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The Most Distinctive Singing Voices of the 1990s

By Tom Hawking on

We’re big fans of Suede here at Flavorpill central, and as such we’re delighted to report that their new album Bloodsports is better than we dared to hop for — in fact, it’s the best thing they’ve made since Coming Up, which is pretty impressive considering how utterly dry Brett Anderson’s well of ideas seemed to have run on their last couple of albums. And best of all, Anderson still sounds great; his voice is rich as ever, and listening to the album got us thinking about what a distinctive vocalist he is. His was one of the most recognizable voices of the 1990s, and as such we thought we’d round up some of the others to go with him. … Read More

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Music

The 10 Albums You Need to Hear in March

By Tom Hawking on

We’ve spent most of the week trawling the depths of our record collection, but now it’s time to direct our attention to the albums we might be adding to said collection in the next few weeks — March is looking pretty decent for new releases, and as ever, we’ve selected the ten albums we reckon will be most worth listening to over the course of the month (along with all the other notable albums scheduled for release, good and bad.) We’re always interested to know what our readers are going to be listening to, too, so do let us know in the comments section. … Read More

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Music

10 New Tracks You Need to Hear This Week: David Bowie, Suede

By Tom Hawking on

It’s Friday, which means that, yes, it’s time for us to round up the 10 most noteworthy tracks of the week that’s gone by for your listening — and, ideally, downloading — pleasure. It’s been a pretty fantastic week for new music, and thus there’s plenty of goodness to be had after the jump: the return of Suede and that Bowie chap, Jens Lekman writing a song for two big-hearted fans, Thom Yorke doing Thom Yorke things, new solo stuff from Electrelane’s Verity Susman, a kinda interesting Majical Cloudz remix, new songs from Low and La Big Vic… and more! Everything awaits you at the click of a mouse. Get into it, gentle readers! … Read More

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Music

A Selection of Great Post-1970s Glam Rock Albums

By Tom Hawking on

We’re super excited about the return of Suede, both because their new single “Barriers” is really great and because, honestly, we’re hoping for some sort of glam re-revival in the year to come — surely it’s time for the return of bands whose ambitions extend beyond bedroom laptoptronica and/or determinedly anonymous we-just-do-what-we-do-and-possibly-have-beards indie? Hey, David Bowie’s surprise album announcement certainly can’t hurt the possibility of a glitter resurgence, either! While we wait, we’ve been digging out our old Suede CDs and also exhuming other examples of glam rock from after the genre’s mid-’70s golden age. Here are some of our favorites — what are yours? … Read More

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Music

Stereotyping You by Your Favorite ’90s Band

By Tom Hawking on

They say music moves in 20-year cycles, and the surfeit of ’90s-influenced bands on the scene at the moment seems to suggest that maybe they’re right (whoever “they” are.) It also seems that there are plenty of original ’90s bands playing at the moment, both renascent (Garbage, Pulp) those who never went away (Pearl Jam, for instance), or those who have no right to actually exist either way and are yet somehow touring together. Anyway, with all this in mind — and, specifically, because the new Garbage album is out this week — we thought it was high time for another of our stereotyping posts. Obligatory disclaimer: this is all in fun, so don’t take offense — and also, as ever, our stereotype is in there with the rest. See if you can guess which one it is! … Read More

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Music

A Selection of Music’s Weirdest Lyrical Obsessions

By Tom Hawking on

The vast majority of music is written around some pretty well-worn lyrical themes: love, unrequited love, sex, unrequited lust, etc. But what of other, less obvious subject matter? Some of our finest lyricists (and, um, some of our less fine lyricists) have indulged some pretty wacky lyrical obsessions over the years, either focusing on an unconventional topic for a fleeting period, or cultivating a career-long obsession with an idiosyncratic theme. We’ve explored a few of our favorites after the jump — as ever, we’re open to suggestions. There must be loads more, eh? … Read More

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Music

Musical World Tour: London

By Tom Hawking on

We’ve rather enjoyed choosing our favorite songs about a different city every Friday. But thus far we’ve only looked at cities in the US — namely New York, Chicago, and Detroit — so this week we’re hopping on a plane and heading across the water to Europe. Our first stop on the other side of the Atlantic: London. Of course, England’s capital has had innumerable songs written about it, and as ever, this isn’t some futile attempt to define the “five best” — it’s just our five favorites. What are yours? … Read More

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Music

The Art of the EP: 10 Great Non-Debut Short Releases

By Tom Hawking on

How time flies. It’s been over a year and a half since our own Judy Berman commemorated the end of a cold, bleak February by looking at some of her favorite EPs — short albums for a short month, and all that. As she noted at the time, “these minimalist, economical mini-albums have introduced us to countless new acts that couldn’t muster the cash or didn’t have the material to record a full-length [release].” But while most bands record a debut EP and move onto more weighty records as soon as they can, some musicians remain enamored of the shorter format. So to celebrate a month where cracking mid-career EPs seem to be coming thick and fast — there are EPs due out this month from Future of the Left, Brian Eno, and Kurt Vile amongst others — here are some of our favorite non-debut EPs. What are yours? … Read More

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Music

10 Absolutely Essential Rarities Albums

By Tom Hawking on

There’s a new Stephin Merritt compilation out this week — it’s called Obscurities, and its contents are just that, a selection of non-album tracks and outtakes from the early years of the Magnetic Fields main man’s career. It’s interesting listening, and it also got us thinking that these sorts of collections are becoming rarer these days — B-sides are, of course, a dying breed for the simple reason that people don’t release 45s or CD singles any more, and in this age of file-sharing and album leaks, most tracks end up seeing the light of day one way or another. It’s a shame, because getting unreleased tracks used to be a reason to buy a single, and some bands used to specialize in putting out fantastic B-sides. Anyway, here’s our selection of B-sides/rarities/outtakes/otherwise unreleased-track compilations that actually deserve your attention. What did we miss? … Read More

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Music

10 Musicians and the Cities They Embody

By Tom Hawking on

The best music is universal — it transcends location and context, and manages to speak straight to your heart, no matter where you’re from. But that doesn’t mean that it can’t have a sense of place — and indeed, we got to thinking recently about how some of our favorite artists over the years have been inextricably linked with the cities where they’re based, either through their lyrical depictions of their environment or just because they’re the first artist to spring to mind when you think of the city in question. So here’s a list of ten musicians who we think embody the cities they live (or lived) in. If you can think of any more, feel free to add them in the comments. … Read More

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