There’s a lot of bad writing about music floating out there. A lot. So every week we sift through it all and share what we consider the Best Music Writing This Week. This week features stuff on Angel Olsen as her new album drops. It also has a great recap on Grace Jones’ FYF Fest set this past weekend. Check it all out below.
Angel Olsen Has A Lot To Say Right Now — Amy Rose Spiegel, The FADER
You’ll see an Angel Olsen interview from every major outlet this week as her much-anticipated third record was released. She’s one of my favorite musicians right now, so I read all of them. This Q&A on her from The FADER is my favorite of the bunch. The record itself (My Woman) is a bit of a departure from her folksier stuff. It brings a lot more of a pop element. In this interview, Olsen confronts that choice as well as a number of other things that come with reaching this point in her career.
Nostalgia Tacks: Lorde’s teen angst anthem “Ribs” — Regan Wojick, Atwood Magazine
A really good read from the perspective of someone the same age as Lorde. The songs you associate with your youth are the ones that remain most important to you over time (at least for me), so it’s great to read about Lorde from that perspective. It also features a nice breakdown of the lyrics from the perspective of the writer.
If You Missed Grace Jones at FYF Fest, You Screwed Up — Katie Bain, Noisey
Can we as a world just keep sending Katie Bain to music festivals and have her write about the most transcendent sets she saw that weekend? A couple weeks ago she gave a hometown spin on Justin Vernon’s Eaux Claires Festival that we considered great. This time, she details Grace Jones’ enigmatic performance at FYF Fest this past weekend in LA. I went and didn’t see Grace and in the words of LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy, I fucked up. I feel so especially after reading this piece on her performance.
Dueling Potato Brothers: The Collected Oasis Fights and Insults — Evan Minsker, Pitchfork
I’ve been one to cross my fingers that an eventual Oasis reunion would serve as a headlining act at Coachella. This timeline of infighting between the Gallagher brothers provides some proof that there’s possibly more fun to be had when they don’t get along. If you want a companion video to go with this piece, look no further than the video highlights of Noel Gallagher doing commentary for a DVD of the band’s music videos.
