I’ve been reading Entertainment Weekly for years and years. I think I subscribed back in like 1993 or so. And I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with it. I’ve canceled my subscription on a number of occasions, mostly because I believed that it didn’t cover enough of the indie stuff I enjoyed (which is still largely true). But then I’d see an issue and realize that it is a fun magazine to flip through, so I’d re-subscribe.
Over the years, EW has morphed more and more. And each change to the magazine makes me like it less. And now in its current iteration, which happened about a year ago, I feel that they have removed all pretense to being a “smart” publication. Although, at least they stopped including the bold line of text which presumably highlighted the best line of a review. Evidently they thought we couldn’t 
read the entire half-a-column-length of an article. But they removed that, and it’s back to simple reviews.
I’ve always been sort of iffy about their rating system (A through F). It’s a simple guide, so it’s easy to see quickly whether they liked it or not, but as in school, it seems hard to pinpoint exactly what the difference is between say an A- and a B+. But hey, that’s their thing, so it’s okay.
And as a sort of all-purpose guide to entertainment, it’s pretty useful.
The new design has largely changed the order of things in the magazine. And so The Must List which used to be a small thing in the middle now opens the magazine as a full page extravaganza (highlighting in a nutshell what is wrong with this latest incarnation of the magazine–something that used to fill up a page at most is now a two page spread with bigger pictures!) (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: SONIC YOUTH-Dirty (1991).
I think of Dirty as a pretty commercial album. I mean, it’s got Butch Vig as a producer for crying out loud. And, it has three singles released from it.
SOUNDTRACK: SONIC YOUTH-Goo (1990).
I’m not sure exactly why this Sonic Youth album was the first one I really got into. I assume it’s because I was working at the radio station and probably got a bit of hype about their switch to DGC records.
SOUNDTRACK: Living with Music: A Playlist by Joshua Ferris (New York Times September 19 2007).
While searching for Joshua Ferris (see below) I came across this playlist from The New York Times. While I don’t agree with everything on the list, indeed, I haven’t heard of about half of the songs, I was delighted by several of his selections: Neutral Milk Hotel, Pearl Jam, and of course, Godspeed! You Black Emperor. I also really enjoy the unusual Pink Floyd selection, too (Meddle being a favorite album of mine).
Radar Magazine
SOUNDTRACK: SONIC YOUTH-EVOL (1986).
Ah, EVOL. Here’s where Sonic Youth became Sonic Youth. Who knows how much Steve Shelley had to do with it, but he shows up and the band becomes amazing. The cover art is pretty darn scary and yet the music inside is amazingly beautiful. While by no means a commercial album, the album is chock full of melody.
Many many years ago (1995), while I was in Boston, I bought my first copy of 
SOUNDTRACK: THE TRAGICALLY HIP-We Are the Same (2009).
first heard of The Hip when I saw their video for “
SOUNDTRACK: Songs That Got Us Through WW2 (1993).
My dad was in World War II. He was a Navy man, and he worked on airplanes. He was stationed in the South Pacific. When I was growing up, he listened to a lot of big band music (while most of my friends’ parents were listening to folk music).
SOUNDTRACK: SONIC YOUTH-Sonic Death: Early Sonic 1981-1983 (1984).
This document shows just how scary a Sonic Youth show could have been back in their early days. Well, not scary so much as noisy! They mention that they’ve been touring with the Swans, so you can imagine how intense these shows must have been.
I Just Read About That... 