A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Black Friday-released Run, Stop & Drop (The Needle) EP by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. It’s not common for a jazz album which was made in a recording studio to really reach out and grab a listener’s attention. Let’s be honest here; jazz was originally music which was born onstage and developed there with the help of gifted players who spent hours crafting it, grooming it, refining it and making it...

Spirited Away GKIDS For a celebrated director like Miyazaki it’s worthwhile to point out how Spirited Away is probably his most celebrated work. Few movies have received the acclaim that this title has and a look at its Wikipedia page really puts into perspective the killing this movie made at any awards show where it was nominated. And it’s easy to see why. Watching Spirited Away is like watching Alice in Wonderland. It starts off with a very ordinary...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Black Friday-issued “Keep It Thoro” 12” single by Mobb Deep’s Prodigy. It’s kind of incredible to think about just how much the “Single” has changed as a format over the years. When singles first gained popularity, their construct was simple; a hit song was collected from a long-playing record, then paired with a song of complimentary length and then pressed one-per-side onto a seven-inch record. Simple, right? As both taste and...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into Pocket FishRmen’s The Greatest Story Ever Told LP/CD set. In the grand tradition of bands including The Big Boys, Butthole Surfers, Scratch Acid and Daddy Longhead, Austin’s Pocket FishRmen were an archetype Texas punk band in that their artistic vision was a little skewed. They always seemed a little frazzled and they always – always – did things their own way. Even this compilation release is a testament to that “their own...

Welcome one and all to the happy tidings brought to you by our yearly Holiday Buyer’s Guide. Like every year, we bring you a list of perfect gifts and stocking stuffers. Some are old favorites and others are brand new! ‘Tis the season for giving, but also of rewarding yourself for having given so much. You know the drill: we’re not going to bombard you and drone on and on. We’re keeping it sweet and simple and tell you exactly...

Porco Rosso   Hayao Miyazaki is an absolute cinematic powerhouse. Whether you’re a fan of movies, Japanese culture, animation, kids movies, or fantasy, chances are you’ve been exposed to his work in some form or another.  If you haven’t, that’s because you just don’t know it. With the recent reissues by GKIDS, we’re going to be covering some of our favorite Miyazaki releases in this column. You get to hear about them and we get to talk about them,...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the 2LP edition of Ring Spiel ’95 by Mike Watt. As many Ground Control readers are already aware, we have a particular affinity for vinyl records. The sound of them is (obviously) a very big part of that, but the medium’s ability to draw out different aspects of the music contained on it can change the listening experience too; because vinyl has a few more limitations than other media on which music...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the “Best Of The Best” b/w “45” seven inch single by Roadside Bombs. It’s pretty uncommon for a punk band to publicly praise a music journalist (not that it never happens, just that it doesn’t happen regularly) so when Roadside Bombs doesn’t just praise a critic, they put his face on the A-side of a single and publicly promote him as being “The Best of The Best,” it begs attention.The critic in...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Tales From The Megaplex LP by Count Vaseline. It might seem difficult to understand for those who have never heard his music before, but Stefan “Count Vaseline” Murphy is the definition of “timeless, ageless hipster cool” and he proves it on his third album, Tales From The Megaplex. Throughout the album’s eight cuts (seven originals and one Ween cover), Murphy deadpans and comically monotones his way along against a backdrop of...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Locust Abortion Technician EP by the Butthole Surfers. At first glance, it’s hard not to smirk a little at the design, intention and construct of the Locust Abortion Technician EP. It’s a very unmistakably “Surfers” release; the group has chosen to break their decade-long silence with a celebration of the thirtieth anniversary of their Locust Abortion Technician album and, to mark the occasion, they’ve reissued (roughly) thirty percent of the album...