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On January 5th, Philadelphia based indie rockers, Dr. Dog released this new single. It’s sort of in celebration of their finally making an official album release of their very first cassette-recorded and online-bootlegged “first album”, Psychedelic Swamp. Their sound is kind of 60’s inspired psych-pop and is very easy on the ears. The band describes the music thusly; “This song is filled with things that nobody knew what to do with but just didn’t have the heart to throw away,” says Toby...

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes & Other Lessons from the Crematory, by Caitlin Doughty There’s no doubt in my mind how this book became a New York Times Bestseller. This is the most important non-fiction title I’ve read in years, and I suggest that everyone, EVERYONE, EVERYONE read it. We are all going to die, or will have to deal with the death of someone close to us and this book helps us come to grips with the harsh realities...

A critical evaluation of Feminist Theory from Margin to Center by Bell Hooks. Without knowing the context in which Feminist Theory was written, it’s hard to distinguish whether it was written as a response to feminism today or thirty years ago – but that doesn’t matter, really. What does matter is that there are many things we (feminists or not) can learn today from this book. Now I’m going to avoid writing Bell Hooks’ name after this sentence because I...

From a Deadbeat to an Old Geezer 003: Memories of visiting the Oracle – David Bowie   Two of David Bowie’s best live recordings were concerts I actually got to attend; 1978’s David on Stage, and 2004’s A Reality Tour. On hearing the news that David Bowie left his physical body today, I’ve been reflecting on how much his personality and his music has affected my own life. I started listening to Bowie in the mid-70s, Young Americans was the...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into a vinyl copy of Sore by Dilly Dally. As music in general, Dilly Dally’s debut album, Sore, is incredible (not for nothing did it end up appearing on this writer’s Top Ten of 2015 list) – but the vinyl presentation of the album transcends such praise and offers listeners an experience several steps beyond that of the compact disc. It’s unbelievable. It’s a game-changer. Such claims may read as unlikely, but it’s...

Divers is the fourth studio album by U.S. singer-lyricist Joanna Newsom, released on October 23, 2015 via Drag City. Release date: October 23, 2015 Artist: Joanna Newsom Label: Drag City Genre: Baroque pop, Avant-garde music Producers: Joanna Newsom, Noah Georgeson   This album was released a couple of months ago – Joanna’s first new album in five years. I never started listening to her until about two years ago. I discovered her when a very good friend of mine said...

Eight years ago I came up with this idea (I was 49 years old then), to write a weekly column for this here music zine/blog, but the idea flittered away and I never wrote issue two. Rereading “issue one”, I really like how it came out and feel kinda bad that I neglected the potential that presented itself to me – to shoot the breeze, to ramble on, to string random ideas together into potentially seemingly cohesive streams of serious...

RICOH THETA S The Ricoh Theta S is a one-click device that creates flawless, high resolution 360 degree images, wow! I’ve never owned a camera like this before. I never imagined that there would be a camera that can do the things this one does. I’m just a photography enthusiast/hobbyist but I enjoy creating imagery that is unusual and eye catching. The potential that this camera has to easily create extremely eye catching images is phenomenal. One of the alluring...

Leave it to David Bowie to wrap a perfectly tongue-in-cheek idea in populist medium and make a celebration of it. That is, of course, precisely what the singer has done in licensing Earthling for a fresh vinyl pressing now, almost twenty years after the album was originally released. Confused, reader? Let me clarify it for you: when Earthling was first released in 1997, much ado was made about how the music was recorded as well as the equipment which was...

TITLE: Vinyl Vlog 112 A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Too LP by Fidlar DATE: 12-09-15 WRITER: Bill Adams What is it about punk rock which lends itself to vinyl recordings so effectively? To be fair, Fidlar’s sophomore album, Too, also sounded good on CD, but those who have heard both and have to choose won’t be able to deny that vinyl is the ideal medium for this release. On CD, the music is mastered too high...