A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Receiver 10” EP by Thee MVPs. There aren’t many things in this day and age of digital recording, mastering and production which feel like “going home,” but the tinny production, screeching guitars and speedy, cymbal-soaked drumming which dominates Thee MVPs’ Receiver EP comes pretty close. For about twenty minutes total (three cuts on the EP’s A-side and two on the B-), this Leeds-spawned group manages to recapture the fire which started...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the “Price We Pay 7” by Noi!se. A lot of years ago, this guy I know played in a really, really good rock-punk band. For a long time that band had a standing tradition: release a 7” single and go out on tour to promote the release. It was a fairly lucrative practice and, eventually, the band celebrated a milestone anniversary (I can’t remember how many years) by releasing a CD which...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the LP + 7” reissue of Peculiar by The Slackers. I remember the first time The Slackers released Peculiar in 2006 (back then, it came our on Hellcat Records). At that time, I was only a few years into working in the music press. I had a pretty good relationship with Epitaph, and they sent me a CD copy of Peculiar for review. Back then, I wasn’t too into ska – I...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Take The Light With You LP by Wildlife. Sometimes the arrival of a record doesn’t bring with it a spectacular introduction – in fact, it would be easy enough to overlook some albums completely on the wrong day – but those albums can sneak up on you, win your heart and capture your imagination if your back is turned and are otherwise engaged. That’s precisely what happened to this critic when...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the 12” UV digitally printed “Lost” single by Noi!se. For novelty’s sake, let’s address all of the obvious potential talking points to be found about Noi!se’s UV Digitally printed 12” “Lost” single. Yes, it looks really, really cool. Yes, I think that stranding a three-and-a-half-minute song all alone on a 12” vinyl record is a questionable use of resources, regardless of how cool it looks. Yes, the quality of the graphics on...
Wild Flowers of AmericaLost in the Salvation Army The Best Show giveth and giveth. I’ve always respected Tom Scharplin’s music taste. And as host of the Best Show I knew that when he would air his grievances about a band (which would be constantly), the man knew what he talked about. On one of my regular weekly listen, Scharpling played the opening track of Lost in the Salvation Army and I was hooked right away. I had to find this...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into Territories’ When The Day Is Done 10” EP Work in the press long enough, and eventually one begins to rely on the complications that one finds with a release, because the difficulties in qualifying or quantifying the sound of an album (and the media – for that matter) become the fuel for for what makes that release good or not and why. It’s actually a really easy cheat which, now that I’ve...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the vinyl reissue of Wonderful by Circle Jerks. Easily the most underrated hardcore band since the genre’s inception in the early Eighties has been the Circle Jerks. The reason that claim is so easy to make is that, pound-for-pound and album-for-album, they broke a surprising amount of ground that a lot of bands would tread upon (and make a lot more money from) later. When the band first appeared with Group Sex...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into The Slackers’ 12″ UV digitally printed vinyl single. Ignoring the, “Gee whiz!” quality of The Slackers’ new single as well as the talking point of, “Well, this is a new way of combining digital and analogue formats into one release,” (rather than being pressed, this release is UV digitally printed vinyl) it needs to be pointed...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the 2LP Deluxe Edition reissue of Sirens of the Ditch by Jason Isbell. It’s pretty uncommon for me to wonder where I was when I review a reissue of an album which was originally released after 2002 (a.k.a. The year I joined the press). That is not to say there weren’t great albums that I didn’t get my hands my hands on to review them when they were new, it’s simply something...