November 18, 1997 / Up 9.6 (January 6, 2018) My very first experience with Modest Mouse, undoubtedly similar to that of countless others, was through 2004's hit single Float On coming on through the radio some time countless years ago (or like six or seven). At the time I was still convinced that Muse were … Continue reading Modest Mouse – The Lonesome Crowded West →

August 13, 2002 / Saddle Creek 9.2 (January 4, 2018) At one point in Jonathan Franzen's fantastic 2010 novel Freedom, in the calm of the storm before the drama's large, climactic shitstorm that happens about twenty or thirty pages later, two of the novel's titular characters, Walter Berglund and Richard Katz, go to see a Bright … Continue reading Bright Eyes – Lifted, or, The Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground →

October 15, 2002 / Arts & Crafts 9.5 (January 2, 2018) Back during a Broken Social Scene show that I had the pleasure of attending back in September, at one point half-coreman Kevin Drew stepped out onto the very front of the stage, almost on top of the speakers surrounding this outcropping, and proceeded to … Continue reading Broken Social Scene – You Forgot It in People →

August 20, 2002 / Kill Rock Stars 9.5 (December 29, 2017) How much of my musical taste is the result of my upbringing? Had I grown up with what I hear so many other friends of mine reminiscing of - the usual dad-rock stuff; if you're lucky, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello; if … Continue reading Sleater-Kinney – One Beat →

Just like before, to save time I've provided the link to the original RYM list below and will provide a short version without writeups for anyone who wants to get straight to the good stuff. Enjoy! https://rateyourmusic.com/list/Ridley2014/top-50-albums-of-2017/ 50. White Reaper - The World's Best American Band 49. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - The Tourist 48. You'll Never Get to Heaven … Continue reading Top 50 Albums of 2017 →

December 15, 2017 / Asylum 8.6 (December 16, 2017) It's at times like this where I'm forced to look back at the anti-pop crusader persona that I took up for the majority of my early years, up until the point where I started digging Foster the People, sometime in the final couple months of my … Continue reading Charli XCX – Pop 2 →

June 23, 2017 / Hyperdub 9.0 (December 16, 2017) Dust is in fact quite a misnomer here. Paired together with the old-style black-and-white photograph, big "gas station advertisement in the middle of nowhere" bold text, trench coat and everything, one would hardly guess that the music on the inside feels so unbelievably modern, often edging on … Continue reading Laurel Halo – Dust →

June 23, 2017 / Def Jam 9.3 (December 11, 2017) Vince Staples' big rise to popularity came, not with the release of his head-turning 2015 debut Summertime 06, but with a viral video not too long afterwards of a white, devout Christian mom reciting the rather explicit lyrics to the hit single Norf Norf while slowly, … Continue reading Vince Staples – Big Fish Theory →

September 22, 2017 / Dead Oceans 8.9 YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENS, LARRY? YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU FIND A STRANGER IN THE ALPS??The Big Lebowski, censored version (unrelated) (December 9, 2017) Phoebe Bridgers says on her Bandcamp biography that she was 20 years old by the time she began working with Ryan Adams, an … Continue reading Phoebe Bridgers – Stranger in the Alps →

November 3, 2017 / Epitaph 9.0 (November 20, 2017) Good god, man. I know 40-year-olds who are already pretty world-weary and ready to retire, if they're lucky enough to do so, yet Converge's Jacob Bannon is still screaming into microphones for a living, and has been doing so for over two decades at this point. … Continue reading Converge – The Dusk in Us →