Category Archives: 30 Years

Helplessness Blues

Band: Fleet Foxes Album: Helplessness Blues Best song: “Montezuma.” Worst song: “Lorelai” isn’t much. Next week, Geffen Records is releasing a 20-year-anniversary edition of Nevermind. I’m 30 years old, so the album’s original release wasn’t the seminal moment it was for those a few years my senior, but the album itself is seminal. Nirvana introduced […]

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Hawk

Band: Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan Album: Hawk Best song: “You Won’t Let Me Down Again” is the best song on the record. Worst song: I’m not in love with “No Place to Fall,” as Willy Mason doesn’t do it for me. Let me preface this by saying that this entire piece is mostly my […]

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L’amore Non è Bello

Band: Dente Album: L’amore Non è Bello Best song: “A me piace lei” is the album’s grand optimistic — though, mostly aspirational — point and is a great song, but “Buon appetito” has the best arrangement, lyrics and vocal work. Worst song: Probably “Quel mazzolino.” I’ve long said that the best love songs are the […]

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April

Band: Sun Kil Moon Album: April Best song: “Lost Verses.” All 9:43 of it. Worst song: “Heron Blue” is good, but the weakest song on an excellent set. In baseball (here I go again about baseball), there is a phenomenon of the age-27 season (though, many would suggest otherwise). It was thought that baseball players […]

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The Lost Tracks of Danzig

Band: Danzig Album: The Lost Tracks of Danzig Best song: The cover of “Cat People” says a lot about Glenn, doesn’t it? Worst song: Well, “White Devil Rise,” while not racist, is kind of strange. I don’t think Rick Rubin and Glenn Danzig taking on Louis Farrakhan (by explaining the inherent malevolence of a race war) is […]

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Show Your Bones

Band: Yeah Yeah Yeahs Album: Show Your Bones Best song: “Phenomena.” Worst song: “Honey Bear.” I’ve told this story before, most assuredly, in this or another space, but it’s always worth repeating. During the fall of my freshman year of college (1999, for those following), Eric Bachmann, Superchunk and Guided by Voices played a show […]

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Silent Alarm

Band: Bloc Party Album: Silent Alarm Best song: “Helicopter” Worst song: “Luno” is not the best. I’ve mentioned my time in sportswriting a little bit, but it’s worth noting that sport is a large part of my life. Baseball is, specifically, something I enjoy quite a bit. I’ve mentioned my love of softball before, but […]

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Funeral

Band: Arcade Fire Album: Funeral Best song: “Rebellion (Lies)” Worst song: The album ender, “In The Backseat,” does not impress me. On a first (might’ve been second, I don’t know) date recently, my companion and I were talking about irrational fears. She’d mentioned some of the things which she fears — included normal things like […]

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Sing the Sorrow

Nino

Band: AFI Album: Sing the Sorrow Best song: “The Leaving Song Pt. II” is a great shout-along song. Worst song: “Dancing Through Sunday” isn’t very good. I would say that 2003 was a great year to graduate college, but, ultimately, I don’t know any other year to graduate college. By happenstance of my birth and […]

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Control

Band: Pedro the Lion Album: Control Best song: “Rapture” has the best guitar work. Worst song: I don’t care for the production on “Progress.” Maybe this is a function of my home life growing up or maybe it’s a function of simple disposition as a person. Maybe I’m naïve. But, everyone likely has a moment […]

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  • About Me

    I'm Ross Jordan Gianfortune. I am not a writer, but I sometimes write here about music and my life. I live in Washington, DC.

    I used to review each of Rolling Stone Magazine's top 500 albums of all time. Now I'm writing about albums I own.

    My work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Gazette, The Atlantic, Sno-Cone and a bunch of defunct zines.

    You can contact me at rjgianfortune at gmail dot com.

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