BOUND: The Albums, 2013.

14/Daft Punk/Random Access Memories

Earlier this year, way back in early May, the Robots returned to walk among us and quite possibly, if they were lucky, take over the world. And just what did they discover upon their return?

The present has no rhythm.

Sure, the catch all DANCE umbrella that we could place the duo's music under was flourishing and experiencing a revived popularity across charts, at award shows, and festivals across the globe, but for these two, something was off, missing even.

"Tell me what you see, I need something more..."

So Daft Punk did what many of us have done in our attempts to both understand and get with the present while also shaping a new path forward: they looked back; Accessing random bits and memories from the underbellies of their genre's past. Taking a breath as their peers and contemporaries keep busy running in place. Random Access Memories aims to give life back to music by showing it some respect and letting it breathe; working overtime to both show and tell you repeatedly over the course of its 75 minute running time how and why this music and all its roots + skeletal components matter. To fully glimpse these ambitions, start at the middle. From here onwards, Random Access Memories grows tired of being overtly educational or on the nose, and lets its hair down, going heavy on the show angle of their look back. Album highlight/centerpiece Touch sets things off in full, playing almost like the lead in for what is ultimately the album's crisp, perfectly sequnced side two, angels and choirs at the gates and all. From here on out til the robots lift off and bounce, the duo & their merry band of collaborators illuminate your airwaves with clean, well tailored assemblages that dabble in disco, yacht rock, 80s R&B, electronica, funk, whatever, requesting that you lose yourself to dance while they all barely break a sweat putting it all on the table. Heartbeats & rythms? Restored. Coast to the stars.
KEY TRACKS: Touch/Get Lucky/Doin' It Right

15/Wavves/Afraid of Heights

16/John Legend/Love in the Future

17/Devendra Banhart/Mala

18/David Bowie/The Next Day 

19/Disclosure/Settle

20/Nine Inch Nails/Hesitation Marks

21/Tegan & Sara/Heartthrob

22/Thee Oh Sees/Floating Coffin

23/Rhye/Woman

24/Lorde/Pure Heroine

25/Savages/Silence Yourself

I'm Aquarius.

A video.

From Metronomy. 

Who You Love.

A video.

Starring John Mayer & Katy Perry.

BOUND: The Singles, 2013.

14/Iggy Azalea/Work



15/Holy Ghost!/Dumb Disco Ideas

16/Chance the Rapper/Juice

17/Charli XCX/Take My Hand

18/A$AP Rocky feat. Drake, 2 Chainz, & Kendrick Lamar/F**kin' Problems

19/Britney Spears/Work B**ch!

20/Deerhunter/Monomania

21/Sky Ferreira/You're Not the One

22/Janelle Monae/Dance Apocalyptic

23/Justin Timberlake featuring Jay Z/Suit & Tie 

24/The Dream/IV Play

25/Queens of the Stone Age/My God is the Sun

. . .

BOUND: The Albums, 2013.

15/Wavves/Afraid of Heights

On Afraid of Heights, frontman Nathan Williams is holding a gun to his head, going on about how none of us will ever understand him, and he's ugly, and you're boring, and the world is his enemy. Beat him up, cause hey, EVERYTHING is his fault, that's on him. (And this is all before a song titled gimme a knife).

In other words, an album of positive affirmations this ain't. Despite all this, the album sticks, and is not off-putting, thanks largely to the pairing of Nathan and co.'s sorrows and inner demons with some top notch pop/punk/alt rock melodies & production. Production that recalls heavily the best and brightest of those beloved scenes. Afraid of Heights wallows deeply in all of this in quite the genuine manner, giving no fucks, adding a whiff of relatability to what's being expressed and shared with the group while also taking you back, and making you root for the wounded, asking that you embrace it, and lunge forward.
KEY TRACKS: Afraid of Heights/Beat Me Up/That's On Me

16/John Legend/Love in the Future

17/Devendra Banhart/Mala

18/David Bowie/The Next Day 

19/Disclosure/Settle

20/Nine Inch Nails/Hesitation Marks

21/Tegan & Sara/Heartthrob

22/Thee Oh Sees/Floating Coffin

23/Rhye/Woman

24/Lorde/Pure Heroine

25/Savages/Silence Yourself

New Slaves.

A Moment of Clarity.

 words. 

"Whatever they are as creative forces and all-around tastemakers, the Carters also embody black wealth in the 21st century. It’s a main subject of Jay Z’s raps on the less-than-brilliant Magna Carta Holy Grail, and the mise-en-scène of Beyoncé’s “visual album.” (It’s easier to see luxury than to hear it, though it’s definitely present in her beats, too.) I think it’s hugely important, even or maybe especially when talking pop culture, to remember that income equality is the most important social issue of our time. It bubbles underneath the debates on health care and the budget that shut down Congress; it’s altering the demographics and architecture of our greatest cities, perhaps permanently; it’s undermining public education and, in fact, heavily influencing what the soda-swilling kids of America are fed by their struggling, overworked parents. And in terms of subject matter, income equality was all over the charts this year, with responses ranging from the compassionate Horatio Alger tales that Jay and Bey present; to the boho rejections of consumerism crafted within Lorde’s “Royals” and Macklemore’s “Thrift Shop”; to the working-class pride of Kacey Musgraves, fighting back a tide of country hits that approximate Chevy truck ads to stump for trailer park dwellers and shift workers blowin’ smoke."

