Grant Sharples

@grantsharpies

Music critic at Paste Magazine • bylines in interview mag, stereogum, uproxx, pitchfork, ringer, nme, etc • grant dot sharples at gmail • he/him • free Palestine 🇵🇸 • KCMO • I’m writing a novel bc it’s never been done before • kingdom hearts apologist

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Grant Sharples@grantsharpies· 14d

The week

Grant Sharples@grantsharpies· 18d

I wrote about Dolly Parton and Herbie Hancock for Paste’s list of the 100 best songs of the 1970s

On Sept. 25, 1967, Porter
Wagoner introduced Dolly Parton. The country singer
I WILL AWAYS LOVE YOU
and songwriter performed
"Dumb Blonde" and
"Something Fishy," two tracks from her then-week-old debut album, Hello, I'm Dolly. Norma Jean had just departed The Porter Wagoner Show, and Wagoner selected Parton as her replacement. Thus began a fruitful partnership between the two musicians. It was initially amicable, invariably fruitful, and increasingly hostile.
When Parton's star eclipsed Wagoner's, the latter grew envious, eventually suing his former co-star for $3 million in lost profits years after she left the show to pursue a solo career.

That split from the controlling Wagoner-and her fresh beginning-culminated in one of the greatest love songs ever penned: the ineluctable, historic "I Will Always Love You." It marked a significant step in Parton's artistry and her career.
Through her moving farewell to a friend-turned-foe, Parton made history: She became the first writer to top the Billboard charts multiple times with the same song, thanks to a 1982 re-recording and Whitney Houtston's Earth-shattering 1992 cover, the latter of which held the No. 1 spot for a record-breaking 14 weeks. According to Parton herself, the song ultimately convinced Wagoner that she needed to pave her own path. And pave her own path she did. —Grant Sharples

It's easy to understand why Herbie Hancock called it
"Chameleon." The opening piece of his 1973 opus Head Hunters is a masterwork in
jazz fusion. Aided by saxophonist Bennie Maupin, bassist Paul Jackson, and drummer Harvey Mason, Hancock flits between deep-pocketed funk and glassy jazz with an aplomb possible for none other than a virtuoso. Over the course of nearly sixteen minutes, the players morph their performances and adapt to one another's contributions. Hancock's squelchy ARP
Odyssey bassline and Maupin's gilded sax interlock, playing the same notes with different textures, underscoring the protean nature of music as an art form.

After riffing for a while, Hancock seizes the foreground with a full-on Odyssey solo while accompanying himself on Clavinet and Rhodes keyboards, as Mason supplies a steady groove underneath. It's the longest track on Head Hunters, and for good reason.
Even as the instruments fade out, you hope that it's all just a trick, that they fade right back in for another epic trip to the cosmos, stanked up to the max. —Grant Sharples

Grant Sharples@grantsharpies· 20d

Music this week / STL, where I’m doing some journalism rn

Grant Sharples@grantsharpies· 28d

The week

Grant Sharples@grantsharpies· Jul 10

Good morning! Here’s the music I listened to this week, and here’s the new EP I made, which is out today! It’s the first new music I’ve made in over five years. The Gen 1 EP an instrumental four-track inspired mostly by M83 and Pokémon :-) give it a listen! grantsharples.bandcamp.com/album/gen-1-ep

Grant Sharples@grantsharpies· Jul 6

Some fun news: On Friday, I’m putting out my first new music in over 5 years! Using my G# alias, I’m calling it the Gen 1 EP, and it’s a four-track instrumental release that spans digital shoegaze, Nintendocore, drone, IDM, chiptune, etc. Here’s the cover art I made in photoshop

Grant Sharples@grantsharpies· Jul 4

Salute the flag

Grant Sharples@grantsharpies· Jul 3

The week

Grant Sharples@grantsharpies· Jul 1

It’s June and you’ve been proved / yes yooouuu are reneeewwwed

Grant Sharples@grantsharpies· Jun 26

Lot going on here

Grant Sharples@grantsharpies· Jun 24

The Modest Mouse GQ piece is a masterclass in writing and reporting from the inimitable Grayson Haver Currin. Full of many wild exchanges/paragraphs. This one, however, might be the wildest

