The 80s are back, but which 80s? Nick Burns April 30, 2018 0 Comments As we think about what it means to be reliving the 80s in pop culture as in politics, it befits us to wonder which version of the 80s we are reliving or wish to relive. Read More »
Poet’s work: Destroyer brings wry, thoughtful indie rock to the Fillmore Nick Burns February 11, 2018 0 Comments Three music beat writers walk into a Destroyer show at the Fillmore … Read More »
Album(s) of the Year, part 2: Solitude and the self Nick Burns and Tyler Dunston November 28, 2017 0 Comments The Music Beat’s coverage of our albums of the year continues, with two New York indie releases that grapple with solitude and the self in very different milieus — the post-punk synth... Read More »
Sick late-century dream: Fiction, ’90s rock and the end of American innocence Nick Burns November 16, 2017 0 Comments What indie-rock song from the late ’90s and early 2000s goes best with the contemporaneous work of American novelist Jonathan Franzen? It’s a somewhat obscure question that has long... Read More »
Following David Bowie’s legendary legacy of consistent change Nick Burns October 3, 2017 0 Comments “Il miglior fabbro” is a phrase – meaning “the superior craftsman” – that Dante used to describe an Occitan troubadour of great fame and TS. Eliot later repurposed to describe his friend... Read More »
The myth of intellectual vitality? On housing and culture at Stanford and Oxford Nick Burns October 2, 2017 0 Comments I saw an Onion headline a while back, “Malala Can Tell Oxford Paired Her With Roommate Just Because They’re Both Nobel Laureates” that first made me laugh and then made me really think. The... Read More »
An American bard in Britain: Bob Dylan in concert Nick Burns June 3, 2017 0 Comments It’s not often you get the chance to see a Nobel Laureate in concert. So when the opportunity presented itself – in the form of Bob Dylan playing three shows in late April, at the small, ornate... Read More »
The Mountain Goats’ ‘Goths’ ditches the guitar and finds light in dark places Nick Burns June 1, 2017 0 Comments The Mountain Goats without guitars: What could be harder to believe? That’s how John Darnielle’s latest was billed: a guitarless album from a man who made his name strumming a guitar like he was... Read More »