Red

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Ill-Fated Cusses LP by Cheater Slicks. After the last couple of decades (basically, from 1996 forward) which have seen the release of a multitude of great albums recorded with digital platforms (like ProTools, for example), it’s refreshing to hear a band just plug in, put microphones in front of amplifiers and record their songs – straight, no chaser. That’s precisely what Cheater Slicks did for their new album, Ill-Fated Cusses; for...

Claudia Hoyser Red Lights Turning Green (GFI Music) Every now and then, an artist takes you by surprise. Who would expect the Aging Punk to love a Country singer? And not an alt-country artist, either; a pure, down-home Country artist. I am now officially a Claudia Hoyser fan. A local record store (Record Archive — if you’re ever in Rochester, NY) provides pizza and beer and free music every Wednesday. I often stop in to see what they have. Hoyser...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Seance! With Zabrecky glow-in-the-dark 12” single by Zabrecky. On the surface, noting that the Seance! With Zabrecky 12” single is a novelty record just goes without saying. Sure – people still indulge in trying to make contact with the deceased, on occasion, and some people even claim to have been successful; but really, it always boils down to how far one is willing to play along with the shtick; as the...

Jon Spencer & The HITmakers Spencer Gets It Lit (In The Red Records) As he has been famous for doing since he first founded the Blues Explosion in 1991, Jon Spencer has succeeded in confounding his fans by including a couple of songs which didn’t appear on the vinyl release of his newest album, Spencer Gets It Lit, on its CD counterpart.Fans may be less than surprised at Spencer’s choice (the guitarist has a long history of augmenting the track...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Bowels of Earth LP by Entombed A.D. I have to confess that the last time I paid any attention to the members of Entombed was around 1993, when the band released Wolverine Blues. The truth is that I became interested when I saw an ad for it in an X-Men comic book, and Wolverine Blues became my first real introduction to death metal. Ironically, I’ve been pretty picky about anything I’ve...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Spencer Sings The Hits LP by Jon Spencer. That the fidelity, equalization and overall sound found on a vinyl recording is unmatched by any other musical mediumto date is a claim which has been proven several times over in many place by a great many people (including by several in this column, several times over too), and one of the great examples can be found on a vinyl copy of Spencer...

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...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the “Just Business” LP by Bass Drum of Death. Even upon one’s first play through Bass Drum of Death’s fourth album, listeners will quickly be able to note that its title is a complete fucking misnomer. Nothing about this album is “Just Business”; it’s impossible to not take this music personally because it is that good and does mark a spectacular potential turning point for the band. Simply put, “Just Business” rocks...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Go Farther In Lightness 2LP by Gang Of Youths. For the nearly half-century since the genre’s inception now, one of the few steadfast foundations upon which punk rock has stood has been nihilism. Consistently, the spirit of punk has been one of “Fuck it all – strip the music down to the barest essentials and get emotionally dark and bleak – at least that way we’ll all beat the world at...

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...