After telling me I am only asking him about the accusation in order to make this story better for myself, Brock asks me the difference between being a psychopath and a sociopath, then if a compulsion is more dangerous than a desire. (Compulsion, he says, "because it's cold," never quite explaining this avenue of inquiry other than to say he's changing the subject.) At one point, he texts me a ChatGPT summary for
"Isaac Brock rape allegation," then wanders to the other side of the room. "I didn't actually read it, but whatever, and things," he says. "Despite anything you might say to offset it or 'alleged' it, some people don't give a fuck—they should. A lot of people just see the word 'rape and the name, and there it is." He pauses and turns to me:
"And that's why I'm running for president."

Grant Sharples@grantsharpies· Jun 19

This week’s music

Grant Sharples@grantsharpies· Jun 18

Some favorites of the year so far and I know I’m forgetting some but yeah

1. Underscores - U
2. Grace Ives - Girlfriend
3. Slayyyter - Wor$t girl in America
4. Lip Critic - Theft World
5. Kevin Morby - Little Wide Open
6. Mandy, Indiana - URGH
7. Feeble Little Horse - bitknot
8. Death Cab for Cutie- I Built You a Tower
9. Kim Gordon - PLAY ME
10. Aldous Harding - Train on the Island
11. Wendy Eisenberg - S/T
12. American Football - LP4
13. Lord Jah Monte-Ogbon - As of Now
14. Twisted Teens - Blame the Crown
15. Sideshow - Tigray Funk
16. Ratboys - Singin' to an Empty Chair
17. MUNA - Dancing on the Wall
18. Tony Bontang - My Name
19. Ana Roxanne - Poem 1
20. Greg Mendez - Beauty Land

Grant Sharples@grantsharpies· Jun 12

I listened to music this week

Grant Sharples@grantsharpies· Jun 5

It’s Friday

Grant Sharples@grantsharpies· Jun 1

What I was up to in May

Grant Sharples@grantsharpies· May 30

Kevin Morby brought out Katie Crutchfield to sing “Bittersweet, TN” tonight

Grant Sharples@grantsharpies· May 29

It’s about that time of the week

Grant Sharples@grantsharpies· May 24

Important: a wren that my wife and I have named Wrenée has begun building a nest in the birdhouse in our backyard

Grant Sharples@grantsharpies· May 22

Music? More like… music is musick

Grant Sharples@grantsharpies· May 15

This week I listened to artists like Boards of Canada, Aldous Harding, and the Mario Galaxy Orchestra

Both Mario Galaxy soundtracks are in my 5x5 last.fm grid lol

Grant Sharples@grantsharpies· May 9

I’ve been saying this!

Super Mario Galaxy P4K best new reissue!!!

Grant Sharples@grantsharpies· May 8

So much red and black in this week’s grid you’d think I was the White Stripes

Last fm 5x5. Lotta red and albums in here

Grant Sharples@grantsharpies· May 5

I made Patrick Carney mad lol

Patrick Carney responding to my review with a clown emoji

Grant Sharples@grantsharpies· May 5

Thanks for commenting this on a personal essay about my deceased grandmother, trail.blazer.420. I hope the Black Keys appreciate your bravery and support.

From the illustrious trail.blazer.420, black keys’ most distinguished shooter: Your article for av club about the black keys new album is braindead and ridiculous. You should find a new job

Grant Sharples@grantsharpies· May 3

I love getting fan mail

Sent at 3:08 am: Just read your review of TBK's new record and I just felt the urge to tell you personally what a pathetic idiot you are. Honestly thats fucking amazing how a person can be that fucking dumb but again taking into consideration your
"profession" it goes without saying. Fucking dumb music critic who thinks that he understands music - pathetic and disgusting(

Grant Sharples@grantsharpies· May 1

And the month!

Grant Sharples@grantsharpies· May 1

The week

Can you tell I’m seeing Band of Horses tonight

Grant Sharples@grantsharpies· Apr 26

Just saw Project Hail Mary

Grant Sharples@grantsharpies· Apr 24

Oomf is getting me Aphex-pilled