recall the sweet/sour combo of melodies that could make you cry attached to songs about endless, bottomless love)
I've long since lost track of how many weddings and funerals I've attended that have featured this song; suffice it to say, "a lot."
God only knows what we'd been without him 🙏🏻
Jun 11, 2025
May 22, 2025
Hey tyler hopefully this doesn’t violate some PI.FYI golden rule
But after nearly two years of writing, editing and arguing, my book about the EP is coming out in May and can be preordered here:
https://hozacrecords.com/product/aifl/
The book is about the origins, history and cultural impact of the EP since these little objects first started coming out in the 50s.
Over 50 of my music biz friends then helped me shape the list and review the top 200 ever released, according to us (ha).
For those of you who are into this kind of geekery/snobbery, I can’t wait to hear what you think. A labor of love, as all books are! ❤️
Mar 27, 2024