Or rather linking to them. First, a while back I contributed a few reviews to Fake Jazz, a fine little site that has happily chugged along still under the radar compared to the Pitchfork that ate the world. If you go here you’ll get them all in one page but the three I’m fondest of are longer ones that gave me a chance to meditate a bit on the past — and perhaps not so coincidentally all of them had to do with Beggars Banquet reissues:
- Gary Numan — I, Assassin/Warriors (not his classic period but it made for an interesting study precisely for that reason)
- Fields of the Nephilim — Revelations/Forever Remain/Visionary Heads (goth, goth, and then more goth…did I mention goth?)
- Love and Rockets — Love and Rockets/Swing (my favorite of these longer pieces, and just a great album still — indulging in full-on nostalgia like this is not something I try to do on a regular basis, but it was important for context, I thought then [and now])
Around the same time the peerless Michelangelo Matos — a great writer and an absolutely wonderful editor, rigorous and aiming to make sure you always raise your game as a writer — was editing the music section at the Seattle Weekly. I only had a few pieces run during that time, but they’re all linked here, with my personal favorite being the last one I did, a review of the Fall’s six disc Peel Session box set. It can’t compare in length or quality with Douglas Wolk’s stellar essay on the same release, but it was a pleasure to write about such great music and such notable people. My 2003 interview with Jason Pierce was good fun to do as well.
Finally, digging back to 2002 using archive.org turns up my piece on the Chameleons reunion tour that year for Southside Callbox.
So feel free to read, laugh, make fun…
