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Charli xcx: Brat
Itโs a rare thing I openly tell people I enjoy anything popular. Itโs true, I donโt. I like popstars, though. The occasional dip into reality television because I love seeing gorgeous women, it girls, celebutantes. Charli XCX has made me aware of this because BRAT is an album that is self-aware of itself, what it โ read more
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Kenny Hoopla: how will i rest in peace if iโm buried by a highway?//
The first time I heard how will i rest in peace if iโm buried by a highway?//, I found myself startled by a random memory. I was sixteen again, in a car that smelled faintly of gasoline and fast food wrappers, listening to Bloc Partyโs “Banquet” crackle through plastic speakers too small for the sound โ read more
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Bruce Springsteen: Borin in the U.S.A.
Thereโs a quote often attributed to Antonio Gramsci: โThe old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born; now is the time of monsters.โ As I type these thoughts, a lot has happened in America over the past five months. This month alone, Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerryโs was arrested while โ read more
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Michelle Branch: Spirit Room
For the life of me, I wanted that blue Taylor 614ce. The one Michelle Branch held in old photographsโangled just so, girl and guitar gleaming like product and prophecy. I didnโt get the guitar. But I got the album. The Spirit Room. It came to me like most things did then: slowly, imprecisely, passed through โ read more
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Marina and the Diamonds: Family Jewels
I remember thinking Lady Gaga was referencing herโMarina and the Diamondsโin all those high-concept visuals, the performance art, the glamorous misery. Turns out it was Marina Abramoviฤ. Close enough. Iโve always been drawn to pop music that knows itโs pop music. Even when I was a scene kid in eyeliner and borrowed band tees, I โ read more
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Brand New: “Deja Entendu”
There isnโt much to say because I took a week to make this album review. Dรฉjร Entendu by Brand New had always been such a pivotal part of my history as a teenager growing up in the early 00s. I admit I havenโt owned a single physical copy of Dรฉjร Entendu. I was living in โ read more