Email Author John Payne

2008 Stories by John Payne

• Princeton's Seaside Conceits

  published December 25, 2008

   The difficulty lies, not in the new ideas, but in escaping from the old ones, which ramify, for those brought up as most of us... More >>

• Post-Post-Punk

  published December 4, 2008

  Proofreader/copyeditor 1985-1990Associate music editor 1990-1995Music editor 1995-2005The singer-songwriter... More >>

• Hecuba: Tranforming the Visual into the Musical

  published November 13, 2008

  When it comes to getting profoundly immersed in a piece of art or music, one method is to allow yourself to get a bit confused... More >>

• Three Decades In, Wire Retains Its Dignity While Reigniting the Spark of Art Punk

  published October 9, 2008

  Wire is a band that has achieved a kind of cachet or mystique with a moniker prone to be dropped into conversation about... More >>

• Crash Landing: What We Do Is Secret

  published August 21, 2008

  Most people know by now about this movie, What We Do Is Secret, coming next week to a theater or drive-in near you. A... More >>

• Understanding Carla Bozulich

  published August 7, 2008

  I can arrange to unscrew your fucking heart and let it see past the confines of your bloody finite chest for a while if that’s what... More >>

• A Samba for a Modern Night: New Music From Brazil

  published July 24, 2008

  Brazilian music of the past four decades — in particular the styles rooted in traditional samba, bossa nova,... More >>

• E-Harmony: Daedelus' Love to Make Music To

  published July 10, 2008

  Daedelus sits patiently in the waiting area at Denver International Airport, about to fly off to Portland, where he plays yet... More >>

• Simone White: Daughter of Invention

  published June 26, 2008

  When you first hear Simone White, what’s perhaps most striking is the almost peculiarly individual place she’s... More >>

• Scarlett Johansson's Album of Tom Waits Covers Doesn't Suck

  published May 22, 2008

  Famous Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson has made an album, and right away you’re probably thinking something... More >>

• Ersi Arvizu Throws a Hook (and Chorus)

  published May 1, 2008

  There is a kind of sound that delivers you back to a place and time that you loved — or that you imagine you would have... More >>

• Neon Neon Set DeLorean's Story to Music

  published April 17, 2008

  Unlike one of those very stylish DeLorean sports cars, which looked great but in hindsight lacked horsepower and tended to... More >>

• Gea: Mia Doi Todd's Unresolved Chords

  published February 28, 2008

  There's a moment in the opening track of Mia Doi Todd's new album, Gea, where time seems to stand still. The song is... More >>

• Baby Dee: Life Is Bitter and Death Is Sweet

  published February 14, 2008

  On a rainy day, or an interminably long sunny day — a windy one — you might try huddling up to a new record... More >>

• Health Brings Nutritious Noise

  published January 31, 2008

  Health is a band of four nice, normal dudes from Los Angeles who bring a highly beneficial sort of squawk to the system.... More >>

• Dengue Fever | Venus on Earth | M80

  published January 24, 2008

  There's a slightly knotty context to sift through when it comes to Dengue Fever's tribute to the dislocatedly rocking musical styles of... More >>

• The Eel World

  published January 17, 2008

  For years, you couldn't open the page to a story about Eels founder/singer/guitarist/multi-instrumentalist E without having... More >>

• L.A. Phil Contemplates the Sound of the City

  published January 3, 2008

  In these media-mad times, with such god-awful, colossal loads of music, art, film, video games, etc., etc., being hurled at us with such... More >>