The part of Orwell's 1984 that everyone forgets is how human music has been replaced by soulless, machine-generated pop songs. The AI attempt to take over the film and music industries is an attack on the human spirit. Boycott AI actors. Boycott AI bands. Support human artists.

I’m finally bearing down to finish Persona 5 and playing the third act nine months into Trump’s second term is… definitely interesting!

A fun thing they could do on the Outlaw Tour is have the headliners swap setlists, like I wanna hear Bob Dylan sing Soak Up the Sun

Today my 13yo sat down next to me while I was watching the Monkees and the questions he asked (“is this a Beatles song?”) made it clear he has no framework through which to interpret the Monkees. Not that he should, obviously! But this exactly is why boomers/gen x/millennials fear gen z/alpha

Biggest pleasant surprise about Silksong so far is it’s basically Bloodborne

My official hot take about the ATWIAD reissue

Probably too high to be playing Silksong right now but whoooooo’s gonna stop me

There *is* some comedic potential in a Spinal Tap-style satire of today’s “legacy” rock music industry, which is obviously stupid in very different ways from what existed in the early ‘80s. The problem is I have seen no evidence of it in this movie so far

I don’t even really bother trying to take pictures at concerts these days but I had to document Russell Mael’s incredible suit for posterity

New post on what may secretly be my favorite song from Sheila E.'s The Glamorous Life! princesongs.org/2025/09/09/o...

Watching a Hulu documentary about romance scams and this was in my notifications, speak of the devil

RIP Mark Vollman: founding Turtle, backing vocalist on "Bang A Gong," Zappa collaborator, guy who sued De La Soul and ruined sampling, but also the guy whose satirical, anti-everything 1976 piano-pop banger invented the "Lemonade" beat www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_3a...

Nobody tell me wife, but I think I’m about to get… like, really into Van Morrison

As a non-Anglophile Yank I am only capable of being an extremely casual Oasis enjoyer but Morning Glory holds up

Finished my post on "The Glamorous Life"! I can already tell this album is going to be fun to write about. princesongs.org/2025/08/26/t...

Tim Curry on the set of The Three Musketeers (1993), in costume as Cardinal Richelieu, holding an original GameBoy.

Now You See Me 2 is the ideal amount of stupid I want from this franchise, which is maximum. If these dumbass movies have to exist, I want them to be staggeringly stupid

Would be pretty rad if Weapons kicked off a new (first?) surge of interest in Beware of Darkness

Somehow I've managed to complete two blog posts in the space of a month! What is this, 2019?!

thinking about the fact that mario owning a golden helicopter, a personal hideout, and being willing to imprison an ape indefinitely are some of the very first things we learn about him predating other character traits like "being a plumber" or "luigi"

Repress Attila you cowards

Probably my favorite story from the sessions that produced "17 Days" (which caused me to go into a rabbit hole about tape speeds that derailed my writing process for a good two weeks). Next post (on "Erotic City"!) is chugging along, read this one in the meantime: princesongs.org/2025/07/17/1...

I’m at a Rod Stewart concert and it’s like getting to see Rod Stewart while also getting to see someone drunkenly singing karaoke to Rod Stewart (who is also Rod Stewart)

I don't want to jinx it, but this is the most inspired and motivated to write I've felt in... almost a year??? Make sure to read this one before I see my own shadow and scurry back into my cave.

Finally getting back on my bullshit

This movie absolutely whips ass

Today marks 41 years from the start of "When Doves Cry"'s five-week reign on the Hot 100. I don't usually mark non-milestone anniversaries, but I wanted an excuse to share this monster post I wrote last year. One of these days I'll finish writing about the B-side... princesongs.org/2024/07/29/w...

This is the closest to an anthem that I would listen to today. It goes hard as hell (and it was recorded in France 40 years ago)! youtu.be/Pq98n2j75XA

ALF NEXA 1989 SEGA MASTER SYSTEM

Bonkers rogue AI plot, 20-minute expository “cutscenes,” an aging spy being pushed to his physical limits… the new Mission: Impossible is a stealth Metal Gear Solid movie

ICE needs to be fucking DISMANTLED and I simply won't vote for any Democrat in the 2028 primary who says otherwise.

I’ve been in a depressed funk for the past month and a half, but I’m finally back in the mood to listen to new music, just in time for the new King Gizzard. I’m really liking it; the marriage of baroque pop arrangements with the previous album’s joyful boogie rock works much better than expected.

RIP big dog

Sly Stone and Brian Wilson in the same week, man. Two genuine visionaries who gave us so much, suffered so much, and both retreated from the outside world for long stretches of time, burrowing inside themselves, as their music became raw materials for entire genres and sub-genres and sub-sub-genres.

RIP to Brian Wilson, who gave us many perfect albums but also the perfect interview

happy 40th, "Empire Burlesque"

Castle Rat continues to be the up-and-coming band of my dreams by now adding to the storied canon of vaguely horny songs about wizards. Feels like their songwriting has improved, too (and the production definitely has). Very hyped for this album and headlining tour in fall! youtu.be/iWKmiTwjjHA?...

When in "If I Was Your Girlfriend" Prince sang about trying to imagine what silence looked like, I tend to think he had Sly Stone in his rear view mirror. So many of his peak-era tracks use space and silence and murmurs to such compelling ends. My obit. wp.me/pzXeC-k4W

Omg

This is pretty much where I’ve landed (and Reason #500 why I’m glad I gave up on academia)

Death May Be Your Santa Claus in the top spot, as it should be

Currently on hold with the federal government for work and the hold music is, I shit you not, a soundalike of Simple Man by Lynyrd Skynyrd

born too late for: quaaludes born too early for: knowing what Roblox is born just in time for: shooter on rails arcade game where you have to save Aerosmith

This song’s not bad (always love hearing Moses Sumney) but why is Hayley Williams in Tom Petty cosplay youtu.be/d5OB461GCD8?...

Confirming my longstanding belief that Philadelphia is (one of) the Detroit(s) of the East, the store I visited had a ton of Mitch Ryder in stock. I came away with a pretty clean mono copy of Breakout, plus this novelty remake of Devil with a Blue Dress with lyrics about the Oliver North scandal.

Another Philly pickup, the Chambers Brothers’ Time Has Come; last month’s #PopLife40 panel inspired me to build my psychedelic soul collection. I was obviously familiar with the title track (one of the great “it’s the ‘60s” songs) but seeing a credit for Betty Mabry (aka Davis) was a nice surprise!

Went to Philly for a few days this week and came back with a lil stack of records, starting with this bootleg of the Flying Burrito Brothers at Altamont. It’s ragged and a little listless (i.e., a 1969 Gram Parsons performance), but a neat historical document nevertheless.

I really need to go back to Rock & Roll Graveyard when I’m not being herded through like cattle for RSD; they had a shockingly extensive collection of pre-Bowie Mott the Hoople, which is as good a metric for a quality record store as any IMO. Listened to Brain Capers this morning and it still rips.

This feels like skeezy self-promotion (I swear it is not) but I am just now realizing this is basically my whole brand as a content creator™️