review

A critical evaluation of Big Hard Sex Criminals Volume 1 by Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky. I don’t know whether Sex Criminals is an imaginative idea or a sign that we are scraping the bottom of the barrel. Get this – the whole premise is that these two kids (and I say “kids” to be cute) find each other and discover that they can stop time somehow when they achieve orgasm. And what do they do with this power? They...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Hateful Eight official soundtrack LP by Ennio Morricone. We live in the good times, people – and by that I mean the times when we can get lush over-the-top vinyl pressings of some pretty peculiar stuff. A Quentin Tarantino soundtrack in no exception, especially because vinyl is the perfect format for a Tarantino movie. Instead of rehashing old tunes with new bands, Tarantino sticks to the original cuts, for that vintage...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the “White Walker” 12” picture disc by Mastodon. When fans first hear the “White Walker” 12” picture disc, the first thought which will pass through their minds (ALL of their minds) will likely be, “Wow – this doesn’t sound like Mastodon at all.” There’s no arguing that; “White Walker” has none of the metallic crunch that albums like Leviathan, Crack The Skye or The Hunter had, and it features none of the...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the blackstar LP by David Bowie It’s amazing how outside factors can affect the qualities of the music on an album and change its focus. Any number of stimuli could play an active roll in the change – the medium through which the music is presented (be it vinyl record, compact disc, cassette or mp3 – whatever), the players who contributed to the recording or even unforeseen events which occurred completely outside...

At the beginning of February the groundhog told us that winter is fake and summer is real. This is probably in lieu of global warming. Some states experience a very summery winter – states like Florida. With the inspiration of forever summer comes upbeat pop with an experimental synth-y sound in Animal Collective’s tenth studio album Painting With released on February 19th, 2016. While band member Deakin is still M.I.A (he was also absent from 2009’s Merriweather Post Pavilion), Avery...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Sounds Wrong EP by Swingin’ Utters. My heart goes out to the Swingin’ Utters, not just because they’re a band who is fantastic in their own right, but because they are a band that has grown and matured over the years and has let me grow along with them. Even so, as hard as they try, they will always be under-appreciated and underrated; but that’s fine. The Swingin’ Utters evolved in...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into Last Of Our Kind by The Darkness. I know I’m a punk and therefore my taste in music has a holier than thou flavor by default, but we all have our guilty pleasures. My greatest guilty pleasure is the music of The Darkness – and there are several reasons I’ve come to love The Darkness over the years. They are the perfect soundtrack for the gym (punks can be healthy too, you...

Ollie Ottoman delves deeply into the three discs which comprise the Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau Special 3-DiscBlu-Rae set. When I was a kid growing up in the Caribbean, the greatest cultural discovery I experienced was getting cable for the first time. I was in my mid-teens and the concept of cable meant American channels – and that meant American culture. I would waste my days (and nights) devouring television and felt the...

A critical evaluation of On Education by Bertrand Russell. Bertrand Russell’s irreverent take on social institution continues through On Education. Here, as expected, Russell takes a very liberal approach regarding how children should be educated and considers the value of ornamental and practical education and its goals (“Hamlet, on the other hand, will not be much use in practical life, except in those rare cases where a man is called upon to kill his uncle”). It also bares noting that...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Sundazed pressing of Safe As Milk by Captain Beefheart. There is a bit on Marc Maron’s standup album Thinky Pain where, after talking extensively about his vinyl midlife crisis and trying to find the perfect record player how it’s time for him to “understand Beefheart.” “I will never be smart enough or large enough of mind to assess and understand Captain Beefheart. It’s just hanging there.” In many ways, he’s not...