...Unsurprisingly, Kanye West—music’s favorite troubled and troublesome soul for nearly a decade by now—issued the year’s most intense meditation on inequality, race, and privilege. Yeezus is a meditation the way the late Lou Reed’s master-middlefinger Metal Machine Music was one: Its noise and fury induce a headache that re-arranges your thought waves."

SLATE: The Music Club, 2013: Entry 4: Pop music’s great subject this year: income inequality.

Boys in the Wood.

Starring Black Lips.



PITCHFORK: Listen: Black Lips: "Boys in the Wood"

Satellite Flight.

Starring Kid Cudi.



FREE ONSMASH: Kid Cudi – Satellite Flight

BOUND: The Singles, 2013.

 15/Holy Ghost!/Dumb Disco Ideas



16/Chance the Rapper/Juice

17/Charli XCX/Take My Hand

18/A$AP Rocky feat. Drake, 2 Chainz, & Kendrick Lamar/F**kin' Problems

19/Britney Spears/Work B**ch!

20/Deerhunter/Monomania

21/Sky Ferreira/You're Not the One

22/Janelle Monae/Dance Apocalyptic

23/Justin Timberlake featuring Jay Z/Suit & Tie 

24/The Dream/IV Play

25/Queens of the Stone Age/My God is the Sun

BOUND: The Albums, 2013.

16/John Legend/Love in the Future 

The best John Legend moments operate like love letters written out to the one he loves best. And the biggest recipient of his love & affection time and time again, when everything hits just right, is soul music; Rhythm and Blues itself. And over the course of fifty minutes and sixteen tracks, Mr. Legend gives it all he's got for that one he loves most. Love in the Future surrounds Mr. Legend's now patented odes to love and physical attraction in rhythms pulled from R&B's past -80s balladry, smoldering quiet storms from the 90s, soulful pleads last mastered in the 70s, etc, etc- and brings them to the present with ease, tweaking and updating them. Showing love while making them his own. Again, kudos to the man at the helm, cascading over it all: Mr. Legend himself, singing with force, urgency, and most importantly, soul. Much love.
KEY TRACKS: Open Your Eyes/All of Me/You & I (Nobody in the World)

17/Devendra Banhart/Mala

18/David Bowie/The Next Day 

19/Disclosure/Settle

20/Nine Inch Nails/Hesitation Marks

21/Tegan & Sara/Heartthrob

22/Thee Oh Sees/Floating Coffin

23/Rhye/Woman

24/Lorde/Pure Heroine

25/Savages/Silence Yourself

BOUND: The Singles, 2013.

16/Chance the Rapper/Juice



17/Charli XCX/Take My Hand

18/A$AP Rocky feat. Drake, 2 Chainz, & Kendrick Lamar/F**kin' Problems

19/Britney Spears/Work B**ch!

20/Deerhunter/Monomania

21/Sky Ferreira/You're Not the One

22/Janelle Monae/Dance Apocalyptic

23/Justin Timberlake featuring Jay Z/Suit & Tie 

24/The Dream/IV Play

25/Queens of the Stone Age/My God is the Sun

XO.

A video.

Starring Beyonce.

Feel Good.

A video.

Starring Robin Thicke.

Drunk in Love.

A video.

Starring Beyonce & Jay Z.

QUESTION!

THE NEW YORKER: How Should We Solve the Pension-Fund Crisis?

BOUND: The Albums, 2013.

heart of gold.

17/Devendra Banhart/Mala

Mala is a quiet, contemplative album that barely speaks above a whisper in places. But this does not mean Mala is a somber album, no. This still is, after all and above anything else, a Devendra Banhart record. So, as is expected, the album has a strong yet subtle sense of humor that draws you in and keeps you listening closely so as not to miss the album's strongest subject of interest: l-o-v-e. Early on, on one of the album's many highlights Never Seen Such Good Things, Mr. Banhart croons, "Love yer a strange fella, sure leave yer mark indelibly. Love yer a strange fella, won't you leave yer mark on me?..." It's these love marks and desire to be caught at the end of cupid's arrow that wonderfully underpins the gorgeously melancholic tracks that make this album whole. All of which is placed atop a musical backdrop that expands upon and gets lost within the comfortingly familiar highways of folk rock's city limits. Mala is Devendra as we know him, and Devendra as we should get used to seeing him: maturer and so sincere.
KEY TRACKS: Fur Hildegrad von Bingen/Never Seen Such Good Things/Won't You Come Over

18/David Bowie/The Next Day 

19/Disclosure/Settle

20/Nine Inch Nails/Hesitation Marks

21/Tegan & Sara/Heartthrob

22/Thee Oh Sees/Floating Coffin

23/Rhye/Woman

24/Lorde/Pure Heroine

25/Savages/Silence Yourself

ninja stars.

