Our Mother the Mountain50th Anniversary EditionTownes Van Zandt There comes a time in a punk rocker’s life where they have to go back to where it all came from and really branch out. And really, that’s what good punk rock does: it broadens our horizons. For a while, punks were really getting in touch with their folk side. That has since passed, but for aging punks, the midlife crisis music discovery seems to be country. You start with basics like...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Midnight Manor LP by The Nude Party. After seeming to just pour significant step after step on the public over the last two years or so (two singles and an LP, all of which made a hell of a lot of noise, in some circles), the release of Midnight Manor may find some listeners soured by the fact that Midnight Manor feels a little more subdued in tone – but it...
El-PCancer 4 Curephoto: turntablelab.com I remember the moment that the world of Hip Hop was opened to me. Years ago, I was interviewing Dillinger Four at the Trocadero in Philadelphia, talking to their bass player about music. He said something along the lines of mainstream rap being in a deplorable state; to the effect that standards and quality control didn’t exist anymore in his opinion. Lucky for me, I had a rap aficionado friend who immediately approved of this sentiment....
X Alphabetland LP (Fat Possum Records) Alphabetland was one of the most important records of 2020. Let me count the ways. For one it was, just plainly on the surface, a record that did many things and did them well. Compared to both rock and punk music it sounded fresh, yet undeniably familiar. It also managed to be both fun and urgent, and musically it was catchy as hell. Blame that on guitarist Billy Zoom’s rockabilly tendencies matched with the...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Rat-A-Tat-Tat LP by Dale Crover. Listening to Dale Crover’s second solo album apart from The Melvins is a funny/unique experience because, after having made music with the same band (well, “the same musical counterpart,” singer/guitarist Buzz Osborne, anyway) for so many decades, it’s hard to remove that sensibility from the music – or hard to remove it completely, anyway. As one listens to Rat-A-Tat-Tat, for example, it’s easy to imagine Buzz...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the 2LP From Elvis In Nashville set by Elvis Presley. Many detractors may (and have) claimed that the Seventies were a period of decline for Elvis Presley. Over a decade into his career, the singer had already scaled several mountains; Elvis had already broken through and helped to establish rock n’ roll as the dominant musical idiom of the twentieth century, had already written and recorded an enduring songbook of hits, had...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the clear, colorless 2LP pressing of 5EPs by Dirty Projectors. From the very first instant I heard the music contained on 5EPs by Dirty Projectors, the clear and colorless 2LP set gave me pause. True, I had heard the group’s music before (the first album I heard was Swing Lo Magellan in 2012, and it really won me to the band’s banner), but 5EPs featured a sound so captivating that, the first...
Johnny Peebucks & the Swingin’ Utters Boots ‘n Booze (comic book w/ 7” single) (Pirates Press Records) Whether it was intentional or not (and, given the multi-media-angled nature of this release, which combines a comic book with a 7” single, it may indeed be intentional), Pirates Press and the Swingin’ Utters have actually done something pretty surprising with Boots n Booze; while other bands (like NOFX, Butthole Surfers, The Replacements, Rancid and plenty of others) have embraced the fact that...
Katy PerrySmile It used to be hard to find a bigger pop star than Katy Perry. Nowadays, it’s a little easier. At the height of her stardom, it was absolutely obvious what Perry’s appeal was: her music was fun at the most visceral level. It’s truly interesting to watch what has been happening to Katy Perry over the past several years. Sure, she never appealed to everyone, but the woman has solidified herself as a pop music heavy hitter ever...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Fat Possum reissue of the Catholic Boy LP by the Jim Carroll Band. Readers need to know that, first, I did not sleep on this review – the truth is that I’ve written and then started over with this review a multitude of times, but it has always stalled at one point of another, and caused...