A deeper look at the grooves pressed into The Dwarves’ Concept Album LP. To say that The Dwarves have been around and weathered a lot of pop cultural storms is an understatement. Since forming in Chicago in the mid-Eighties, The Dwarves have reinvented the concept of the revolving door; they’ve gone through band members (dozens of them – but guitarist Pete “HeWhoCannotBeNamed” Vietnamecheque and singer Paul “Blag Dahlia” Cafaro are the group’s core members), record labels (at least five) and...
Bam! What a year, am I right? It certainly has been one for me. Let’s not get into it, but I’m just glad to be here, you know? Happy to be bringing you cutting edge content. Looking at those other sites’ best-of lists makes me realize there’s no accounting for good taste. Some of these recommendations look like they’ve been put together by AI. But not here, dear readers. We’re flesh and bone. We hurt and we bleed, and we...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Tropical Breakdown LP by Pierre Omer’s Swing Revue. Ever since Swing Kids came out in 1993 featuring a cast of very talented dancers, hipsters have wanted to revive swing music and dancing and make it their own. The reasoning for that desire is really easy to understand; the music is wildly infectious even without the benefit of distortion pedals, and the gymnasts who dance to it in the movies make it...
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:Mutant Mayhem I used to be obsessed with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as a kid. Probably to an unhealthy degree. I remember picking up the Shell Shocked VHS (or was it Beta?) from the video rental place when I was a kid, and being completely mesmerized. Of course, I became a fan of the franchise ever since. I watched the TV show in English and Spanish. I collected the toys and I still remember the first...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the The Legend of Ice-T: Crime Stories 3LP set by Ice-T. It’s hard to know what to make of The Legend of Ice-T: Crime Stories exactly, in part because what the album wants to be isn’t particularly clear. A very solid argument could be made for the possibility that, in fact, this 3LP set is supposed to be the soundtrack to either a stage production or a film. From the moment it...
Blue Beetle Let’s just get to it, OK? Because, this one is a straight up bummer. I’m saying this because I just came off watching the Flash and being absolutely blown away by how competent and engaging it was. It wasn’t the greatest movie by any means, but the fact that it could take an old story (listen, all superhero stories are old stories) and throw in so many fresh ideas really should be a testament to the genre. There’s...
WHO: The Damned WHAT: Darkadelic WHY: Look, there’s no reason why seasoned veterans would still be putting out quality music this long into their career, but Darkadelic is catchy, sounds fresh, and made by a band who’s been around the block. There is no way a song like Beware of the Clown would work with anyone else but David Vanian on vocals. All the elements come together for a package that includes great songs, a great crisp sound, and an...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into Volores’ Ages LP. It may come as a surprise, but there’s a reason that I elected to review Ace Of Wands’ newest LP and Ages by Volores back-to-back: the albums feel like the work of two bands who could easily share a stage or a tour together. Both bands’ sounds feature a bit of goth and alt-rock in their artistic/creative DNA but, where Ace Of Wands clearly features some classic rock in...
Star Trek Picard Season 3 Boy, am I excited to be reviewing Season 3 of Picard. Why? Because ever since it came out, I’ve had to read on social media about how it’s the greatest new iteration of Star Trek to date. It has glowing reviews. The old gang is back together! Now, any old Star Trek fan knows this is actually an indictment of #nutrek. Any close inspection of these praises reveals that the main argument is that they’ve...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into Ace Of Wands’ Desiring LP. It’s hard to articulate how cool this is and how much this statement means but, from moment one of listening to Ace Of Wands’ new album, there is a direct artistic and creative line which connects Ace Of Wands to Heart. Of course, making comparisons between other artists and the work of Ann and Nancy Wilson is easy enough to do on a completely superficial level, but...