Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 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 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 a Lower Decks show...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Dymaxion LP by Garbageface x Wolfagram. Over the last few years, Karol “Garbageface” Orzechowski has used a laptop, a few instruments and a prodigious amount of talent to expand the vocabulary of electronic music, and really gone out of his way to both force change and re-arrange some musical conventions and paradigms. Watching his body of work unfold, (particularly N0 FUTUR(E) and Apostasy) has been nothing short of hypnotic, in fact;...

WHO: Czarface & MF DOOM WHAT: Super What? WHY: I don’ think there’s a supergroup quite like Czarface and MF DOOM. Maybe the greatest and most underrated MC of all time unfortunately passed away last year (or did he?) and the only good that can come of it is that people would start appreciating his work more. His last collab with Czarface, released posthumously, is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because it’s some of the most interesting...

Project Hail Maryby Andy Weir I love me a good sci-fi book. Especially hard sci-fi. And Andy Weir’s books are definitely hard sci-fi. I was a fan of the Martian mostly because of the engaging and fun story, but also because Weir asks his audience to think. I had high hopes for his new book Project Hail Mary, and it certainly delivered, but I wasn’t prepared for just how much thinking this book was going to make me do. One...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Coyote LP by Spencer Burton. The problem that many musicians (particularly those associated with music genres which are usually aligned with “youth” as a concept – like pop, rock and punk) run into as time passes is that, at most, they age awkwardly – if they figure out how to age at all. That might sound odd, but think about it, reader; rock, pop, punk et cetera all have a sense...

WHO: Sleaford Mods WHAT: Spare Ribs WHY: Sleaford Mods are perplexingly difficult to describe, especially considering their music is incredibly simple. Is it working-class speaking over simple electronic drum and bass beats? Sure. It’s also angry, honest, and kind of punk rock. It’s also sounds like rapping and is surprisingly catchy. In short, there’s nothing out there like it. You see where I’m going with this? Their latest Spare Ribs has been called their best work and I might just...

The Hold SteadyOpen Door Policy Thank god for this album, folks. Thank GOD! I think I’ve said this before, but the Hold Steady are one of those bands that suffers from Monty Python syndrome, in the sense that it’s good, but the most annoying people in the world will not shut the fuck about it. Have you met a Hold Steady fan? If you’re not sure, then you haven’t. The real Hold Steady fans are annoying as hell. As such,...

WHO: Mikey Erg WHAT: Selftitled WHY: Mikey Erg might best be known for being the go-to drummer for every band on earth and his work in seminal pop punk band The Ergs! but the man has a solo career every bit as interesting. His new self-titled album serves as a back-to-form of sorts from the more experimental stuff he’s been putting out and it’s got all the hard-hitting pop punk hooks, riffs, and girl songs you’d expect from someone with...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the JT LP by Steve Earle and The Dukes. The fact is that no parent ever assumes they’ll outlive their children. There’s a security in that knowledge; at a certain point, parents realize that it’s unlikely they’ll accomplish all the things that they hoped to do in their lifetimes (either for themselves or for their progeny – some things will simply be left undone), and so there’s a certain comfort which comes...

Neil Young & Crazy Horse Way Down In The Rust Bucket (Deluxe Edition 4LP/2CD/DVD) (Reprise Records/Warner Music Group/The Other Shoe Productions) It’s hard to express how satisfying the experience of witnessing a “whole show” can be, in reference to said show being on a recorded medium. Really, how many pieces are necessary? Well, in the case of the Deluxe Edition 4LP/2CD/1DVD box set which chronicles the show that Neil Young performed with Crazy Horse in Santa Cruz. CA in 1990,...