A Christmas Caroland Other Christmas Writingsby Charles DickensIntroduction and notes by Katherine Kroeber Wiley It’s a tale as old as time… if we started counting about 175 years ago. Seriously, I couldn’t believe it when I looked it up. A Christmas Carol was...

The Dark Knight Strikes Againby Frank Miller Isn’t this what everyone wanted? We all loved The Dark Knight Returns. I think at the time we saw it as an edgy dark take on a beloved superhero. A recent reread kind of puts the story, and Frank Miller, more in...

Photo: Kay Davila You know, sometimes life gets the best of us. Like being overworked, or started a new job (work!) or just family obligations. My “distraction” was vacation. I went to Aruba. Sue me, OK? But, I deserve it. Also, I loved it. But I mention...

Photos by Kay...

Every year we “joke” about having the best “Best of the Year List” list. We half-kid, since there some truly smart and well-seasoned music lovers out there, but I think this year we mean it. Every publication has had a best-of list more laughable than the next....

WHO: Sharp Pins WHAT: Radio DDR WHY: It’s hard to describe this one. Radio DDR is sugary sweet and tender at times and bubble gum pop otherwise. It’s lo-fi like a 60s record with some very heavy guitars. I keep trying to convince myself I don’t like it, but I...

Riddim and Ting by Teenage Engineering Welcome to a brand-new column here on Ground Control! One where we review cool products in a one-off: stuff that was so cool that we couldn’t wait for our Back to School Guide. We are calling it Lost in the Supermarket, and what...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the limited edition Girly-Sound To Guyville 7LP Box Set by Liz Phair. I confess that, when I first read about Liz Phair’s Girly-Sound cassettes in the SPIN Alternative Record Guide about thirty years ago (even in that,...

CompanionOriginal Motion Picture Soundtrackby Hrishikesh Hirway There’s only one group of movie fans more annoying than musical fans and that’s horror fans. They’re almost exclusively the same people who are overly obsessed with Halloween. A sad lot, really,...

WHO: Die Spitz WHAT: Something to Consume WHY: Die Spitz blew up and are growing the way a good band would, by honing their skills, playing shows non-stop, and letting the buzz happen naturally. It doesn’t hurt that they put out an awesome record Teeth and that their...

DescendentsMilo Goes to College There have been few albums in my life that have been breakthrough albums. The kind of albums that open your mind. Albums that, when they hit you, you say to yourself, “Oh, wait a minute. I see it now.” Like that final scene in the...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Empty Bottles LP by BOGOs. Strictly on the face of it, it’s really, really easy to mistake The BOGOs in general – and their Empty Bottles album in specific – as a novelty. Before listeners hear a note of music...