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If the EP is music's most unheralded delivery mechanism, then Pavement's 1992 four-track, 11-minute wonder is its Mona Lisa: a mysterious, knowing smile in an undersized package that packs an outsized punch. Stephen Malkmus picks the pockets of pop culture while it's not looking and rearranges the stolen pieces into a melodic noise sculpture that defines the era from which it came. Kurt Cobain got all the flowers (and agony) for repping as the spokesman of his slack generation, but for my money, it’s S.M. and his merry band of pranksters who perfectly distilled and bottled the Gen X mood. So much style that it's wasted.
Jun 21, 2024
Related Recs
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At the Lincoln Center Performing Arts Library you can watch almost any theatrical production performed in New York City since 1970. Due to union laws, you can only watch a production once and must stay in the library’s viewing cubicles. Recently, I watched John C. Riley and Phillip Seymour Hoffman in Sam Shepard’s True West. If you love theater, do yourself a favor and spend an afternoon watching an old production. I love theater and want new plays. I am imagining a burgeoning playwright creeping into the library to watch Meryl Streep in “Mouther Courage and Her Children” and going on to write their own Mother Courage (and casting me).
May 31, 2022
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What I love about nyc is the infinite amount of screenings there are for all types of movies — I think of it as an event more than anything! Feels way more fulfilling than just catching a film that just came out at an amc or whatever. The theaters r so much more intimate! And then you’ll watch happy together 1997 and the colors will be so beautiful n bright and you’ll cry and feel the same way someone did after seeing it 20+ years ago!
Feb 18, 2024
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easiest $25/month to convince myself I have
Feb 12, 2024
Top Recs from @coreydubrowa
The man responsible for dozens of Teenage Symphonies to God
"Sad songs about happy things" (the first time, as a kid, I can recall the sweet/sour combo of melodies that could make you cry attached to songs about endless, bottomless love)
I've long since lost track of how many weddings and funerals I've attended that have featured this song; suffice it to say, "a lot."
God only knows what we'd been without him 🙏🏻
Jun 11, 2025
May 22, 2025
Hey tyler hopefully this doesn’t violate some PI.FYI golden rule
But after nearly two years of writing, editing and arguing, my book about the EP is coming out in May and can be preordered here:
https://hozacrecords.com/product/aifl/
The book is about the origins, history and cultural impact of the EP since these little objects first started coming out in the 50s.
Over 50 of my music biz friends then helped me shape the list and review the top 200 ever released, according to us (ha).
For those of you who are into this kind of geekery/snobbery, I can’t wait to hear what you think. A labor of love, as all books are! ❤️
Mar 27, 2024