My dad recently bought a record player, his first since the 90’s, and he was eager to show me some of his old record collection. As a judgmental millennial, I decided it would be best to rate some selections from his collection (and my mom’s) and spare no feelings.

The Queen is Dead – The Smiths

We begin with what might be my father’s favorite album ever. I’ve already heard this album and I think it’s great. Morrissey is a pithy, sarcastic jerk and it is amazing. I’ve been forced to listen to The Smiths throughout my life, but I’m finally at the angsty teenage phase where I can really get into this band. They can rock out, get a little emo, and make fun of Margaret Thatcher all in one album. What more could you need? Not to mention There Is a Light That Never Goes Out is the death-obsessed anthem for all angsty teens, tweens, and in-betweens. No wonder it was so prominent in 500 Days of Summer. The song is a classic and so is this album. 9/10 because I would get in trouble if I gave it any less.

Play Deep – The Outfield

This was apparently a classic my dad’s freshmen year of college and was wildly popular at the University of Northern Iowa’s parties. Honestly, I could see it. It’s a genuinely fun and wild album full of 80’s synths and an insane amount of cheese. I’m into it though. Your Love is an amazing and memorable song, not only for the hilariously cheesy SNL skit from a few years ago, but also for it’s unabashedly fun attitude. This album makes me want to dress like a John Hughes character and throw a weird party in my basement. It’s a thoroughly engaging and fun album, although it’s a little depthless, with lyrics that border on annoyingly simple at times. 6/10, good for creating false nostalgia in hipster teens and making my dad think about college parties.

Parallel Lines – Blondie

This one actually comes from my mom’s record collection and is definitely one of my favorites in her records. This might only be because of “One Way or Another,” which is an amazing song often underrated by its repeated use in sitcom chase montages. Debbie Harry is a wild singer and the album is well varied, veering from pop-rock to the disco of “Heart of Glass.” I found myself bopping my head to this and pretending I was a young, hip kid born in the 70’s. I’m definitely going to check this out more and try to emulate the iconic Debbie Harry, who is already cooler than anyone I’ve ever met. 8/10 music I will play in the car and loudly sing while the cars next to me stare.

The River – Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen’s The River is a classic double album by the Boss. This album has a wide variety of styles but mostly deals with the same theme: sadness in blue-collar life. But even that is kind of fun on songs like “Hungry Heart” which is probably the most upbeat song portraying a decaying blue-collar relationship. It’s definitely a strong album and I could see myself getting into it more, but I feel like I need to listen to it while doing some tough, manly work. Maybe I’ll put this on while I change the oil in my car or something. Either way, a strong album and I like cuts like “The River,” “Out in the Street,” and “Hungry Heart.” But, it continues the complaint I have against all double albums, it’s a little too long and repeats itself a few too many times.  7/10, would listen to again and envision myself in 1970’s New Jersey.

Faith – George Michael

Listening to this from my mom’s record collection just left me with more questions. Was this cool at the time? Was George Michael a sex symbol for girls in 1987? Did my mom see George Michael as a sex symbol? I wanted to love this album more than I did. I enjoyed songs like “Faith” which was a fun romp that mixed acoustic guitar and electronics. And “Father Figure” had a nice tune, but a few too many daddy issues in it for me. “I Want Your Sex” felt overly long and cheesy with its grunts, which were way over the top. This might just not be for me, it felt like it was trying too hard. I’m surprised though because I love Prince and thought I would enjoy it. However, I just can’t get into this. 5/10 for making me think about sex while looking at my mom’s record collection.

Shaun Cassidy – Shaun Cassidy

Shaun Cassidy feels like the Justin Bieber or Shawn Mendes of 1977. According to my father, he’s Partridge Family adjacent and that explains the music’s “cheesy love songs aimed at tweens” vibe. Songs like “Hey There Lonely Girl” and “I Wanna Be With You” feel like the boyish Cassidy is singing to little girls in elementary school who dream about their future husbands. I don’t feel like I’m the demographic for this album and I was intrigued to find this in my dad’s collection. He claims it’s his sister’s. Either way, the music is sort of fun 70’s pop, populated with tons of gospel choirs, brass, and soaring string instruments. It can be enticing but it mostly feels childish, especially on the “hit single” “Da Doo Ron Ron” which was probably influential for Hanson’s “MBop.” The album comes with a poster of Shaun though, so can I really complain? 5/10 will be better if you imagine yourself as a 12 year old girl living in a small town in 1977.

