Archives

WHO: (the) Melvins WHAT: Tarantula Heart WHY: The Melvins “joke” that this is the best album they’ve released ever or in a long time. I don’t know if that’s necessarily true, because I remember Bases Loaded being pretty great. The thing with the Melvins is...

Sarah De Valliere The Healing (independent) The Healing is one of the most beautiful albums I have heard in a long time. De Valliere’s vocals and piano are sweet and lush. Her melodies caress the ears. The music is soulful pop, with touches of blues and jazz, as well...

The Ergs!/Boris the Sprinkler/EggheadLive @ Crystal BallroomSomerville, MA One of the funnest tours of 2024 might be over, but it’s never too late to find out about it. Huh, I should work on my intros more. But why didn’t I write about the Egghead/Boris the...

Purple Rain40th Anniversary Edition This is a weird one. The soundtrack is a banger, but the movie is straight up Prince propaganda. That may be obvious to everyone, but it’s also my main hangup with Prince. Prince the man, as he portrays himself, is what’s...

WHO: Dog Party WHAT: Dangerous WHY: If you want straight up Ramonesy punk rock (an easy thing to find) done well (NOT an easy thing to find), look no further than Dog Party. It’s got all the catchy melodies and heavy riffs you’d want, but these ladies put their own...

East of Eden East of Eden might be one of the most celebrated books ever and Elia Kazan one of the most celebrated directors ever, but boy did they botch this one. I hate to come in so hot, but this movie just brought it out of me. It’s one of those cases where I...

Philip K DickSelected Short Stories I consider myself a sci-fi book nerd. Or at least I used to be. A new job can be a stressful thing. So much so that I haven’t read any books this year…period. At one point I was reading 50 a year! What happened to me? Oh, yeah,...

WHO: Kurt M Spieler/Vinegar Syndrome WHAT: New York Ninja WHY: Look, the point of SPOTLIGHT was to focus on music, not movies, but there’s a first time for everything. Imagine a man discovering 6 hours of footage, without sound, of an abandoned martial arts movie...

To Kill a Mockingbird Let’s think of a simpler time: 2020 mid-pandemic. To pass the quarantine, my wife and I had taken up watching all the movies from the AFI 100 list. It’s really a great way to get exposed to great movies you would otherwise never see. And it...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the “Mantra” b/w “Surfers On Acid” 7” single by Trabants. It’s impressive how engaging Trabants prove they’re capable of being on their “Mantra” single, particularly given that the first which...