METZ are a reckoning band for me. Their music sounds endlessly complex and simple at the same time. I know I like them (more than like them, actually), but their music just doesn’t stick once I turn it off. Really, the only time that has happened to me with their...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the 20 Years. A Frantic Effort 3×10” set by DeeCRACKS. Since vinyl has retaken the amount of interest that it has among music fans, a fairly impressive amount of time and money has been spent repackaging and...

Gentlemen Jesse Where Time Stands Still (7 Inch) (Drunk Dial #12) I came about Gentlemen Jesse in an ideal way: through a recommendation from a respected source. Back in the day, before my day job and kids took up most of my attention, I would do band interviews...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Leave Us A Loan Picture Disc reissue by The Low Budgets. Alright, the fact is that not every punk rock record is golden. Any fan of the music can begrudgingly admit that, and every fan should – because it is the...

Fast X Has the Fast and the Furious franchise jumped the shark? I know it’s a silly thing to say, because the whole franchise is a shark jump, but here, in its 10th iteration, the franchise seems to be double, tripling, octupleting down on its concepts and setups....

I was excited to see the Sadies for many reasons, but mostly because of the opportunities it brought. First of all, it’s exciting to see a band you’re a fan of that you’ve never seen before. Then, I remembered I HAD seen them before. In 2007 in Madrid opening and...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into The Drowns’ Blacked Out LP. While the number of ways that a band may choose to change their sound in the name of refreshing it or updating it are almost innumerable, what The Drowns have done on Blacked Out is genuinely...

WHO: Pissed Jeans WHAT: Half-Divorced WHY: Punks can be scary and funny. They also cry. I’ve never heard a band that combines such fury, aggression, and rawness, with hilarious observational humor. Half-Divorced is only a half hour long (as albums like this SHOULD...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the For Family And Flag Volume 2 LP. While it took a little longer for Pirates Press to return to their For Family and Flag series than anyone likely expected , there’s no question that the label couldn’t have...

Aquaman The Lost Kingdom You gotta give it up for Jason Momoa who’s made a career for himself being the handsome knucklehead. Also, you gotta give it up for him for bringing hope to the fledgling DC Snyderverse with Aquaman. Snyder’s run wasn’t exactly filled...

Son Henry & T. Rogers Band Grace (Twang House Records) In 2009, American blues musician and lap steel virtuoso Son Henry arrived at a music festival in Estonia with only his lap steel. The rest of his equipment was stuck at Heathrow Airport, where it remained for...

WHO: Mary Timony WHAT: Untame the Tiger WHY: Timony might be considered a guitar goddess, but if that’s the case, she doesn’t let it on. Maybe it’s safer to say she’s a guitarist’s guitarist. That being said, anyone listening to her music can expect the...