Mini Music Critic

On season one of #PlaceInSound, @AnthonyValadez explores the musical DNA of Chicago. 🎧 Binge the entire series on #TuneIn, or listen one week at a time wherever you get your podcasts: listen.tunein.com/placeinsound

Next Wednesday! After a year of hard work alongside @ryan_pinkard x @audiolives, we are finally launching Place In Sound! A 4 part podcast exploring the roots +current sonic landscape of Chicago! S/O @alexayala78 @LumpenRadio @intlanthem @TheDramaDuo @tunein #BehindTheScenes

Bikini Kill are back, baby! After reuniting on stage for a handful of dates earlier this year, riot grrrl titans are hitting the road for a full-on tour in 2020, beginning with a March show in their hometown of Olympia, WA. 🖕♀️What's your favorite riot grrrl band?

#Nirvana's mythic MTV Unplugged performance, which at this point is as essential as any of their studio albums, was released on record 25 years ago today. 💔 What's your favorite track?

Can you believe it's been FIVE years since #RTJ2 dropped?! 👑👑 What's your favorite track?

It's been 50 years to the day since 'Led Zeppelin II' crashed into Earth. 💥 Favorite track? Where does it rank in Zep's discography for you?

The Cranberries' seminal sophomore studio effort, 'No Need To Argue', turns 25 today. 🍒 Favorite song that's not "Zombie"?

@TheKinks released their self-titled debut—featuring their proto-garage rock hit, "You Really Got Me"—55 years ago today. • What's your favorite Kinks album and song?

RIP #RicOcasek of The Cars. Thanks for making the good times roll. 🏁🕊️

May true love find us all in the end. #DanielJohnston

Jay-Z dropped #TheBlueprint3 ten years ago today. • What's your favorite track? Where does it rank in HOV's discography for you?

#DefinitelyMaybe just turned 25. 🍷🌍🎸 Favorite song? Where does it rank in #Oasis' discography for you?

Ten years since their final album, #SunsetRubdown’s discography is a welcome reprieve from the modern world. Read our essay: minimusiccritic.com/sunset-rubdown…

#JeffBuckley's debut came out 25 years ago. While his tragic death and redefining rendition of "Hallelujah" inevitably add to the record's mystical weight, #Grace is an idiosyncratic & painfully beautiful masterstroke that's as emblematic of '90s alternative as it is an anomaly.

Portishead's astonishing, hallucinatory debut, 'Dummy', came out 25 years ago today. 🤯 If you haven't sat down and let this album blow your mind at least once, have you even lived? 🤔

It's been 10 years since Frenchkiss released The Antlers' heart-shattering third LP, 'Hospice'. A concept album about the doomed relationship between a hospice worker and a cancer patient—a metaphor for a real life romance—it packs the same devastating punch a decade later. 🏥

Today in 1984—35 years ago—#RedHotChiliPeppers released their self-titled debut. Produced by Gang of Four’s Andy Gill, the album coined the “funk metal” genre that defined the band’s early sound. It is also credited as one of the earliest example of “rap rock.”

Rest In Peace. Rest in Power. 🖊️✊🕊️ #ToniMorrison

“We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives.” Toni Morrison. I’m deeply sadden to share that one of our greatest writers and minds in American History, Toni Morrison, passed away at the age of 88. May God Bless Her Soul.

On this day in 1969, The Stooges unleashed their raw and radical self-titled debut. In other words, punk rock was born fifty years ago today. 🧷 If you had to pick between 'The Stooges' (1969), 'Fun House' (1970) or 'Raw Power' (1973), what is your essential Stooges record?