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The Verve is about as good as a song gets. Released in 1997 on their seminal album "Urban Hymns," a day after Princess Diana tragically died, it helped capture Britain's spirit. Lyrically, it means different things to different people, as most great songs do. Is he talking about his recreational drug use or the passing of his father - who died from a blood clot when he was 11 years old - or his wife Kate Radley's father, who died of cancer? Probably all three. Ashcroft still plays solo but doesn't perform this song. This is the best version I have ever found online—a masterpiece.
Jan 26, 2021
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Jan 17, 2025
"I smoked a joint and started playing the piano," said Church frontman Steve Kilbey about the writing of the Aussie band's biggest, dreamiest hit. "Then Karin (his girlfriend at the time) came into the room and we just made it up together. A spontaneous event."
A song about "nothing" that the band originally didn't like, "Under the Milky Way" is inspired by the Amsterdam music venue the Melkveg ("Milky Way") and came out on this day to race to no. 24 on the US Billboard charts and eventually win "Single of the Year" at the ARIA awards. (It appeared in "Donnie Darko" and a bunch of ads too). It's part of a record ("Starfish") that includes the amazing "Reptile" and is at least the band's best-known if not outright finest work.
PS: you could be forgiven for thinking the solo in the song's break is played on a bagpipe, it's actually a Fender Jazzmaster guitar played with an E-bow and then fed through a Synclavier.
Feb 15, 2025
Maybe a few of you might know Mercury Rev from the altogether more lovely/pastoral "Deserter's Songs," which spawned three hit singles in the UK alone when it was released in 1998.
But this one -- the band's 1991 debut, with a different singer and an entirely different (lysergic) outlook -- comes straight outta the rust-bucket wastelands of a very economically distressed Buffalo, NY.
I wrote about it at length for Magnet -- it was the first time the six original members of the band had gathered to talk about it.
"As (singer Jonathan) Donahue predicts, the results represent six different creation myths that sometimes synch with one another, but just as frequently spin out in space, going in seemingly every possible (opposite) direction, often simultaneously. “Six chefs, one cauldron,” laughs Donahue at the memory of it now. “Six witches, one spoon.”
They are my friends and one of my all-time favorite bands but it's amazing that they survived the craziness of that period, which I think is baked into the sound of this totally acid-fried classic.
Taking drugs to make music to take drugs to.
https://magnetmagazine.com/2015/08/19/magnet-classics-mercury-revs-yrself-is-steam/
Apr 22, 2024
Top Recs from @chris-black
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It feels odd recommending a newsletter in a newsletter, but stick with me here. I, like I am sure most of you, have hit newsletter fatigue. Every bozo with a MacBook Air and a liberal arts degree wants you to pay them for their unedited thoughts. But when a professional, like Rachel Tashjian, tackle the medium (no pun intended), it is a thing of beauty. She writes about style, clothing, life, and maximal interiors, like no one else. The best part of the first "natural style" newsletter is that you have to be approved by the creator herself. You can't just sign up, and you can't pay $5 a month; you have to be deemed worthy! Content with a velvet rope. Exclusivity isn't dead. Figure out a way to subscribe and be prepared to be blessed every Sunday.
Jan 26, 2021
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This is my favorite Instagram ephemera shop. My man has the best eye, and his prices aren't outrageous. The selection is all over the map, from a wild group of Herman Miller branded drinking vessels, to Yashica pens, to an eight-piece set of Picasso salad plates. I know I just gave up my source, but everyone needs this in their lives. We can all bond over the fact that we missed the Adobe harmonica!
Jan 26, 2021
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The debut novel from Raven Leilani tackles it all: race, class, sex, depression, loneliness, and New York City. Edie, the narrator, is a 23-year-old black orphan trying to figure it out. After making some inappropriate sexual choices, she loses her admin job in the publishing industry and finds herself with nowhere to go - until the wife of her married lover takes her in. Her relationships are fraught and strange, warm and raw. The voice is honest and sharp—a must-read.
Jan 26, 2021