The winters in New England are brutal. So much so that it’s a wonder anyone would come here to play when it’s so cold out. Double that when there’s a snow storm. And those were exactly the conditions on Tuesday when Bat Fangs rolled around to the Sinclair for their live show. Personally, I was surprised the show was happening at all, but very very pleased that it did. Both Bat Fangs and Quasi are bands I’ve been meaning to...

Claudia Hoyser Red Lights Turning Green (GFI Music) Every now and then, an artist takes you by surprise. Who would expect the Aging Punk to love a Country singer? And not an alt-country artist, either; a pure, down-home Country artist. I am now officially a Claudia Hoyser fan. A local record store (Record Archive — if you’re ever in Rochester, NY) provides pizza and beer and free music every Wednesday. I often stop in to see what they have. Hoyser...

Neutral Milk Hotel Collected Works (Merge Records) I confess I never listened to Neutral Milk Hotel before. I knew it was considered one of the great alternative bands, but I never heard anything else that made me want to listen to them. There were moments I definitely felt I should check it out, wishing, as I do, to be well informed about music. But I never made the move. Until now. Offered the chance to review their Collected...

The Philosophy of Modern Songby Bob Dylan Could anyone but Bob Dylan have written a book like this? I use the words “book” and “Bob Dylan” lightly because I don’t think either of those things are true. Let me explain. The Philosophy of Modern Song is just a plain weird book. It’s fun, sure, but it’s also bizarre as hell. What it is is 65 essays on 65 songs that we guess made a big impact on Dylan. Or maybe...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Ramones In Love LP by Kepi Ghoulie. No matter how open-minded listeners might be, some albums are simply intent on challenging their audience’s expectations – and Kepi Ghoulie’s Ramones In Love is definitely one of those. First, while the idea of an artist presenting their own interpretations of Ramones songs is not new, the idea of presenting a series of Ramones love songs is decidedly unique. This album marks the first...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the 30th Anniversary 2LP reissue of Dirt by Alice In Chains. While there are plenty of deluxe reissue versions of classic albums on the market at the moment (including of Dirt, actually; there are multi-disc sets of the album which include enough 7” singles to contain all the songs on the album’s hype sticker, and then some), that Alice In Chains has also released a version of Dirt without any bells or...

Captain Beefheart & His Magic BandTrout Mask Replica 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 wrong; there aren’t a lot of musical...

Star Trek: Prodigy Season 1 What can I possibly say about Star Trek that hasn’t been said already. If you don’t know what it is, get a clue and get on board. I was very late to the party but have since gone very deep. Star Trek is a warm fuzzy place I don’t think I’ll ever want to leave. For a franchise that has done so much over so many years the idea of Prodigy sounds like a...

Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilizationby Neil deGrasse Tyson I know Neil deGrasse Tyson is often the victim of ridicule, but I can’t help but like the guy. At the very least he’s considered annoying because he likes to challenge our understanding of things, and people don’t like that. He can sometimes be that guy at parties who likes to correct people, so of course that’s annoying. It’s just that NGT (those who know him personally call him that, or...

Dave HillLive @ Village Social Club I’m all for checking out new venues in Boston, and lord knows we need them. The smaller and more intimate, the better. But, what I didn’t expect is that one of my favorite comedians would be playing a venue I’d never heard of. Maybe that’s because the Village Social Club isn’t the kind of venue you’d expect to see the alt comedy Dave Hill is known for. But, none of that matters. What...