review

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the “Berliner Pilsner” 7” by C.C. Voltage. Prior to hearing the “Berliner Pilsner” 7” single, I confess that I had never heard any of C.C. Voltage’s music before but, after hearing these two songs, I feel like I know him. More than that, hearing the “Berliner Pilsner” 7” really takes me back to a different time; a time when when rock had a certain undeniable swagger and a kind of distortion which...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Kepi and Friends – Full Moon Forever LP by Kepi Ghoulie. After having already reviewed Kepi Ghoulie’s “other” album released this year (the Ramones In Love LP), I can say with regret that I approached Ghoulie’s output this annum in the wrong order. Full Moon Forever is a really good album which features covers of songs by bands like The Cure, Iggy Pop, Nick Cave, The Cars and the Jesus and...

The Strokes The Singles Volume 1 (Legacy Recordings/Sony Music) The Strokes might be singlehandedly responsible for bringing the alternative renaissance of 2000-2010 to the masses. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Well, in that decade, there was a kind of rock music style (not necessarily new) that, for a lack of better term, was becoming more mainstream. That era saw the ascent of bands like Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Interpol, LCD Soundsystem (to a lesser degree), The White Stripes, and The...

Chainsaw ManChapter 1- 122by Tatsuki Fujimoto This is the year I got more into manga. I’ve always been an anime fan, but I started to realize that some of my favorite animes were never going to come back, so I went back to the manga to get more content. Chainsaw Man was one of the most high-profile animes of 2022 and definitely one of our favorite TV shows. The manga is ahead of the TV show, and as a fan...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Street Sermons LP by Daddy Long Legs. It’s funny how an album cover is capable of getting the gears to begin running in a listener’s mind and cause them to begin drawing conclusions and/or forming expectations of the music before they even hear a note. In the case of Daddy Long Legs’ debut album, Street Sermons, the image on the album’s cover sort of cross a couple of wires; the black...

Black Adam Look, I like the Rock, OK? I have for a long time. I know he acted like a total jabroni through the entire making of Black Adam, trying to become the universe runner of the DCU while peddling his brand of wrestler-turned-legitimate-actor and his weird liquors, but maybe having the Rock be the new face of DC wasn’t such a farfetched idea. And of course it didn’t work out. This was all too little too late. And...

Claudia Hoyser Red Lights Turning Green (GFI Music) Every now and then, an artist takes you by surprise. Who would expect the Aging Punk to love a Country singer? And not an alt-country artist, either; a pure, down-home Country artist. I am now officially a Claudia Hoyser fan. A local record store (Record Archive — if you’re ever in Rochester, NY) provides pizza and beer and free music every Wednesday. I often stop in to see what they have. Hoyser...

The Philosophy of Modern Songby Bob Dylan Could anyone but Bob Dylan have written a book like this? I use the words “book” and “Bob Dylan” lightly because I don’t think either of those things are true. Let me explain. The Philosophy of Modern Song is just a plain weird book. It’s fun, sure, but it’s also bizarre as hell. What it is is 65 essays on 65 songs that we guess made a big impact on Dylan. Or maybe...

Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilizationby Neil deGrasse Tyson I know Neil deGrasse Tyson is often the victim of ridicule, but I can’t help but like the guy. At the very least he’s considered annoying because he likes to challenge our understanding of things, and people don’t like that. He can sometimes be that guy at parties who likes to correct people, so of course that’s annoying. It’s just that NGT (those who know him personally call him that, or...

The Problem with Work: Feminism, Marxism, Antiwork Politics, and Postwork Imaginariesby Kathi Weeks The struggle of the proletariat against Capitalism is hard and real. So is the struggle against this book. I should know better than to commit to a book with such an enchanting title, because the subject matter sounds interesting and relevant. However, the reality is that The Problem with Work is damn-near unreadable for the entirety of its 230 pages. I’ve had a long academic career and...