BOUND: The Singles, 2013.

17/Charli XCX/Take My Hand



18/A$AP Rocky feat. Drake, 2 Chainz, & Kendrick Lamar/F**kin' Problems

19/Britney Spears/Work B**ch!

20/Deerhunter/Monomania

21/Sky Ferreira/You're Not the One

22/Janelle Monae/Dance Apocalyptic

23/Justin Timberlake featuring Jay Z/Suit & Tie 

24/The Dream/IV Play

25/Queens of the Stone Age/My God is the Sun

BOUND: The Albums, 2013.

18/David Bowie/The Next Day

It was decided upon and it was written. And on the next day (March 8th, 2013), down it came, and there it was. Many of us had a hard time curbing our enthusiasm. We also, at the same time, were confused and weary as hell. Even the leaked album art provided for us played to this shaky anticipation. A familiar image now covered. An iconic work and visage crossed out, covered, begging us to remember, but asking us to forget, move on, and expect the unexpected, whatever that may be.

And on the next day we pressed play, and found we have nothing to worry about. Absolutely nothing to worry about at all. Ten years removed from an album of new material. A new decade. Another century for creation. And just what did he create? Not a covering of the great American or British songbook. Not a remix album. Not a concept album inspired by or tied to a book, movie, or working artist. No, on The Next Day, David Bowie does and did what he does best, placing himself in the present, simply creating rock and roll music free of gimmicks and overreaching in any form. Listen closely and you hear an album concerned with the inner workings, stretching, and limitations of the human psyche and connectivity. Listen closely and you'll hear voices given to characters we often overlook or neglect in full. Listen to the sounds and be riveted by a man in the midst of his sixth decade on this earth, letting us know we can still be heroes, if we simply allow for it to be. Listen and hear it all. On the next day, and the next, and another day.
KEY TRACKS: Dirty Boys/Where Are We Now?/Valentine's Day

19/Disclosure/Settle

20/Nine Inch Nails/Hesitation Marks

21/Tegan & Sara/Heartthrob

22/Thee Oh Sees/Floating Coffin

23/Rhye/Woman

24/Lorde/Pure Heroine

25/Savages/Silence Yourself

BOUND: The Singles, 2013.

18/A$AP Rocky feat. Drake, 2 Chainz, & Kendrick Lamar/F**kin' Problems



19/Britney Spears/Work B**ch!

20/Deerhunter/Monomania

21/Sky Ferreira/You're Not the One

22/Janelle Monae/Dance Apocalyptic

23/Justin Timberlake featuring Jay Z/Suit & Tie 

24/The Dream/IV Play

25/Queens of the Stone Age/My God is the Sun

BOUND: The Albums, 2013.

19/Disclosure/Settle

We can start with the features and the guest list. Or we could analyze the lyrics in search of some deeper meanings or themes to dissect and discuss at length. But I'd like to, if I may, take a minute to place all that on the shelf. I would like to, like brothers Guy and Howard Lawrence here, have a conversation (you & me), with an instrument of mine that money can't buy. This body, our limbs, these feet. Confess to me: how do you build your personal momentum, and how do you get in the zone? Show me (I'm latchin' on to you). "Help me lose my mind..." 

Settle wants to have this conversation with you. Converse via the language of movement, and operate as if it's the only language it knows. How do you build your personal momentum? (let the needle drop) And how do you get in the zone? (stimulation. can you keep up?) Do you feel love? Cause I feel love. I hear love. For house music. Kinetic DJ sets. Soul Music. For movement and perspiration. Full throated vocalists, and packed basements. I feel love. I hear love. The love touches me. And all it, all Settle asks, is that I love it back. With this body, these limbs, and these feet. Cause when the fire starts to burn (let the needle drop), and it starts to spread (stimulation. can you keep up?), I have no choice, WE have no choice, but to give it up and turn it loose. A worthy conversation. Always a pleasure.
KEY TRACKS: Latch/White Noise/Confess to Me

20/Nine Inch Nails/Hesitation Marks

21/Tegan & Sara/Heartthrob

22/Thee Oh Sees/Floating Coffin

23/Rhye/Woman

24/Lorde/Pure Heroine

25/Savages/Silence Yourself

No Better.

ROLLING STONE: Lorde Breezes Through Seasons in 'No Better'

Latch.

A Remix.



FADER: Stream: Disclosure, “Latch (DJ Premier Remix)”

BOUND: The Singles, 2013.

19/Britney Spears/Work B**ch!




20/Deerhunter/Monomania

21/Sky Ferreira/You're Not the One

22/Janelle Monae/Dance Apocalyptic

23/Justin Timberlake featuring Jay Z/Suit & Tie 

24/The Dream/IV Play

25/Queens of the Stone Age/My God is the Sun

Meanwhile with Beyonce...

FADER: Did Beyonce Just Drop a New Self-Titled Album on iTunes?

BOUND: The Albums, 2013.

