A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Young Shakespeare LP by Neil Young. One of the more interesting things that has happened since the CoVid pandemic basically put the entire North American live music schedule up on blocks for a while has been the outflow of live releases which have appeared – a cultural moment at which Neil Young has been the centre. Releases like Way Down In The Rust Bucket, Return To Greendale and Tuscaloosa have afforded...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Exit Wounds LP by The Wallflowers. Who wouldn’t love to be Jakob Dylan? Since first appearing with The Wallflowers in 1992, Dylan has kept a “when I feel like it” mentality about his schedule of new releases (seven albums in twenty years – with nearly decade-long breaks along the way – is the definition of “when I feel like it”) and gotten away with it because he happens to be a...
Liquid DeathGreatest Hates Vol. 2 Where to even begin with an album like this? How do you even explain it? And why is it even on the Vinyl Vlog? Sometimes, life truly throws you a curve ball, and it’s best if you just embrace it. If you do that with Greatest Hates Vol. 2, chances are you’ll think someone up above or down below is smiling on you. The concept of this album needs to be explained to understand just...
Here we go, dear readers! It’s been a hell of a year and hopefully the worst of it is over. Things are slowly opening back up, social events are possible to some degree, and some of us are even going to be able to go back to school in person. Hopefully things will continue to get better. A new year, of course, brings with it a new Back to School guide from us at Ground Control Magazine. Will it be...
WHO: Vicious Dreams WHAT: Selftitled WHY: We try to stick to the newest releases on the Spotlight column, but this album is just too good to pass up. Vicious Dream’s Selftitled sounds like the Rezillos but louder, snottier, faster, and tighter. Vicious Dreams tread’s the thin line between threatening and fun, like a rollercoaster ride. Except this one goes on for 30 minutes and will leave you wanting more. Hear it on...
Enoughby Kurt Morris Kurt Morris is a longtime contributor to Razorcake Magazine, writer, and all-around nice guy. I’m proud to call him a friend. I am particularly proud of his history with mental illness and how his writing is focused on raising awareness and telling his story. He has already written a book partially dealing with these traumatic events in his life called My War where he breaks down Black Flag’s album and how the songs relate to him. His...
Miles Davis Champions Rare Miles from the Complete Jack Johnson Sessions Jazz is like art to me. I don’t understand it, I think it’s pretentious and I think it hasn’t been good for decades, but I know what I like when I experience it. What’s a person like me to do? It’s been more than a decade that I decided to give jazz a shot and I haven’t looked back since. I have my favorite artists, albums, and songs. I...
WHO: Death From Above 1979 WHAT: Is 4 Lovers WHY: DFA1979 is one of those bands that’s both hard to define and instantly familiar when you hear them: giving off an aggressive, threatening aura that’s also easy to dance to. It’s also just two Canadian dudes making all this noise. “Bursting onto the scene” in 2004 with their debut album, then taking a decade-long break, this band has stayed the course with each consecutive release, bringing juicy riffs and heavy...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Monsters LP by Tom Odell. When it comes to Tom Odell’s fourth album, Monsters, it’s very likely that listeners will find themselves wondering if context does indeed inform musical creation, to a degree. The reason for that is simple: as soon as a stylus sinks into the A-side of Monsters and “Numb” opens it, an image of Ed Kowalczyk (the once-and-again singer of York, PA’s Live – for the unfamiliar) in...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Culture Shock Treatment LP by Round Eye. It may have taken a while for the band to finally get all the paperwork signed and all of their distribution ducks in a row (technically, Culture Shock Treatment was completed in 2020 and Paper + Plastick Records released it digitally late last year – but then everything got problematic) but, happily, everything has come together and Round Eye’s fourth album has finally been...