A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Light one-sided 12” EP by Hunting Lions. While the quality of Hunting Lions’ Dark EP can’t be denied, anyone who hears the band’s Light EP (which will be released later this month and in the same format – with all the music on one side and a graphic on the other) may be inclined to argue that the band really held the best songs back for this release. From note one,...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into Hunting Lions’ Dark EP. While I can’t keep myself from wondering why Hunting Lions elected to keep the music on the Dark EP contained to just one side of this 12” (there’s five songs on one side and a graphic on the other), there is no question that the songs on this EP are excellent. In addition, it is pretty nice that the record needs no flipping to get the full experience...

Photos by the unbeatable Jen Vesp Photography...

Cool Hand Luke We’re excited here at Ground Control Magazine to get a chance to highlight the WB100 series where Warner Brothers are celebrating 100 years of entertainment by giving a much-needed re-release to some of the titans in their movie catalog. Paul Newman deserves celebrating and especially Cool Hand Luke: a movie infinitely quoted and referenced. The odd thing on this second watch of Cool Hand Luke is just how difficult it is to get a handle on...

Star Trek: Strange New WorldsSeason 1 What can I possibly say about Star Trek that hasn’t been said already. If you don’t know what it is, get a clue and get on board. I was very late to the party but have since gone very deep. Star Trek is a warm fuzzy place I don’t think I’ll ever want to leave. For a franchise that has done so much over so many years the idea of this Strange New Worlds...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the “Berliner Pilsner” 7” by C.C. Voltage. Prior to hearing the “Berliner Pilsner” 7” single, I confess that I had never heard any of C.C. Voltage’s music before but, after hearing these two songs, I feel like I know him. More than that, hearing the “Berliner Pilsner” 7” really takes me back to a different time; a time when when rock had a certain undeniable swagger and a kind of distortion which...

Ticket to Paradise They don’t make romcoms like they used to. I don’t know why, but I watched Sleepless in Seattle, Joe Versus the Volcano, Moneypit, and You’ve Got Mail recently and it was a revelation just how good the genre can be. I don’t know why I looked down it. Maybe Romcoms nowadays suck? Maybe the writing is lacking or the protagonists just aren’t engaging enough? I watched Devil Wears Prada also, and the less said about that...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Kepi and Friends – Full Moon Forever LP by Kepi Ghoulie. After having already reviewed Kepi Ghoulie’s “other” album released this year (the Ramones In Love LP), I can say with regret that I approached Ghoulie’s output this annum in the wrong order. Full Moon Forever is a really good album which features covers of songs by bands like The Cure, Iggy Pop, Nick Cave, The Cars and the Jesus and...

The Strokes The Singles Volume 1 (Legacy Recordings/Sony Music) The Strokes might be singlehandedly responsible for bringing the alternative renaissance of 2000-2010 to the masses. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Well, in that decade, there was a kind of rock music style (not necessarily new) that, for a lack of better term, was becoming more mainstream. That era saw the ascent of bands like Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Interpol, LCD Soundsystem (to a lesser degree), The White Stripes, and The...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Ill-Fated Cusses LP by Cheater Slicks. After the last couple of decades (basically, from 1996 forward) which have seen the release of a multitude of great albums recorded with digital platforms (like ProTools, for example), it’s refreshing to hear a band just plug in, put microphones in front of amplifiers and record their songs – straight, no chaser. That’s precisely what Cheater Slicks did for their new album, Ill-Fated Cusses; for...