A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Drag Me LP by S-E-R-V-I-C-E. While fans already had a pretty good idea where Jon Spencer would end up following the dissolution of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion in 2016 (other than making appearances in the multitude of projects to which the guitarist had offered both his name and talent over the years, he also has a newly minted solo career to develop), the question of where drummer Russell Simins may...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Can You Really Find Me LP by Night Moves. Without intending to date myself, how many readers remember the Nineties? It was a pretty unique time, aesthetically; Seventies fashion was retro en vogue, and a lot of that transitioned into both music and visual art as well. Oranges, browns and rich reds were really common (post-plaid) color schemes to use, and ornate gold furniture and accessories were common as well. After...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Guide Me Back Home 3LP by City and Colour. I must confess that most regularly, live albums don’t thrill me. City and Colour albums do not often thrill me either, for that matter (long story short, while I was a big fan of Alexisonfire back in the day, I found the first two City and Colour albums staggeringly overwrought); I don’t know that I’d call my distaste for the band absolute...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the The Old New Me / Times Like This 2LP reissue by Slim Dunlap. Of course, after the collapse, crash and burn of The Replacements in 1991, it was almost instantly hoped that somebody in the band would begin producing more music but nobody looked at Slim Dunlap to be the first one out of the gate. Dunlap was, after all, the replacement guitarist in The Replacements – that was the joke...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the 2017 vinyl reissue of Let Me Up (I’ve Had Enough) by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Twelve years after they started, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers found themselves in a fairly unique position in pop music: they’ve been working long enough and had been influential enough that radio waves were beginning to get crowded which artists who cited the band as an influence – or at least seemed like it. On...
A critical evaluation of Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl by Carrie Brownstein. The closest I ever got to seeing Sleater-Kinney was seeing Wild Flag play. Standing on the balcony, waiting through the opener’s set, there was Carrie Brownstein standing on the sidelines of the stage watching the set as well. I wondered if we’d get to interact with her. “She’s a rock star,†my then-girlfriend reminded me. After the show, much to my surprise, a lot of people stayed...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Vinyl Me, Please reissue of Paranoid by Black Sabbath. Ever since I “got into” metal through the likes of Motorhead and Mastodon, I’ve been trying to fill in the holes in my musical brain with all the awesome metal I’ve missed out on over the years. Unfortunately, I’ve been getting more and more disappointed with what I’ve been finding. Albums from Metallica, Kylesa and Baroness are fine, but I’d much rather...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Vinyl Me Please edition of Super Ape by Lee “Scratch” Perry. Music is a wonderful thing. If you listen to it correctly and put in the time, it can form a sort of six degrees of Kevin Bacon in your mind; bands get interconnected and genres get mixed and involved. As artists borrow from each other, new sounds are created and the inspirational wheel keeps turning. What am I talking about?...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the 20th Anniversary Vinyl Me Please deluxe edition 2LP + 7” of The Score by The Fugees. Looking back on it, it’s nothing short of astounding how volitile the hip hop scene of the Mid-Nineties was. Before Eminem made dick and fart jokes as well as unveiled homophobia de rigeur, different factions of the Gangsta Rap community were battling both with each other as well as internally for seats at the head...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Psychedelic Sound of The 13th Floor Elevators LP by The Thirteenth Floor Elevators. It’s unlikely that anyone would disagree that The Thirteenth Floor Elevators are a really important band in the evolution of rock. Most would site the band’s debut album as all the proof anyone could need to make the point: “What is it which makes The Psychedelic Sound of The 13th Floor Elevators a classic album?†“Well, first, there’s...