A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Tales From The Megaplex LP by Count Vaseline. It might seem difficult to understand for those who have never heard his music before, but Stefan “Count Vaseline” Murphy is the definition of “timeless, ageless hipster cool” and he proves it on his third album, Tales From The Megaplex. Throughout the album’s eight cuts (seven originals and one Ween cover), Murphy deadpans and comically monotones his way along against a backdrop of...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Five Minutes To Live 12” EP by JoeCephus and the George Jonestown Massacre. It might not sound like it makes sense on the surface, but a convincing case could be made for the most genuine tribute albums being those which rely on deep cuts from the celebrated artist’s catalogue. How else would the songs get collected together that way if not because the artists involved weren’t undying fans themselves? Such an...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Monstervision LP by Round Eye. Since first appearing as the “band on the other side of a split album with Libyan Hit Squad” a couple of years ago , Round Eye has always been upfront regarding its’ affinity for vinyl releases, but...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the “Goodbye Love” LP by Dirty Fences. After taking four years to let their sound season with the help of regular touring and new releases (it’s really easy to chart the development Dirty Fences has undergone between their debut album, Too High To Kross, and their sophomore effort, Full Tramp), there’s no question in listening to “Goodbye Love” that the band has arrived and are ready to take over the world. This...
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck, Nick Bertozzi It’s comic books like these that I love writing about. Partly because it helps fuel the fire of the flame I’m stoking about how mainstream superhero comics are now irrelevant. Also, because The Good Earth is a fantastic book that I want to tell everyone about. Yes, I know it was a novel long before it was a comic book, so hold your horses. Instead of dealing with flying capes and...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Chew LP by Muskets. As bands like Able Baker Fox, Into It. Over It., Citizen and Tiger’s Jaw have appeared (or reappeared, in some cases), discussions around the re-emergence of emo have become a discussion point, but longtime fans have been very, very careful to get on board with it, to this point. A lot of that has to do with the fact that fans know this has been a thing...
Unbelievable: My Front-Row Seat to the Craziest Campaign in American History by Katy Tur Think back to the morning of November 9th, going to work and thinking “How exactly did this happen? How could we not have seen this coming?” Now imagine you’re journalist Katy Tur, on the campaign trail for 500 days, and on election night wondering the same thing. It wasn’t until it was too late that she realized what was going to happen. By then it was...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Bubblegum Brainwaves LP by Weird Owl Weird Owl is a genuine anomaly in the music industry in several ways: since forming in 2004, the group has not let anything – not lineup changes, not label changes, not changes in focus or sound – deter them from keeping a consistent release schedule. The band’s fifth full-length (sixth release) finds the band nailing a genuine and true presentation of psychedelic rock – that...
Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson I’ll never quite understand all the shit that gets flung at Neil deGrasse Tyson (NDT). Sure, he can come across as arrogant at times, but often we try to shoot the messenger. I think part of the problem here is that we like living in our fantasy worlds and cherish mystery and wonderment when in fact there is a clear scientific explanation for many of them. It’s healthy to have...
L7 L7: Pretend We’re Dead DVD/Blu-Ray (MVD Visual) In the twenty-first century, it’s so unusual to simultaneously feel excited and infuriated as one watches a movie – but that’s what happens when one one watches Pretend We’re Dead – the documentary film which chronicles the rise, fall and rebirth of L7. The reason for the excitement and, really, the joy of this film is that there’s no question every member of the band – Donita Sparks, Suzi Gardner, Jennifer Finch...