A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the 12” picture-disc reissue of Old Firm Casuals’ self-titled debut EP. By the time Lars Frederiksen unveiled Old Firm Casuals in 2010, the singer/guitarist was already very well exposed in the punk rock community. He had already cut his teeth with U.K. Subs in 1991, gained pop (and pop-punk) stardom with Rancid beginning in 1993 and “gone solo” with The Bastards in addition to taking a seat in the producer’s chair at...
Thee Oh Sees An Odd Entrances There comes a point when we just have to draw a line in the sand and say, “This is too much!” I used to think John Dwyer’s Thee Oh Sees was such a prolific band that they’re not giving their audience enough time to properly digest their musical output. I have my favorites in the catalog, of course, like Floating Coffin and Castlemania, but that’s only because those were some of my first tastes...
OCS Memory of a Cut Off Head Let’s talk about Thee Oh Sees… sorry I mean Oh Sees… sorry I mean OCS. If you haven’t heard of them, you should. Not just because they’re scary prolific, but because they’re also responsible for some damn fine music. Not hurting things also is their DIY approach to their craft: all albums are recorded by and put out on frontman John Dwyer’s Castle Face records. And not that it matters, but Dwyer himself...
Super Troopers Comic-Con 2015 I don’t think anyone thought they’d be saying this, but Super Troopers has aged like a fine wine. And how could anyone have predicted it? This movie suffers from some obvious setbacks, like being worshipped by the fraternity community, relying too often on pot humor, and maybe not the best acting. It seems like the most vocal fans of Super Troopers are the ones that won’t stop quoting the worst lines of the film...
Vacationland: True Stories from Painful Beaches by John Hodgman I’ve had a confusing relationship with John Hodgman for years now. I’ve always like him on the Daily Show, and thought he was an insightful and witty guest on podcasts. However, when I got his trilogy of fake facts book, it quickly became apparent that I had made a mistake. While Hodgman’s comedy always seemed nuanced and slightly highbrow to me, his books were the opposite of that: boring, repetitive, pointless,...
The Matrix I’m sure I speak for boys and girls everywhere when I say that, being in high school and seeing the Matrix for the first time in theatres changed my life forever. Also, I should note that I grew up on a tiny island in the Caribbean where even movie theatres were a novel thing. To say that my friends and I’s minds were completely blown away doesn’t quite describe it. I’ll always remember what one of...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the You’re Not Alone 2LP by Andrew W.K. An epiphany: since first appearing on the pop music radar in 2001 with the release of his debut album, I Get Wet, Andrew Wilkes-Krier has chased the idea and image of a perfect party as well as producing a genuinely kinetic soundtrack for such an event with little thematic deviation (obvious exception being the piano-focused, instrumental album which appeared in 2009, 55 Cadillac) –...
Optimism over Despair: On Capitalism, Empire, and Social Change by Noam Chomsky, C.J. Polychroniou It should be evident by our almost-unanimous praise of the Chomsky books we’ve reviewed on this site that we’re admirers of the man’s work. I won’t say “fans,” because that sounds weird when you’re talking about a political figure in his late 80s. Optimism Over Despair has the format we’ve enjoyed most in Chomsky’s books: a collection of brief interviews. One reason for this this is...
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard With Mild High Club Sketches Of Brunswick East photo: turntablelab.com In some ways, Sketches of Brunswick East is an album that left me more impressed with King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard than Murder of the Universe. The latter album is what made me fall in love with the band and solidified what the name “King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard” is supposed to represent musically. But, this band doesn’t adhere by any standards:...
Endless Poetry ABKCO In the featurette for Endless Poetry there’s a plea by writer/director Alejandro Jodorowksy where he claims that he wants to undo modern filmmaking and instead make something that’s an artistic expression by its creator, a film that will stay with the viewer after they watch it, that has the power to change lives. This is the bar Jodorowsky has set for himself and it should be enough for us to give him a chance. Having been...