A deeper look at the grooves pressed into Scott Collins’ Purple Pain LP. There aren’t many artists making music right now who are capable of introducing themselves as clearly having both their heart on their sleeve as well as a chip clearly on their shoulder, but that’s exactly what Scott Collins does on his Purple Pain LP. From the moment stylus catches groove and “Killer Crush” opens the running of Purple Pain‘s A-side, Collins straddles a line between defining warm...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into Bass Drum Of Death’s “Live… And Let Die” LP. Even on first glance at the cover of “Live… And Let Die“, I began to get excited. The cover of the album reminded me of so many other live albums I’d seen before; with a black and white photo and an arguably trite title, the album instantly calls to mind similarities to live albums by bands like Aerosmith, Judas Priest, The Black Keys,...
Dog Party Dangerous Good things come to those who wait, and for me, that’s the new Dog Party record “Dangerous.” Listening to Dog Party brought back some sweet memories from my college days. Days when I first starting getting into the Ramones. I had been exposed to punk rock in high school and it made a lasting impression but it was only in college that I started doing my homework and learning the basics. NOFX (RIP) only takes you so...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Undefeated LP by Frank Turner. After releasing nine albums in seventeen years (and that’s just the studio albums – there are more comps and live albums that have appeared, as well), many fans may have a bit of difficulty getting excited about a new Frank Turner album. Granted, the singer has never made any gross missteps along the way in his catalogue, but it could easily be argued that fans feel...
Dune Part TwoOriginal Motion Picture Soundtrackby Hans Zimmer Can you believe they made a Dune movie AGAIN? And that it turned out THIS good? Jodowosky’s Dune opened my world to the mythos surrounding the book and to Jodorowksy himself. My cultural world was changed after watching that documentary, so of course, after seeing David Lynch’s movie, the idea of a new Dune movie is a loaded proposition to me. What was a good sign was that Denis Villeneuve would be...
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 tends to hook listeners is the thing that is noticeably absent from the band’s construct: a singer. Usually, a band’s singer is the first thing that engages listeners and brings them into the music but, without that, Trabants finds a way to...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the black vinyl 30th Anniversary reissue of Alice In Chains’ Jar Of Flies EP. After seeing the multitude of “deluxe” variants of Alice In Chains’ Jar Of Flies EP that have been released in celebration of its thirtieth anniversary (on multi-colored vinyl, on vinyl with little replica houseflies pressed into it and so on), it’s refreshing to see the record reappear remastered and reissued on the most apt color vinyl possible: on...
Pissed Jeans Half-Divorced (Sub Pop) Who says punk can’t be funny and bring the brutality at the same time? I’m thinking of a band that does this as successfully as Pissed Jeans and drawing a blank. And, I don’t count grindcore bands because no one can understand what they’re singing about. But with Pissed Jeans, the content is right there. You have to pick it out, but it’s surprisingly easy given Matt Corvette’s barking growl. At the same time, it’s...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the One More Time… LP by Blink-182. It would be easy to find a cynical angle to approach the existence and sound of One More Time…, Blink-182’s ninth studio album and first to feature singer/guitarist Tom DeLonge since 2015. Did DeLonge’s return have something to do with singer/bassist Mark Hoppus’ cancer diagnosis in 2021? Was it because everyone in the band had discovered the sting of post-Blink projects not performing as well...
METZ Up on Gravity Hill(Sub Pop) Sometimes I truly think something is the matter with me. I’ve heard about METZ for a while. Way back when their first album came out, they were all the rage. My friends were all talking about them. Especially how great of a live show they put on. Of course, I checked them out and I’m pretty sure I liked them, but I didn’t quite understand the buzz. They were interesting enough where I kept...