This week on Stylus

Mike of Troubled Diva reviews the Queer Noises 1961-1978: From The Closet To The Charts compilation, as put together by Jon Savage, author of 'England's Dreaming': "The album concludes, almost inevitably, with Sylvester’s “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real),” the first major hit single by an openly gay act, here re-contextualised as a moment of triumph for gay culture, ushering in a new era of visibility and acceptance—but you can probably collate your own history from here, as the signposts are clearly marked. It is to the lasting credit of Savage’s wildly uneven but fascinating compilation that this hitherto shadowy first chapter can now be filled in".

Also:

Mike Powell suggests that, with I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass, Yo La Tengo are standing still.

Derek Miller scours Beck's The Information for evidence of his reputed fascination with Scientology and decides that "for better or worse ... [the album] is both exactly what you feared it might be and also a document of some of Beck’s best groove-based material since Midnite Vultures".