Altogether, this deep dive into my parent’s record collection was surprisingly intimate and it’s always intriguing to try and expand your musical horizons. I could also see how my own musical tastes were influenced by my parents. A concept which normally makes me want to be angsty and go against what my parents do, but in this instance it was sort of nice. I felt connected to my parents, even if I thought some of their records were awful. 7/10 solid experience, would raid their record collections again.

The post Rating My Parent’s Record Collection appeared first on KRUI Radio.

And this article might help you get out of your musical rut.

Recently a friend and I rediscovered the many marvelous hits of Japanese popular music in the 1990s and early 2000s when music was big, charismatic, and all-out. Here are a few of my favorites.

1) Southern All Stars

This band has been rocking it since the 1970s as part of a movement called “New Music” (which centered around singer-songwriters) and continues to produce awesome, soulful hits even today, with its lead singer, Kuwata Keisuke, occasionally producing these hits on his own. They’re known for their potentially wacky and playful songs and Kuwata’s bluesy voice, both of which resonate wonderfully with the summer months. A recent hit of theirs is the theme song for Sora Tobu Taiya, a film that came out this past summer. Perhaps one of their most successful hits is tsunami, one of their slower songs; my favorites are Itoshi no Ellie, Hotaru, and Tsunami.

2) Mr. Children

Here’s another band for you, with a vibe that is all their own. The lead singer Sakurai Kazutoshi, like Kuwata, is one of the few popular singers in the past thirty years with a unique, catchy voice, paired with songs (that alwaysss make the top 20) known for their very deep lyrics.

One of their breakthroughs was Tomorrow Never Knows with its epic video of Sakurai standing on the edge of a windy cliff and belting out this epic song. Other awesome hits are Innocent World and Shirushi.

3) Hamasaki Ayumi

She was the queen of Japanese pop and rock in the ‘90s and ‘00s, churning out huge, catchy hits, like Evolution, Bluebird, Song for xx, and Marionette. She is considered the best-selling solo artist of all time in Japan. The neat combination of her commanding stage persona and her deep, introspective lyrics has roped in a huge following.

4) Gackt

Hopefully you have already heard of this artist, who is considered one of (if not the) most successful solo male artists in recent Japanese music history. His medium is rock, and he is known for his bronzy baritone voice and an unforgettable, almost other-worldly aura.

Outside of music, he has also attained success as an actor (for instance, he played Uesugi Kenshin in the drama Furin Kazan) and film producer (his first film being Moon Child). My favorite of his songs is Returner, but Ghost, and Lu:na are also especially recommendable.

5) 米米 CLUB (kome kome club)

Another staple of the ‘90s in Japan was the band called 米米CLUB, who whipped out some awesome songs. With hits like Shake Hip and Kimi Ga Irudakede, they brought funky vibes and fresh air to the pop-rock scene, producing an irreplaceable sound that, once it has graced your ears, will never leave your existence. Now, this may not be something you want to listen to on an everyday basis (that is up to you), but definitely something that you want to be exposed to once before you die.

The post Matcha, Manga, and Mayonnaise: Throwback appeared first on KRUI Radio.

It’s one thing to sing the praises of an act everyone, seemingly, can agree on. What new is there to say about Radiohead, for instance? Would I be breaking new ground by writing a column about how the Talking Heads were brilliant and ahead of their time, or by observing that Kendrick Lamar is one of the most vital rappers working today? Hardly.

No, what I’m interested in exploring with this column is music that has been forgotten. Some of the acts I’ll feature were unfairly maligned in their own time, while others were outright ignored or simply misunderstood. What they all share is their worthiness of a second chance. Think of them as best-kept secrets or hidden gems.

The American shoegaze scene of the late 80s and early 90s definitely falls under the category of misunderstood.

When most nineties rock fans think of shoegaze, they probably think of bands like My Bloody Valentine, Ride, or Slowdive — drowsy, downtempo, intensely introspective acts invested in capturing moods of soft-focus, druggy sensuality.

The fact that these acts all originated in Ireland and the United Kingdom is no coincidence. Whereas Americans associate the phrase “90s alternative rock” with the grime and gloom of grunge, the rock zeitgeist across the pond was one of danceable, extroverted, sunshine-drenched poppy genres like Britpop or the Madchester scene.

Accessibility was by-word of the day. Brit-rock titans like Blur and Oasis raced up the charts by drawing on the warmth and melodicism of sixties groups like the Beatles or the Kinks.

