Tom O'ConnorTHE AURA PT. 1: THE RECORDIn 1984 Canada was in the midst of the biggest recession since the 1930s depression. Dealing with substantial interest rates that loomed…6 min read·Jun 26, 2021----
Tom O'ConnorThe Making of your Musical DNAIn our recent interview with Treephones’ Stephen Trothen, he said “the music you “listen to between 17 and 23, is the thing that makes your…5 min read·Jun 1, 2021----
Tom O'ConnorWhy do we Crave Breakup Albums?Recently I stumbled upon an article comparing Taylor Swift’s Folklore to the confessional poetry tradition of Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath…5 min read·May 18, 2021----
Tom O'ConnorTom Waits and the Silencing of the Margins.In his book The Many Lives of Tom Waits, Patrick Humphries writes that Tom Waits’ voice “sounds like it was hauled through Hades in a…3 min read·May 4, 2021----
Tom O'ConnorFUNC MUSIC: FUNCTIONALISM, PUNK, AND ZEN ARCADEThe idea of functionalism is one that we frequently apply to architecture but rarely do we talk about in music. Functionalism theorizes…4 min read·May 1, 2021----
Tom O'ConnorHear Me Out: Every Picture Tells a StoryRecently I was given the task on social media of listing my 10 most influential albums. I ended my list with Rod Stewart’s Every Picture…3 min read·May 6, 2020----
Tom O'ConnorAre we Really Improving on Improving?This past season the St. Louis Blues won the Stanley Cup. The bigger story seems to be that these champions were dead last at the end of…10 min read·Jan 6, 2020----
Tom O'ConnorMy favourite music of 2019: The SinglesJust last week I posted my favourite albums of 2019. The thing is 2019 offered up a plethora of amazing songs that either hint at a future…6 min read·Dec 26, 2019----