A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Here Comes Our Wave LP by The Black Pacific. Now six years after the release of Never Gonna Die, it really doesn’t seem like Pennywise plans on putting out a new album anytime soon – which is a terrible shame. Since they started in 1988, Pennywise was often regarded as the hard-grinding skate punk band seated comfortably at the punk rock head table alongside NOFX, Offspring, Green Day and Bad Religion...
X Smoke & Fiction (Fat Possum Records)Smoke & Fiction was one of the most important records of 2024. How? Let me count the ways. For one it was, just plainly on the surface, a record that did many things and did them well. Compared to both rock and punk music it sounded fresh, yet undeniably familiar. It also managed to be both fun and urgent, and musically it was catchy as hell. Blame that on guitarist Billy Zoom’s rockabilly tendencies...
The Hilken Mancini Band I wasn’t expecting to have drinks with Hilken Mancini two days before Thanksgiving, but there we were. I’m not name-dropping, it happens. We were there because she insisted on meeting me in person to give me a copy of her excellent new record by the Hilken Mancini Band. She’s still looking for a better name, by the way, if you happen to have one. And she was giving me a copy because I needed to review...
BeatKodak Center, Rochester NYOctober 19, 2024I saw King Crimson in 1981 on the Discipline tour and, to this day, it ranks as the best concert I have ever seen. (Followed by a close second place of Crimson in 2021.) So I was eager to see this version of that tour and snatched up tickets as fast as I could, when they became available. If you’re not familiar, Beat consists of Adrian Belew (guitar and lead vocals) and Tony Levin (bass)...
I had an MRI on my knee this week. If you’ve never had one, it is a very noisy procedure. Clicks and raps and something that sounds like a muffled jackhammer assault your ears for fifteen to twenty minutes or more, while medical technologists create an image of your chosen body part. While not painful, it is an ordeal. You’re probably asking, “What does this have to do with a music festival?” The fact is, the MRI reminded me of...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into Scott Collins’ Purple Pain LP. There aren’t many artists making music right now who are capable of introducing themselves as clearly having both their heart on their sleeve as well as a chip clearly on their shoulder, but that’s exactly what Scott Collins does on his Purple Pain LP. From the moment stylus catches groove and “Killer Crush” opens the running of Purple Pain‘s A-side, Collins straddles a line between defining warm...
Civil War The only thing better than Civil War is the press tour Kirsten Dunst did for it. Not that anything she said was controversial, but because she came across as a cool-headed actress with perspective and confidence. She spoke out against genocide (wow!), avoiding plastic surgery (pot calling the kettle black?), and the stupidity of method acting. It was cool and endeared me to her even more. She’s cool, but you know what’s also cool? This movie. Of course,...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Undefeated LP by Frank Turner. After releasing nine albums in seventeen years (and that’s just the studio albums – there are more comps and live albums that have appeared, as well), many fans may have a bit of difficulty getting excited about a new Frank Turner album. Granted, the singer has never made any gross missteps along the way in his catalogue, but it could easily be argued that fans feel...
Stress Dolls Queen of No (Sun Pedal Recordings) Queen of No, the new Stress Dolls album, lives up to the band name. It is a journey through head Stress Doll Chelsea O’Donnell’s anxieties, ranging from health issues (she suffers from Crohn’s Disease), relationships, social media and more existential questions. Though the music is firmly based in pop-punk, a variety of styles illuminate the various themes which run through the album. In general, the more declarative songs — where she directly...
The Fall Guy What the hell happened with this movie? It flopped colossally and no one knows why. Was it marketed incorrectly? That seems to be the only explanation, because The Fall Guy looked so dumb that it somehow elevated the collective consciousness. But, sometimes, Rotten Tomatoes actually does what it’s supposed to, and a movie gets a second chance. Is Fall Guy a cult classic now? I’m not sure. Boy, am I rambling. Look, I wasn’t even going to...