20/Nine Inch Nails/Hesitation Marks

Nine Inch Nails' eighth studio album does not begin with a bang. Nor does it lead with a hit or lead single. Words, lyrics, and/or dialogue are non-existent. When the curtains part and the needle drops on Hesitation Marks, what you get at the top is, instead, the sonic equivalent of a blank stare with a pencil tap; the sound of a heart being still; or a pondering thought. As if we've caught Trent Reznor at the starting point of the creation process for his first album in five years under the NIN banner. As if to say, "Alright, Hesitation Marks, let's do this." And what does this entail? What exactly does a Nine Inch Nails sound like in the year 2013? A band fronted by a man who, as is acknowledged here, has lead a life well fed where everything's been tried, visited and experienced?...

The answer?

Harder, better, faster, STRONGER. Back, kids, oh yes. And he came back haunted. Hesitation Marks is not a comeback album, and Hesitation Marks is not a return to form. Hesitation Marks is Nine Inch Nails as they were, as they are, and as they forever will be: solid, compact, and in total control of their sound. Hesitation Marks grooves without cheese, slinking about space and time while still making its presence known. It's Nine Inch Nails just as you want them in 2013: harder, better, faster, stronger.
KEY TRACKS: Copy of A/Everything/Running

21/Tegan & Sara/Heartthrob

22/Thee Oh Sees/Floating Coffin

23/Rhye/Woman

24/Lorde/Pure Heroine

25/Savages/Silence Yourself

big pimpin'.

words.

"As the Internet gradually morphs into an extension of real life, indistinguishable from traditional existence, Snowden's relevance this year represents a sea change that affects not only our personal communications and whereabouts, but those we conduct in our imaginary worlds. NSA agents embedded in World of Warcraft, playing along with us while remaining spies, is a concept as absurd as it is reasonable. Virtual worlds are inhabited by real people after all, villains and creeps and teenagers and moms and every combination in between, and Snowden's leaks are as remarkable for what they say about our natural world as what they indicate about the World Wide Web. There is no difference anymore, and the secrecy we once believed we could achieve online is quickly eroding. It's a lot to digest, which alone probably should have sent Snowden sailing to the top of Time’s list. Chew on it while you picture NSA agents in suits, trying to figure out which one of these people is plotting against America. The jock in the lotus position looks pretty suspicious."

GRANTLAND: Then They Came for Our Avatars: The NSA Leaks Just Got (Virtually) Real

This American Life.

A Moment of Clarity.

now playing.

"Businesses and the wealthy regularly take advantage of subsidies and tax loopholes without blinking an eye. But somehow, when some poor people, or those who unexpectedly fall on hard times, take advantage of benefits for which they are eligible it’s an indictment of the morality and character of the poor as a whole.

...We have gone from a war on poverty in this country to a war on the poor, in which poor people are routinely demonized and scapegoated and attacked, and conservatives have led the charge.

They paint the poor as takers, work averse, in need of motivation and incentive.

...the poor folks I knew growing up were some of the hardest working people I have ever known — rising before dawn to pack lunches and sip coffee, trying to get the mind right for a day of toil and sweat that breaks the body but not the spirit.

They were people who wanted what most folks want — to earn an honest wage for an honest day’s work; to live a happy, meaningful life that leaves a mark on the world when they are gone from it; to raise bright, healthy children who go further in life than they did; to be surrounded by family and friends and neighbors — a village — where people support and cared for one another.

That is why I have such a hard time with the conservative argument that helping those in need diminishes their desire to do for themselves, that it suckles them to passivity on a government teat. Hogwash."

 THE NEW YORK TIMES: The Appalling Stance of Rand Paul

A Moment of Clarity.

for your consideration.

THE WASHINGTON POST: Opinions Rachel Maddow: How George W. Bush failed the GOP

coming attractions.

The Abstract & The Dragon.

here.

BOUND: The Singles, 2013.

20/Deerhunter/Monomania



21/Sky Ferreira/You're Not the One

22/Janelle Monae/Dance Apocalyptic

23/Justin Timberlake featuring Jay Z/Suit & Tie 

24/The Dream/IV Play

25/Queens of the Stone Age/My God is the Sun

-INTERLUDE-

LAist: Video: Conan O'Brien, Ice Cube & Kevin Hart Ride A Random Lyft Car Through Hollywood

BOUND: The Albums, 2013.

21/Tegan & Sara/Heartthrob 

Earlier this year we learned that Taylor Swift is a fan of this record. And if you, like me, have spent a large amount of 2013 with this album in heavy rotation, then Taylor Swift’s fandom should come as no surprise, as Heartthrob is comprised of 10 synthpop ear worms that Taylor probably wishes she wrote herself. Heartthrob, like the collected works of Ms. Swift, Queen of Hearts both broken and unbroken, is finely attuned to the universal ins and outs of navigating and existing within romantic entanglements and courtship. This time around though, the music is brighter and the hooks abundant, but the heart and soul of the sisters Quin’s body of work are still in tact, as these romantic vignettes are as honest and exploratory (and plenty relatable) as all Quin sister compositions that came before it. And like many heartthrobs before it, Tegan & Sara’s seventh album is one attractive piece of work, worthy of anyone's affection.
KEY TRACKS: Closer/How Come You Don't Want Me/Now I'm All Messed Up

22/Thee Oh Sees/Floating Coffin

23/Rhye/Woman

24/Lorde/Pure Heroine

25/Savages/Silence Yourself

Lotus Flower Bomb.

