A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the “Base Rage on the Front Page” (12” 3D printed single) by Noi!se. 2020 has been a very good year for Noi!se. This year, the band has already released two singles (the “Base Rage on the Front Page” single is the third – the 3D printed “Lost” 12” singleand the very orange “Price We Pay” 7” preceded it), but now the band has returned again with the single best of the lot,...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the “Blue” 7” by The Slackers. Within the context of political discourse, it has not been uncommon to see songs appear which promote one side of the proverbial aisle or the other (some musicians have based careers on it, in fact), but it has been a while since such an event occurred (at least, to this critic’s recollection). Because nature abhors a vacuum however, The Slackers have surfaced from their recent reissue...
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 Slackers’ 12″ UV digitally printed vinyl single. Ignoring the, “Gee whiz!” quality of The Slackers’ new single as well as the talking point of, “Well, this is a new way of combining digital and analogue formats into one release,” (rather than being pressed, this release is UV digitally printed vinyl) it needs to be pointed...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into Territories’ “Short Seller” CD Record. On paper, my mind wobbled at the idea of this release. “This is a playable vinyl record made using a CD press,” proclaimed the press release which accompanied my review copy of Territories’ “Short Seller” CD Record. “CDs are dead. Long live vinyl.” While I was curious right away, I was also hesitant. History had taught me that any new music format – no matter how good...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the “Watch Your Back” 12” single by Charger. At this point, each member of Rancid’s musical personality has been established in both the annals of punk and pop music as well as in fans’ hearts (Lars Fredericksen is the “streetwise professor,” blasting out poppy street punk which is at home on punk playlists but has a flawless pop heart, Tim Armstrong is the ska side of the band, the band’s drummer has...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the “Green Fuzz” 10” single by Naked Giants. After releasing their debut album, Sluff, in 2018, even the softest, newest and least tested critics figured they had Naked Giants’ career path pegged and charted. They figured that a future full of odd, poppy, rocky and fairly danceable music was in the cards for this band, until such time as tastes shifted and then the group would just implode under the weight of...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Teacher’s Pet 7” single by Ramoms. When Ramoms’ first single (Problem Child) came out last year, I think that I came out both positively and honestly in my review of it, but I also think that I may have inadvertently understated the quality of what I heard. Yes, there was a great, straight out cover of a Ramones song present (“Rockaway Beach”), a great rewrite of a classic Ramones cut (“Blitzkrieg...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the “Hold Fast”/”Demons” 12” picture disc single by the Drowns. Ignoring the fact that the very idea of a two-songs-on-one-side, digitally printed twelve-inch single could easily be defined as the height of twenty-first century indulgence (and, potentially, the pinnacle of missing the point from a ‘back to vinyl’ analogue-lovin’ standpoint), it’s awfully difficult to argue against the quality of the two songs which appear on this preview release for...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Bela Sessions 12” reissue by Bauhaus. In order to really appreciate just exactly how radical Bauhaus was in the early stages of their career, one must recognize what they did seemingly as a matter of course – how different it was from everything else, and how boldly the band did it from day one. The group’s first release, the “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” single, is an ideal illustration of that difference; in...