TITLE: I Wanna Be Literated! 091 A critical evaluation of Octavia’s Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements, edited by Walidah Imarisha and Adrienne Maree Brown DATE: 10-09-15 WRITER: Ollie Ottoman Peanut butter and jelly, gin and tonic, books and fireplaces. I couldn’t help but get excited whenOctavia’s Brood got announced because it was combining two things I love: anarchism and science fiction. So of course I had high hoped for this book, which collects short stories blending science fiction (or...
TITLE: Vinyl Vlog 090 A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the die cut US Mail single by Lenny Lashley’s Gang Of One. DATE: 10-09-15 WRITER: Bill Adams I’m rarely impressed by die cut vinyl releases. I mean, sure – oddly shaped music-playing vinyl is neat to look at, but that just can’t be all it is for me; I need good music to come out of it when the needle touches it because the music is the important...
TITLE: I Wanna Be Literated! 090 A critical evaluation of Rat Queens Volume 1: Sass and Sorcery by Kurtis J. Wiebe DATE: 09-30-15 WRITER: Ollie Ottoman Ever encountered a book that you “get” as soon as you read the first page? Hell, I’ll go a step further and say that Rat Queens might even be a book you could accurately judge by its cover, which has four mythical female creatures fighting a dragon on it – if you didn’t notice....
TITLE: I Wanna Be Literated! 089 A critical evaluation of Alex + Ada Volume 2 by Jonathan Luna and Sarah Vaughn DATE: 09-16-15 WRITER: Ollie Ottoman If there’s one thing I can say for sure, it’s that Alex + Ada has a lot of potential. Touching on subjects like sentience, robotics, ethics and morals, the developments and ideas discussed in this book are most certainly thought-provoking and are worthwhile if we want to learn more about ourselves as a society and as...
TITLE: The Classics 018 A deeper look at the grooves pressed into a 1978-issued copy of Van Halen’s self-titled debut album. DATE: 08-30-15 WRITER: Bill Adams The thing about albums which are truly progressive (to be clear, I’m referring to albums which break new ground – not necessarily prog rock albums) is that their impact on pop music as a whole takes a bit of time to really register; sure, there’s a chance that they might break through, win fans...
TITLE: Vinyl Vlog 089 A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the original version of the Blizzard Of Ozz LP by Ozzy Osbourne DATE: 08-08-15 WRITER: Bill Adams “Is the reissued release of an album always superior to the original?” Such a question is valid – particularly when one takes the recent proliferation of reissues which have been released by both major and indie labels into account. In nearly every case, a “new” re-examination of an old title comes...
TITLE: I Wanna Be Literated! 088 A critical evaluation of The Gigantic Beard that was Evil by Stephen Collins. DATE: 07-29-15 WRITER: Ollie Ottoman I’ll never figure out how Stephen Collins successfully made this book, because the idea for it sounds so farfetched and difficult to grasp. But The Gigantic Beard that was Evil is a testament to what comics can do when you have a talented person at the helm. Talented and a little offbeat, I should say. TGBTWE...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the untitled Street Dogs/Noi!SE 10” split record. There has never been a point in music history when two bands issuing a split release together hasn’t been a gamble. The nature of the format is competitive by nature; both bands are in a position where they have to try and outshine the other, and that someone is going to come in second is guaranteed; whether it’s by an inch or a mile is...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into Gary Clark Jr.’s Live double album. Listening to Gary Clark Jr.’s Live album on vinyl, listeners will find themselves suddenly overcome by a wave of nostalgia. Images of Mick Jagger jumping next to a jackass (as he did on the cover of Get Yer Ya-Yas Out!) and Dylan at Royal Albert Hall, KISS shouting it out loud on Alive, At Budakan, Neil Young’s Rust Never Sleeps and The Who’s Live At Leeds...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Different Class reissue by Pulp. It’s hard to place Pulp in the Britpop explosion of the 90s. They arguably made a larger impact than Supergrass, they didn’t become the big joke that Oasis became, they didn’t spawn strangely successful offshoots like Blur, and they certainly didn’t redefine music like Radiohead. No, Pulp exists mostly in the static environment of the 90s. They haven’t continued to put out music (their last album...