Meanwhile, more niche acts like the Stone Roses, Happy Mondays and Primal Scream brought rich, beat-heavy jams to raves across the country.

The insularity and introversion of British shoegaze was an intention backlash against their country’s mainstream. But when the shoegaze sound was exported to America, it arrived unattached from the cultural context that originally prompted its gloomy moods.

The result? American indie bands gave shoegaze an entirely new image. Where the sound once was tightly linked with introversion, it was now attached to summery, outward looking songs with a focus on celebrating youth.

DC-based act Velocity Girl‘s 1991 single “My Forgotten Favorite” lends its name to this column because it’s so utterly appropriate: a pitch perfect slice of indie pop unfairly resigned to obscurity, a literal forgotten favorite. It’s also one of the high water marks of the American shoegaze scene.

Could anything be more different — and yet so similar — to the Slowdive track I shared above? The hazy productive and dreamy, high pitched female vocals are there, but the outlook is entirely different.

“Machine Gun” is stoned to near-oblivion. The only mind-altering substance clearly involved in the production of “My Forgotten Favorite,” meanwhile, is pure infatuation. As vocalist Sarah Shannon insists that “you’re the only one who makes me feel this way” over jangly semi-electric guitars, we want to believe her.

Head on up the east coast to Boston and you’ll find the Swirlies, a group that melds shoegaze’s chugging and densely produced guitar sounds with the restless noisiness of Massachusetts contemporaries like Sebadoh and Dinosaur Jr.

I love this group for their spontaneity. Each track on their debut, Blonder Tongue Audio Baton, feels like a first cut, full of unembellished creative energy.

Composed entirely of MIT students, the Swirlies embody the term ‘college rock’ in the most relatable way. Their lyrics are littered with sophomoric philosophical ideas and engineering facts half-remembered for past exams, the stuff of late night conversations with classmates who are just as stressed out as you are. “Pancake” is a song about going to class that sounds like going to class, a song for dodging the 12:20 crowds on Clinton St with headphones on while mentally juggling your to-do list for the day.

Many other acts — Black Tambourine and Lilys are highlights — hem closer to the original shoegaze sound while still retaining a heightened sense of melody over their British forebears.

On “Black Car,” Black Tambourine takes My Bloody Valentine’s reverb drenched production but brings the drums higher in the mix. The result hearkens back to noisier, more aggressive shoegaze progenitors like The Jesus and Mary Chain.

Beyond the artists featured in this article, dozens — maybe hundreds — of others exist for the intrepid fan to explore.

Unmoored from the cultural context that gave British shoegaze its introverted raison d’être and distinctly out of place in American alternative rock’s grungy mainstream, American shoegaze was in its own time the transatlantic red headed stepchild of the nineties indie rock scene.

In 2018, however, the scene remains one of the richest uncovered veins of creative, intelligent indie rock for any fan of 90s music to mine.

The post My Forgotten Favorite: American Shoegaze appeared first on KRUI Radio.

For starters, many people despise Titanic simply because it was and remains a cinematic juggernaut.  Similarly to the 21st century New England Patriots, it’s common in society to hate the best.  With a redundant romantic storyline that some feel distract the attention away from Titanic’s historical truth, it’s easy to see why so many people are proud to share their movie taste is better than the average peasant who becomes emotionally attached to Jack Dawson and Rose Dewitt Bukater’s love story.   I respect that opinion, but it’s a bleak, narrow-minded way of looking at the film.

James Cameron head-started this project by performing deep sea dives into the Atlantic and archiving footage of the relic itself.  His findings inspired the fictional, romantic tale of Jack and Rose, two names forever stitched into the hearts of moviegoers around the world.  As a result, the footage found its way onto the big screen as Titanic‘s first story arc revolving around deep sea divers looking for a missing blue diamond, the Heart of the Ocean, last scene on the sunken ship.  

This opening wasn’t needed, Cameron could’ve just started the movie set in 1912; but chose to base the story off his incredible, and ambitious advances in underwater cinematic technology and deep sea diving.  

At its time, the Titanic was out of this world; a marvelous human industrial achievement that according to many even the almighty couldn’t bring down.  That itself is the lens in which Cameron crafts his story around.  He invents almost this modern cinema of the attractions, one that utilizes the advances of CGI and New Hollywood technological advances to portray his epic.  

