Lately, there seems to be a formula for making a radio hit album. Give it a Franz Ferdinandesque backbeat, a sprinkle of whiny lyrics, and a shitload of influences that will please the shaggy-haired kid who still buys vinyl (assuming, of course, he even listens to the radio). And then, the final touch to our peachy keen delicious dessert: add a thick layer of shiny, saccharine production that could have been slowly forced out of a Duncan Hines red and white frosting cup.
This is …

Stax Records Week could not go on without Otis Redding. Granted, too many people have made the mistake of using Redding as a catch-all symbol for all of the great moments in Soul music; but at the same time, whenever that aching, smoky-sweet voice pours out of a set of speakers, anyone can understand why this mistake is so often made. Otis Redding sang with a resonant loneliness that can still capture any listener and both soothe and plummet them to emotional depths few …

I remember vividly the first time I stumbled across Nardwuar the Human Serviette. It was the summer of 2002, and I, like many music listeners, was just embarking on what would be an ongoing love affair with the White Stripes. I’d bought three of their records — White Blood Cells, De Stijl and a bootleg of the 2001 Peel Sessions — watched their buzzmaking MTV Movie Awards performance, and even seen them in concert for the first time, at Chene Park in Detroit …

Technology is a wonderful thing, isn’t it? There was a time, not all that long ago, when we were at the mercy of television producers and progammers. They told us what we were allowed to see, and when we were allowed to see it. With the explosion of cable channels, however, and the creation of syndication, it became easier to find the type of show you wanted to see, at a time more convenient for you – just ask any Law and Order fan. …

Love, lust and loneliness – Valentine’s Day must be like Christmas for songwriters. After all, the love song (and its reverse, the break-up song) stands as pop’s ultimate cheap thrill: easy to write and easier to listen to, its appeal comes to us immediately because we fill in the blanks with our own experiences. Everyone has fallen in love, and almost everyone has fallen out of it, too; these feelings have mass appeal because they truly are universal. So when we hear a great …

The Wit in the Dungeon is a biography which explores the life of literary figure Leigh Hunt: a contemporary of several acclaimed authors and poets (such as Charles Dickens, Lord Byron, Percy and Mary Shelley, Elizabeth and Robert Browning, Keats, and Wordsworth), whose own fame has only continued to shine among literary academics. This is not to say that Hunt is not a fascinating figure of potential mass appeal; on the contrary, biographer Anthony Holden deftly sprinkles the text with Hunt’s life, ranging from discussions of his curious collections (he …

Prime
Director: Ben Younger
(Universal Pictures)
Ah, it’s nice to know that there are people out there who are still madly in love with Woody Allen. I myself have a great love affair which began with The Purple Rose of Cairo, blossomed with Stardust Memories, and became a deep commitment with (you guessed it) Annie Hall. And while watching Prime, I was pleased to see that writer/director Ben Younger has clearly studied his Woody Allen. In fact, if Woody circa 1978 had written and directed this movie, it most likely would’ve been one …

You Could Have It So Much Better
Franz Ferdinand
(Sony)
Oh, Franz Ferdinand, if only all of you could have been my prom date. I spent my senior year prom with a bunch of chicks who, fun as they were, just weren’t shaking their asses and talking in adorable Scottish accents. To put it simply, a party isn’t a party without some sausage. And on You Could Have It So Much Better, Franz Ferdinand prove one thing: these guys can party.
The much-awaited sophomore record opens with “The Fallen”, a hedonistic plea to cut …