A deeper look at the grooves pressed into Neil Young’s After The Gold Rush LP. It’s not easy to articulate what kind of mark a fiftieth anniversary represents. Those who remain married for fifty years call it their Golden anniversary (or Golden Jubilee) and, while it’s not uncommon to live longer in the twenty-first century, fifty years is still a pretty significant event – it is half a century, after all. The point, ultimately is that a lot of life...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Back of Our Heads LP by Kalen & Aslyn. I confess that Country balladry is not my favorite type of music. Don’t get me wrong, I can appreciate a slow song; I am absolutely capable of appreciating a love song or a slow song – but those moments when a singer just lilts his or her way along through a melody and does so through puddles of caramelized saccharine compel me...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the For Family and Flag Volume 1 compilation album. After the 3LP, red-covered release entitled One Country, One Flag was released two years ago, the idea that punk rock compilations were still a viable format (by then Punk-O-Rama had been retired by Epitaph and so had most of the other compilations that used to get given away for free at Warped Tour – only Fat Music For Fat People was still sort...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Agricultural Tragic LP by Corb Lund. It’s genuinely hard to believe that Agricultural Tragic is Corb Lund’s tenth full-length album (fifth for New West). Since first appearing in 1995, the Alberta-based band has maintained a release schedule which has managed to illustrate consistent growth and improvement on a timeline which it’s almost possible to set one’s watch to. Not only that, when fans hear that Corb Lund has a new album...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Same Old Line LP by The Spyrals. Ever wondered how much differently a record could possibly turn out when you consider the elements which went into it, reader? It might sound like a silly question, but really think about it; factor in a band’s region of origin, the tastes and sensibilities of the group’s members, the talents they have as well as the impression that they wish to leave, and the...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into Jaime Wyatt’s Neon Cross LP. After having watched all the sonic and stylistic directions in which the artists on New West’s roster have gone, it feels more than a little reassuring to see that at least some artists are signed to a country music label because they want to make country music – and not necessarily just make music which happens to have a couple of C&W inflections in hand as that...
Art Bergmann “Christo Fascists” (digital single) (Porterhouse Records) It’s hard to know why “Christo Fascists” has been released as a standalone digital single – separate from a physical 7” or even as a track on a full length album. Something in me wants to contend that a song this good should have the widest distribution possible – as the standout song on a full-length album would be ideal – and while I understand that it’s entirely possible that a digital...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the 2LP Rocktober edition reissue of Ritual de lo Habitual by Jane’s Addiction. I must confess that, when I learned Warner Brothers Records was reissuing Jane’s Addiction’s third full-length album as part of their Roctober promotion, I got really, really excited. In fact, excitement barely even begins to qualify the wealth of sensations that I felt when I heard about it; the number of memories that I have associated with Ritual de...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into Young Culture’s self-titled album. It might have just been a matter of taking a while to finally start missing it, or maybe I just needed enough time for the memory of the “Disney-fication” of the last wave of bands to fade, but listening to Young Culture’s self-titled album has caused me to remember that I really did like and had missed pop-punk. To reiterate, that’s pop-punk – not melodic hardcore (which I...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Wildflowers & All The Rest 3LP reissue by Tom Petty. Author Rae Carson once wrote that, “Some people, the best ones, are motivated more by the chance to prove themselves than by a command to serve. It is the work itself that calls them onward, especially if they believe they are the only ones who can do it.” In effect, some people do their best work – any kind of work...