"Len, you're a conundrum.": Archive

"Len, you're a conundrum."

January 2012

1 post

October 2011

1 post

August 2011

1 post

July 2011

2 posts

May 2011

1 post

April 2011

1 post

March 2011

3 posts

February 2011

4 posts

January 2011

9 posts

In my humble opinion: the Top 25 Albums of 2010

After gobbling up about 55 2010-stamped LPs this year, here’re some thoughts on the best 25. As a bonus, you may also consider this my albums-of-the-decade list! For about a week. 25. BELLE AND SEBASTIAN - Belle And Sebastian Write About Love That old guff about so-and-so’s off-day being a good one for everyone else applies, as an overworked Stuart Murdoch’s stack of slightly underwritten...

December 2010

1 post

Separated at birth

“Theme From The Love Boat” ace Jack Jones and Madison Ave. ad face Don Draper.

November 2010

6 posts

New Cut Copy single: "Take Me Over" →

Don’t need much hand-holding to get excited about Cut Copy news, believe me. Owning my second-favourite album of the decade guarantees VIP status. The Cutters’re 11 weeks away from releasing Zonoscope and the teasers keep rolling out. In July “Where I’m Going” signalled a lusher, poppier sound from the Aussie combo, and today’s streaming...

Christmas stocking: new Sinatra bio essays early... →

Goody, goody: 800 pages of deep Frank Sinatra thought. I haven’t determined whether author James Kaplan has a second volume in mind, but I’d sure welcome it. Peter Guralnick made a career out of his tremendous, 1300-page, two-volume Elvis Presley investigation; for all the ink spilled on Ol’ Blue Eyes, Sinatra books veer towards either personality studies (and...

October 2010

5 posts

Mad Men: Season Four in Twitter-sized bites

Mad Men’s wrapped for another year, which means I get my Sunday nights back. The fourth season saw a little dip in quality, forsaking the wonderful, large cast in favour of training season-long spotlights on Don Draper’s severe alcoholic depression and Peggy Olsen’s heartening growth. Fair enough: they’ve been the top-billed characters from the start. But MM’s rebranding relegated January...

Probably my Top 20 Belle & Sebastian songs

Can I ever write anything about this band without mentioning Stuart Murdoch’s astonishing gift for crafting vocal melodies? No. Even if the edges have been sanded off by a cocktail of cleaner production, better instrumental chops and old shoeism, the vocals still haunt. Like a fine burgundy brew, as the old song (not one of his) goes. Alright, on the eve of a new album, these are probably...

July 2010

1 post

Mad Men: Season Three in Twitter-sized bites

I made this last stretch of July busier than necessary by settling in to watch the third season of Mad Men in nine nights. Via my Twitter account (@thegoldenyear), here’s a quick review of an excellent, moody season of dystopian 1960s America, in 140-character bites: How long ‘til Sterling Cooper’s principals chafe under British rule? Bet Kinsey takes to their expanded vocabulary, though....

May 2010

2 posts

Five years of iPodding

Hey. I bought into iPod culture five years ago, on May 18, 2005. I can’t possibly expect anyone to care about this - even a little - so I’m not even going to attempt to fluff up this entry with sparkling wordplay: these are nerdy, completely self-indulgent lists I’m presenting below, lists I can’t see serving any purpose unless someone wanted to fashion shopping lists from...

April 2010

8 posts

Neon Indian: Lee's Palace video and interview →

Five months on, and I haven’t tired of Neon Indian at all. Psychic Chasms, that woozy, wobbly ’80s-biting synthpop debut album, placed at #8 on my Best-of-2009 list, and at #48 on the decade-end chart, but it’s been such a grower it’s busted a move up both charts, probably to inside of the Top Five and Top 40 on the same lists. On a larger scale, Neon Indian’s had a...

NEON INDIAN - Terminally Chill/Ephemeral Artery medley (2010) I couldn’t’ve cared less when Jimmy Fallon got Conan O’Brien’s old 12:35 gig last year, but somewhere along the way I’ve been schooled, big-time. The last 10 minutes of Jimmy’s show has become a parade of left-field faves, and it’s apparent the host’s Shazam application played a large...

March 2010

7 posts

Goldfrapp: an album-by-album guide

An album-by-album guide to Goldfrapp, as new LP Head First hits the street, presented in the manner of all those Trouser Press and Rolling Stone record guides I devoured when I was younger. GOLDFRAPP Felt Mountain (2000) Black Cherry (2003) Supernature (2005) Seventh Tree (2008) Head First (2010) After garnering some attention via guest appearances on records by The Orbital, Tricky...