My only caveat with "new" music is that what you hear on the recording might be a highly sterilized and optimized version of what the artist can really pull off. More than ever, the live show is where you really get to see what they can do.
I'm not going to suggest you shold like the others, but "Monkey Wrench" is a bitch of a song to write. Those little hooks seemingly came out of nowhere. Show me another song prior to that which had those litle riffs and then the melodic hook. It's just an amazing, super original rock tune. HOF worthy on its own.
It's astonishing. Just the heavyweight 1-2 punch of "Monkey Wrench" and "Everlong" puts it in, oh, maybe top 100 rock albums of all time? Then you have "My Hero". Is it "Nevermind"? Nope, and you alluded to that. In MY world, The Killers have never made a record close to that, but that's why we all get to buy what we buy and think what we think.
Yes Rob, the reason Mark Ruffalo can get work as an actor and you can't has nothing to do with the fact that he is truly gifted and you are a C-level hack. It's all politics.
And not to diminish the Chicks, they are awesome musicians, but any session musicians in the room might have thrown out that option for the descending chord progression out of "wine". Those guys live that stuff. When you hear it it's hair-raising, like the chaser after the shot. I have to force myself to write with those changes, and it almost always ends up sounding forced.
I'm not sure the question. It's pretty standard I-IV-V country, with the minor 6th and the major 3rd thrown in passing (to their credit). Is it the chord they hit in the chorus coming down from 6m to 5 to ? that's puzzling? This is what I love about great pop (Beatles) and country (a zillion examples). The deviation from 1-4-5 to include 4m and 2 and 3 etc. If the writer doesn't have the ear all those chords are nonsense. The greats make them work. Anyway, the question again?
That sums up my "top 10" experience pretty well. w/o hyping #1 on their list (lord knows I do that enough) I know nothing about the Chronicle's top 10 album list other than Will Johnson. I mean, really? These are the best 10 albums to come out of Austin this year? I guess I appreciate that it's not all Robert Earl Keen or whatnot, but it feels very precious to me. The Austin ChronicleThe Top 10 Austin Albums of 2025 • The Austin ChronicleI fell back in love with Austin music in 2025. Our city has been rife with talented performers since long before I came around, but it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the embarrassment of riches – and by
HEB needs a little quality control on their in-house tortilla chips. I bought a bag a while back and it was WAY under-seasoned. I went back to my regular brands (Santitas, etc.). This week my wife picked up another bag of the in-house chips, and they were saltier than seawater. Nearly inedible. I powered through, because queso.