1. ‘Burn, Piano Island, Burn,’ by the Blood Brothers (2003): The first few times I listened to this, I thought it was the worst thing I’d ever heard. Once I gave it a few more chances, it slowly started to occur to me that this music wasn’t horrible – I simply wasn’t ready for something so different and so ahead of anything I’d ever heard before. It sounds like ‘just noise’ at first, but close attention unveils the tremendous choreography of these dense songs – the chaos seems intimidating, but with time, the intensity of the album becomes euphoric. It’s unlike anything released in this or any decade. The closest comparison I can think of is Captain Beefheart’s ‘Trout Mask Replix00x00x00’x00x10’Jx00x00x00’x00x00x00x00x00x00x1cxb8
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Best arts of the decade: Music
As Alice and Peter arrive in Hell, they chase after their advisor through a series of Hell’s courts, which test their magical knowledge — and their relationship. Read More
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Far from being a mere trope in “backwardness” and an embarrassing relative that “barges in and out,” the Aunty, in Khubchandani’s analysis, are “nodes of structural repair.” Read More
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Over the last year, conversations about artificial intelligence (AI) in art have grown increasingly dualistic in their unresearched vigilance and shallow enthusiasm — becoming, as most controversial topics now do, against compromise in any capacity. Read More
