A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the “Mass Apathy” 12” single by NOi!SE. It might not sound like the single most glowing endorsement of a single on the surface, but the first thing that NOi!SE’s new, milled “Mass Apathy” single illustrates is that it’s never wise to underestimate a novelty, or write one off. The bullet casing silhouettes which encircle the exterior rim of this one-sided single (the B-side features a silkscreen but no music) look neat and...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the 2017 vinyl reissue of Southern Accents by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Throughout music history, many albums have been made which it is said are conflicted due to tensions apparent within the band Acoming out in the music. Some of those albums turn out to be phenomenal – there was conflict brewing in Nirvana and it came out in In Utero and it was great as were the cases with End...
Ty Segall Singles 2007-2010 Double LP What makes great music? Tough question, I know. So maybe it’s better to ask, “Why do we listen to music?” What does music have to offer? Well, that is going to vary from person to person, but I think most people can agree that good music does something to you. It changes your mood. It takes you from point A to point B. It has the power to liberate you. It empowers. In order...
The Bouncing Souls Simplicity The Bouncing Souls will always be an important band in my life. Not just because they were my gateway band to punk rock and some truly great music, but because when I put on some of their records, they still manage to move me after all these years. These would be their Maniacal Laughter, the Selftitled, and Hopeless Romantic. Track for track, these albums are simply classics and monsters of punk rock. But I started noticing...
Beck Morning Phase Beck, you guys. Beck! One of the only artists (along with Radiohead) that appealed to me in high school, taught me a thing or two about how good music should be made, and kept me with them all these years. Odelay changed the game for me. At first, I thought it was too different and weird. Then I just realized that I was the weird one and that his albums were just fine. Unfortunately, after his album...
Daft Punk Random Access Memory Oh boy, here’s a big one. It’s funny reviewing this, because I was completely oblivious to the anticipation surrounding this album and only picked it up with a lot of hesitation. I have said this before (and love repeating it), but punk rock is mostly my forte so I was quite surprised to find myself enjoying this album. So, looking at Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories, what do we have? I can’t help but think...
Albums like these are both exciting and scary to review at the same time. Exciting because I love Thelonious Monk. Seriously, I don’t know much (or anything really) about jazz, but I do know that nothing sticks to me quite like his music. It’s scary to review an album like this exactly because I am NOT a jazz guy. I guess you could say I’m a punk. I prefer drums, bass, guitar, and vocals. I just don’t have the...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Fortieth Anniversary, Legacy Celebrates edition picture disc reissue of Boston’s debut album. How does one attempt to celebrate the release of an album like Boston? To date, the record has sold twenty-five million copies worldwide. The breakthrough single from the album, “More Than A Feeling,” has attained a status which makes it rank among some of the most instantly recognizable songs of all time; the average Joe on the street might...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the 2016 reissue of the BLACKsummers’night LP by Maxwell. On a superficial level, leaping around an artist’s catalogue can be confusing in a variety of ways; there can be a disconnect in the continuity of the artist’s development and that may mess with the perceptions of their catalogue as a whole. Such a phenomenon is absolutely true of Maxwell’s songbook – when the singer’s started with Urban Hang Suite in 1996, his...
Jack White Lazaretto The impact that Jack White is having on modern music is undeniable. From the ashes of the White Stripes, the man has managed to build a veritable empire with Third Man records and has sent out his tentacles aimed at every corner of the music beast, corporate or not. Whatever your take on him may be, the man knows how to give people what they want, and it seems to come naturally to him. ...