A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Spencer Sings The Hits LP by Jon Spencer. That the fidelity, equalization and overall sound found on a vinyl recording is unmatched by any other musical mediumto date is a claim which has been proven several times over in many place by a great many people (including by several in this column, several times over too), and one of the great examples can be found on a vinyl copy of Spencer...
Dog Party Hit & Run 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 only takes you so far, after all. So, listening to the Ramones consisted of a pattern that’s all too familiar...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the “Mass Apathy” 12” single by NOi!SE. It might not sound like the single most glowing endorsement of a single on the surface, but the first thing that NOi!SE’s new, milled “Mass Apathy” single illustrates is that it’s never wise to underestimate a novelty, or write one off. The bullet casing silhouettes which encircle the exterior rim of this one-sided single (the B-side features a silkscreen but no music) look neat and...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into Light // Sound’s self-titled debut album. Since childhood, we’re taught to never judge a book by its cover or be so superficial as to make inferences about a person’s character based solely upon their exterior persona. It’s good advice – making snap judgements about the contents of an article or individual by the first sight one sees – but that doesn’t mean the first thing that potential patrons visually absorb cannot be...
Keys to the Kuffs JJ DOOM Pity the state of mainstream hip hop. Seriously, pity it. I’ve completely tuned out and shun it. It’s one of those weird situations where I don’t listen to it, but I just know it sucks. I was in an Uber the other day and speaking to the driver, who was a rap fan and had insights into the process. I could pinpoint what I disliked about it, and he had names for these different...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the One Family, One Flag 3LP compilation from Pirates Press Records. Now twelve years after the last installment came out, the whole world seems to have changed a couple of times but punk fans have started looking back and feeling some nostalgia for the great punk compilation series Punk-O-Rama is pretty understandable. Punk-O-Rama was once an impressive beast, the release of which used to be hotly anticipated every year; once, Punk-O-Rama young...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the 30th anniversary picture-disc reissue of Volume 1 by The Traveling Wilburys. The term “classic” gets thrown around a lot and, often, in directions for which it isn’t actually deserved. A true, genuine-article classic is a thing that sets an enduring impression and standard to which others aspire, and/or would claim to be of a similar lineage; it’s an important portrait of a moment. The Traveling Wilburys’ first album is such a...
Rage Against the Machine The Entire Catalog vinyl reissue Let me start off this review by painting a picture of just how important Rage Against the Machine were to my development as a teenager. Growing up in Aruba in the 90s, completely isolated from the world, we craved outside culture. We didn’t have a good idea of what was going on in the cool parts of the world (like the USA), so we’d rely on word of mouth from kids...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Night Guy at The Apocalypse, Profiles of a Rushing Midnight LP by Hamell On Trial. In the spirit of full disclosure, yes -I am a fan of Hamell On Trial. I was totally won over by Ed Hamell when the singer’s eighth album, Tough Love, came out in 2003 and have excitedly checked and weighed) in and given consistently positive coverage to each album that has come along since then. I...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Porterhouse vinyl reissue of the Saturation LP by Urge Overkill. Quick history lesson: By 1992, Urge Overkill had already established itself both in the fairly unforgiving Chicago music scene and on the North American college radio circuit with the help of albums like Americruiser and The Supersonic Storybook. Not only that, the band had cut a fairly striking and peerless image; unlike so many other alt-rock groups who preferred to mix,...