Let’s go ahead and call bullshit on the internet for trying to manufacture Shitty 2016 as a trend. This year was great for a number of reasons. One of these is the music that came out this year. New bands excelled and old ones outdid themselves. We apologize ahead of time for the lack of overlap with garbage other sites like Pitchfork are pushing. We can’t help it that we have better taste… Best albums of the year: 01. White...

  A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the First Ditch Effort LP by NOFX. While the last few years may not have looked like the busiest for NOFX on the surface (yes, as every fan knows, four years lapsed between Self-Entitled and First Ditch Effort – the longest gap between new full-length albums in the band’s 33-year history together to date), to say that the band’s members sat fallow would be completely untrue. In fact, it could be...

The Washington Connection and Third World Fascism: The Political Economy of Human Rights: Volume I by Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman For being such a controversial writer, Chomsky’s writings have been surprisingly easy to obtain. After all, this isn’t soviet Russia we’re living in. That’s why one of the most surprising aspects of the Washington Connection is the very beginning where the authors detail exactly how this book was suppressed by its parent company due to its “unpatriotic” content....

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the In The Garden LP by Holy Sons. Even at first sight, those who are familiar with Holy Sons – the solo pet project of Grails drummer Emil Amos – will know that In The Garden is an important release for the artist. Why? Well, they’ll know it must be of particular importance; In The Garden is Holy Sons’ fourth album for Partisan, but it is the thirteenth to bear the project’s...

Mike Watt Ball-Hog or Tugboat? The juggernaut that is Mike Watt hasn’t always been the unstoppable force we know him as now. The death of his best friend and Minutemen comrade D. Boon made him a broken man, pondering what was next for him. On the documentary We Jam Econo, Watt chokes up when he thinks about D. Boon’s death. “That was a tough day for Watt,” he says. Mike Watt has certainly come a long way since his debut...

  Breaking Bad The Final Season Hello readers, and welcome to the first ever edition of TV Party Tonight! Here at Ground Control, we’re known mostly for our impeccable music coverage, but as of late, we’ve ventured into impeccable literary coverage and now impeccable movie and TV coverage. We’re turning into the AV club, I suppose, except with a less-manageable website. Anyway, it’s not certain what route we will be taking with this column (whether we will be focusing more...

Bracket The Last Page It seems like Bracket’s career will always be as unappreciated and bittersweet as those characters they sing about in their songs. Or maybe they’ve been singing about themselves all along. Whatever the case, there’s a certain sad sweetness to their songs that’s undeniable. That and a tendency to contain some of the greatest melodies and harmonies ever recorded in punk rock. One would think that’s a recipe for success, but instead has turned out to be...

Artist: Metallica Album: Hardwired… To Self-Destruct (Deluxe Edition 3CD) Label: Blackened/ADA/Warner Music It’s funny how the psychology of salesmanship works – after a certain point, one has to wonder where the logic goes. A great example of that can be found in the Deluxe Edition, 3CD version of Hardwired… To Self-Destruct. As previously stated in my review of the standard-issue 2CD version of the release, Metallica’s new album is a great trip back to the early, shreddy and fairly lean...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Head Carrier LP by The Pixies. In music history, there have only been a few bands who have been able to make a truly great “petty rock,” “grudge rock” or “revenge rock” record (some might say Pink Floyd have done it, it could be debated if Smashing Pumpkins did it) but the Pixies have definitely added their name to that tradition with their sixth album, Head Carrier. As is already a...

The Secret History of Twin Peaks by Mark Frost It’s been over twenty years since Twin Peaks aired, and after having rewatched the entire series and seen the movies in anticipation of the series’ return, there are still plenty of unanswered questions. I’ve come to realize that with this series, that will always be the case. Twin Peaks has a habit of taking reality and turning it on its head. The natural laws of physics don’t apply here, so don’t...