I know "Plea" is a favorite of most Weakerthans fans, but "Explains Her Departure” is by far the better song. Like "Plea" though, the song grows as you put it together from the cat's perspective. The "I can't remember the sound that you found for me" lines over and over are absolutely brutal once you realize it's a…

Yeah, I kind of have that fear with this album too.  "Capricornia" took a few listens to enjoy - it just seemed too straight-forward at first.  I think the switch from guitar to ukulele didn't help.  Before, it seemed like they loved indie-pop and had no problem doubling-down on the fact that this music made them…

So about a year ago I was going to the Surfer Blood/The Drums show at Lincoln Hall in Chicago.  I was really psyched about it - both of their albums are favorites of mine for 2010.  So I made sure to get a ticket right away, and it was good I did because it sold out well in advance of the date.  Well, at what seemed…

As a huge Oasis fan back in the day, most of the reviews for "Be Here Now" were generally positive.  In the good-but-not-great territory.

The reverse of what Ryan Adams says is true as well.  I don't remember where it was that first pointed this out, but if you go back through Rolling Stone's reviews of all of R.E.M.'s albums since Monster, each album fixes what was broken in the previous album.  Every album was a step up when it came out, even though…

If you're looking for A Very Special Episode of Soap, the place to start is the episode where Benson leaves to work for the governor.  The last scene with Benson and Jessica Tate is one of sweetest, most loving goodbyes that you'll ever see on TV.