Ben Taylor
10 Best Talking Heads Songs
In the annals of musical winning streaks, it's hard to beat the first five studio albums by the Talking Heads. From 'Talking Heads: 77' to 'Speaking in Tongues,' the band seemed to progress effortlessly from New Wave art-pop to dense, cerebral, polyrhythmic funk...
10 Songs About the Horrors of War
War is over, if you want it. And after listening to these songs, you will want nothing more.
10 Songs About Self-Pleasure
Self-pleasure is a well-covered topic in the history of pop music, and perhaps for good reason. As Woody Allen put it, “Don’t knock masturbation. It’s sex with someone you love.” The artists behind the following tunes would likely salute that sentiment, were there hands not, well, otherwise occupied...
10 Songs About the Teenage Blues
At least 90 percent of the initial impetus for most musicians' careers comes from one thing: the teenage blues. The world may be at war, the government on the verge of collapse and the environment deteriorating, but none of those things trump a teenager’s feelings of confusion and alienation...
10 Critical Sacred Cows Sacrificed
Chuck Klosterman once wrote that the cover of the New York Dolls debut album was more influential than the music inside. One might quibble with that assessment, but the point is well taken. There are many critical sacred cows -- albums every music journalist and artist professes to love -- that, truth be told, might be more influential as totems than as actual content.
10 Songs About Dirty Old Men (And One Woman)
It is a time-honored rock 'n’ roll tradition to sing lusty songs about the opposite sex. After all, the term rock 'n’ roll was originally slang for sex. It is also a time-honored tradition that we ignore the fact some of those songs are being sung by adults to teenagers
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Joanna Gruesome, ‘Weird Sister’ – Album Review
Twenty years ago, who'd have thought the sounds of modern rock would feel retro? But in recent years, indie rock has increasingly thrown out bands aping the loud pop dynamics of another era. The latest is Joanna Gruesome. On their debut, 'Weird Sister,' the five-piece from Cardiff, Wales, reveal an astute command of the sugary alt-rock dynamics -- the kind that fueled similar rock-grrl-led groups
Body/Head, ‘Coming Apart’ – Album Review
When Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore announced they were separating two years ago, a million 30-somethings had the hearts of their inner five-year-olds thoroughly crushed. The seemingly perfect parents of grunge and indie rock couldn’t keep it together, and they were going to take their iconic band down with them. Now we get to listen to the musical fallout of a 30-year relationship go