Snobbin: Beautiful Trash in the Pop Culture Gutter

Crimpshrine and Fifteen songs often interpolate or play with the idea of reworking/reusing lines from earlier famous songs within the lyrical and musical framework of songs, Ott's and Jack Curran's melodies are deceptive because they bury them in layers of distortion. However, just as their lyrical ambition often tells complex stories through the framework of deceptively simple choruses, the lyrics hide Easter eggs within simple love and relationship songs. Crimpshrine's "Tomorrow" borrowed lyrics from "Tomorrow" from  Annie , but Ott has continued to include popular lyrics in interesting ways. Pop melodies were common in many of the bands that played with Fifteen at 924 Gilman Street in the 1990s, but Ott's hardscrabble songs stand out because of their wordplay and insistence on melodic invention.  Other bands that played with them reveled in wordplay and definitive walking East Bay basslines, but generally fitted into different frameworks. While th...

I'm doing something different this year for my top list. I want to cover records that have not gotten appreciation or coverage that much, so I have devised a list that pulls from all genres without the usual suspects. However, a few might still make it because there are so many lists. This means that many records that would normally make my overarching list will be missing, yet I hope to cover them in short posts throughout next year. One goal is to do more "Track This" entries, as well as more reviews of my favorite stuff. I have noticed over the last few years that many lists are samey, and there are always records that slip through the cracks to put certain artists in high spots. I honestly admit that many of my choices also trend in certain directions. In recent years, I have a strong affinity for Americana and metal, while less attention has been paid to punk or indie. I've looked at a few lists this year for those genres and was at a complete loss. Also, I tend ...