PITCHFORK: Flying Lotus Releases Outtakes Comp Featuring Kanye, Earl Sweatshirt, Thundercat, Shabazz Palaces

BOUND: The Singles, 2013.

21/Sky Ferreira/You're Not the One 



22/Janelle Monae/Dance Apocalyptic

23/Justin Timberlake featuring Jay Z/Suit & Tie 

24/The Dream/IV Play

25/Queens of the Stone Age/My God is the Sun

BOUND: The Albums, 2013.

22/Thee Oh Sees/Floating Coffin

Here lies the Floating Coffin, a receptacle more commonly associated with death and decay that here, in the hands of this San Franciscan noise rock outfit, is very much alive. Present among us, Floating Coffin makes a boisterous noise onto the world, existing in a space where psychedelia bumps uglies with punk, and the art of noise is the sight to behold. On Floating Coffin, words and speech are present, but largely indecipherable (or nonsensical), not meant to the focal point of your attention. They play second fiddle to the sounds of the beautiful (and tightly wound) chaos present throughout. Upfront and ferocious, the music that comprises Floating Coffin bustles magnificently, as though it is bound to lose steam (and its mind) at any given second. Power to the people in the band for maintaining a tight grip on each track's construction. limp, this thing ain't.
KEY TRACKS: Toe Cutter - Thumb Buster/Maze Fancier/Minotaur

23/Rhye/Woman

24/Lorde/Pure Heroine

25/Savages/Silence Yourself

Perfume.

A video.

Starring Britney Spears.

Promise (You Won't Break My Heart).

A video.

Starring Eddie Murphy & them.

Cookie.

A video.

Starring R. Kelly.

Hit Da Pavement.

A video.

From 7 Days of Funk.

(Dam-Funk & Snoopzilla aka Snoop Dogg)

BOUND: The Singles, 2013.

22/Janelle Monae/Dance Apocalyptic 



23/Justin Timberlake featuring Jay Z/Suit & Tie 

24/The Dream/IV Play

25/Queens of the Stone Age/My God is the Sun

 

BOUND: The Albums, 2013.

23/Rhye/Woman

Supply. And demand. A transaction; a union; an understanding (and partnership) that finds itself home in many an industry. Including affairs of the heart. As in here, on Woman, the debut album from lush r&b craftsmen Rhye. On Woman, characters are famished, in need of your minerals, in need of that heat. "Make love to me"; "Ain't got a second to waste"; "stay open"; "don't walk away....". Wants, needs, demands, presented with the uttermost delicacy. Every coo, every want, every sigh, awash in a soundscape Sade would love and could call home. Woman is sex, but it is not crass. It's sex the way sex should be: direct, honest, and fulfilling. Signed, sealed, delivered, it scores.
KEY TRACKS: Open/Verse/Major Minor Love

24/Lorde/Pure Heroine

25/Savages/Silence Yourself

Family Affair.

An Ongoing Discussion/Moment of Clarity.

words. 

"President Obama’s speech on inequality last Wednesday was important in several respects. He identified the threat to economic stability, social cohesion and democratic legitimacy posed by soaring inequality of income and wealth. He put to rest the myths that inequality is mostly a problem afflicting poor minorities, that expanding the economy and reducing inequality are conflicting goals, and that the government cannot do much about the matter.

...But there’s a crucial dimension the president left out: the revival, since the mid-1970s, of the laissez-faire ideology that prevailed in the Gilded Age, roughly the 1870s through the 1910s. It’s no coincidence that this laissez-faire revival — an all-out assault on government regulation — has unfolded over the very period in which inequality has soared to levels not seen since the Gilded Age.

...Mr. Obama’s failure to examine (or even mention) the laissez-faire revival was a missed opportunity. Deregulation may not be the central cause of the soaring inequality of recent decades, but it has certainly magnified its consequences, making it ever more difficult for workers and consumers to resist the rapacious predations of abusive employers and companies. The weakening of what used to be the great American middle class cannot be understood without also considering the embrace free-market theology. By omitting this critical factor in the rise of inequality, Mr. Obama left unchallenged the argument, recited by business like a mantra, that regulation and economic expansion are inherently in tension."

THE NEW YORK TIMES: What Obama Left Out of His Inequality Speech: Regulation

Young Americans.

A Moment of Clarity.

words.

"The upgrading of old age also undermines the status quo. To be sure, millions of older Americans are frail, sickly or poor. But many more aren’t. Older Americans are generally healthier and wealthier than ever. Someone now 65 can, on average, expect to live another 19 years, up about two years since 1990. More years are spent in relatively good health, finds a study from the National Bureau of Economic Research, because major disabilities are occurring later. Meanwhile, Americans age 65 and older regularly rate their finances better than do those in other age groups according to surveys by NORC, an opinion research organization at the University of Chicago. In 2012, 41 percent of those 65 and older were “satisfied” with their finances and 20 percent dissatisfied (the rest were in between). Among those ages 35 to 49, only 25 percent were satisfied and 29 percent were dissatisfied.

