Phantom Thread I’m a fan of the Best Show with Tom Scharpling and in one of the host’s many ramblings, he’s expressed his feelings for Paul Thomas Anderson (PTA) and how he believes him to be a genius: one of the few geniuses on this earth. Now, I wouldn’t go that far because I don’t really believe in geniuses. Although I do know one. What I can say about PTA is that all evidence points to him being the...

Notes on a Case of Melancholia, Or: A Little Death by Nicholas Gurewitch When it comes to webcomics it’s hard to find a better equalizer than Nicholas Gurewitch’s Perry Bible Fellowship. I’ve been reading it for more than 10 years and am still genuinely in awe of how this webcomic consistently excels both in its writing and art. Clearly, PBF is the creation of a disturbed mind, and as far as comedy comics are concerned, the current gold standard in...

Xetas The Tower How does one begin to describe Xetas? “Powerful,” that’s how. But also sinister, relentless, and exciting. Xetas came to my attention by pure chance. A chance I love to take with 12XU records. More and more they are becoming my primary source for new music exposure. That goes for you as well, dear reader. Listening to the Tower it’s evident that Xetas are not interested in wasting anyone’s time. Yours or their, for that matter. Legend has...

Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress by Steven Pinker Boy, this is a tricky one. On the one hand, Steven Pinker is one of the most respected scientist and thinkers worldwide, and he’s responsible for some of the most enlightening books out there. On the other hand, he just might be out of his league with this one. Enlightenment Now should be commended for the scope of its subject: measuring trends of health, advancement, and human...

The Post Manufacturing Consent, a book by Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman should be required reading for every person living in the United States. Among the many subjects it covers are how the media, while loving to pat itself on the back for swaying the course of the Vietnam War, was in fact very much in favor of it when it first started. In fact, it misreported, ignored inconvenient facts, and straight up lied to the public in...

If you were to ask me to name one artist that is at the forefront of punk rock, I’d have to say Jeff Rosenstock. It’s not just that he makes fresh, interesting, relevant, progressive pop punk, it’s also that his whole approach to making music is commendable. The man puts out his music for free, for God’s sake. And even though at times his music seems to be getting ahead of itself, there’s no denying there’s something...

Miles Davis Sorcerer (Vinyl Me Please) 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 have no idea what makes...

Obnox Niggative Approach Finding new music can be a daunting thing. There’s so much of it and most of it is bad. And, conventional news outlets are either snobby or just flat-out-wrong (not us, of course). So if you want to be exposed to good new music, there’ a few things you can do. First, always take the advice of friends. Second, stick to a magazine that caters to your sensibilities. Third, dip into the releases of a label you...

Bloodshot Bill & Shannon Shaw “Honey Time” 7 Inch EP Every now and then, the stars align just right to give us something unique and special. That’s exactly the thought that goes through my head when I think of the Bloodshot Bill and Shannon Shaw split 7” Honey Time. For those not in the know, this 7 inch is a fitting and peculiar union of songwriters. Bloodshot Bill is a honky-tonk madman and, as Jon Spencer said, the hardest working...

Howlin’ Wolf Best of the Sun Records Sessions Are you serious about music? We are. So much so that we consider it homework. It’s not enough to enjoy the music, but also to understand where it came from: to trace it and pinpoint references. Forget what people say about appropriation: good art is all about combining influences and making something new; it’s all about bottom-up expression. This is why it’s important to go back and understand the sources....