WHO: Die Spitz WHAT: Something to Consume WHY: Die Spitz blew up and are growing the way a good band would, by honing their skills, playing shows non-stop, and letting the buzz happen naturally. It doesn’t hurt that they put out an awesome record Teeth and that their live shows, indeed, rip. So, all eyes are on them with their first studio album on their new label Third Man (See? They’re doing it right!). Something to Consume is bewildering because...

DescendentsMilo Goes to College There have been few albums in my life that have been breakthrough albums. The kind of albums that open your mind. Albums that, when they hit you, you say to yourself, “Oh, wait a minute. I see it now.” Like that final scene in the Matrix: you can finally see the coding that’s been floating in front of you all along. I’d like to sit down one day and take note of these albums...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Empty Bottles LP by BOGOs. Strictly on the face of it, it’s really, really easy to mistake The BOGOs in general – and their Empty Bottles album in specific – as a novelty. Before listeners hear a note of music from the album, a story has already been told by the glaringly bright and garish color scheme which dominates the album’s artwork and is neatly supported by the collection of liquor...

WHO: Civic WHAT: Chrome Dipped WHY: It was a grower, for sure, but Chrome Dipped is superior to Taken by Force in catchiness, pounding melodies, clever lyrics yet still retains so much of that surfer rock that made them popular (?). THIS is what I thought I was signing up for. It’s just high quality rock and roll with garage undertones. Of course it wounds a little like the Saints. A straight forward, great, rock record that you can’t help...

A Nightmare on Elm Street 7-Film Collection Horror movies are tricky, aren’t they? I mean, they shouldn’t be. Why would a genre be tricky? I’ll tell you why. Because most horror movies aren’t scary. They’re either dumb or dependent on jump cuts. At least lately they are. Don’t believe me? Just look at Midsommar (dumb), Sinners (dumb), or Malevolent (jump cuts but also really dumb). What’s really scary is a smart script. Ironically, it’s what horror movies nowadays are also...

Seeing a good opener can be a cathartic experience. Sometimes it’s interesting, and you check them out when you go home, but most of the time it’s forgettable. I can count on one hand when an opener has blown me away, and I don’t even need all my fingers. When I caught the last few songs of Die Spitz at an OFF! show years ago all I could think of is how loud it sounded. Then, watching them put their...

WHO: Alex G WHAT: Headlights WHY: No one does lo-fi moody like Alex G. It would be easy-listening, but Headlights is just weird enough and subversive enough to give it an edge. But then there’s a consistent sweetness in all these songs, and nowhere more evident than on Afterlife. His style becomes more singular with each album and Headlights is the obvious progression for him. We should all be excited about what’s coming next. Listen to it...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the “The Beast” b/w “Rebecca” split 7” single by The Drowns and Wonk Unit. Perhaps just to prove how versatile they can be, The Drowns’ “other” recently-released split 7” single (shared this time with Wonk Unit) illustrates just how far the band can stray from their established punk pedigree and steer into something closer to rockabilly without crashing, terribly. Some fans will scoff at such a change and they’re well within their...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the “Subculture Rock N’ Roll” b/w “Pleaser” split 7” single by The Drowns and Last Gang. Few things are as potentially harrowing for artists as a split 7” single release. Granted, a 7” can present several potential decisions which could make or break a band on the back of that release, but it’s even harder when a band has just one song to work with AND potentially has to compete with another...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into Bambara’s Birthmarks LP. Frances Bacon may have famously claimed that, “In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present,” but he couldn’t possibly have accounted for the darkness sounding as fine as it does on Birthmarks, Bambara’s fifth studio album. Bands like The Dirty Three might ring bells in comparable quality, but they are all similar only in perfectly abstract terms and prove it as, for the...