Generational warfare upsets us because it pits parents against children. The elderly’s well-being partly reflects Social Security and Medicare’s success, but it also comes at the expense of younger Americans. We pretend these discomforting conflicts don’t exist. But they do and are rooted in changing demographics, slower economic growth and competing concepts of old age. They cannot be dissolved by pious invocations that “we’re all in this together.” To date, the contest has been one-sided; now the other side is beginning to stir."

THE WASHINGTON POST: America’s clash of generations is inevitable

Confident.

PITCHFORK: Listen: Chance the Rapper Guests on New Justin Bieber Track "Confident"

Old School Love.

A video.

Starring Lupe Fiasco & Ed Sheeran.

BOUND: The Singles, 2013.

23/Justin Timberlake featuring Jay Z/Suit & Tie



24/The Dream/IV Play

25/Queens of the Stone Age/My God is the Sun

#SCIENCE.

words.

BBC NEWS: SCIENCE & ENVIRONMENT: More men speaking in girls' 'dialect', study shows

boys.

words.

 "Using surveys, social networks, pornographic searches and dating sites, I recently studied evidence on the number of gay men. The data used in this analysis is available in highly aggregated form only and can be downloaded from publicly accessible sites. While none of these data sources are ideal, they combine to tell a consistent story.

At least 5 percent of American men, I estimate, are predominantly attracted to men, and millions of gay men still live, to some degree, in the closet. Gay men are half as likely as straight men to acknowledge their sexuality on social networks. More than one quarter of gay men hide their sexuality from anonymous surveys. The evidence also suggests that a large number of gay men are married to women.

...There is, in other words, a huge amount of secret suffering in the United States that can be directly attributed to intolerance of homosexuality.

...SOMETIMES even I get tired of looking at aggregate data, so I asked a psychiatrist in Mississippi who specializes in helping closeted gay men if any of his patients might want to talk to me. One man contacted me. He told me he was a retired professor, in his 60s, married to the same woman for more than 40 years.

About 10 years ago, overwhelmed with stress, he saw the therapist and finally acknowledged his sexuality. He has always known he was attracted to men, he says, but thought that that was normal and something that men hid. Shortly after beginning therapy, he had his first, and only, gay sexual encounter, with a student of his in his late 20s, an experience he describes as “wonderful.”

He and his wife do not have sex. He says that he would feel guilty ever ending his marriage or openly dating a man. He regrets virtually every one of his major life decisions.

The retired professor and his wife will go another night without romantic love, without sex. Despite enormous progress, the persistence of intolerance will cause millions of other Americans to do the same."

THE NEW YORK TIMES: How Many American Men Are Gay?

Changes(?).

for your consideration.

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Obamacare Turns a Corner?

work.

bitch. 

words. 

"Time and time again, Britney has proven that she’s at her most present when she plays hard and dirty: the unapologetic sleaze of "I'm a Slave 4 U," the spaghetti-Western weirdness of "Toxic," the resentment of "Piece of Me." But when she stops tugging at the constraints of teen-pop's safety net, she simply falls into it. How else can we explain why in "Perfume" she agreed to the ridiculous lyric, "I gotta mark my territory," particularly when it so badly clashes with the ballad’s soul-searching orchestrations? "Don't Cry" features her most full-bodied delivery, but the marginal tune doesn't deliver on the Morricone-esque intro's promise. "Passenger," a Diplo-produced outtake from Katy Perry's Prism, features Perry's straightforward vocal style (and writing credit) while delivering the album's only meaty melody, but its lyrics about living without a map aren't believable coming from Brit's lips. Unlike Madonna or Janet Jackson (or KP), Spears never seems in control. She wears clothes well, hooks up with the right choreographers, and boasts a singles discography to rival Pink's and Gaga's. But through it all, she remains a passenger."

SPIN: Britney Spears Goes Blanker Than Usual on the Nightmarish 'Britney Jean'

A Moment of Clarity.

words. 

"...anyone who works full time ought to be able to earn a living. But just try to live on $7.25 an hour. 

Low-wage workers often have to take a second or even a third job to be able to afford necessities — rent, food, clothing, health care. Creativity and initiative are stifled by the need to work such grueling hours just to stay in place.

Conservatives complain about growing dependence on government benefits — the infamous “47 percent” theory that got Mitt Romney in such trouble. But if you force people to work for $7.25 an hour, you’re basically guaranteeing that they need a range of government help: food stamps, housing assistance, tax credits and so forth. Conservatives also say they worry about the weakening of family structure. I can think of nothing that would do more to strengthen low-income families than paying them a living wage."

THE WASHINGTON POST: Democrats can win on raising minimum wage

BOUND: The Albums, 2013.

bangers. 

