Without intending to overstate the point, what a year 2017 was. Throughout the last twelve months, the world has seen the most unlikely turn which brought power to President Donald Trump, mourned the loss of such fantastic musicians as Tom Petty, Chris Cornell and Chuck Berry, and saw an absolutely tremendous amount of new and exciting music appear on new release racks. Fans were absolutely awe-struck As some bands revisited their catalogues and capitalized on the recent renewed interest in...
2017 was another fantastic year for music, with tremendous albums from so many genres. It’s sad seeing how many obvious entries made the cut on all those other websites, which makes us even more confident that we’re giving you a pretty good list here on Ground Control. And really, would you expect anything less from us? Though we had some favorites, it’s probably safe to say that the order of these releases would change depending on the day. One...
Welcome one and all to the happy tidings brought to you by our yearly Holiday Buyer’s Guide. Like every year, we bring you a list of perfect gifts and stocking stuffers. Some are old favorites and others are brand new! ‘Tis the season for giving, but also of rewarding yourself for having given so much. You know the drill: we’re not going to bombard you and drone on and on. We’re keeping it sweet and simple and tell you exactly...
Welcome welcome welcome, dear readers. It’s that time of year again where we put away those swimming trunks and sandals, slap some lotion on those sunburns, rethink that shitty tattoo you got and look ahead on another scholarly year. This is going to be it! The year you apply yourself and finally take notes and not just cram the night before. You’re going to have to reward yourself for all these unquestionable accomplishments or at least have some stuff to...
Toasting the XX Factor – The Aging Punk Looks At How More Women Are Taking Up The Axe To Save Rock N’ Roll. I recently went to a show featuring one of my favorite local bands. There were three bands on the bill in total; I walked into the bar in the middle of the first band’s set. I was disappointed to see that it consisted of all guys. Not that I have anything against male musicians, but right now...
The term “living legend” gets thrown around a lot, but there’s no doubt about it: Lee “Scratch” Perry is a certified living legend. The man has had such an influence on both Jamaican and world music and has had a hand in producing such a wide range of acts from The Clash to Bob Marley to the Beastie Boys that it would almost be easier to name the bands that haven’t spent time in the studio with the man. But...
WHO: Priests WHAT: Nothing Feels Natural WHY: It seems like people have been missing the point and assuming Nothing Feels Natural is a response to the Trump administration, which is of course wrong because Priests completed this album long before the elections last year. What hopefully will not be missed is how this much-awaited debut is both a brooding, aggressive and moody commentary on modern life and a push out of the comfort zone both for the audience and the...
While I heard a lot of people complain that 2016 was a really poor year for rock and all its associated sub-genres (punk, hardcore, hard rock, stoner rock, metal et c.), the only thing I can assume is that those critics simply weren’t listening. In fact; picking out just ten great albums this year was nearly fucking impossible; doing so forced me to leave out many albums, those by Fat White Family, Dandy Warhols, XIXA and Pup among them. It...
Editor’s note: There’s spectacular power in a simple list. It’s just so potentially affecting; there’s no pomp, no ceremony, no nonsense — all the power is just what’s there. That sense of power is what leapt to mind when Ground Control’s own Aging Punk Murray Thomas presented his list of the best albums released in 2016 to me as nothing more than a list of ten titles and about a sentence in the way of description for each. It was...
Let’s go ahead and call bullshit on the internet for trying to manufacture Shitty 2016 as a trend. This year was great for a number of reasons. One of these is the music that came out this year. New bands excelled and old ones outdid themselves. We apologize ahead of time for the lack of overlap with garbage other sites like Pitchfork are pushing. We can’t help it that we have better taste… Best albums of the year: 01. White...