artjipson

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Why the Sad Song Always Hits Harder: A Tear-Streaked Love Letter to Melancholy Music

Let’s talk about sad songs. Not just the ones that make you sniffle politely into your latte or stare wistfully out the bus window like you’re in a Sofia Coppola montage. I mean the real gut-wrenchers. The ones that hit like a tire iron to the heart at 2 a.m., that make you want to lie down in the wreckage of your own teenage angst and just feel things, goddammit. Why do these songs—these elegies…

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Video of The Day: Tamar Berk - Chicago

“CHICAGO” OR: HOW TAMAR BERK FOUND A MIRAGE IN THE MIDDLE OF A DYING DREAM So there I was, chin-deep in a bowl of Frosted Flakes, when “Chicago” dropped through the ceiling like a sigh you forgot you were holding for thirty years. I was reviewing music and videos for YTAA when Tamar Berk, that sparkle-voiced assassin of suburban malaise, spins up something here that’s not quite a love letter,…

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A Night at the Altar of Rock: The Tisburys, Super City, and The Laughing Chimes, and the Resurrection of Everything that Matters

My caffeine-fueled thought about last night’s amazing rock and roll show �� By a Lapsed Believer Dragged Kicking and Screaming into Rapture at The Spacebar (May 29, 2025) aka Dr. J. It started with the silence. Not the good kind—the pregnant pause before the snare cracks or the breath before a chorus explodes—but the stifling, suffocating kind. The kind that crept in during the pandemic and…

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Full Interview with Irish Musician David Howley

On January 31st, Dr. J interviewed Irish musician, singer, and songwriter David Howley is appearing at the Sears Recital Hall at the University of Dayton on March 13, 2025. David will be joined by special guests Kiana June Weber and Caitlin Leahy. David Howley is an award-winning folk artist from Ireland, blending traditional Irish music with modern folk. Founder of Billboard World #1 band We…

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The Hellish Torture of Picking a Favorite Song in 2024: A Rant by Dr. J

Here’s the thing about picking a favorite song in 2024—it’s a damn Sisyphean task, one that makes you want to tear out your hair, break your phone, and maybe even burn down your local record store in a fit of existential frustration. Don’t do it. We need physical music stores now more than ever. I mean, what is even a “favorite” song anymore? Do we even have favorite songs in 2024, or are we…

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Video of The Day: The Mayflies USA - Calling The Bad Ones Home

Oh, my God, The Mayflies USA have just unleashed the kind of song that makes you wonder if the world is still spinning in the right direction or if it’s just about to fly off its axis in a blaze of glorious emotion. “Calling All the Bad Ones Home” isn’t just a song, it’s a revelation. It rips through you like a storm, charging through every lyric, every chord, like a pent-up burst of energy and…

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The Shining Sound of Soft White Gold

Just watched the Music Box documentary on Yacht Rock and while I really enjoyed the doc and learned a lot, I have a few thoughts. Let’s get something straight right away. What you think you know about yacht rock, the fluffy sound of pastel sunsets and private islands that has become this new-age cultural obsession, probably isn’t it. You’ve heard it described as “easy listening,” “smooth,” and…

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Video of The Day: The Laughing Chimes - High Beams

“The Laughing Chimes” song “High Beams” is a rich, atmospheric piece that blends wistful nostalgia with electrifying, almost cinematic soundscapes. As with much of The Laughing Chimes’ writing, this track has a sense of profound intimacy—a delicate balance between the personal and the universal. “High Beams” is a meditation on the tension between light and shadow, love and loss, the known and the…

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Short Songs Have Every Reason to Live

Apologies to Randy Newman for the title, I just could not help myself. We all love a good, long album, don’t we? The sprawling epics, the suites, the ambitious arcs that stretch into the horizon like the great classic rock composers, forever nudging us to find meaning in the slow build, the dramatic rise, and the quiet moments in between. But what about the short, sharp, explosive bursts of…

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Video of the Day: The Pinkerton Raid - A Long December

All too often critics apply a sharp, snarky perspective on music, and approach covers with a detached cold perspective. And sometimes that separation would truly miss the point. The Pinkerton Raid’s cover of Counting Crows’ A Long December needs recognition of both the emotional core and the transformation of the song. A good review would highlight the poignant ways in which the cover reimagines…

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Screaming in the Dark: How Rock Lyrics Tear Your Soul Open and Leave You Wanting More

Rock and roll has always been a violent, all-consuming beast that claws at your insides and leaves you aching for more. But it’s not just the guitar riffs that keep you coming back; it’s the words. The lyrics, when they hit, can get under your skin, lodge in your brain, and make you feel like you’ve been struck by lightning—or a falling star, depending on how poetic you want to get. The best rock…

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Last Show of 2024

The last YTAA Show of 2024 broadcast on 12-31-2024 is up on the YTAA Mixcloud page! Please give the show a listen and share it with all of your friends. The first time you sit behind the mic and hear that low hum of the studio, you realize it’s a weird kind of experience. You’re not broadcasting a war, no, you’re not even sending out a weather report; you’re sending out your heartbeat. You’re…

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A Partial List of Favorites of 2024

In 2024, the whole idea of picking a “favorite” album has become a weird, near-impossible task. The rise of streaming and electronic releases means thousands of songs and records are loaded onto streaming services. While the music industry continues a myopic focus on a handful of pre-selected artists, even if one is focused on a particular genre, thousands of records are still released annually.…

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Echoes of a Quiet Rebel: Remembering Slim Dunlap, The Heartbeat of The Replacements

Slim Dunlap portrait courtesy of Songs for Slim. Tony Nelson | 2013 In alternative rock, few figures have had the understated yet deeply impactful legacy Slim Dunlap left behind. As a guitarist for The Replacements after Bob Stinson, Slim didn’t just play music—he shaped it in a way that resonates to this day, even though he remained a somewhat enigmatic figure throughout his life. On the…

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2024 Indie Holiday on Mixcloud

Indie holiday songs, unlike their mainstream counterparts, are often an unpolished celebration of the quirky, the imperfect, and the raw. Maybe it’s an odd take on Carol or a rousing ode to jingling bells sung by a motley choir. To truly understand what makes these songs stand out, we must first look at the world of indie music itself. Indie artists, who thrive on identities of authenticity,…

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Holly Jolly Chaos: A Raucous Rebellion With a Dash of Cheer: The 14th Annual YTAA Indie Holiday

In the coming weeks we celebrate the holidays in full indie music style — is that really a thing?  On Tuesday, December 17th we will be playing new, classic, and cover holiday songs on the show.  Another year has come and gone. Can anyone else believe that we have been doing this for at least fourteen years, sheesh time does pass fast! Indie holiday music is like that stray cat you take…

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Video of The Day: Librarians With Hickeys - Hello Operator

Librarians with Hickeys — what a name. You hear it and you immediately start constructing the image in your head: a tangle of smudged glasses, bookish rebellion, a zine-spun ethos slashing through the overcast skies of suburban ennui. Their track “Hello Operator” is nothing short of a jangle pop-fueled call to arms for the underachiever, the bored teenager, the disillusioned adult trapped in a…