24/Lorde/Pure Heroine

Press play on the video for Royals, and what do you see? Quiet suburbia, unkempt beds, vacant split levels containing the bare necessities of home living, and regular dudes going through the motions of being young and male. No diamonds in the flesh.  No quick flashes of or fantasy sequences containing gold teeth/grey goose/tripping in the bathroom, cristal/maybachs/tigers on a gold leash. What you're getting, and what you're seeing, is reality, a different kind of buzz steeped in the here and now. With Pure Heroine, 16 year old Lorde eschews the champagne life for what she knows and that which surrounds her: boys in buzzcuts, kids chasing adulthood via bumps & grinds & libations (while secretly fearing its arrival), the holding of hands, teenage love affairs, and the perks of being a wallflower. No diamonds in the flesh, cristal/maybachs/tigers on a gold leash. Just spilled drinks, restless summer air, and lover's spit played on repeat. In the pocket with and cascading over lush, ambient instrumentals that lean towards pop while rubbing elbows with r&b and minimalist electronic undertones. Pure Heroine is not caught up in your love affair, and chooses the path least chosen by those on the cusp of growing up. Cause everything else is pure fantasy.
KEY TRACKS: Royals/Ribs/White Teeth Teens

25/Savages/Silence Yourself

BOUND: The Singles, 2013.

24/The Dream/IV Play



25/Queens of the Stone Age/My God is the Sun

-INTERLUDE-

BOUND: The Albums, 2013.

25/Savages/Silence Yourself

They say love is a many splendored thing. Now, that's all well and good, but it's also true that love... is a motherfucker. It's uncompromising; jagged; an entity prone to handing out battle scars. These truths become evident throughout the debut album from the all female English post punk outfit Savages. Silence Yourself is love in all its splendored, uncompromising (and oftentimes hopeful) glory. A close to 40 minute set of the most brashest, rip roaring and confrontational rock music you'll hear all year. Silence yourself, it's Jehnny Beth and co.'s turn to have a say, tell it like it is, and let you be a fly on the wall to these universal tales of that splendored crazy little thing called love. Silence yourself, relate, and get lost in the thickly gothic atmospheric haze.
KEY TRACKS: I Am Here/City's Full/Waiting For A Sign

Without You.

A video.

Starring Marsha Ambrosius & Ne-Yo.

-INTERLUDE-

BOUND: The Singles, 2013.

25/Queens of the Stone Age/My God is the Sun

You're So Dark.

A B-Side.

Starring the Arctic Monkeys.



STEREOGUM: Arctic Monkeys – “You’re So Dark”

"WORST!"

for your consideration.

ROLLING STONE: 'Blurred Lines': The Worst Song of This or Any Other Year

real love.

A Moment of Clarity.

words.

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Obama Gets Real

thursday.

words. 

"Mr. Mandela, who died Thursday night at age 95, seemed to understand that the motivating force behind ethnic, religious and racial hatred is not only, or even primarily, self-interest; it is fear, distrust, a lack of understanding. In his person and his policies, he set out to show those on the other side that they had little to fear. He sought unity rather than revenge, honesty and understanding rather than the naked exercise of power. These are all fine abstractions, of course, but never so clear to us as when there is a living figure to exemplify them. That's why Mr. Mandela’s influence extended so far beyond South Africa and was felt by so many of the world's peoples other than Africans. It is the reason, now that he is gone, that it is more important than ever — in a century marked so far by frightening eruptions of terror and religious intolerance — to keep before the world the name and example of Nelson Mandela."

THE WASHINGTON POST: Nelson Mandela brought the world toward a racial reconciliation

SEE ALSO:

THE WASHINGTON POST: Nelson Mandela: LGBT rights champion

Biggy.

Starring Warpaint.

Instant Crush.

A video.

Starring Daft Punk & Julian Casablancas.

Because the Internet.

An Album Stream.

Starring Childish Gambino.

FREE ONSMASH: Childish Gambino – Because The Internet [Album Stream]

3005.

A video.

Starring Childish Gambino.

The Worst Guys.

A video.

Starring Childish Gambino & Chance the Rapper. 

View here.

Honor Roll.

ALBUMS, 2013.

honorable mentions. 

lady gaga - artpop

inc. - no world

holy ghost! - dynamics

phoenix - bankrupt!

yeah yeah yeahs - mosquito 

the dream - iv play

the flaming lips - the terror 

vampire weekend - modern vampires of the city

j.cole - born sinner

ciara - ciara 

classixx - hanging gardens 

no age - an object

various artists - saint heron

blood orange - cupid deluxe

mgmt - mgmt

a$ap ferg - trap lord

earl sweatshirt - doris

m.i.a. - matangi

she & him - volume 3

queens of the stone age - ...like clockwork 

iron and wine - ghost on ghost

kid cudi - indicud

a$ap rocky - long.live.a$ap

the strokes - comedown machine

the knife - shaking the habitual

drake - nothing was the same

charli xcx - true romance 

action bronson & party supplies - blue chips 2

jay-z - magna carta holy grail 

One Pure Thought.

A Moment of Clarity.

words. 

"We must ensure that our society rewards innovation, ideas and initiative while also ensuring equal access to opportunity and more equitable pay for workers. The American identity depends on it.

