A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the clear, colorless 2LP pressing of 5EPs by Dirty Projectors. From the very first instant I heard the music contained on 5EPs by Dirty Projectors, the clear and colorless 2LP set gave me pause. True, I had heard the group’s music before (the first album I heard was Swing Lo Magellan in 2012, and it really won me to the band’s banner), but 5EPs featured a sound so captivating that, the first...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Oi – 40 Years Untamed compilation from Pirates Press Records. I confess that, when I first heard the punk subgenre known simply as Oi!, it was pretty far from my favorite thing. At the time, the music just didn’t seem to be too interesting to me – and it didn’t help that a couple of my friends insisted on playing Dropkick Murphys’ “Barroom Hero” constantly – often dedicating it to another...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Agricultural Tragic LP by Corb Lund. It’s genuinely hard to believe that Agricultural Tragic is Corb Lund’s tenth full-length album (fifth for New West). Since first appearing in 1995, the Alberta-based band has maintained a release schedule which has managed to illustrate consistent growth and improvement on a timeline which it’s almost possible to set one’s watch to. Not only that, when fans hear that Corb Lund has a new album...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Crash Test Kid LP by Sammy Brue. After releasing a debut album which, while obviously ambitious, ultimately yielded results which were “just okay” followed by an EP that revealed a greater-than-average Blind Melon influence, Sammy Brue clearly upped his dose of Fuckitol, just cut loose and bravely elected to just have fun when it came to making Crash Test Kid. Through the eleven cuts on his sophomore LP, Brue lets each...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Rock Bottom Rhapsody LP by Pokey LaFarge. Listening to Pokey LaFarge’s ninth album (first for New West Records, and first I had ever heard) had a very strange effect on me. I knew the sound had me interested right away but, before even the A-side if the album had played through, I had already picked up my laptop and found out everything I could about the band. I looked up all...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into All Them Witches’ Nothing as the Ideal LP. Over the last five years or so, I’ve become acquainted with Nashville’s All Them Witches; reviewed a couple of their albums and gotten to feel like I know the band – or at least know what to expect from them from album to album. I figured I knew, for example, that their psychedelic/classic rock amalgam would end up being a consistent thread through the...
As good or remarkable as any band could eventually prove themselves to be, history has proven conclusively that it’s truly rare for any band to arrive that way (see Nirvana, Ween, Wilco, etc. for examples of bands which developed over time) out of the proverbial box. In that regard, The Glands were no exception; when they started, this little band from Georgia was a perfectly average-at-best band, drawing inspiration from punk and college rock. They produced music of a quality...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the “Price We Pay 7” by Noi!se. A lot of years ago, this guy I know played in a really, really good rock-punk band. For a long time that band had a standing tradition: release a 7” single and go out on tour to promote the release. It was a fairly lucrative practice and, eventually, the band celebrated a milestone anniversary (I can’t remember how many years) by releasing a CD which...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the 12” UV digitally printed “Lost” single by Noi!se. For novelty’s sake, let’s address all of the obvious potential talking points to be found about Noi!se’s UV Digitally printed 12” “Lost” single. Yes, it looks really, really cool. Yes, I think that stranding a three-and-a-half-minute song all alone on a 12” vinyl record is a questionable use of resources, regardless of how cool it looks. Yes, the quality of the graphics on...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into EP by Dad Brains. Now over forty years since it first appeared, it was inevitable that punk rock was probably going to take on something that resembled a fatherly voice, somehow. How could it not? With Green Day having made concept records already and both Fat Mike Burkett and Mike Watt having produced punk rock opera albums, punk and its pillars have already begun taking on “grown up projects” (or at least...