A critical evaluation of On Education by Bertrand Russell. Bertrand Russell’s irreverent take on social institution continues through On Education. Here, as expected, Russell takes a very liberal approach regarding how children should be educated and considers the value of ornamental and practical education and its goals (“Hamlet, on the other hand, will not be much use in practical life, except in those rare cases where a man is called upon to kill his uncle”). It also bares noting that...

A new article by our Finnish Correspondent, Suvi Jyrinki This time I picked up an older album: Tilinteon hetki by Timo Rautiainen & Trio Niskalaukaus, issued in 2004. The band has officially split up in 2006, but the power of their music has still remained. Timo Rautiainen played with Trio Niskalaukaus in years 1996-2004. Despite the name there was always four or five men, instead of just three, playing along with the singer. This band was one of the first...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Psychedelic Sound of The 13th Floor Elevators LP by The Thirteenth Floor Elevators. It’s unlikely that anyone would disagree that The Thirteenth Floor Elevators are a really important band in the evolution of rock. Most would site the band’s debut album as all the proof anyone could need to make the point: “What is it which makes The Psychedelic Sound of The 13th Floor Elevators a classic album?” “Well, first, there’s...

Oh boy! You know I love science fiction, readers. I’m a fan of Star Trek and Isaac Isamov, and even Andy Weir (who wrote The Martian) and, in an attempt to expand my science fiction literary horizons, I’ve been trying to get into some writers (old and new) to try and figure out what’s out there. Octavia’s Brood got a lot of attention earlier this year for being a collection of speculative fiction short stories written by writers with a...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Sundazed pressing of Safe As Milk by Captain Beefheart. There is a bit on Marc Maron’s standup album Thinky Pain where, after talking extensively about his vinyl midlife crisis and trying to find the perfect record player how it’s time for him to “understand Beefheart.” “I will never be smart enough or large enough of mind to assess and understand Captain Beefheart. It’s just hanging there.” In many ways, he’s not...

23 Live Sex Acts (Total Treble) There’s no easy way to review an Against Me album anymore; well, not in the conventional sense, anyway. Everyone knows why, so why no talk about it? It’s not easy to review an Against Me! album anymore because Tom Gabel was replaced on the mic by Laura Jane Grace. Does that really make so great a difference? It shouldn’t, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t; the catch has everything to do with the gift...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the vinyl reissue of Grace Under Pressure by Rush. Perhaps the most important thing that Rush proved when they released Grace Under Pressure is that (to paraphrase what George Orwell wrote in 1984) the best albums are those which reiterate those things of which people were already aware. In this case, fans already knew that Rush had been the greatest and best-kept secret in rock n’ roll for years, and had proven...

As a child, I hated surprises. It was pure torture to know that you don’t know what you thought you knew and as a child know-it-all, this frustrated me. But this past Friday, Say Anything surprised me and all their fans. How? Surprise album! Unexpectedly, the band released their 7th studio album “I Don’t Think It Is” on Equal Vision Records. Their audience of grown-up punks woke up to find another consistently good album released by their favorite band of the...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the vinyl reissue of  …With His Hot Blue Guitar! by Johnny Cash. Johnny Cash with His Hot Blue Guitar! is a tough album to discuss in 2016 because, honestly, what can we say about Johnny Cash and his music which hasn’t been said countless times already? The man had an incredible impact on world culture and his music is such a big part of American culture that it’s simply embedded in its...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the vinyl reissue of Streets of San Francisco by the Swingin’ Utters. Continuing our coverage, we come to Streets of San Francisco, probably the most important release in the Swingin’ Utters catalogue. I’m going to start off by making it clear that I absolutely adore this album, that it’s one of the greatest street punk records ever released, that it’s a perfect example of a band putting all their ducks in a...