Author: Ted Miller

Fusion jazz Pop Rock 

Through With Buzz: Steely Dan’s Pretzel Logic Turns 50

March 2, 2024March 7, 2024 Ted Miller 1 Comment 1974, 50th anniversary, Donald Fagen, Pretzel Logic, Steely Dan, Walter Becker

Looking back on Becker and Fagen’s most humane album

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Glam Rock 

Lou Reed’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal and the Excellence of Excess

February 27, 2024February 27, 2024 Ted Miller 0 Comments 1974, David Lee Roth, Dick Wagner, Heroin, Lou Reed, RCA Records, Rock 'n' Roll, Rock 'n' Roll Animal, Steve Hunter, Sweet Jane, The Kinks, The Velvet Underground, White Light/White Heat

Remembering an album that gave the Velvet Underground a glam makeover

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Alternative Rock Pop Power Pop Rock 

Big Star’s Radio City is Classic Rock Nirvana

February 8, 2024February 8, 2024 Ted Miller 1 Comment 1974, 50th anniversary, Alex Chilton, Andy Hummel, Ardent Records, Ardent Studios, Big Star, Chris Bell, Jody Stephens, Memphis, Radio City, September Gurls, The Beatles, The Byrds, The Monkees

Why the Memphis band’s second album remains such a timeless treasure

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Pop Punk 

The Flawlessness of Green Day’s Dookie

February 1, 2024February 1, 2024 Ted Miller 2 Comments 1994, Basket Case, Billie Joe Armstrong, Dookie, Green Day, Longview, Mike Dirnt, Tre Cool

Looking back on 30 years of the punk trio’s perfect third LP

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Alternative Rock Art Pop Experimental Rock 

The Smile: Better Than Radiohead?

January 25, 2024January 25, 2024 Ted Miller 1 Comment 2024, A Light For Attracting Attention, A Moon Shaped Pool, In Rainbows, Jonny Greenwood, King of Limbs, Radiohead, The Smile, Thom Yorke, Tom Skinner, Wall of Eyes, XL Recordings

The brilliant new album Wall of Eyes certainly makes the case

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Hip Hop Rap 

The Gift and the Curse: Jay-Z’s The Black Album at 20

November 24, 2023November 24, 2023 Ted Miller 0 Comments 99 Problems, Change Clothes, Ice-T, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Rick Rubin, Roc-A-Fella, Sean Carter, The Black Album, Timbaland

Looking back on the album that was supposed to be Sean Carter’s retirement plan

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Alternative Rock Rock 

How Incubus’ Morning View Was an Alternate Timeline for Nü-Metal

October 24, 2023October 24, 2023 Ted Miller 1 Comment 2001, 2024, Ani DiFranco, Bjork, Brandon Boyd, Chris Kilmore, DJ Lyfe, Epic Records, Immortal Records, Incubus, Mike Einziger, Morning View, The Roots

Celebrating the shirtless vibes of the hard rock that could’ve been in the early ’00s

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Indie Rock Pop Rock 

Nothing Like We’d Ever Dreamt: The Shins’ Chutes Too Narrow at 20

October 23, 2023October 23, 2023 Ted Miller 0 Comments 2003, 20th Anniversary, Chutes Too Narrow, Fountains of Wayne, James Mercer, Marty Crandall, Sub Pop Records, The Flamin' Groovies, The Kinks, The Magnetic Fields, The Shins

Looking back on the indie rock greats’ career-defining second album

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New Wave Pop Punk Rock Roots 

Dead Or Alive: Johnny Thunders’ So Alone at 45

October 17, 2023 Ted Miller 0 Comments “So Alone, 1978, 45th Anniversary, Chrissie Hynde, Johnny Thunders, Paul Cook, Phil Lynott, Pixies, Real Records, Steve Lillywhite, the New York Dolls, The Replacements, Tom Verlaine, Walter Lure

Remembering a New Wave era classic that defied category

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Hip Hop Rap 

Catching M1s in a Church Basement with Armand Hammer

September 27, 2023September 27, 2023 Ted Miller 0 Comments 2023, Armand Hammer, Backwoodz Studioz, Billy Woods, Elucid, Fat Possum Records, Maps, We Buy Diabetic Test Strips

billy woods and his duo with Elucid give up one of the year’s most gripping rap albums

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Alternative Rock Indie Rock Noise Punk Rock 

Happy 30th Birthday to Nirvana’s In Utero, King of the Toxic Follow-Ups

September 21, 2023 Ted Miller 0 Comments 1993, 30th Anniversary, Courtney Love, Dave Grohl, Heart-Shaped Box, In Utero, Krist Noveselic, Kurt Cobain, Nirvana

The trio’s other studio masterpiece took Steve Albini, feminism and the ugliest riffs they ever made to No. 1

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Funk Hip Hop jazz Rap 

Stone Age: De La Soul’s Buhloone Mindstate Turns 30

September 21, 2023February 19, 2024 Ted Miller 0 Comments 1993, Biz Markie, Buhloone Mindstate, De La Soul, DJ Maseo, Hip-hop, Maceo Parker, Maseo, Posdnuos, Shortie No Mass, Trugoy The Dove

Looking back on the rap trio’s most creative album

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Pop Rock 

Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts Doesn’t Have to Be a Classic, She Already Made One

September 11, 2023September 11, 2023 Ted Miller 0 Comments 2023, Alanis Morrissette, Angaleena Presley, Bikini Kill, Drake, Franz Ferdinand, Geffen Records, Guts, Miranda Lambert, Olivia Rodrigo, Paramore, Pistol Annies, Sour, Taylor Swift

The biggest pop star of the 2020s shows off her intestinal fortitude

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Indie Rock Rock 

What Can We Do: Superchunk’s I Hate Music Turns 10

August 22, 2023August 22, 2023 Ted Miller 0 Comments 10th anniversary, 2013, I Hate Music, Jim Wilbur, Jon Wurster, Laura Ballance, Mac McCaughan, Merge Records, Superchunk

Looking back on a bright spot of the band’s storied second act

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Hip Hop Rap 

Noname Makes Hip-Hop Proud on Its 50th Anniversary 

August 13, 2023August 13, 2023 Ted Miller 0 Comments Chance the Rapper, Common, Jay Electronica, Jay-Z, Noname, Rhianna, Sundial

Sundial is a celebration of contradictions that gores sacred cows — sounds like a rap classic all right

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