album

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Hum LP by Alain Johannes. It’s about time guitarist, songwriter, producer and engineer Alain Johannes got around to releasing another solo album (his solo debut, Spark, came out in 2010 and his sophomore album, Fragments and Wholes vol 1 came out in 2014 – so he’s due). Johannes’ career in the music business actually began in 1984 (with What Is This, the band he started with former Red Hot Chili Peppers...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the limited edition “Gratuitous Red” pressing of the Born Stupid LP by Paul Leary. When vinyl records made their return as one of the foremost music media in or around 2014, a lot was discussed regarding the difference in the sound and fidelity of vinyl and pretty much everything else on the market, at the time. It was an exciting moment; vinyl sales went up 280 percent from what they’d been in...

The Dirty Nil Fuck Art (Dine Alone Records) Rare is the band which knows precisely who they are and actually celebrates that identity rather than asking listeners to excuse it. There’s a certain spark in the music made by bands like that – Alice Cooper Group had it, as did Dead Kennedys, Eagles of Death Metal and Green Day – and The Dirty Nil steps up boldly to prove that they’ve got it with their third album, Fuck Art. Of...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the 2LP Rocktober edition reissue of Ritual de lo Habitual by Jane’s Addiction. I must confess that, when I learned Warner Brothers Records was reissuing Jane’s Addiction’s third full-length album as part of their Roctober promotion, I got really, really excited. In fact, excitement barely even begins to qualify the wealth of sensations that I felt when I heard about it; the number of memories that I have associated with Ritual de...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into Acid Dad’s self-titled debut album. I must confess that I slept for an unreasonably long time on Acid Dad’s self-titled debut album. I’m not sure how or why, I have to own that it did indeed happen. I have to own it because from the first moment the sound began to build after I put the album on my turntable and let a stylus sink into it, I was aware of what...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Take The Light With You LP by Wildlife. Sometimes the arrival of a record doesn’t bring with it a spectacular introduction – in fact, it would be easy enough to overlook some albums completely on the wrong day – but those albums can sneak up on you, win your heart and capture your imagination if your back is turned and are otherwise engaged. That’s precisely what happened to this critic when...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the HumanWorld LP by Peter Perrett. As of 2019, saying that singer/guitarist Peter Perrett has had a storied career would be a laughable understatement. After forming (and then collapsing) Glory in 1976, Perrett formed the fantastic Only Ones in 1978 where he established one of the greatest songbooks in the history of power pop. Perrett has ridden The Only Ones, off and on, ever since then (the band has broken up and...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Constellate LP by Tensei.Over the last few years, The Flaming Lips have really come a long way from being the LSD-dipped and surrealist punk band that they were when they emerged from the wilds of Oklahoma in 1983. Since then, the hard left musical turns that they were perceived to have taken have become streamlined and the group has developed a greater sonic palette with which they’ve been able to compose...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Holger Danske LP by The Old Firm Casuals. After a solid amount of time up on blocks (the band’s debut album was released in 2014 and, while there have been a couple of splits and a couple of EPs, demands for something more substantial have gone unanswered), a recent reissue campaign renewed interest in The Old Firm Casuals (a.k.a. Singer/guitarist Lars Frederiksen’s “other” band, beyond Rancid) and so they’ve answered that...

Jon Spencer Spencer Sings The Hits (In The Red Records) In Jon Spencer’s debut solo album, Spencer Sings The Hits, fans will find a genuine and true revelation about both the singer and his music. Here, they’ll finally get a sense of what portion of the music to which he has contributed over the years (with the Blues Explosion, Pussy Galore, Boss Hog, Heavy Trash, Spencer Dickinson and so on) is actually his; it will suddenly become easy to see...