A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the 40th anniversary, 2LP reissue of Signing Off by UB40. Maybe it’s just an extension of the unapologetic non-conformist in me, but I have never been able to stop myself from being drawn into music which goes out of its way to challenge expectations and/or just endeavor to go against the grain, defiantly. I know that, at least occasionally, I turn an ear toward music which doesn’t make me feel comfortable, in...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Kings LP by Antagonizers Atl. While it is far from un-tread terrain, it’s impossible to not get excited by the promise contained in the grooves of Kings – Antagonizers’ sophomore full-length album. This time out, the band has allowed the gang chorus/gang vocal power in them to build and season for a while before unloading it in a set of ten slabs which ignore the now long-worn costume that punk rock...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Now Or Never 12” EP by The 45 Adapters. From note one of their new 12” EP Now Or Never, it’s patently self-evident that while the band took almost four years between the They Call It Justice 7” and this new, six-song EP, they must have been working – because they don’t sound quite like the same band. As soon as stylus settles into groove on the A-side and the title...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Young & Dying in the Occident Supreme 12” EP by Mobley. Such events are undeniably rare in any language, but Mobley’s Young & Dying in the Occident Supreme is possessed of an imagination and design that is simply unheard of. The record goes out of its way to present listeners with a series of ideas which do not correlate; the A-side features six fantastic and undeniably unique pop songs while the...
METZAtlas Vending One of my first priorities when the quarantine is over will be to start going to shows again. Not sure how well it’s going to go with a newborn child (quarantine makes fools of us all), but the Metz have shot up the priority list as one of the must-see live acts ever since Atlas Vending came out. Why? Because it’s the best thing they’ve done yet. One of the reasons I wax philosophical about the Metz is...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into PWR/UP by AC/DC. For basically the last thirty-eight years, AC/DC has tried a few different things and taken a few different turns to try and grow up (or age up? Or act their age?) with limited success at most. Every time the band has tried to move forward from the callous one-liners and double entendres that first helped to make them famous (Flick Of The Switch was the first occasion), AC/DC has...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Jealous Butcher reissue of Infinite X’s’ self-titled album. After Longstocking met its end in 1997, singer/guitarist Tamala Poljak was clearly still riding some residual inspiration when they began assembling the music which would become Infinite X’s’ debut album. When the time finally came to start recording, the group of players assembled to comprise the band gave an ideal illustration of what it would sound like; Poljak’s pedigree was all about West...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Jealous Butcher reissue of the Once Upon a Time Called Now LP by Longstocking. Some events simply defy the laws of probability – and that Longstocking never got a fraction of the attention the band deserved is definitely one of them. Seriously – how did the band get overlooked as much as it did? They were in the right place (in Los Angeles) at the right time (from 1995 to 1997...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the limited edition “Gratuitous Red” pressing of the Born Stupid LP by Paul Leary. When vinyl records made their return as one of the foremost music media in or around 2014, a lot was discussed regarding the difference in the sound and fidelity of vinyl and pretty much everything else on the market, at the time. It was an exciting moment; vinyl sales went up 280 percent from what they’d been in...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into Dave Depper’s Europa LP. It might sound a little unusual, but sometimes an explanation is required when an artist ventures so far from their established normal creative output – if only so fans don’t get outraged because they’ve purchased something that they did not expect in any way. It doesn’t take much – explanations can often be made in a space roughly the size of a hype sticker – and then the...