A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the 12” UV digitally printed “Lost” single by Noi!se. For novelty’s sake, let’s address all of the obvious potential talking points to be found about Noi!se’s UV Digitally printed 12” “Lost” single. Yes, it looks really, really cool. Yes, I think that stranding a three-and-a-half-minute song all alone on a 12” vinyl record is a questionable use of resources, regardless of how cool it looks. Yes, the quality of the graphics on...
Wild Flowers of AmericaLost in the Salvation Army The Best Show giveth and giveth. I’ve always respected Tom Scharplin’s music taste. And as host of the Best Show I knew that when he would air his grievances about a band (which would be constantly), the man knew what he talked about. On one of my regular weekly listen, Scharpling played the opening track of Lost in the Salvation Army and I was hooked right away. I had to find this...
WHO: New Bomb Turks WHAT: Nightmare Scenario (Diamond Edition) WHY: I know that the New Bomb Turks album everyone drools over is Destroy! Oh Boy!, and sure, that’s a great one, but people seem to forget the magic in Nightmare Scenario. It’s catchier, better crafted, and easier to handle. Oh, it’s also a way better album. The NBT have now rereleased it as a Diamond Edition for its 20th anniversary. If you loved the rawness of the original Nightmare Scenario,...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into Territories’ When The Day Is Done 10” EP Work in the press long enough, and eventually one begins to rely on the complications that one finds with a release, because the difficulties in qualifying or quantifying the sound of an album (and the media – for that matter) become the fuel for for what makes that release good or not and why. It’s actually a really easy cheat which, now that I’ve...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the vinyl reissue of Wonderful by Circle Jerks. Easily the most underrated hardcore band since the genre’s inception in the early Eighties has been the Circle Jerks. The reason that claim is so easy to make is that, pound-for-pound and album-for-album, they broke a surprising amount of ground that a lot of bands would tread upon (and make a lot more money from) later. When the band first appeared with Group Sex...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into The Slackers’ 12″ UV digitally printed vinyl single. Ignoring the, “Gee whiz!” quality of The Slackers’ new single as well as the talking point of, “Well, this is a new way of combining digital and analogue formats into one release,” (rather than being pressed, this release is UV digitally printed vinyl) it needs to be pointed...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the 2LP Deluxe Edition reissue of Sirens of the Ditch by Jason Isbell. It’s pretty uncommon for me to wonder where I was when I review a reissue of an album which was originally released after 2002 (a.k.a. The year I joined the press). That is not to say there weren’t great albums that I didn’t get my hands my hands on to review them when they were new, it’s simply something...
Beastie BoysPaul’s Boutiquephoto: turntablelab.com I don’t know if the Beastie Boys get too much credit or not enough. One thing’s for sure, they’re not spoken about too much among the current mainstream rapper greats. Of course, that’s kind of a misnomer: mainstream rap isn’t really great. And as a Beastie Boys fan, that suits me just fine. Sophomore albums really define a band, don’t they? That first album can make as big an impact as you want, but if you’re...
WHO: Personality Cult WHAT: New Arrows WHY: New Arrows is nothing new but it’s got that sound that I happen to absolutely love. It’s raw, fast, poppy, and full of guitars. I’m not quite sure how Personality Cult mastermind Ben Carr did it, but he figured out a way to distill a buzzpop album down to the essentials. Of course, a good way to do that is to let the Marked Men influence you a bit. You don’t have to...
Republic, Lostby Lawrence Lessig Republic, Lost was a book that’s been on my watchlist for years. I don’t know exactly how I became interested in it but I’m kind of disappointed I never got around to it until now. Maybe Lawrence Lessig was on the Daily Show back in the day and I thought I’d check it out? But anyway, it took just a few pages (or a few dozen) for me to realize what an essential book this is...