Focusing on familiar dialogue and the love triangle of Cameron’s tale is a common mistake, rather the world Cameron creates as a whole is vast and breathtaking.  How Cameron was able to recreate the 883 foot, 52 thousand ton vessel is an accomplishment in itself.  That’s only the ship’s exterior, as Cameron was able to explore the inner beauty of Titanic: from its Victorian dining halls and china ware, to an intense, miserable boiler room.  

  While the dialogue according to many is cheesy, I find it rather simplistic, which for a giant blockbuster makes sense.  Simple doesn’t equate to cheap either, rather it opens up a relationship that people from all ages and backgrounds can relate to.  The story of Jack and Rose is common: two lovers from vastly different backgrounds help each other find themselves and eventually fall in love.  

Because of its straightforward plot, teenagers and adults can both relate to the common emotional elements, like Rose being an outcast to family expectations and the fun, spontaneous relationship Jack and Rose embody.  

Arguably my favorite scene in the movie is when Cameron distinguishes the social classes of the early 1900’s by demonstrating a typical night for both the rich and the poor.  As an artistic statement on class, Cameron places the poor passengers on the bottom floors of the vessel and the rich on the top close to the deck. He illustrates the neatness and arrogance of the rich, with their sole fixation on money by putting a nomadic Jack Dawson into the mix to share his philosophical, charming views on life.

After the snooze fest, Jack invites Rose for a night with the drunken, yet appealing common folk that helps Rose discover there’s more to the world than expensive weddings and arranged, abusive marriages.  

Another area of Titanic many like to criticize is its prolonged ending.  While this argument has some substance, Cameron chose to extend the ending to showcase the heartbreaking, yet amazing spectacle through his impressive use of CGI, set design, and cinematography.   

Oh, and there’s the death of Jack.  Yes, he could have probably fit on the wooden board with Rose, but that defeats the purpose of the film.  The tragedy of the Titanic was all about loss, and for Cameron to implement this and have audiences feel this, Jack had to go.  

With all of its flaws, Cameron’s Titanic will continuously stand the test of time because of its breathtaking cinematography, ambitious approach, and simplistic, yet relatable romantic tale led by powerful performances by Dicaprio and Winslet.  Dare I not even mention James Horner’s impeccable soundtrack, one that perfectly captures the raw emotions of the characters and the grand, luxurious Titanic.  

This December, 27 marks Titanic’s 20th anniversary, as I was reminded via home video of my sister on her birthday in 1998 getting a Titanic movie poster. How time flies, while Titanic extraordinarily will forever stay put.  

The post Breaking the Fourth Wall: Titanic Still Holds Up 20 Years Later appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Pee Wee’s Great Adventure inspired Myers to play a fully-grown man that acted like a teenager—the kind of humor that was a “heightened-reality version of the suburban heavy-metal experience,” said Vulture.

Carvey played Garth Algar, the shy best friend of Wayne Campbell. His character showed a new breadth of comedy—the kind that thrived off a detached—almost juvenile awkwardness.

He was behind the curve; both in his looks and love life.

Garth had frizzled blonde hair that came down to his shoulders. He wore ripped jeans and an unbuttoned flannel with a Led Zeppelin shirt underneath. Oversized black frames protruded out of his scrunched face. With flock t-shirt printing you can create the most original t-shirt designs.

His mad-scientist-like approach was an “affectionate tribute to his older brother Brad, an accomplished engineer who helped develop the hardware for the then-popular editing program Video Toaster,” said Rolling Stone. His older brother also inspired his scrunched face and monotone voice.

Neither Carvey nor Myers had much experience with film shoots prior. With the film being shot in just 34 days during the summer of 1991—director Penelope Spheeris let them work the way they did on Saturday Night Live. This meant that they could frequently change sketches and reaction shots. The promotion of improvisation on set allowed Meyers to let his extrovert personality run wild. His comedy was a success at the expense of other characters. Rarely, Wayne the punch line of his own joke. It made his collapse-of-fame that much more satisfying. Wayne’s World was the first film that made Ad placement a joke in itself.

In the Chinese takeout scene, one of the cast members knew that Meyers was going to go off script. Editors later had to find a way to cut around the laughter on set. Another spot of improvisation was the philosophical car hood scene. As they stared up at the stars, Garth and Wayne shared another satirically intimate moment of Bugs Bunny and Robo-babes. This scene “was all shot quickly on the last day, and almost completely improvised – one last chance for the actors to throw in whatever else they wanted to before wrapping production,” said Rolling Stone.

