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...
ARTIST: 2015 Holiday Gift Guide Part Two All the most marvellous gift ideas that Ground Control’s favorite Santa’s helper Ollie Mikse could imagine. DATE: 12-11-15 WRITER: Ollie Ottoman Now Playing: ‘Everything’s Gonna Be Cool This Christmas’ by the Eels Hello there!?? It’s the holiday season and time to completely buy into the capitalist society we pretend not to live in. While Bill Adams will keep you covered with the music related-items we think will tickle your gift-giving fancy this year,...
The holidays are a fantastic time of year aren’t they? They’re the time when all the nonsense which may have congested personal relationships is put aside, and everyone seeks to be with those closest to them. They exchange gifts and it’s wonderful. If you’re like me though reader, you have a habit of over-thinking those gifts. Eventually, you find yourself wandering through the mall in a daze; you know you care for the people on your list, but have no...
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...
TITLE: Vinyl Vlog 109 A deeper look into the grooves pressed into the Record Store Day-released ‘If I Can Dream’ single by Elvis Presley. DATE: 11-27-15 WRITER: Bill Adams It’s funny how, under the right circumstance a string section can really take a song to another level. Take Both of the tracks included on the Record Store Day-issued Elvis Presley 7” singlem for example; if you’re familiar with both “If I Can Dream” and “Any Part of You,” dear reader,...
TITLE: Vinyl Vlog 104 A deeper look into the grooves pressed into The Complete Albums Collection box set by Simon & Garfunkel DATE: 11-26-15 WRITER: Bill Adams It’s almost unfathomable how productive Simon & Garfunkel was in such a short time. While the duo first got together in 1957, they released their first album together in ’64 and their final album in 1970; that means the group released five albums within six years and set a legacy in stone as...
ARTIST: John Grant – DATE: 12-06-15 REVIEW BY: Bill Adams ALBUM: Grey Tickles, Black Pressure LABEL: Partisan/Bella Union Drugged. Disconcertingly deviant. Just plain different. These are just some of the words and phrases which leap to mind as one listens to Grey Tickles, Black Pressure – John Grant’s third solo album. Now, words like that paint a very divisive image in one’s mind’s eye – the implication is that you’ll either “get” it and love it or have no...
TITLE: I Wanna Be Literated! 094 A critical evaluation of Nowhere Men Volume 1: Fates Worse Than Death Trade Paperback by Eric Stephenson and Nate Bellegarde DATE: 12-03-15 WRITER: Ollie Ottoman How exactly does Nowhere Men manage to fit so much into so little? Maybe because it’s the kind of comic that practices what it preaches… at least in the sense that it brings together a super-team which, unlike the protagonists in this story, actually manages to achieve something greater that themselves. ?Nowhere...
ARTIST: All Them Witches – DATE: 12-05-15 REVIEW BY: Bill Adams ALBUM: Dying Surfer Meets His Maker LABEL: New West Records Above all else, the first thing you need to know about All Them Witches is that nothing is exactly as it seems. If all you saw was the album cover, you could justifiably assume it was the work of a metal or stoner rock band – but you’d be wrong. If all you heard was the group’s name,...
ARTIST: Dilly Dally – DATE: 12-05-15 REVIEW BY: Bill Adams ALBUM: Sore LABEL: Partisan/Buzz Records In this age of computer-generated musical perfection, it’s refreshing to hear Sore – Dilly Dally’s debut album. For the first time in what feels like forever, listeners are confronted by a female-fronted (both on vocals and guitar) outfit who is unafraid to have (and bare) some teeth and anger without trying to be cute about it as well as presenting their music exactly as...