Alfred Soto
@sotoalfred.bsky.social
I write things. Pitchfork. Stereogum. SPIN. Vice Chair of https://bsky.app/profile/floridafilmcritics.bsky.social
Space and light and dreams
That's what people need.
Space and light and dreams
That's what people need.
Pinned
Miguel: CAOS
Read Alfred Soto’s review of the album.
pitchfork.com
Eight (!) years since his last album, Miguel releases CAOS, on which....he does little that's different. So much has changed. My review for @pitchfork.com. pitchfork.com/reviews/albu...
What a bounty. Richie Furay and Michael Martin Murphey, two of McCartney + Wings' few flop singles (and terrific anyway), and uh Ambrosia covering "Magical Mystery Tour." Plus: Meat Loaf!
Ranking #39 singles, U.S. edition: 1975-1979
A phenomenon I've learned compiling these songs is how many awesome tunes hang out hourglass-like at the top and bottom of the top forty.
humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com
November 14, 2025 at 11:31 PM
What a bounty. Richie Furay and Michael Martin Murphey, two of McCartney + Wings' few flop singles (and terrific anyway), and uh Ambrosia covering "Magical Mystery Tour." Plus: Meat Loaf!
Reposted by Alfred Soto
The party espousing these views is rife with pedophiles who accuse people in my profession of grooming children. Yet communism is a threat. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2025/11/14/r...
Red Scare: Act III
News flash: Florida’s board of education has pinpointed what ails our system. Commies, commies everywhere: The principles also call for:
humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com
November 14, 2025 at 2:22 PM
The party espousing these views is rife with pedophiles who accuse people in my profession of grooming children. Yet communism is a threat. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2025/11/14/r...
I don't know if HEDDA is a good movie: THE GREAT GATSBY meets SALTBURN. A lively adaptation of the Ibsen war horse for sure. wp.me/pzXeC-kEO
This ‘Hedda’ isn’t Ibsen, and it’s almost enough
The second best thing about Hedda is that you needn’t know a word of Henrik Ibsen’s stage war horse. Nia DaCosta (Candyman) treats the play as the springboard for an exercise in malevol…
wp.me
November 14, 2025 at 6:05 PM
I don't know if HEDDA is a good movie: THE GREAT GATSBY meets SALTBURN. A lively adaptation of the Ibsen war horse for sure. wp.me/pzXeC-kEO
and of course Josh O'Connor plays him
November 14, 2025 at 3:20 PM
and of course Josh O'Connor plays him
The party espousing these views is rife with pedophiles who accuse people in my profession of grooming children. Yet communism is a threat. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2025/11/14/r...
Red Scare: Act III
News flash: Florida’s board of education has pinpointed what ails our system. Commies, commies everywhere: The principles also call for:
humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com
November 14, 2025 at 2:22 PM
The party espousing these views is rife with pedophiles who accuse people in my profession of grooming children. Yet communism is a threat. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2025/11/14/r...
Red Scare: Act III
News flash: Florida's board of education has pinpointed what ails our system. Commies, commies everywhere: The principles also call for:
News flash: Florida's board of education has pinpointed what ails our system. Commies, commies everywhere: The principles also call for:
Red Scare: Act III
News flash: Florida's board of education has pinpointed what ails our system. Commies, commies everywhere: The principles also call for:
humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com
November 14, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Red Scare: Act III
News flash: Florida's board of education has pinpointed what ails our system. Commies, commies everywhere: The principles also call for:
News flash: Florida's board of education has pinpointed what ails our system. Commies, commies everywhere: The principles also call for:
Reposted by Alfred Soto
If you heard not another note of these acts, these extended play releases would represent their best. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2018/07/28/t...
The best EPs
Check my list. If you heard not another note of these acts, these extended play releases would represent their best. Unfortunately, Americans, suspicious of singles because they lack the gravity of…
humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com
November 14, 2025 at 11:10 AM
If you heard not another note of these acts, these extended play releases would represent their best. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2018/07/28/t...
Reposted by Alfred Soto
EPs are the flavour of the month!
bsky.app/profile/alsh...
bsky.app/profile/alsh...
i love putting a bunch of EPs in a playlist and listening to them in a row, musical equivalent of a tapas restaurant
November 14, 2025 at 11:14 AM
EPs are the flavour of the month!
bsky.app/profile/alsh...
bsky.app/profile/alsh...
If you heard not another note of these acts, these extended play releases would represent their best. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2018/07/28/t...
The best EPs
Check my list. If you heard not another note of these acts, these extended play releases would represent their best. Unfortunately, Americans, suspicious of singles because they lack the gravity of…
humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com
November 14, 2025 at 11:10 AM
If you heard not another note of these acts, these extended play releases would represent their best. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2018/07/28/t...
