A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Penumbra//Antumbra 12” single by Garbageface. If history has taught us anything about Karol “Garbageface” Orzechowsky, it has taught us that the artist takes a lot of joy in turning expectations that fans may have of him on their collective head – and the emcee’s newest 12” single, Penumbra//Antumbra, upholds that practice with focused intensity. The single effortlessly upends expectations; where convention demands a consistent structure through a song – there needs...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Patient Number 9 2LP by Ozzy Osbourne. With the last good Ozzy Osbourne album having been released over twenty years ago now (2001’s Down To Earth was respectable – 2010’s Scream was both an earnest and mawkish expression of Ozzy’s strengths as it tried to update its styling for a new, digital generation which fell flat and 2020’s Ordinary Man saw the singer shaking off a lot of rust but still...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the I Love You and I’m Sorry LP by Jacob Brodovsky. I started trying to write a review of Jacob Brodovky’s debut album, I Love You and I’m Sorry, six times before finally electing to do what the album does and just opening with a bit of candor: on my first play through the album, I was absolutely blown away. I knew I liked it, all I had to do was find...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Dumb & In Luv LP by Suzi Moon. After having released two EPs in the last sixteen months, it’s unlikely that fans expected a full-length album to be forthcoming from Suzi Moon – but the even greater surprise is just how incredibly good Dumb & In Luv is. Where the EPs hinted at some solid gutter-rock power, Dumb & In Luv goes a couple of steps further and reveals Moon’s potential...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the A Set of Steak Knives LP by Man’s Body. It’s funny how names and images have the power to be completely irrelevant, when it comes to music. Really think about it, reader; on first sight, a name like Man’s Body feels like it might be a little prog-gy or even a little metallic in intention, somehow. In the same way, “A Set of Steak Knives” feels like it may be sharp...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the LP+CD reissue of Live! by The Dils. While plenty of punk bands have been well exposed since the public became interested in learning about the early days of the L.A. punk scene (X’s catalogue has been reissued by Fat Possum Records, Porterhouse reissued (MIA) by The Germs and other labels have reissued titles by The Avengers, The Bags and The Runaways too), the truth is that giving all of the talent...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Drag Me LP by S-E-R-V-I-C-E. While fans already had a pretty good idea where Jon Spencer would end up following the dissolution of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion in 2016 (other than making appearances in the multitude of projects to which the guitarist had offered both his name and talent over the years, he also has a newly minted solo career to develop), the question of where drummer Russell Simins may...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Spencer Gets It Lit LP by Jon Spencer & the HITmakers. After breaking and then building upon the first new and surprisingly fertile ground that the guitarist had touched in years with Spencer Sings The Hits! in 2018, Jon Spencer has continued on the same creative terrain with Spencer Gets It Lit. For any other musician, such a statement could sound unsurprising and/or unexciting but – with a well-established history of...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Animal 12” EP by Suzi Moon. Important point: there are three songs on Suzi Moon’s Animal 12” EP. All three songs appear on both sides of said single so, where most vinyl releases are characterized by the movement from front to back, this single seeks to reprise its progression from one side to the next. That statement is not made as an indictment – it is made as an observation as...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Raising The Roof 12” EP by Booze & Glory. It’s funny how, over time, the purpose of EPs has seemed to change. In the Nineties (read: when I began paying attention), EPs took on a pretty lauded and/or respected position as several such titles came up from the underground . Of course, all things must come...