review

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into The Flatliners’ New Ruin LP. In the twenty-year duration of The Flatliners’ career to date, it’s actually pretty remarkable to observe the turns that the band’s music has taken. After beginning with some respectable (if not terribly memorable) ska-core in 2005 and then taking a couple of years to develop (see how it works with 2007’s The Great Awake), The Flatliners really hit the big time hard with 2010’s classic Cavalcade and...

Lou Reed Words and Music, May, 1965 (Light In The Attic) One question repeatedly comes up in writers’ groups, especially with beginning writers: “How do I copyright my work?” I resist the temptation to say, “Do you really think someone is going to steal your poetry?” and tell them, “Mail it to yourself.” As long as you don’t open the package, the postmark establishes that you wrote the enclosed material on or before that date. Lou Reed did that with...

WHO: Elvis Costello WHAT: The Boy Named If WHY: How on earth does a man still manage to make compelling and interesting music more than 40 years into his career? Well, if anyone was going to do it, it would be Elvis Costello. Though he is a musical chameleon, The Boy Named If focuses on what he does best: straight up rock and roll. And rock he does, as some of these tracks are downright blistering. Add to that some...

Picard – Season 2 I’ve got my answer locked and loaded when/if someone asks me which Star Trek series is the best. It’s the Original Series, simply because it was my first taste of the franchise, and it will always hold a special place in my heart. However, I know that the correct answer when someone asks which series is the best or where they should start, the answer is probably The Next Generation. I’m currently in the middle of...

I Am Not Spockby Leonard Nimoy What a difference there is between new Star Trek and the old school series where it all started. Any true fan of the show will tell you that Spock is the best, and also a groundbreaking character for TV in general. I don’t quite understand why Leonard Nimoy wasn’t more popular or why he was only ever associated with Spock. It turns out, Leonard Nimoy himself is quite aware of that, which is why...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Penumbra//Antumbra 12” single by Garbageface. If history has taught us anything about Karol “Garbageface” Orzechowsky, it has taught us that the artist takes a lot of joy in turning expectations that fans may have of him on their collective head – and the emcee’s newest 12” single, Penumbra//Antumbra, upholds that practice with focused intensity. The single effortlessly upends expectations; where convention demands a consistent structure through a song – there needs...

The Lost Boys This is one of those movies that brings a smile to my face. Not just because it’s a recent discovery that has delighted me, but because it was somewhat of a slow burn. The Lost Boys is popular in the punk/goth crowd, so it’s always been on my radar, and it just so happens that the 35th anniversary edition was the right time for me. On a first watch, I though it was decent, but it...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the I Love You and I’m Sorry LP by Jacob Brodovsky. I started trying to write a review of Jacob Brodovky’s debut album, I Love You and I’m Sorry, six times before finally electing to do what the album does and just opening with a bit of candor: on my first play through the album, I was absolutely blown away. I knew I liked it, all I had to do was find...

Lenin’s Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empireby David Remnick I love Soviet Russia history. It’s my jam, something that helps me pass the time when I’m doing security at night for my eXp Realty office gig and I suspect it will ALWAYS be my jam. But, I have to admit it’s been mostly the Lenin-Stalin era that I’ve sought out: the beginning. Probably because it all plays out like a sad soap opera right up to Stalin’s death....

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Dumb & In Luv LP by Suzi Moon. After having released two EPs in the last sixteen months, it’s unlikely that fans expected a full-length album to be forthcoming from Suzi Moon – but the even greater surprise is just how incredibly good Dumb & In Luv is. Where the EPs hinted at some solid gutter-rock power, Dumb & In Luv goes a couple of steps further and reveals Moon’s potential...