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Analysis Music Review

2017 Music Review: top 10 albums, 20-track playlist

I’ve made a tradition of reviewing my take on the new music scene each year since 2012, and the format seems to be working pretty well. I like it because it keeps me honest as a forcing function to remember what I heard over the course of the year and thoughtfully consider what I liked […]

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Analysis Music Review

2016 Music Review: Top 10 Albums, 20-song Playlist

I haven’t usually gotten these things out before the springtime, and for a number of reasons 2016 is more delayed than ever. But since ‘better late than never’ is usually well-applied — especially when this kind of analysis will serve future me with a (near-)real-time document of the day — and since 2016 was no 2015 but […]

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Analysis Music Review

2015 Music Review: Top 10 Albums, 20-song Playlist

It’s well past time again for me to pick winners among all the fantastic music released in 2015, truly a bumper year in my experience. Now for the fourth time, I’ll review the ten albums I loved the most from last year; discuss many others that were somehow notable; and also serve up a 20-track, […]

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Analysis Music Review

2014 Music Review: Top 10 Albums, 20-song Playlist

Gregorian Calendars the world over agree: 2014 has ended. For the third year running, it’s time for me to review the ten best albums I noticed that were released last year; jeer at a few for being remarkably bad; and also serve up a 20-track mix of highlight singles, half taken from the top ten […]

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Analysis Music Review

2013 Music Review: Top 10 Albums, 20-song Playlist

Even though I’m way late, I wanted to create a top music post for last year just like I did for 2012. As I said then, I don’t pretend to be able to weigh in like the Serious People at AllMusic and Pitchfork and Rolling Stone with shiny, definitive lists about what was really the best. Also I’m pretty sure even […]

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Analysis Music Review

2012 Music Review: Top 10 Albums, 20-song Playlist

The year is nearly over and there were some notable record albums released in the music world. I don’t pretend to be able to weigh in like the Serious People at AllMusic and Pitchfork and Rolling Stone with shiny, definitive lists about what was really the best. For one thing, following and reviewing the music […]

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Concert Review

Sasquatch 2012 in review

The 11th annual Sasquatch music festival happened Memorial Day weekend at the Gorge Amphitheatre near the hilariously named city of George, Washington. It was four days of sun, dirt, dramatic daily temperature swings, tens of thousands of total strangers variously drunk or high or on vast quantities of controlled substances — or, as is more likely, an […]

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Analysis Concert Music Review

A Rapper with a Ghostwriter – Musings on Contemporary Rap

I recently had a shocking experience at a concert. I’ve been to many, and they vary wildly in quality, but shocking is not a term I use lightly. A great show is a great thing for a reason: there’s a lot of boring and even awful music out there. Every genre is guilty of being […]