ARTIST: The Mothmen – DATE: 08-05-15 REVIEW BY: G.Murray Thomas ALBUM: Pay Attention! LABEL: On-U Sound At first I was surprised to see that this CD originally came out in 1981. It has a very contemporary feel to it, like some of the farther out fringes of today’s music. But then I remember that 1981 was actually a prime year for experimental rock. The initial punk explosion of a few years prior had been spurred by an intense burst...

ARTIST: Radioactivity – VENUE: O\’Brien\’s – Allston, MA – 29/07/15 DATE: 07-31-15 REVIEW BY: Ollie Ottoman PHOTO: Ollie Ottoman It’s an indescribable feeling when an album just hits you, but it’s even better when it’s an album you’ve been looking forward to all year. It really does feel special when you put on that first song and you just know you’re going to be at a familiar place, like being home with old friends. That’s what it feels like...

TITLE: I Wanna Be Literated! 088 A critical evaluation of The Gigantic Beard that was Evil by Stephen Collins. DATE: 07-29-15 WRITER: Ollie Ottoman I’ll never figure out how Stephen Collins successfully made this book, because the idea for it sounds so farfetched and difficult to grasp. But The Gigantic Beard that was Evil is a testament to what comics can do when you have a talented person at the helm. Talented and a little offbeat, I should say. TGBTWE...

Neil Young + Promise of The Real The Monsanto Years (Reprise/Warner) Can we all just agree to stop picking on Neil Young for a couple minutes, readers? Granted, the singer has left himself open for lots of critical abuse over the years (the most recent event that nobody wants to talk about is Pono), but there’s a time and place for everything and trying to rip apart The Monsanto Years on the basis of past errors isn’t it. So is...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the untitled Street Dogs/Noi!SE 10” split record. There has never been a point in music history when two bands issuing a split release together hasn’t been a gamble. The nature of the format is competitive by nature; both bands are in a position where they have to try and outshine the other, and that someone is going to come in second is guaranteed; whether it’s by an inch or a mile is...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into Gary Clark Jr.’s Live double album. Listening to Gary Clark Jr.’s Live album on vinyl, listeners will find themselves suddenly overcome by a wave of nostalgia. Images of Mick Jagger jumping next to a jackass (as he did on the cover of Get Yer Ya-Yas Out!) and Dylan at Royal Albert Hall, KISS shouting it out loud on Alive, At Budakan, Neil Young’s Rust Never Sleeps and The Who’s Live At Leeds...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Different Class reissue by Pulp. It’s hard to place Pulp in the Britpop explosion of the 90s. They arguably made a larger impact than Supergrass, they didn’t become the big joke that Oasis became, they didn’t spawn strangely successful offshoots like Blur, and they certainly didn’t redefine music like Radiohead. No, Pulp exists mostly in the static environment of the 90s. They haven’t continued to put out music (their last album...

Version:1.0 StartHTML:0000000167 EndHTML:0000005605 StartFragment:0000000484 EndFragment:0000005589 A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Different Class LP by Pulp.   It’s hard to place Pulp in the Britpop explosion of the 90s. They arguably made a larger impact than Supergrass, they didn’t become the big joke that Oasis became, they didn’t spawn strangely successful offshoots like Blur, and they certainly didn’t redefine music like Radiohead. No, Pulp exists mostly in the static environment of the...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the 4 colored Essentials LP set by Reducers SF. Looking back, it’s pretty incredible how fertile punk’s creative soil was in the Nineties. Sure – everyone knows the mid-Nineties as being the period which broke punk into the mainstream pop punk and made bands like Lagwagon, Propagandhi, Green Day, NOFX, Offspring (I’ve written this list out several times before) and innumerable others household names and/or institutions who would help shape how punk...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the American Spring LP by Anti-Flag. It might sound a little silly to say, but the first great thing about the vinyl pressing of Anti-Flag’s ninth studio album, American Spring, is the scale of the presentation. Before a note is heard, those who buy the vinyl will get an eyeful of the bright and beautiful album cover which looks like an artistic statement of blossoming artistry rather than appearing as though the...