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In Search of Christian Music That Doesn’t Suck

By Tom Hawking on

We surely can’t be the only ones who suppressed a shudder when we saw the title of My Morning Jacket songwriter Jim James’ new solo album: Regions of Light and Sound of God. As it turns out, the title doesn’t necessarily mean that James has gone born-again on our hellbound asses, but either way, we have to admit that our reaction did rather have us reassessing our own prejudices: would James going all Christian necessarily mean that the resultant album would suck massively? We have to say that the answer is probably no — some of our favorite songwriters have addressed matters of faith over the years, after all. And so in payment for our, ahem, sins, we’ve put together a collection of Christian music that doesn’t suck. (Spoiler: sorry Creed and Christian hardcore fans, our charity only goes so far.) … Read More

Music

10 of the Worst Political Songs You’ll Ever Hear

By Tom Hawking on

Oh, Serj Tankian. Bless him. Few songwriters better exemplify the pitfalls of overtly political songwriting than the top-hatted occasional poet and former System of a Down frontman — no one’s denying that his heart’s in the right place, but by God does he write some stridently awful lyrics. With Tankian’s new album out this week, we got to thinking about his work with his former band, and about political songwriting in general. We generally have nothing but respect for anyone who wants their songs to do more than rhyme “moon” with “June,” but the art of tackling politics in song is a difficult one to master — get it wrong and you come off as either hopelessly clueless or a tedious proselytizing windbag. So here are some examples of both. To be clear: it’s not like we disagree with the political views of these songs (or most of them, anyway). It’s just that they’re not exactly how we’d choose to try to put across those views. Sigh. … Read More

Music

The Best Drug Albums of All Time

By Tom Hawking on

A while back, we wrote about the age-old music industry debate regarding whether drugs catalyze creativity. There’s a huge amount of silliness written about musicians’ drug use — compare the hugely asinine “pro” position with the reasoned and rather sensible alternative here, for instance — but while we generally don’t buy into such destructive rock ‘n’ roll mythology, there have undeniably been some fantastic albums that’ll always be associated with drug use. With the band that made at least one such record — Spiritualized, with the all-time classic Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space — gearing up to put out their new album Sweet Heart Sweet Light, we thought we’d use this week’s release of their hugely strange, NSFW “Hey Jane” music video as an excuse to round up the best records that reflect both the highs and the lows of drug use. We’re of course aware that there are plenty more — what are your favorites? (And no, before you ask, The Dark Side of the Moon isn’t here. Just because everyone under the sun appears to have gotten wasted to this album at least once doesn’t mean it’s about drugs. So there.) … Read More

Music

10 Genuinely Relaxing Songs to Ease You Off to Sleep

By Tom Hawking on

We’re not usually big readers of the UK’s Daily Telegraph, but we did read with interest a recent report that UK band Marconi Union’s song “Weightless” has been proclaimed “the most relaxing tune ever.” The article claims that “scientists played the song to 40 women and found it to be more effective at helping them relax than songs by Enya, Mozart and Coldplay.” This doesn’t exactly sound like scientific proof to us, and although the song is certainly a pleasant, Eno-influenced piece of atmospheric ambience, it’s nothing revolutionary (if you want to hear it, you can head to another UK newspaper site, where it’s streaming). Either way, we were more concerned by the fact that the Torygraph claims it’s “more relaxing than Enya, Mozart and Coldplay,” as if those three artists were the yardstick by which a piece of music’s relaxing qualities should be measured. We’re not standing for any such nonsense, so here’s a Flavorpill relaxation playlist — next time you’re having trouble sleeping, give some of these tracks a spin and see if they help any! … Read More

Music

10 Wondrous Drug-Themed Album Covers

By Judy Berman on

When you name your mixtape Cocaine Waitress, you’d better have the artwork to back it up. And thanks to The Awl, we now know exactly what the cover to that album, by the Atlanta rapper Diamond, looks like. It is so deadpan wonderful that it made us think about all the other incredible drug-themed record covers we’ve seen over the years. Check out ten of our favorites, picturing everything from heroin to sizzurp, after the jump and link us to any we missed. … Read More