A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Brace Yourself LP by Seized Up. Ever heard an album which hits the mark brilliantly and causes you to remember why you like or got into one particular type of music or another, reader? Brace Yourself, the new album by Seized Up, hit me like that – about half the time while it played. The other half of the albums runtime just had me hoping it would find a way to...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the “Base Rage on the Front Page” (12” 3D printed single) by Noi!se. 2020 has been a very good year for Noi!se. This year, the band has already released two singles (the “Base Rage on the Front Page” single is the third – the 3D printed “Lost” 12” singleand the very orange “Price We Pay” 7” preceded it), but now the band has returned again with the single best of the lot,...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the “Blue” 7” by The Slackers. Within the context of political discourse, it has not been uncommon to see songs appear which promote one side of the proverbial aisle or the other (some musicians have based careers on it, in fact), but it has been a while since such an event occurred (at least, to this critic’s recollection). Because nature abhors a vacuum however, The Slackers have surfaced from their recent reissue...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the All Are Welcome LP by Lenny Lashley’s Gang Of One. After the events which have taken place in the United States over the last four years or so, one would have to ask if the album title and the image which adorns the cover of Lenny Lashley’s All Are Welcome LP is indicative of the singer’s sense of humor. That will get listeners to give the album a try on the...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the “Price We Pay 7” by Noi!se. A lot of years ago, this guy I know played in a really, really good rock-punk band. For a long time that band had a standing tradition: release a 7” single and go out on tour to promote the release. It was a fairly lucrative practice and, eventually, the band celebrated a milestone anniversary (I can’t remember how many years) by releasing a CD which...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the LP + 7” reissue of Peculiar by The Slackers. I remember the first time The Slackers released Peculiar in 2006 (back then, it came our on Hellcat Records). At that time, I was only a few years into working in the music press. I had a pretty good relationship with Epitaph, and they sent me a CD copy of Peculiar for review. Back then, I wasn’t too into ska – I...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into Territories’ When The Day Is Done 10” EP Work in the press long enough, and eventually one begins to rely on the complications that one finds with a release, because the difficulties in qualifying or quantifying the sound of an album (and the media – for that matter) become the fuel for for what makes that release good or not and why. It’s actually a really easy cheat which, now that I’ve...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into The Slackers’ 12″ UV digitally printed vinyl single. Ignoring the, “Gee whiz!” quality of The Slackers’ new single as well as the talking point of, “Well, this is a new way of combining digital and analogue formats into one release,” (rather than being pressed, this release is UV digitally printed vinyl) it needs to be pointed...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the The Pain, The Blood and The Sword LP by Lion’s Law. There’s a certain comfort which can be found in a record which, while new, sounds familiar. As albums like that play, it can be pretty easy for a listener to sigh as a turntable’s stylus finds its intended groove and each cut seems to spontaneously align and produce an accessible, pleasing sensation for its audience. Now, in the case of...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into The Drowns’ Under Tension LP. While we could easily start this review of The Drowns’ debut album discussing the disparity between looks (the album cover – which is terrible) and content (the music on the album), let’s just start with this endorsement: no matter how much praise Under Tension receives, it deserves more. There are plenty of flaws in the packaging, but the music is absolutely peerless in its quality. From beginning...