Republic, Lostby Lawrence Lessig Republic, Lost was a book that’s been on my watchlist for years. I don’t know exactly how I became interested in it but I’m kind of disappointed I never got around to it until now. Maybe Lawrence Lessig was on the Daily Show back...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the The Pain, The Blood and The Sword LP by Lion’s Law. There’s a certain comfort which can be found in a record which, while new, sounds familiar. As albums like that play, it can be pretty easy for a listener to...
CzarfaceThe Odds Czar Against Us Sometimes, as a music fan, things happen that can only be described as magic. We’re going through a vinyl revolution (or a vinyl bubble, depending on how you want to look at it), but we’re not going through a record store...
XetasThe Cypher How does one begin to describe Xetas? “Powerful,” that’s how. But also sinister, relentless, and exciting. Xetas came to my attention by pure chance. A chance I love to take with 12XU records. More and more they are becoming my primary source for...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Songs! From The Bathroom Stall? EP by Houston and the Dirty Rats. More than the other things that Songs! From The Bathroom Stall? certainly represents for Houston and the Dirty Rats, the most important rule to keep in mind...
BeckHyperspace(photo: turntablelab.com) I owe a lot to Beck. Scratch that, I owe a ton to Beck. I owe him because he taught me what good music should sound like. Jon Spencer once said that good music should sound a little weird and he’s right. As a kid in high...
Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the American Psycheby Ethan Watters Don’t let the cover fool you, Crazy Like Us id a lot more focused than the cover let’s on, with arrows exporting all the different disorders from the USA. Also, let’s note how a title like...
Mutations: The Many Strange Faces of Hardcore Punkby Sam McPheeters This, in the business, is what we call a “headscratcher.” On one hand, there is a ton to enjoy in Mutations, but I’m not sure what the goal of this book was or if it tries to accomplish anything....
WHO: Nice Guys WHAT: Self-titled WHY: I’ll gladly say that Nice Guys are the best band in Boston and fight anyone who wants to challenge that. Remember, this isn’t exactly the same band from 5 years ago. They used to stick to the EP format and sounded raw and...
Lifespan: Why We Age—and Why We Don’t Have Toby David A. Sinclair I’ve come to appreciate the format of popular science books the more I read them. The good ones are written by pros in the field, who actually have a science degree and do research in an...