Norm MacDonaldHitler’s Dog, Gossip and Trickery According to SNL alum, one of the questions Lorne Michaels asks you when you’re auditioning is which cast of the show did you grow up on. Who were your guys? Mine was the Will Ferrell/Cheri Oteri/Norm Macdonald cast, so he was my guy for Weekend Update and it became obvious very quickly that either you got Norm Macdonald or you didn’t. On the one hand, he never became a superstar like Molly Shannon or...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Bela Sessions 12” reissue by Bauhaus. In order to really appreciate just exactly how radical Bauhaus was in the early stages of their career, one must recognize what they did seemingly as a matter of course – how different it was from everything else, and how boldly the band did it from day one. The group’s first release, the “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” single, is an ideal illustration of that difference; in...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the The Spark That Moves LP by Cancer Bats When a band gets six albums deep into their career, history has illustrated that one of two things happens: either the group releases a career-defining album, or they release the worst shit shingle in their catalogue. For every British Steel, Iron Fist, Machine Head, Divine Intervention or Sound of White Noise, there are also albums like Somewhere In Time, Take A Look In...
ThoroughbredsOriginal Motion Picture Soundtrack by Mondo Tees The great thing about the movie soundtrack vinyl revolution (for lack of a better word) is that it’s not just allowing for the appreciation of an underrated art form and the reissue of long forgotten music, but also that it’s given the small guys a chance. Maybe no movie deserved the title of underdog last year more than Thoroughbreds, which was ambitious, dark, hilarious, and tragically underrated. And who would have guessed that...
A Quiet Place Original Score Marco Baltrami (Mondo Tees) I love rooting for the little guy and so should you. Though A Quiet Place isn’t exactly a sleeper hit, it did start out from humble beginnings. Sure, a $17 million budget sounds like a lot, but it made twenty times that in the box office. Compare it to Black Panther and Avengers Infinity War which were the big hits of the year and cost $200 and $300 million, and that...
Adventure TimeCome Along With Me(Mondo Tees) Kudos to Adventure Time for figuring it out. And by it I mean IT. It was a show that everyone could enjoy, because it was simplistic in its design but deep in content. It can be appreciated both at a superficial level, as the adventures of Finn and Jake living in a fantasy world, or as an exploration of human nature. The show moved quickly and looked great while doing it. It told funny...
Marc MaronToo Real How’s the comedy bubble? Has it burst yet? Sure, for comedy fans, the comedy bubble was a godsent, bringing in a new crop of comedians who pushed the envelope and freshened things up a bit. That much was clear. But another thing that’s clear is that people are as unfunny as ever. That being said, it’s worth mentioning that most standup comedy is unfunny. Maybe I’m a curmudgeon, but the in-your-face high octane comedy with shiny powerpoint...
Sorry to Bother You 2018 was such a friggin’ good year for movies. Maybe because the artform has started opening the playing field to its audience and allowing more people than ever to make movies. A thing that musicians figured out a long time ago was a good thing. Who knows? I’ve never made a movie nor do I understand the intricacies of making one. What I do know is that independent movies are getting more attention than ever. Probably...
What a year 2018 was! Were there great releases? Heavens yes – there were enough great albums released this year that bands normally regarded as mainstays on my best-of lists of ANY year (like the Eels, for example) didn’t just get knocked down the numbers, they got knocked clean out of my ten best. Regarding metal albums specifically, Cancer Bats’ sixth album arrived and proved once more that, sometimes, a band’s sixth album can stand as proof that a good...