Nov 1, 2024
Related Recs
(Aka what it sounds like when the Cure do the Cure)
Sixteen years after their last album, Robert Smith & Co. have returned on their own (admittedly, glacial) terms. They sound regal, exhausted, and deliciously slow, wrestling with mortality and doubt in a way that's perfectly suited to the Cure (and reminds me more than just a little of David Bowie's final work, "Blackstar," which focused on the same endgame subjects in a similarly "top of their game" sort of way right at the end of his life). I first heard the track linked here, "And Nothing Is Forever," on last year's Cure tour of the U.S. (which I wrote about for Magnet here) and it reminds me that -- unlike, say, the Stones -- Smith has never felt the need to flex for the sake of proving his youthful virility. If anything, the Cure was always adult-before-their-time, sounding world-weary and sick of it all long before goth made that a core brand attribute. I love this album more than anything the band has done since 1989's "Disintegration," which saw Smith retreating from fame and popularity through the copious use of hallucinogens, which greatly influenced the sound of that record. What is the feeling of pending death if not the world's most powerful psychotropic drug? The Cure have been and shall always be one of THE bands for me. "There is none blacker," as the joke goes. All hail the dark lords of pop, as magisterial and mysterious as ever. 👑
Nov 1, 2024
Can’t hear the final notes of Plainsong without anticipating the opening notes of Pictures of You. It’s like that all the way through.
Jun 12, 2024
such a gorgeous album, somewhere in between familiar shoegaze and UK trip hop. the siren vocals, the massive attack beats, the field recordings. perfect album. i’ll be at the philly ortliebs show end of march, probably solo probably weeping but in very dignified and compelling way
Mar 1, 2024
Top Recs from @slowlytyped
Mar 20, 2025
returning a stack of library books and stumbling upon the library book sale? right as it opens?? for free will donation????? 😮💨😮💨
Aug 15, 2024
(minor spoilers, I guess?)
a few long take bangers in this film, but the battle scene near the end is so goddamn good. follow Clive Owen and the pregnant young woman in his care as they get caught in a skirmish between two warring factions. Cuarón is the best.
Jul 13, 2024