Star Trek Picard Movie & TV Collection Here on Ground Control we plan on going where no man has ever gone before – to cover the entire Star Trek series home releases for your enjoyment. Well, not really, but we are terribly excited about the new Picard series debuting on CBS. Star Trek has a long and rich history, and though it’s had many ups and downs, it’s probably most known for the Next Generation series with...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into Territories’ “Short Seller” CD Record. On paper, my mind wobbled at the idea of this release. “This is a playable vinyl record made using a CD press,” proclaimed the press release which accompanied my review copy of Territories’ “Short Seller” CD Record. “CDs are dead. Long live vinyl.” While I was curious right away, I was also hesitant. History had taught me that any new music format – no matter how good...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the “Watch Your Back” 12” single by Charger. At this point, each member of Rancid’s musical personality has been established in both the annals of punk and pop music as well as in fans’ hearts (Lars Fredericksen is the “streetwise professor,” blasting out poppy street punk which is at home on punk playlists but has a flawless pop heart, Tim Armstrong is the ska side of the band, the band’s drummer has...

Run-DMCRun-DMC(Get On Down Records reissue)photo: turntablelab.com Whenever we get a chance we like to keep it local here on Ground Control. We do it with our bands and we do it with our labels. I’m Boston based and how Get on Down has escaped me for all these years, I’ll never know. The best part is that I found out about them through word of mouth from my local record store in Somerville called Index Records. Well, my record (no...

The Lighthouse Pity the Oscars. It’s all people seem to care about when it comes to the recognition of the best the industry has to offer. But the fact of the matter is, the Oscars wouldn’t know a good movie if it bit them on the ass. In other words, the Oscars don’t matter, except when they do. More on that in our next edition of TV Party Tonight! But the most recent exhibit in the hall of shame...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the “Green Fuzz” 10” single by Naked Giants. After releasing their debut album, Sluff, in 2018, even the softest, newest and least tested critics figured they had Naked Giants’ career path pegged and charted. They figured that a future full of odd, poppy, rocky and fairly danceable music was in the cards for this band, until such time as tastes shifted and then the group would just implode under the weight of...

Dog Days of Snakepit by Ben Snakepit It’s easy to understate the subtlety of Ben Snakepit’s work. He’s like a centaur: a comic book artist torso powered by a punk rock body. There is no doubt that punk rock has shaped who Ben is and his perspective on life. The man has been in more bands that I either of us can count and I am a proud owner of his music. He’s also an all-around beloved guy. But maybe...

Green DayFather of All Motherfuckers (Reprise/Warner)I must confess that, for the first time in almost thirty years (that was the first time I heard Kerplunk and became a fan), the first new song I heard from Father of All Motherfuckers felt like a balk and not a hit to me. The first song I heard was the album’s title track, and it really took me by surprise; I had read that Billie Joe Armstrong really wanted to change up what...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into The Twin LP by Sound Of Ceres. It may sound odd (or even erroneous) to claim that an album as methodically-paced and dreamy in demeanor as Sound Of Ceres’ sophomore album is comes off as being both exciting and fascinating, but there’s honestly no other good way to characterize it. As a whole, listeners will find it easy to sink into and get lost within the lush and beautiful sounds which emanate...

Maid in Manhattan Maid in Manhattan was romcom before romcoms were a thing. I hear Mystic Pizza should be up there as a pioneer of the genre, but Maid in Manhattan was really the crest of the new wave in the 90s. It has all the elements of a good romcom: a lovable underdog, a hard-to-crack romantic interest, the weight of the world seemingly on the protagonist’s shoulder, and beautiful people who are a little too dumb to...