“Will Do:” TV on the Radio
What first grabs me about this song is the way it builds. The track starts with a single xylophone (or a keyboard imitating those pling-plang sounds) that seems in the midst of being played, making the beginning a smooth transition from the silence that had occupied my room before I turned on TV on the Radio’s latest release, “Will Do.” As the song continues, more instruments …

I do not claim to know everything. Well, sometimes I do, but when I say things like that I am being completely sarcastic and ridiculous. This list of ten artists and songs that I liked in 2010, like the songs themselves, may not be the be-all and end-all of this year’s releases.  But they are a group of tunes that we should keep (or start) listening to with great frequency. …

Please Turn off the Remix
I’m a fan of Girl Talk and Diplo, and I like the way they adapt, remix and mash-up their music. However, I’m kind of tired of remixes as a whole, especially since most of them lack the authenticity that was portrayed within the original track. I guess I am a bit of a traditionalist in this respect. I cannot even listen to whole remixes anymore. You may …

Who was ready for W6? Me, that’s who, and do you know what goes well with excitement? I’ll give you a clue. It’s not hearing the disappointing news that Sufjan Stevens will not be dedicating to any of the states you grew up in (sigh). Since I assume that news has left you as disheartened as it left me, I won’t make you guess anymore. The correct answer is summed …

First week is long gone, as is the excitement of being back at school with the friends we spent the entire summer missing. In its place there is the wrenching reality of tests, papers, and shifts at our respective jobs that are not as synonymous to study hall as we pretend they are (especially if it’s a late night shift at the Pub). On a less depressing note, there is …

Guitarist Alex Cook is the sort of artist whose life moves with the tides of ideas and inspiration. Last week he graced Principia with music in the Pub, prayerful thoughts on creativity during a Quiet Time talk in Sylvester, and wisdom for artists of any kind. Although based in Boston, he tours with his paintbrush and guitar. Most recently, Cook has been writing what he calls “God songs” and performing at churches and house concerts on both coasts.

I have been impressed with shows on TV like America’s Best Dance Crew, but when he informed me that the competition would be held at the community center in my small suburb town of Monterey – Marina – I couldn’t help but think of a handful of spiky-haired teens doing flimsy cartwheels to the Black Eyed Peas.

Recently, I was informed by one of Principia’s practitioners that he was a reader of my column. “That’s great,” I thought, counting the people in my head I knew that frequently read my column: “Mom, Dad (?), girlfriend, and now, a bona fide Christian Science practitioner!” This practitioner – who shall remain anonymous in case his inclusion in my column gets him booted from the Journal listings – stated that he enjoyed my writing, but didn’t necessarily know what I was talking about. So I asked myself – what do I have to say about pop music that would be informative and perhaps relevant to a Christian Science practitioner, without offending or disappointing him and the practice?

This week I wanted to address a topic that has recently been popping up on blogs and in my conversations with other music journalists. The other day someone was singing the chorus to “Tik Tok,” the breakthrough song from new party pop princess, Ke$ha. I cringed as I thought of the first time I heard it – I was in a friend’s room doing homework when I heard the eerie Gameboy synth that opens the song, with a bratty teenage girl imitating a hip-hop vocal delivery.

Can you believe it was just two years ago that East Coast troubadours Vampire Weekend redefined the parameters of the Internet as a tool for independent success? Paired with a genteel collection of African-pop influenced songs, the band has scampered to unprecedented top 20 spots on the U.S. and U.K. charts. It was incredible how influential a role blog buzz played in the band’s success, helping them rapidly nab a performance on Saturday Night Live. Credit our skyrocketing consumption of music for letting us forget how young a career the indie four-piece has had.