Jane Campion’s ‘The Piano’ Is a Product of the 1990s, Not the 1890s
The Piano is a ’90s-era postmodern stew of sensuality and death, realism and fantasy, stories within stories, feminism and psychology, and postcolonial imagery.
All Things Reconsidered
John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s ‘Two Virgins’ at 55: Still Telling Naked Truths
John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Two Virgins inspired so much ire and distaste back in the day that we can take this opportunity to see what all the fuss was about.
Sweaty Roses for Bad Boy’s Da Band
Bad Boy’s Da Band didn’t work out for the same reason it was supposed to. Hip-hop is a monster that feeds off its young and sweats out its expired goods.
Riot Grrrl Classic Bikini Kill’s ‘Pussy Whipped’ at 30
Bikini Kill’s biting 1993 opus Pussy Whipped was the centerpiece of the riot grrrl movement, an uninhibited, game-changing punk album by dissident young women.
Putting the Eyebrows on It: Frank Zappa’s ‘The Yellow Shark’ at 30
The orchestral music of Frank Zappa is required listening for any fan of 20th-century classical music, and The Yellow Shark is the best place to start.
Raps From the Golden Age: Jungle Brothers’ Straight Out the Jungle at 35
Jungle Brothers’ 35-year-old Straight Out the Jungle shows cerebral rapping, experimentation, and African rhythms. It was the first Native Tongues hip-hop LP.
15 Years of Mogwai’s ‘The Hawk Is Howling’
The Hawk Is Howling is full of signature moments when Mogwai explore complex combinations of moods from bright to dark, soft to heavy, and sensual to horrific.
The Fragmented Quality of Boards of Canada’s ‘Music Has the Right to Children’
Boards of Canada’s Music Has the Right to Children is murky, burned, and melted. It sounds like 1980s synth, disco, new age, and new wave heard through a wall.
‘Chutes Too Narrow’ Remains the Shins’ Defining Work 20 Years Later
The Shins’ Chutes Too Narrow is one of the defining albums of the indie rock era when the genre grew alongside independent, online publications and hipsterism.
Cyndi Lauper Found Her Tribe of Oddballs, Mistifts, and Weirdos with ‘She’s So Unusual’
Cyndi Lauper’s debut, She’s So Unusual, stands the test of time: it’s an eccentric, weird record that revels in a subversive and quietly revolutionary oddness.
The Afghan Whigs’ ‘Gentlemen’ Retains Its Punishing Allure at 30
Greg Dulli’s lyrics are part of the enduring power of the Afghan Whigs’ Gentlemen, which diverges from the misogyny of the 1970s rock and the emo that followed.
Traffic’s Free-Flowing British Soul Masterpiece at 55
No British album better synthesized the warmth, energy, and funkiness of New Orleans R&B, Southern soul, and rock better than Traffic’s 1968 self-titled LP.