Devo and the possibility of dada in the era of personalized media
In mid-October 2025 author and journalist Talia Lavin argued “we should bring dadaism back as a response to The Horrors. It made sense during world war one.” In its original context, Dada used artistic expressions of nonsense to show how…
Swift’s “Actually Romantic,” Fight Club, and Reactionary Resilience
In October 2025, Taylor Swift released her 12th album, Life of A Showgirl. Largely a critical and popular flop, the main buzz it generated surrounded the Pixies-interpolating track “Actually Romantic.” As The BBC reports, “Actually Romantic is about an unnamed…
Ordinary Slop & Reactionary Centrism, or what Alex Warren’s hit “Ordinary” has in common with AI and Adele’s “Hello”
In their article about summer 2025’s lack of a zeitgeist-dominating “song of the summer,” NPR pointed out that one song, Alex Warren’s “Ordinary”, had dominated the Billboard Hot 100 with 10 weeks on the top of chart (and the longest…
I’m on the Hotel Bar Sessions podcast talking about the end of ‘cool’
My old friends and colleagues Leigh Johnson and Rick Lee invited me to chat about my recent work on right-wing masculinities on their philosophy podcast, Hotel Bar Sessions. I had a great time chatting, and invite everyone to listen!
1996, The Beginning of the End of Taste
In an earlier piece I argued that today’s right-wing masculinities use the performance of bad taste to demonstrate a virility undomesticated by anything so feminine as a sense of style, or worse, a wife. Aesthetic taste emerged in the enlightenment…
We’re Through Being Cool: techbros, manosphere influencers, Ancient Greek masculinity, and AI
From Jordan Peterson to Andrew Tate, today’s techbros and manosphere influencers are either entirely unconcerned with being cool or, like Elon, exceptionally bad at it. Far from the poster-king Dril, whose ironically-detatched shitposts ruled the platform Elon killed, these influencers…
Good Vibes Only – Latest Introduction
This week the Duke UP faculty board approved the final manuscript of Good Vibes Only: Phenomenology, Algorithms, and Politics of Legitimation for publication. I should have the final manuscript to them for handover to production by Labor Day. To get…
I’m writing on The Breeders’ LAST SPLASH for the 33 1/3 series
The new batch of 33 1/3 volumes were announced today and I’m excited to be among the authors selected this time around. I’ll be writing on The Breeders’ 1993 album LAST SPLASH. Here’s the short description and ToC: The contemporary…
The 2025 Inhailer Indie 500: What independent music/broadcast looks like in the streaming era
The Inhailer 2025 Indie 500 took place this past Memorial Day Weekend, and as usual I have some thoughts on how the composition of this year’s countdown reflects the contemporary status of modern rock/alt/indie/etc. The 2025 chart made a very…
My AMS Lecture at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: “What Is the Modern Rock 500?”
In September 2024 I was honored to give a lecture at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of the American Musicological Society’s lecture series. It was about the 36-year-old institution that’s the Modern Rock (now Indie) 500….
Recent Comments