About Me
Charles Olney, Associate Professor of Constitutional Law and Judicial Politics at the University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley (academic website). This is a blog about music, politics, and the law. I also write about women’s soccer at Backline Soccer and Stars and Stripes FC.
Bluesky: olneyce
Soundcloud: olneyce
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Recent Posts
Greatest Hits
- Beatles from worst to first
- Top 25 albums of the decade
- Top 50 songs of the decade
- Top 10 Bruce Springsteen songs
- Top 10 Modest Mouse songs
- Top 10 Tom Petty songs
- Top 10 Carissa's Wierd songs
- Top 10 Paul Simon songs
- Top 10 Bob Dylan songs
- Top 10 breakup songs
- Top 20 albums of 2005
- Top 30 albums of 2006
- Top 40 songs of 2006
- Top 25 albums of 2007
- Top 40 songs of 2007
- Top 25 albums of 2008
- Top 40 songs of 2008
- Top 30 albums of 2009
- Top 40 songs of 2009
- Top 25 albums of 2010
- Top 40 songs of 2010
- Top 15 albums of 2011
- Top 40 songs of 2011
- Top 20 albums of 2012
- Top 40 songs of 2012
- Top 30 albums of 2013
- Top 50 songs of 2013
- Top 25 albums of 2014
- Top 50 songs of 2014
- Top 30 albums of 2015
- Top 50 songs of 2015
- Top 15 albums of 2016
- Top 40 songs of 2016
- Top 25 albums of 2017
- Top 50 songs of 2017
- Top 30 albums of 2018
- Top 50 songs of 2018
Music links
- Hype Machine
- elbo.ws
- Music for Kids Who Can't Read Good
- Can you see the sunset from the southside?
- Hits in the Car
- A Certain Romance
- Herohill
- Speed of Dark
- Lost in your Inbox
- Vague Space
- Skatterbrain
- I Guess I'm Floating
- Largehearted Boy
- Neon Gold
- Another Form of Relief
- Cover Lay Down
- The Monsters Under the Bed Are Not Real
- Yellow Stereo
- Quick Before It Melts
- Knox Road
- Sand is Overrated
- Shake Your Fist
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Category Archives: Uncategorized
I’ve been a sinner, I’ve been a saint
Half Angel Half Light – The Men Bird Song – The Men Everything by this band up until 2012 seemed to operate on the principle of ‘more guitars, more yelling, more fun.’ They were a big, brash, straightforward garage rock band, with … Continue reading
God loves everybody, don’t remind me
Graceless – The National Every couple years we get a new album from The National. And every couple years, I experience that album in almost precisely the same way. On the first few listens, I enjoy it but nothing quite grabs … Continue reading
The grapes were probably sour anyway
The New Improved Hypocrisy – The Radio Dept. I generally find accusations of political hypocrisy to be pretty tiresome. Good for a little zing but not much more than that. Consistency is overrated, etc. But this one is so infuriating that … Continue reading
A hypothetical
We live in a country that is pretty divided on the issue of abortion. Rather than our current compromise (which effectively keeps abortion legal but permits states to make it very difficult or almost impossible to achieve), how about this … Continue reading
And everybody clap your hands and shout
On Our Way – The Royal Concept Want some sweet ear candy to distract you from the looming catastrophe that is our political system? Look no further than this song from yet another Swedish band that seems to have mastered the … Continue reading
When is negotiation normal?
There’s a talking point which says that it’s standard practice to negotiate over the debt ceiling, that ‘clean increases’ rarely happen. This might make it seem like the current strategy is just a normal extension of politics as it has … Continue reading
There are no sidelines in the shutdown fight
The Man Who Sold the World (Live & Loud) – Nirvana In a stable system of legislative democracy, all parties need some basic buy-in to the idea that the continued operation of government is intrinsically valuable. It is the background against … Continue reading
I said no thank you, dear old Uncle Sam
Who Needs You – The Orwells This may be the best song The Replacements never recorded. There are certain songs that simply belong as the opening track to a mixtape. “Who Needs You” is precisely such a song. With that opening … Continue reading
If my stubborn mouth doesn’t let me down
City Swan – Neko Case If I didn’t have the little booklet to tell me otherwise, I would swear that this new Neko Case record was just a bunch of Teenage Fanclub covers. Which is not a bad thing! Teenage Fanclub … Continue reading
Some thoughts on the rolling collapse of the the American political order
Already Lost – Rainer Maria 1. The Republicans have already won. This entire ‘debate’ is taking place on terrain to simply continue funding the government at the level of the sequester. Remember the sequester? The thing that was so ludicrously stupid that … Continue reading