Wayne had long and greasy black hair tucked underneath the iconic Wayne’s World baseball hat. His narrow eyes and wide smile accompanied his signature thumbs up and air quotations to the camera. His catchphrases like, “Schwing!” and “Not!” became an instant cultural sensation. Wayne also popularized the interchanges, “No Way! Way!” and “Party On!” which became 90s trademarks.

The success of the film inspired an action video game developed by Radical Entertainment. It was released predominately on NES and Game Boy consoles. Wayne and Garth were trapped inside the Zoltar Game Machine that was featured in the motion picture. The gameplay revolved around chasing down and shooting at a purple blob with a guitar. The video game also featured Donut monsters and backstage groupies. It resembled the early Donkey Kong gameplay.

“The worlds are filled with rather dull-looking and over-used backgrounds and items,” said Rolling Stone. “The same annoying tune loops in the background during the levels and cut scenes, broken by the sound of you firing a shot or getting hurt.” Although the video game received negative reviews, it further exemplified the power of the films cult following.

Earlier this year Aurora Illinois hosted a festival for Wayne’s Worlds 25th anniversary. This celebration included cardboard cutouts of Wayne and Garth, authentic costumes, movie screenings, an attempt to establish the world record for the amount of people head banging to the Bohemian Rhapsody, and the display of a vintage AMC Pacer seen in the film.

“This cult classic has had long legs to it, and the fact it’s a filmed fictional piece that references Aurora is something that has created some fun here, and we’re looking forward to celebrating it,” said Marissa Amoni to The Beacon News. “We’re going to have things like Luigi’s Pizza renaming their arcade ‘Noah’s Arcade’ after the Noah Vanderhoff’s arcade seen in the movie, and Jen Rauch will be hosting a First Friday’s event at her store in February.”

Wayne’s World will always be a trademark for the 90s as the cult classic that never ceased to make the Bohemian Rhapsody relevant.

The post All Things Cult Classic: Wayne’s World appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Move over, Sailor Moon. There’s a new anime magical girl in town and she is taking names and giving zero f**** about your ideas of a female pop star, or just a pop star, or just an artist in general. This is Grimes we’re talking about, and welcome to the technicolor, out of this universe world of Art Angels. 

Let’s back up a moment. A native of Vancouver, British Columbia, Grimes (born Claire Boucher) started gaining traction and attention for her homemade music on indie music blogs while she was attending college to study neuroscience. Ultimately expelled because of her lack of attendance attributed to her progressive dive into the soundscapes she had become so enraptured with, Grimes released two albums (one of which, Geidi Primes, heavily referenced the science fiction novel classic Dune) before signing onto the record label 4AD with a recording contract.

Sharing a label with such acts as Bon Iver, Camera Obscura, and other front runners of the experimental pop genre such as Purity Ring, Grimes had immense amounts of hype to live up to as her major label debut, Visions, neared its eminent release. When it hit shelves in the winter months of early 2012, Visions was met with near critical acclaim: “ambitious”, “inventive”, and “intoxicating” are just a few of the key words used to describe Grimes’ watershed album. Deftly melding dream pop, ’80s influences, synthwave, and the ridiculously titled witch house genre, Visions and its singles “Genesis” and “Oblivion” continued to gain praise. “Oblivion” was selected by Pitchfork Media as the best song of the decade so far.

Despite all of this, though, Grimes seemingly disappeared.

Having dealt with internet and press haters, Grimes scrapped an entire album’s worth of material that was constructed around the sound of her under-appreciated hit “Go,” and withdrew from the media and blog spotlight for close to three years. Despite this, Grimes has returned triumphantly with Art Angels, and let me tell you, all the time waited was worth it.

Taking cues from the ’90s, like she did with the ’80s for Visions, Grimes crafts a collection of songs that feel cohesive, engaging, and alternatively beautiful and challenging. Garage rock guitars are now spliced into the DNA of most of the tracks. A sense of grungy urgency carries the songs as they race through highs and lows, synths grounded by the more organic sounds Grimes utilizes. While the songs aren’t conventionally structured, they do fit into a more pop-like feel.

All the while, the genre is complemented by our magical anime girl’s fantastic vocals: they soar to effervescent heights (bubbly and bright on the title track and “World Princess, Pt. II) and huskier, subtle tones (the chorus of album highlight and first single “Flesh Without Blood” and shining moments on “Belly of the Beat”).

