No matter who you are or which philosophy you subscribe to, there's no arguing that fifteen years is a long time. Especially now – when the internet and diminished attention spans have reduced Andy Warhol's vaunted “fifteen minutes of fame” to...
I will openly admit that I arrived "late to the party" when it comes to Dropkick Murphys, and only really took notice of them after they were included in Scorsese's 2006 film, The Departed. Fortunately, they appear to be pulling off a feat that is...
I have been, and probably always will be, a sucker for ridiculously long-winded, painfully detailed stories, sentences and names. Whether it’s David Foster Wallace’s unique and cerebral form of prose in his bible-length novel Infinite Jest with sentences...
There are few devices in the English language and arts more regularly abused by bands than irony. It happens so regularly that it would be easy to assume the logic behind it goes something like, “We've got this idea that we want to try, but would likely be...
My pen name for my Ground Control column is The Aging Punk. Not The Aging Hippie, and certainly not The Aging Folkie. Much of my youth was spent actively fleeing and/or fighting the music presented on this disc, so it is surprising how much I enjoyed it. In its'...
For his major label debut, Sam Beam of Iron & Wine told Spin that he wanted to make a record that “sounds like the music people heard in their parents' car growing up… that early-to-mid-‘70s FM, radio-friendly music.” I'd argue that...
Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit have returned with Here We Rest, a southern-soul album recorded in their northern Alabama home of Muscle Shoals. It's an odd coincidence that Isbell's former band, Drive-By Truckers, has just released a new album (Go-Go Boots)...
As big a deal as The Strokes have been on the international rock scene for the last ten years, some people (this writer included) have been left cold and put off by the band. Why? From day one, the argument could be (and was, regularly) made that the band just sounded...
Hey there all you fine, upstandin' people, Sorry I'm a day late, but I hadda see a guy about a thing – ya know how it is. I may be a day late, but ain't comin' up short for ya, that's fo' sho' – innis issue o' da SWAG Report,...
Lengthening shadows stretching towards the dark edge of a sunset. That feeling when your heart sinks into your stomach. Horrifying. Bleak. Miserable. Beautiful. It can be tough to describe an album that hardly has words of its' own. Mamiffer’s newest album,...