Reposted by Alfred Soto
Egads! Radiohead outranks Mystikal? What kind of crap is this?!?! Kidding. "Nude" is wonderful on its own terms. wp.me/pzXeC-h0M
Ranking #37 singles, U.S. edition: 2000-2008
No way in John Bunyan’s heaven would Radiohead have outranked Mystikal in a normal year; but “Nude” provides Thom Yorke the ideal setting for his scorched earth mewl, which in mos…
wp.me
November 13, 2025 at 11:36 PM
Egads! Radiohead outranks Mystikal? What kind of crap is this?!?! Kidding. "Nude" is wonderful on its own terms. wp.me/pzXeC-h0M
Reposted by Alfred Soto
Lyfe Jennings...I remember reading about his problems outside of music and recoiling a bit
November 13, 2025 at 11:38 PM
Lyfe Jennings...I remember reading about his problems outside of music and recoiling a bit
Egads! Radiohead outranks Mystikal? What kind of crap is this?!?! Kidding. "Nude" is wonderful on its own terms. wp.me/pzXeC-h0M
Ranking #37 singles, U.S. edition: 2000-2008
No way in John Bunyan’s heaven would Radiohead have outranked Mystikal in a normal year; but “Nude” provides Thom Yorke the ideal setting for his scorched earth mewl, which in mos…
wp.me
November 13, 2025 at 11:36 PM
Egads! Radiohead outranks Mystikal? What kind of crap is this?!?! Kidding. "Nude" is wonderful on its own terms. wp.me/pzXeC-h0M
Reposted by Alfred Soto
I reviewed Danny Brown and Armand Hammer + The Alchemist's latest albums, two of the year's densest -- and I haven't even gotten to Rosalía's. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2025/11/13/d...
Density: Danny Brown and Armand Hammer
Two of the year’s most difficult listens, as intricate as latticework, appear in this week’s roundup. A Danny Brown fan since Old and of billy woods and Euclid since 2022, I took genero…
humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com
November 13, 2025 at 5:19 PM
I reviewed Danny Brown and Armand Hammer + The Alchemist's latest albums, two of the year's densest -- and I haven't even gotten to Rosalía's. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2025/11/13/d...
I reviewed Danny Brown and Armand Hammer + The Alchemist's latest albums, two of the year's densest -- and I haven't even gotten to Rosalía's. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2025/11/13/d...
Density: Danny Brown and Armand Hammer
Two of the year’s most difficult listens, as intricate as latticework, appear in this week’s roundup. A Danny Brown fan since Old and of billy woods and Euclid since 2022, I took genero…
humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com
November 13, 2025 at 5:19 PM
I reviewed Danny Brown and Armand Hammer + The Alchemist's latest albums, two of the year's densest -- and I haven't even gotten to Rosalía's. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2025/11/13/d...
Density: Danny Brown and Armand Hammer
Two of the year's most difficult listens, as intricate as latticework, appear in this week's roundup. A Danny Brown fan since Old and of billy woods and Euclid since 2022, I took generous gulps of these albums on plane trips last week less calamitous than…
Two of the year's most difficult listens, as intricate as latticework, appear in this week's roundup. A Danny Brown fan since Old and of billy woods and Euclid since 2022, I took generous gulps of these albums on plane trips last week less calamitous than…
Density: Danny Brown and Armand Hammer
Two of the year's most difficult listens, as intricate as latticework, appear in this week's roundup. A Danny Brown fan since Old and of billy woods and Euclid since 2022, I took generous gulps of these albums on plane trips last week less calamitous than expected given the shutdown and a Chicago snowstorm. I'll get to Rosalía soon enough.
humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com
November 13, 2025 at 4:58 PM
Density: Danny Brown and Armand Hammer
Two of the year's most difficult listens, as intricate as latticework, appear in this week's roundup. A Danny Brown fan since Old and of billy woods and Euclid since 2022, I took generous gulps of these albums on plane trips last week less calamitous than…
Two of the year's most difficult listens, as intricate as latticework, appear in this week's roundup. A Danny Brown fan since Old and of billy woods and Euclid since 2022, I took generous gulps of these albums on plane trips last week less calamitous than…
Reposted by Alfred Soto
Manca secondo il mio umile parere aver citato tra i primi posti( per gusto personale) il B side dei CURE dell’album Standing on the Beach, che è una raccolta incredibile dei singoli inciso originariamente sulla tape ricordo quando lo comprai… 🛸
A wonderful late 20th century relic, the b-side compilation worked as a collection of failed concepts, lapidary gestures, and songs too good to leave in archives. My favorites. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2019/01/13/t...
The best B-side and rarities compilations
Having covered compilations and B-sides already, I wanted to cover B-side and rarity coms, omitting things like Wingspan and Substance for collecting A-sides. I couldn’t omit Louder Than Bomb…
humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com
November 13, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Manca secondo il mio umile parere aver citato tra i primi posti( per gusto personale) il B side dei CURE dell’album Standing on the Beach, che è una raccolta incredibile dei singoli inciso originariamente sulla tape ricordo quando lo comprai… 🛸
Reposted by Alfred Soto
A wonderful late 20th century relic, the b-side compilation worked as a collection of failed concepts, lapidary gestures, and songs too good to leave in archives. My favorites. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2019/01/13/t...