Despite this accessibility, though, Grimes isn’t afraid to throw the curve-balls that we’ve come to know (and love) her for: early track “Scream” features a Taiwanese rapper nearly exclusively, except for Grimes’ own screams acting as breaks between the rapid fire verses. Album centerpiece “Kill V. Maim”, while a downright banger on the surface, “[is] written from the perspective of Al Pacino in The Godfather Pt 2. Except he’s a vampire who can switch gender and travel through space”, according to the singer, and she’s still somehow able to pull it off effortlessly.

On my first listen of Art Angels, I didn’t like it as much as Visions. Dark and swirling and often times menacing, Visions swathed itself in monochromes and dreams and science-fiction inspiration. If there could be an anime equivalent to it (as Grimes is known to love anime), the philosophical and post-apocalyptic Neon Genesis Evangelion comes to mind. Art Angels, however, works in brighter hues and dance-floor aspirations while still managing to be subversive of the pop genre. Art Angels is the Kill la Kill (an excellent series that critiques and homages magical girl anime) of the audio world. Grimes has created two exemplary and subversive albums, all on her own terms.

Grimes is the pop auteur of the year, and Art Angels is an experience you won’t want to miss.

Grade: A-

Key Tracks: “Flesh Without Blood”, “Belly of the Beat”, “Kill V. Maim”, “REALiTi”

Art Angels can be listened to on Spotify here.

The post Album Review: “Art Angels” by Grimes appeared first on KRUI Radio.

8/10

Matador Records

Sonic Youth may be dead (or at least, dormant), but fans can rest assured that frontman Thurston Moore’s inner jam-rock muse is still kicking.

Moore and Sonic Youth bassist Kim Gordon divorced in 2011, putting their band on hiatus and casting uncertainty on both artists’ musical futures. Never one to wallow in idleness, Moore moved on to form Chelsea Light Moving, a punkish art-rock exercise steeped in all things counterculture.

Despite being well-received by fans and critics alike, the new band’s eponymous 2013 debut came across as a thrashy appetizer to sate both Moore and his listeners. The Best Day, Moore’s first solo release since 2011 acoustic LP Demolished Thoughts, largely marks a return to his signature ’80s-alternative sound.

True to form, Moore’s latest album opens with two guitar epics that clock in at just over 8 and 11 minutes, respectively – Sonic Youth fans will sink into these familiar grooves like a warm bath. The lack of immediate musical surprise will likely be offset by familiarity for many listeners, though curious newcomers may find Moore’s droning guitar work taxing.

Lyrically, The Best Day quietly surprises. Sonic Youth’s urban, avant-garde restlessness is eschewed for a pastoral sense of longing. A yearning to return lingers over each track – a return to nature, to childhood – a desire to go back. The aforementioned opening tracks conjure imagery of haunted landscapes: “Speak to the Wild” beckons listeners to “remove your wings/and meet us near the fire/extinguish things of earthly desire,” for “the king has come to meet the band.” Singing animals and shadows populate ancient cathedrals in “Forevermore.” R.E.M.’s darker country dirges come to mind – the specter of Mike Mills nearly tangible in the finger picking of “Tape,” a standout track and nostalgic ode to the compact cassette.

Those who press onward will find an assortment of fuzzed-out rock riches and more delicate, meditative offerings. The single-contender title track provides a slightly more poppy release midway through the track list, while “Detonation” feels like Moore slipping into the past, bearing themes of urban decay as well as an anger not found elsewhere in the album. “Vocabularies” and “Grace Lake” evoke both classic Sonic Youth and ’80s shoegaze with chiming guitars and swells of feedback. “Germs Burn” closes out the album on a crashing, punky note.

If there’s one issue that plagues The Best Day, it’s familiarity. When an artist has put out a body of work as large as Thurston Moore’s, it can become difficult to find something new in their latest album – a fact Moore himself recently acknowledged. Despite the fresh change in tone and lyrical content, Moore’s guitar style hasn’t changed significantly over the years. Listeners’ mileage may vary based directly on how many sprawling Sonic Youth jams have been drilled into their skulls.

A sense of deja vu is present, but the fact remains that these are new, quality songs produced by a seminal artist of the alternative rock movement. “Tape” and “Vocabularies” in particular could be counted among Moore’s most affecting tracks. The Best Day is a highly-recommended listen for ’80s and ’90s rock fans.

The Best Day is available on iTunes. Check out the official video for “Speak To The Wild” below:

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