Summer Music Catch-Up: Women In Music Pt. III

Haim – Women In Music Pt. III

When I mentioned yearning for a more subdued, but nonetheless summer-y album in my Phoebe Bridgers review, this is about what I had in mind. While Haim created one of the best summer albums in recent memory with their 2013 debut and a solidly upbeat (if a little overcooked) follow-up, Women In Music Pt. III sees them slowing down and sounding even more comfortable in their own skin. Still, this is the same Haim you’d expect to stuff their songs full of retro-inspired hooks, and there are more than a few songs here that have been dependable earworms ever since the album was released about a month and a half ago. Continue reading →

Summer Music Catch-Up: Punisher

Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher

I was pretty sure I was already Phoebe Bridgers fan, but I still needed a little convincing. Unlike her bandmates in Boygenius, I hadn’t entirely fallen for her solo work yet, as much as I loved the title of Bridgers’ debut Stranger In The Alps. Still, I liked the songs she wrote on Boygenius’s EP while it seemed fair to give Bridgers some leeway seeing as she’s still a pretty new presence in the indie rock world, if one who’s brimming with potential. Thankfully, Punisher gave me that little push over the edge into Phoebe Bridgers fandom, as it’s a great vehicle for her melancholy little songs while also occasionally hinting at more grandiose gestures. Continue reading →

Summer Music Catch-Up: RTJ4

Run The Jewels – RTJ4

This actually was an album I got to talk about a little bit before the onset of Criterion Month, since I gave it a Little Pick shout-out the week after it was released. However, RTJ4 is such an earth-shatteringly awesome album that I feel the need to give it a little more love. When the album was first released a week after the George Floyd killing, it felt like the perfect soundtrack to the summer’s protests against racism and police brutality. While Run The Jewels’ political commentary is one of the more potent aspects of their work here, there’s plenty else to enjoy considering this might be the album I’ve come back to the most this summer. Continue reading →

Summer Music Catch-Up: Rough and Rowdy Ways

Bob Dylan – Rough and Rowdy Ways

The past two years in late June, I’ve posted lengthy catch-ups featuring bite-size reviews of albums that I hadn’t gotten around to reviewing by the year’s mid-point. I didn’t do that this year because there just weren’t that many albums that I had much to say about that I hadn’t already mentioned on this blog in one way or another. But then right before and all through July, a bunch of albums came out that I really liked. So, now that we’ve taken a little break from posts in the aftermath of Criterion Month, I’ll try to keep that review-a-day energy rollin’ by reviewing a recent album each day this week. I’ll start off with the one that I probably have the most thoughts on… Continue reading →

Colin’s Quarantine Diary: Week 10

Here we are, the final week of May and the final installment of my quarantine diaries. I’m not sure if I learned much during these past few months while writing these, other than that during difficult times it’s nice to have art and entertainment that can offer you some level of comfort. I suppose I also learned that even if the entertainment industry shuts down the way it has recently, there’s still enough content out there to keep you satisfied until the end of time. Like, it’s a little weird that there’ve barely been any notable movies to get released this year, and yet I’ve had a rewarding enough time revisiting older movies these past few months that I’ve barely been affected. Still, as we transition out of this period, it will be nice to go to movies and concerts again, though let’s hope the venues for these communal experiences will even be able to survive.

So yeah, things are a little grim and the future is quite uncertain, but for now, here’s the last bunch of things that have been getting me through quarantine. Continue reading →

Colin’s Quarantine Diary: Week 9

These posts are starting to feel a little more like a chore each week, so I think next week will be my last installment of Colin’s Quarantine Diaries. Not sure if I (or anyone else on the blog) will feel compelled to write much on here after that, though I suppose we have Criterion Month coming up in July, which weirdly isn’t that far away.

I’m not sure that things have quite started shifting back to normal, though it’s probably more likely that this is the case if you don’t live in a big city. But for me, the past week has seemed to be a lot of talking about transitioning towards normal rather than any action being taken to do so. Which is fine. Everybody being a little cautious about when is the right time to start living life in the outside world again is by no means a bad thing, especially when there seem to be plenty of people that are more than happy to throw precaution by the wayside. I, however, was not one of those people this week, since I spent just as much time inside watching movies and TV and listening to music as ever. Continue reading →

Colin’s Quarantine Diary: Week 7

I’m not sure how long I’ll be doing these quarantine posts, since it seems that we’ve started the slow transition into normal life (for better or for worse). Maybe another week or so will suffice, but whatever the case, it’ll at least be nice to have some sort of document of this weird 2+ months spent cooped up inside. Also, this week barely felt like there was much return to normalcy. I may have seen more people out and walking than usual, though that may be due to the weather more than any new assurance that this virus is no longer a threat. Hell, maybe my quarantine diaries will come back in the fall with a new iteration of the coronavirus. Though as much as these do keep me writing stuff on the blog, let’s hope not.

Continue reading →