The best B-side and rarities compilations
Having covered compilations and B-sides already, I wanted to cover B-side and rarity coms, omitting things like Wingspan and Substance for collecting A-sides. I couldn’t omit Louder Than Bomb…
humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com
November 13, 2025 at 11:05 AM
A wonderful late 20th century relic, the b-side compilation worked as a collection of failed concepts, lapidary gestures, and songs too good to leave in archives. My favorites. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2019/01/13/t...
Reposted by Alfred Soto
2) Jazz Butcher Conspiracy "Dr Cholmondley Repents: A-Sides, B-Sides and Seasides" (UK)
open.spotify.com/album/3kNi4s...
open.spotify.com/album/3kNi4s...
Dr Cholmondley Repents: A-Sides, B-Sides and Seasides
open.spotify.com
November 13, 2025 at 12:05 PM
2) Jazz Butcher Conspiracy "Dr Cholmondley Repents: A-Sides, B-Sides and Seasides" (UK)
open.spotify.com/album/3kNi4s...
open.spotify.com/album/3kNi4s...
A wonderful late 20th century relic, the b-side compilation worked as a collection of failed concepts, lapidary gestures, and songs too good to leave in archives. My favorites. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2019/01/13/t...
The best B-side and rarities compilations
Having covered compilations and B-sides already, I wanted to cover B-side and rarity coms, omitting things like Wingspan and Substance for collecting A-sides. I couldn’t omit Louder Than Bomb…
humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com
November 13, 2025 at 11:05 AM
A wonderful late 20th century relic, the b-side compilation worked as a collection of failed concepts, lapidary gestures, and songs too good to leave in archives. My favorites. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2019/01/13/t...
Reposted by Alfred Soto
Hell yeah! THIS is how "Hey Jude" should've sounded. Thanks, Wilson Pickett. As for the Beatles, well, George Harrison had...good intentions w/"Bangla Desh." wp.me/pzXeC-kEB
Ranking #23 singles, U.S. edition: 1969-1972
No sooner had “Hey Jude” had begun its crawl down the carts than Wilson Pickett unearthed the soul gem awaiting the Stax treatment. When Paul McCartney sang it, he stressed his role as …
wp.me
November 13, 2025 at 12:17 AM
Hell yeah! THIS is how "Hey Jude" should've sounded. Thanks, Wilson Pickett. As for the Beatles, well, George Harrison had...good intentions w/"Bangla Desh." wp.me/pzXeC-kEB
Hell yeah! THIS is how "Hey Jude" should've sounded. Thanks, Wilson Pickett. As for the Beatles, well, George Harrison had...good intentions w/"Bangla Desh." wp.me/pzXeC-kEB
Ranking #23 singles, U.S. edition: 1969-1972
No sooner had “Hey Jude” had begun its crawl down the carts than Wilson Pickett unearthed the soul gem awaiting the Stax treatment. When Paul McCartney sang it, he stressed his role as …
wp.me
November 13, 2025 at 12:17 AM
Hell yeah! THIS is how "Hey Jude" should've sounded. Thanks, Wilson Pickett. As for the Beatles, well, George Harrison had...good intentions w/"Bangla Desh." wp.me/pzXeC-kEB
Reposted by Alfred Soto
Neil's smiling because of the publishing income from these covers. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2020/01/03/t...
The best Neil Young covers
Around seven-thirty this morning my brains spilled into my smoothie — thank the Everly Brothers turning Neil Young’s psychedelic woozer “Mr. Soul” into a combination of The …
humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com
November 12, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Neil's smiling because of the publishing income from these covers. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2020/01/03/t...
Neil's smiling because of the publishing income from these covers. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2020/01/03/t...
The best Neil Young covers
Around seven-thirty this morning my brains spilled into my smoothie — thank the Everly Brothers turning Neil Young’s psychedelic woozer “Mr. Soul” into a combination of The …
humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com
November 12, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Neil's smiling because of the publishing income from these covers. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2020/01/03/t...
Reposted by Alfred Soto
Lately I side with Rob Sheffield re TRANS: underrated so long that now it's overrated. Good album, though. I'll take LIFE, with politics as gnarly as his guitar lines. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2018/12/18/r...
Ranking Neil Young in the 1980s
Received maligning, let’s call it. None of these albums are great, even the vaunted comeback released in the year of Peak Boomer Comeback, but many of these are albums are good. Who cares how…
humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com
November 12, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Lately I side with Rob Sheffield re TRANS: underrated so long that now it's overrated. Good album, though. I'll take LIFE, with politics as gnarly as his guitar lines. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2018/12/18/r...
Lately I side with Rob Sheffield re TRANS: underrated so long that now it's overrated. Good album, though. I'll take LIFE, with politics as gnarly as his guitar lines. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2018/12/18/r...
Ranking Neil Young in the 1980s
Received maligning, let’s call it. None of these albums are great, even the vaunted comeback released in the year of Peak Boomer Comeback, but many of these are albums are good. Who cares how…
humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com
November 12, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Lately I side with Rob Sheffield re TRANS: underrated so long that now it's overrated. Good album, though. I'll take LIFE, with politics as gnarly as his guitar lines. humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2018/12/18/r...