Over the last several years, I’ve featured songs from the top of Village Voice’s annual Pazz & Jop poll, which compiles the picks of hundreds of music critics into a master Top 100 Albums and Top 50 Singles.
Well, Village Voice closed up shop last year, first moving online only and then ceasing new content creation entirely. It looked like a sad end to a poll dating back to 1974 that gave a fascinating glimpse into the changing popular music landscape.
This is the second song from The White Stripes’ 2003 album Elephant to show up on Random Weekends in the last month. On that post, I noted that the song was the fourth from Elephant to come up randomly. Now we’re at five — more than a third of the album’s tracks.
‘Black Math’ is Jack White’s spin on “We don’t need no education.” It’s a fast and furious screed against doing what you’re told.
Kanye West has been acting a fool long enough now that it’s easy to forget he released some very good music back in the day.
West’s second album, 2005’s Late Registration, remains the early pinnacle of a career that has gone off the rails due to West’s ego and (on a sadder note) his mental health issues.
Co-produced by Jon Brion, who Kanye discovered through his work on the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind score and Fiona Apple’s second album, Late Registration is still a great listen.
Low Cut Connie is a beloved Philly-based rock band I discovered just a few weeks ago, though they’ve been recording since 2011. They have a swagger and sound that taps into the great music of the 60s and 70s.
I’m so late to the game on this one that even Barack Obama, who had a lot more going on than me, highlighted one of their songs on his 2015 summer playlist (setting aside all the fundamental, important differences between Obama and Trump, I also miss having a president who was just plain cool).
Singer-songwriter and all-around cool guy Joe Jackson has released his first new album in four years. Titled Fool, the record is receiving some of his best reviews in years.
I was actually surprised to see Jackson has been relatively prolific over the past couple of decades. Fool is his sixth release of the 2000s, which isn’t exactly a torrid pace but more than I would have guessed, likely due to a lack of publicity.
Meet Me In Montauk 