A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Hellcat Records/Pirates Press reissue of Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards’ self-titled debut album. Those who remember that time period when all the Southern California punk bands who broke through in the early Nineties got huge (like the Offspring, Green Day, NOFX and Rancid) remember what a big deal it was when Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards released their first album in 2001. Granted, they were not the first offshoot group to...
Meet Me in the Bathroom: Rebirth and Rock and Roll in New York City 2001-2011 by Lizzy Goodman I got my start in music in High School in the late 90s. It was a time when we were exposed to western music for the first time in the little Caribbean island I was growing up (no, unfortunately not Jamaica). The interest has stuck ever since and I actually remember the era of music that Goodman covers in her book Meet...
The House of Government: A Saga of the Russian Revolution by Yuri Slezkine The Russian Revolution of 1917 is such a rich vein of cultural and social lessons. The same of course can be said for the soviet experiment. Countless books have been written on the subject from both participants who were there to see things for themselves, and historians who try to uncover new truths as they become available. This year marks 100 years since the revolution and a...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Aluminium LP by Vulture Whale. Sometimes there’s just no way to mistake where a band comes from. In any given case, it might be the singer’s accent or tonality that does it or sometimes it’s just a particular vale or sound inserted somewhere among the instrumental performances, but it’s unmistakably there and listeners know it as soon as they hear it – no matter how potentially intangible it might be. On...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Medicine Mountain LP by Chomper. Every once in a while, a band somehow manages to come along and throw a multitude of easily recognizable sounds into the generic melting pot and then pour out something which is recognizable for those traits as well as coming off as perfectly unique and all the band’s own. That’s precisely what happens on Medicine Mountain, Chomper’s debut album; in just eight tracks, the band (which...
The Bronx V I first saw the Bronx about ten years ago in San Diego opening for Lagwagon. Lead singer Matt Caughtran proudly announced before they came out, “We saw it was going to rain earlier, so we didn’t think the show was going to happen, so we all did a bunch of drugs.” I was intrigued. The Bronx then proceeded to blow me away as they played their set. After that show, of course I looked them up online,...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Live and Loud!! LP by Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards. In this digital age of perfectly pressed, equalized and mastered music, something truly seems to have been lost – particularly from live albums. These days, live albums just seem too contained; because those making the recordings often know exactly how to make and produce one, a lot of the of-its-moment energy which comes together at a concert gets forgotten and, because...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the 2LP reissue of He’s the DJ, I’m the Rapper by DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. It’s funny but, looking back at it now, it’s unbelievable how quickly everything came together for DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. Before April 1987, no one (well, no one outside of Philadelphia) had any idea who the duo was but, suddenly, Rock The House dropped, as did the smash single “Girls Ain’t...
Princess Mononoke GKIDS How does one pick their favorite Miyazaki movie? For anyone who’s a fan of animated movies, it’s easy to appreciate how his works are so grand, unique, and can go straight for the heart. Each one is so magical, so how do we distinguish and single out one as a favorite? Well, if this debate will get some of us to watch Miyazaki movies over and over again, then that’s a good thing. But for me...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Endless LP by The Struggle. At this point in music history, surf rock’s impact on punk has really been downplayed with more attention put toward the more obvious, poppy turns that the music has taken – especially of late. That’s the first thing The Struggle fixes on their new album, Endless; from front to back, The Struggle mixes melodic hardcore similar to that of the Dropkick Murphys’ earliest recordings with the...