Category: Music

Pop, rock, alternative, classical, indie, folk, lo-fi, any thing with a tempo and a beat and some rhythm

Jimmy Eat World’s perfect three album run

The Quietus makes the case that Jimmy Eat World’s three album run from 1996 to 2001 perfectly encapsulates early to modern emo.

Released between 1996 and 2001, Jimmy Eat World’s second, third and fourth albums – Static Prevails, Clarity and Bleed American – bridge emo’s past and present. They illustrate its story as a cultural sensation: how it got swept out of suburban basements, boosted by burgeoning social media, and elevated into a significant force in the music industry. These three albums chart Jimmy Eat World’s mid-90s ascent, major label disappointment, and mainstream breakthrough in chronological order, but they also mirror emo’s journey from a DIY network, to a trend, to an international phenomenon.

Each album has a great songs, while I prefer Clarity, Bleed American is the most accessible.

2025-09-15
1994 Green Day ‘riot’ concert at the Hatch Shell

In 1994, Green Day played a concert at the Hatch Shell in Boston that turned into a riot.

Maybe WFNX Radio didn’t anticipate their catapult onto the charts when they scheduled them for a free concert on the Esplanade. Thirty years ago, on Sept. 9, 1994, Green Day drew between 70,000 to 100,000 fans to the show, which quickly got out of control, The Boston Globe reported at the time.

Green Day headlined at the Hatch Memorial Shell to celebrate college students returning to the city. After the crowd swelled, fans stormed the metal barricades, and bottles were thrown, Green Day lasted about 20 minutes on stage.

More than 100 people were treated for illness and injuries, at least 20 were transported to local hospitals, and least one officer was injured, the Globe reported.

2025-09-14
Lo-fi music with the Hi Chord synthesizer

The Hi Chord synthesizer makes it super simple to create simple songs or samples using only chords. In offers the ability for different keyboard types and a drum machine.

2025-09-13
Guns, anxiety, America

In 1991/1992, ‘Jeremy’ by Pearl Jam captured a specific distillation of American culture. Anxiety, youth, pop culture, parental responsibilities, and guns.

Because it’s so easy to sit and watch. Let the world slip by. See the images on the screen and scream along with the words, nevermind what they mean. We were already afraid. A few years before, we had watched the Satanic Panic sweep the nation, along with a fear of Dungeons & Dragons and serial killers, but it seemed we had not yet learned anything about fear and how it gets inside us. How the 24-hour cycle gives us no respite from the news. Turn to any channel any time of day for breaking news, and now with the internet and social media, we have instant access to stories from around the world, all the killings and kidnappings, all the bullets and bombs.

2025-08-27
AI ruined lo-fi music

AI tools are making it easier to create generic, meditative music. Kieran Press-Reynolds at Pitchfork explores lofi, music, landscape, and the impact of AI.

Fast-forward to now, and the scene has putrefied into a wasteland of the percussive undead. The YouTube search results have warped into an apparent AI breeding ground, crammed with hourlong mixes full of soporific dreck. The channels have similar names and cartoonish Kawaii imagery. Even the comments of the videos, which have millions of plays, brim with what look like fake conversations—pseudoymous accounts prattling on about how the music helped them unlock their true potential in life. Multiple channels repeat the same sentence structure like, “I don’t want much! I just want the person reading this to be healthy, happy, and loved!,” suggesting they’re AI-generated.

2025-08-08
Breakfast in America covered by The Graystones

Originally performed by Supertramp, The Graystones–comprised of pre-teens–knock it out of the park.

2025-07-01
The use of Fortunate Son

Like Born on the Fourth of July, Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Fortunate Son is up there with most misunderstood songs of all time. Why or how Fortunate Son, about a draft dodger, ended up on Trump’s parade playlist is a new height for irony.

2025-06-24
Dancers in Penn Station

The lower level of Penn Station is perfect for dancing and serving as a makeshift dance studio.

Penn Station, the transit hub for hurrying commuters and Amtrak riders, has a side gig. Its wide, lower level corridor — specifically the passageway leading to the Moynihan Train Hall from Track 7 to Track 16 of the Long Island Rail Road — is an unlikely dance studio.

Officially called the West End Concourse, the corridor has a lot going for it: It’s easily accessible, the floors are spacious and smooth, and there are public restrooms, a rarity in New York City.

It’s a ready-made stage for all sorts of group and partnered dance, including hip-hop, K-pop and salsa. Reflective glass windows overlooking the tracks double as mirrors. Rows of blue lights overhead make for pleasing visuals when filmed. The biggest draw? It’s free.

2025-06-19
Olivia Rodrigo and David Byrne – Burning Down the House

Olivia Rodrigo and David Byrne combine for an energetic, infectious performance of Burning Down the House.

2025-06-15
I Don’t Have Spotify

I Don’t Have Spotify is a clever, one trick web app that takes Spotify links and finds music on other services. It works well for songs and albums.

2025-05-30