Aimee Mann - little bombs, 2005

"‘Little Bombs’ was the first song from this album to leap out at me and it remains one of my favorites. I love how it’s quite busy musically — with layers of atmospheric percussion, a propulsive acoustic guitar and the piano and electric guitar trading off accent notes — but somehow feels achingly intimate. And I love the metaphor of a person’s life as an unexploded shell."

Aimee Mann - she really wants you, 2005

"For The Forgotten Arm, Mann hired a new (for her) cast of studio pros and had them play mid-’70s roots rock in the style of The Faces and Lynyrd Skynyrd (or in the album’s softer moments The Band and Tumbleweed Connection-era Elton John). For some of these players, this sort of meat-and-potatoes country rock was second nature; guitarist Jeff Trott, for example, who made his rep on Sheryl Crow’s second album. Others were slightly removed from their usual sphere; fellow guitarist Julian Coryell is more associated with jazz than cowboy-chord rock. At times the wailing guitar crosses the line from authentically 1970s into schlock, with the worst excesses come from Trott. On She Really Wants You, he sounds like a wind machine is blowing his hair. His solo on Dear John, which is similar in style, tone and technique, is even more stadium; the vibrato is so foot-on-the-monitor over the top you wonder whether Trott could possibly be being serious."

Aimee Mann - goodbye caroline, 2005

"Mann’s record traces the relationship of John, an alcoholic boxer, and his love being the titular Caroline. And, this tune inside of that larger narrative just sings; a jangly pop classicist gem with a bit of folk-rock flavouring thrown in there too."

Aimee Mann - ghost world, 2000

"Bachelor No. 2 or, the Last Remains of the Dodo is the third album by the American singer-songwriter Aimee Mann, released on May 2, 2000. Some songs were previously released on the Magnolia soundtrack (1999), which Mann wrote in the same period. "The Fall of the World's Own Optimist" was co-written with the English singer-songwriter Elvis Costello."

Aimee Mann - video, 2005

"Aimee Mann has been at this rock and roll game a long, long time. She got a big profile boost at the turn of the century when her soundtrack to Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia lead to an Oscar nomination for her song Save Me. She might not be a superstar, but Mann seems to have carved out a solid and manageable level of fame and success."

The New Pornographers - firework in the falling snow acoustic, 2023

"The New Pornographers made the move to Merge this year with their low-key excellent Continue As A Guest. Today they’ve shared some nice bonus material from that project: an acoustic version of “Firework In The Falling Snow” featuring none other than Aimee Mann. It was recorded by Mann’s husband Michael Penn and is blessed with some lovely pedal steel. Mann slides into the New Pornographers universe so naturally that I now want to hear a whole EP with her subbing in for Kathryn Calder and Neko Case."

Aimee Mann - driving sideways, 1999

"Mann’s entry to the music business came when she began playing with various groups in Boston’s early 1980s punk scene. In 1983 she formed the band ’Til Tuesday with drummer Michael Hausman ’80, who now is her manager. After gaining the attention of the local radio station WBCN-FM, ’Til Tuesday built enough momentum to get signed by Epic Records. Their debut album, Voices Carry, connected with listeners, and the title track went to number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. Having a hit song and a video in heavy rotation on MTV ratcheted up the pressure for their next two albums. It was clear by the time the third album (Everything’s Different Now) was finished, that Epic’s vision of the band’s artistic direction clashed with Mann’s. Epic gave the record little support, and Mann struggled for four years to get out of a seven-album contract with Epic."

Aimee Mann - you do, 1999

“The attention I got in my family was negative attention. I equated that to: if somebody looks at you, it’s not good because you’re going to be criticised or yelled at or made fun of. I wanted to play music, but I didn’t like the idea of being in an airport and people looking at me. It’s that animal instinct – when another animal is staring at you, you physically experience it as a threat.”