A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the I Am Alive, But Only If You Say I Am LP by Long Range Hustle. While the nature of the album’s title seems inherently soft, on its face (most bands want to exclaim, “We are here,” but the title of Long Range Hustle’s sophomore full-length album seems to ask for the validation that most other bands just claim), there’s no question that I Am Alive, But Only If You Say I...

Madame Bovaryby Gustave Flaubert The bad thing about reading almost exclusively non-fiction is that, obviously, I purposely miss out on the great fiction out there. And the bad thing about missing out on fiction is that I miss out on some of the great classics. But, luckily I listen to the Best Show, and while discussing Tom Scharpling’s new book It Never Ends, the topic somehow switched to Gustave Flaubert. Intrigued, I checked it out, and I was pleasantly surprised...

The Incalby Alejandro Jodorowsky & Moebius It’s still strange for me to think about how the documentary Jodorowksy’s Dune changed my life. It made me appreciate Dune and Jodorowsky as a filmmaker. Now, I’m a fan of both and I have that little documentary to thank. As the film made me start a slow deep dive into Jodorowsky, I knew that eventually I would have to come to The Incal. I dove in with high expectations. The big thing to...

WHO: Fiddlehead WHAT: Between the Richness WHY: No lie, this one’s a grower. And a remarkable thing for an album that’s so short. Between the Richness is equal parts post-post-hardcore as it is western Mass, whatever that means. Pay close attention and you might notice the passion and rawness of Patrick Flynn’s vocals perfectly balanced with the elegant and rich guitars that adorn the entirety of Between the Richness. Somehow, this album welcomes you to its roughness, maturity, and intensity,...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into TK and The Holy Know Nothings’ The Incredible Heat Machine LP. It isn’t always easy for this writer to get into country music (there often has to be a “alt-country” plank in the floor to make it easier to enter on), but it didn’t take me long to find my way to relishing the music on The Incredible Heat Machine – TK and The Holy Know Nothings’ sophomore full-length album. From note...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Vespa & Londonians 12” EP by Booze & Glory. Remember back in the early aughts when Fearless Records compiled a series of albums which found some genuinely great punk bands covering a multitude of different artists and genres – recasting them all in a punk context? Some of those covers were actually really, really cool (hearing AFI perform Guns N’ Roses’ “My Michelle” was pretty cool, as was Strike Anywhere’s cover...

Vicious DreamsSelf-titled  Get ready, dear readers because this is one of the good ones. It’s tough getting music recommendations, because most of the time, people don’t know what they’re talking about. So, when I made up a pile of compelling music to go through my ears perked up when Vicious Dreams came on. I was expecting music that might sound like contenders to put on my heavy rotation, not something that I immediately fell in love with. I had to...

WHO: Former Member WHAT: Manageable Scratches WHY: For those of you who don’t know, Former Member is a punk rock duo consisting of Jason Shevchuk and Will Yip. The former is front man extraordinaire of bands like Kid Dynamite and None More Black. The latter is producer extraordinaire working the controls for bands like Mannequin Pussy and Turnstile. That alone makes this album worth checking out. Together they make up a powerful hard-hitting punk rock combination that sounds like a...

Inglourious Basterds Rewatching it many years later, I’m surprised by how much my opinion of this movie has changed. I used to think it was another masterpiece, but now I’m not so sure. Tarantino had been working on this script for over a decade before he decided to finish it, and he made Kill Bill in the meantime. And the script is quite solid, but what irks me is the casting, or maybe how these actors play the characters....

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into Grade 2’s Graveyard Island: Acoustic Sessions 12” EP. As someone wise once said, “Life is what happens while you’re making other plans,” and no punk band is making the best of a bad situation more than Grade 2 has, lately. The band had to put the promotional efforts behind their Epitaph debut album, 2019’s Graveyard Island, on hold when the CoVid-19 pandemic caused all touring routes to shut down indefinitely a couple...