Liz Phair on “Rebel Rebel” After finishing my 33 1/3 volume on David Bowie’s Diamond Dogs, I’d had enough ruminating about the album on my own. Now I wanted to hear what other people had to say. So I wrote to some of the smartest and most interesting people I know to ask them for their […]
How to Be Unapologetically Creative Read More »
Daniel Alexander Jones on David Bowie After finishing my 33 1/3 volume on David Bowie’s Diamond Dogs, I’d had enough ruminating about the album on my own. Now I wanted to hear what other people had to say. So I wrote to some of the smartest and most interesting people I know to ask them
Proximity to Blackness Read More »
After finishing my 33 1/3 volume on David Bowie’s Diamond Dogs, I’d had enough ruminating about the album on my own. Now I wanted to hear what other people had to say. So I wrote to some of the smartest and most interesting people I know to ask them for their thoughts and feelings about
Camp and Excess on Diamond Dogs: A Conversation Between Glenn Hendler and Rick Moody Read More »
Glenn Hendler, author of David Bowie’s Diamond Dogs, on why he chose to write about Bowie’s dark, dystopian album The first time I saw David Bowie in concert, he pointed directly at me. He was on his 1976 “Isolar” tour in support of the album Station to Station, and I saw him in my hometown: New
Martin Roberts, author of Cornelius’s Fantasma, on the central role that record stores played in his life. Like so many other stories about pop music fandom, this one begins with a record store. In 1995, a tiny record store opened on West 4th Street in Manhattan, literally across the street from Tower Records’ flagship megastore.
From the East Village to Shibuya: A Tale of Two Record Stores Read More »
Faith Pennick, author of D’Angelo’s Voodoo, on how astrology shaped D’Angelo’s music. [Click here to read part one] A deeper thread is unraveled when an Aquarius is a Black man. “The key definition, I believe, of being African American…is tied into anti-Blackness,” astrologer Samuel Reynolds explained. “So, an Aquarian Black man is going to be
D’Angelo’s Age of “Soulquarius” – Part Two Read More »
Faith Pennick, author of D’Angelo’s Voodoo, on the role that astrology plays in making music Some people dismiss astrology—the analysis of personality and human behavior based on the “sun sign” under which a person is born. But in the late 1990s, a group of striving, nonconforming musicians came together to share ideas and push each other
D’Angelo’s Age of “Soulquarius” – Part One Read More »
Faith Pennick, author of D’Angelo’s Voodoo, on seeing D’Angelo perform for the first time. Live performances are like power outlets to me. I can plug in and share that surge of electricity the band or singer brings song after song. I had never seen D’Angelo on stage prior to the Voodoo tour. A good friend in
Voodoo: Live from New York Read More »
Faith Pennick, author of D’Angelo’s Voodoo, on how gospel music inspired D’Angelo’s critical acclaim. Like many African American singers who hail from the South, D’Angelo’s foundation is laid in gospel music. Much has been said and written about his R&B influences: artists like Marvin Gaye, Sly and the Family Stone, and his North Star: Prince. But
Catching the Spirit Read More »
Can Refazenda help us rethink how we approach the world? Can the album inspire radical action in fighting climate change? In 2020, it’s hard to think about Brazil without also thinking about the Amazon, deforestation, and the sad state of our environment. Though produced nearly a half century ago, Gilberto Gil’s Refazenda (1975) is timely
Refazenda in a World on Fire Read More »
