A deeper look at the grooves pressed into Dave Depper’s Europa LP. It might sound a little unusual, but sometimes an explanation is required when an artist ventures so far from their established normal creative output – if only so fans don’t get outraged because they’ve purchased something that they did not expect in any way. It doesn’t take much – explanations can often be made in a space roughly the size of a hype sticker – and then the...

The Dirty Nil Fuck Art (Dine Alone Records) Rare is the band which knows precisely who they are and actually celebrates that identity rather than asking listeners to excuse it. There’s a certain spark in the music made by bands like that – Alice Cooper Group had it, as did Dead Kennedys, Eagles of Death Metal and Green Day – and The Dirty Nil steps up boldly to prove that they’ve got it with their third album, Fuck Art. Of...

Our Mother the Mountain50th Anniversary EditionTownes Van Zandt There comes a time in a punk rocker’s life where they have to go back to where it all came from and really branch out. And really, that’s what good punk rock does: it broadens our horizons. For a while, punks were really getting in touch with their folk side. That has since passed, but for aging punks, the midlife crisis music discovery seems to be country. You start with basics like...