This is not an us-versus-them argument, but an all-of-us one." -Charles M. Blow

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The President, the Pope and the People

All the Way Home.

A video.

Starring Tamar Braxton.

hesitation marks.

with nine inch nails.



PITCHFORK: Watch: Nine Inch Nails 80-Minute Concert Film

I'd Rather Be High.

 the venetian mix video.

starring david bowie.

Tropico.

PITCHFORK: Watch Lana Del Rey's Bonkers 27-Minute Film Tropico

Vision of Love.

 A Moment of Clarity.

words.

SLATE: Always Be Selling | President Obama's vision for the American Dream rides on his ability to play the salesman.

-INTERLUDE-

Consumerism.

A lyric video.

From Lauryn Hill.

Giorgio by Moroder.

PITCHFORK: Listen: Giorgio Moroder Remixes Haim's "Forever"

Team.

A video.

Starring Lorde.

Pull up the "people".

WORDS.

for your consideration...

"...whatever you may think of the ultimate goals here, when you designate a nonperson as a person, you devalue what it means, as a legal and policy matter, to be human.

Hobby Lobby and Conestoga are ultimately so worrisome because they fuse together two of the most dangerous right-wing civil rights obsessions of our times: the ambition of large, for-profit corporations to see themselves as people, with faith, convictions, and consciences, and the attempt of citizens, using their own science and their own facts, to declare when legal personhood begins, and then impose universal laws based on those beliefs. The cases are a collision of two very insidious legal metaphors — that personhood begins when any one religion says it does and that religious personhood can be vested in corporations in ways that can be forced on workers. It simply cannot be the case that in a country of 319 million people, we are ready to recognize zygotes and Walmart as legal “persons.” We can protect animals and unborn babies and corporations without also embodying them with a humanity they don’t possess. Turning everything and anything into a “person” ultimately also serves to turn persons into things."

SLATE: Un-People | The conservative crusade to declare everything a “person”—corporations, fertilized eggs—will have disastrous consequences.

21 Jump Street.

 

words. 

"Last week, Miley Cyrus turned 21. She's still very young. For a gift, let's stop the cheap pile-on of judgements and jokes about her behavior. I'd like to think Slate plowed the bottom with their snidely investigative piece in which they asked dentists to speculate the cause of the white-ish cast to Miley's tongue. Among the theories floated by medical professionals who have never met Miss Cyrus were alcohol, drugs, bulimia, oral thrush and cancer. Thanks for the hit whoring, you fine descendants of Hippocrates.

I don't see a national joke here. I see a girl so desperate for stability that she got engaged at 19. I see a child whose dad and some Disney screenwriters signed her up for a future she couldn't understand -- and certainly couldn't steer -- when the rest of us were still telling our parents we wanted to be astronauts and firemen. And I see a young singer clumsily, but passionately, trying to live on her own terms."

L.A. WEEKLY: How Miley's Bizarre Teenage Triple Identity Put Her in This Mess

"YO CONGRESS!"

"What it do?!..."

WORDS. 

"WHAT DO you get when you mix a Republican-dominated House with a Democratic-majority Senate? Answer: not much — at least, not much legislation to address the country’s major challenges. So far in 2013, Congress has been in session for about a month less than last year and has produced a paltry 52 laws. With each chamber scheduled to work only another 11 days or so before the year-end holidays, it’s possible that Congress will fall short of the post-World War II record for fewest laws passed: 88, in 1995.

...The lack of new laws is not a surprise, given partisan divisions. Less noticed, but arguably more depressing, is the number of existing federal programs still limping along under short-term extensions of outdated policy because Republicans and Democrats cannot agree on the terms of their reauthorization."

THE WASHINGTON POST: The Congress that would rather fight than pass bills

Mondo Taurobolium.

A video.

From Devendra Banhart.



PITCHFORK: Watch: Devendra Banhart Shares Animated "Mondo Taurobolium" Video Featuring Rose McGowan

Trouble Again.

Starring M.I.A.

Stream here. 

All That Matters.

A video.

Starring Justin Bieber.

Fly, like an Eagle.

words.

THE NEW YORK TIMES: As Hospital Prices Soar, a Stitch Tops $500

Passion Pit.

A Moment of Clarity. 

words. 

"You would think that the major American retailers, keenly aware of the problem of “slow wage growth” and still smarting from their lousy Black Friday numbers, would be leading the protests in favor of higher wages. But one place where the new wage movement has made no inroads is Bentonville, Arkansas, where Walmart has its headquarters. Apparently, slow wage growth has nothing to do with Walmart, which is bitterly opposed to any legislation that would require it to pay its workers more. The other major American retailers feel the same way. They argue that higher wages would mean higher prices and fewer employees. Though there is very little evidence to support the notion that minimum-wage increases lead to layoffs and unemployment, and a great deal of evidence to refute it, the retailers are sticking to their story, which is the story of the American economy of the past generation: lower prices and lower wages—a race to the bottom."

THE NEW YORKER: Black Friday and the Race to the Bottom

-INTERLUDE-

Where Did the Party Go?

A video.

Starring Fall Out Boy.