J. Niimi writes about music for the Chicago Reader, SPIN, City Pages, and SF Weekly, among other publications. In previous years he worked as a studio engineer, recorded eight albums as the drummer of Ashtray Boy, and hosted a weekly radio show on WHPK. He lives in Chicago with his wife and their two border terriers.
...Murmur is a lovingly rendered, well-researched look at R.E.M's
album of the same name, a gothic-tinged anomaly that seemed to come
out of nowhere amid the New Wave avalanche of the early
‘80s...illuminating.
*Cincinnati City Beat*
I'll leave the in-depth analysis of the record to Niimi, but trust
me, this is a title worth reading more about...even if you still
hate R.E.M. for unleashing that debacle called "Shiny Happy
People."
*Radio Free Chicago, May 2005*
...the book does a good job of bringing the reader into the world
of R.E.M. and the circumstances surrounding their official
full-length debut album which changed the music world. A must-read
for fans." --
*Mish Mash Music Reviews*
...the book goes a considerable distance towards explaining how
this enduringly astonishing album happened.
*Uncut*
33 1/3 is a fabulous series written with passion by an equally
fabulous cross-secton of today's best music journalists. This
series is a must for every serious record nerd out there! And I
know the nerds agree with me cause I'm having trouble keeping them
on the shelves.
*Edmund LeStrange, Book Buyer for Waterloo Records*
Writing about an album like R.E.M.’s debut can be treacherous. More
than 30 years after its release signaled the rise of alternative
music, Murmur somehow retains its playful sense of evasion, as
though purposefully obscuring its meaning in an attempt to make you
listen more closely. Explaining each lyric and riff risks deflating
its mystery, yet J. Niimi proceeds with caution. Perhaps his
greatest accomplishment is finding the right distance from his
subject, so that he can explain how the music works without telling
us what it’s about. That is, after all, the whole point.
*Pitchfork*
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