Everything’s a Dollar in This Box: Tom Waits’ ‘Swordfishtrombones’ at 40
Tom Waits’ 1983 album Swordfishtrombones signified a seismic shift in the singer-songwriter’s sound. His music would never be the same again.
Tom Waits’ 1983 album Swordfishtrombones signified a seismic shift in the singer-songwriter’s sound. His music would never be the same again.
Tom Waits’ Closing Time serves as the “Swim at Your Own Risk” sign hanging above his musical swimming pool. There’s a whole world waiting beneath that water.
These songs for Valentine’s Day playlists live on the fringes, outside that neat little box of what we consider to be typically romantic.
Tom Waits splashes about in his “puddle of consciousness”, testing Michael Goldberg’s sense of humor in this interview excerpted from Goldberg’s new book, Addicted to Noise.
No popular musical instrument has been more frequently maligned than the accordion. Despite gaining hipster cred in the 1990s, its role in pop remains underappreciated.
Songs of anxiety, paranoia, freak-outs, chilling verses, feverish desire, harrowing lyrics — they all make for damn good music.
Between the Grooves takes a deep dive into Tom Waits' Bone Machine. It's the one fans keep hidden amongst themselves, a secret treasure only the devout are privy to and the seasoned are worthy of. Simply put, it is not for the faint of heart.
PopMatters is 20 and to celebrate we are looking back at the popular music that defined the year of our birth. Part two covers the most memorable albums from March through June, highlighted by monster hits from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Moby, and Travis.
VickiKristinaBarcelona celebrate the singular world of Tom Waits their upcoming debut, Pawn Shop Radio. Hear "I Don't Wanna Grow Up" ahead of tomorrow's single release.
From apocalyptic blues boasts to backwoods chant-alongs, here are 15 songs that encapsulate Tom Waits' incredibly varied career.
With The Dead Don't Die, Jim Jarmusch deliberately deprives his latest film of the propulsive terrors innate to most zombie films, instead using the genre to matter-of-factly rhapsodize about consumer culture and the inevitability of the apocalypse.
These essays explore the connection between Kerouac and the music he loved -- Charlie Parker, Lee Konitz, Chet Baker, Miles Davis and others -- and the musicians who loved him, in turn.