It started with a note of relief.
Our computers had survived; we had made it. The clocks had passed midnight into the year 2000, not 1900, and all those tanks of propane and fresh water cached in the garage became souvenirs of an instantly-embarrassing paranoia.
Perhaps the year 2000 was the last time many would regard a computer with suspicion. Fears of the machine-chaos that would ensue as computer clocks the world over tried in vain to… more »
It used to be easier to pretend that an album was its own perfectly self-contained artifact. The great records certainly feel that way. But albums are more permeable than solid, their motivations, executions and inspirations informed by, and often stolen from, their peers and forbearers. It all sounds awfully formal, but it's not. It's the very nature of music — of art, even. The Six Degrees features examine the relationships between classic records and five… more »
Every year, it's the same. November rolls around, and so do the requests for end-of-year lists, which I leave all but unread in my inbox, hoping they'll go away. Panic: What was good this year? Mind: blank. I curse my fitful listening habits and the shoddy acoustics of the apartment in which I lived until a month ago — not to mention its lack of a living room, which left no space to listen to… more »
