MF DoomOperation: Doomsdayphoto: turntablelab.com Pity the state of mainstream hip hop. Seriously, pity it. I’ve completely tuned out and shun it. It’s one of those weird situations where I don’t listen to it, but I just know it sucks. I was in an Uber the other day and speaking to the driver, who was a rap fan and had insights into the process. I could pinpoint what I disliked about it, and he had names for these different elements. He...

What a year it’s been for live shows and what a time to be alive. Many of us took up hobbies during COVID and mine was trying to fill some gaps in my musical knowledge. Boy, did Superchunk fill that gap. Very seldom does a perfect band come along: one with a rich back catalog and a whole approach to making music that seems perfectly catered to your sensibilities. I can’t believe I hadn’t heard of Superchunk until a few...

Mastodon Hushed and Grim photo: thegroovemanscollection There’s a reason why Mastodon is currently one of the biggest metal bands that still matters. They don’t pack in stadiums, I know, but they’re not playing tiny venues either. They’re big enough to play all the late night shows (I’ve seen them on Letterman, Kimmel, and Fallon), and even occasionally do the oddball appearance (remember when they were on the Human Giant show?). Also, they have a sense of humor about themselves. These...

WHO: Abbie Barrett WHAT: I Will Let You Know WHY: We try to promote the local bands here on Ground Control, because let’s be honest, we’re a website of the people. No, but seriously, Abbie Barrett is someone we’re going to be watching more closely because with I Will Let You Know, she has delivered a hard-hitting, catchy, riffarific pop-punk album that’s chock-full of catchy tracks and perfect for the Summer. You know you’re listening to greatness when, after just...

Corporate Rock Sucks: The Rise and Fall of SST Recordsby Jim Ruland I’m going to start calling Jim Ruland “Jim Rules-and” or “Jim Rules Land.” By the time I came to punk rock  in the late 90s (and it really is a calling), SST was already going “dormant.” It a took a few years of dedication to realize I had to go back to the source to truly understand modern music and that inevitably led me to SST Records. But,...

Steve GunnOther You Few albums in the past few years have made the impact on me that Other You has. Part of it has to do with the fact that I just wasn’t expecting it. It’s not exactly a smash hit album, so my expectations weren’t set (i.e. I hadn’t been jaded yet by public opinion), so I wasn’t expecting to fall in love. Most of why I’m impressed by this album is that I didn’t know I needed it....

It’s safe to say that the Sleaford Mods are in a category all of their own, and this makes them hard to describe. I know descriptions don’t matter but with this band, it’s kind of fun. Sleaford Mods are a rap group (I think) made up of two British guys whose music sounds like a cockney guy speed-talking about working-class problems over simplistic, but grooving, beats. It’s kind of punk rock in the sense that it reinterprets and simplifies rap...

I’ve been a fan of Jon Snodgrass for over 20 years and have never seen him live. Embarrassing, I know. Especially considering how much I owe the man. Armchair Martian is such a no-brainer for anyone into pop punk, especially the Descendents/ALL/Fat Wreck variety, and I was hooked from the beginning (hey, when’s a new album coming out?), but I didn’t think country music could be cool until I heard his band Drag the River with ALL frontman Chad Price...

Draculaby Bram Stoker Remember when vampires were hot? Are they still hot? I think so, because What We Do in the Shadows is so popular. Maybe vampires work better as a punch line. Whatever the case, I’ve always thought vampires were a cool concoction. Maybe because it’s been parodied so much or maybe it’s the element of a foreigner as a tortured soul forced to feed off the blood of the innocent. Ghoulish! I remember Coppola’s Dracula was a huge...

Photos by the unmatchable Brittany Rose...