Lou ReedI’m So Free (The 1971 RCA Demos) Lou Reed is a hard man to pin down. He’s simply unknowable. Either because he wanted it that way, or because he himself wasn’t quite sure of who he was. He’s been analyzed and idolized endlessly as a messiah or a junkie or a misunderstood genius. The reality is that he was all of those things to some degree, but it’s probably also true that he didn’t care. He was just interested...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Warhorse LP by Charger. After releasing a couple of singles to introduce themselves last year, Charger (Rancid bassist Matt Freeman’s side project) has finally elected to give listeners a full-course meal of exactly everything they’re all about with the Warhorse LP. How, let’s be honest here – some side projects have all the tags to be of great pedigree in plain view, but Charger isn’t one of those; on paper, Charger...
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy – Official Video Game Soundtrack 2xLP Guardians of the Galaxy is what really changed how we see Marvel Movies. You see, GoG is not exactly the highest intellectual property in the Marvel franchise but with the success of the movie, its sequels, its incorporation into the Avengers and the MCU, it’s become clear that Marvel would be able to propel any of its IP to greatness with the right people in charge. You just can’t...
Now thirty years and several significant cultural movements later, it’s difficult to get a sense of how much excitement and promise there was surrounding Jane’s Addiction at the height of the band’s fame. Simply said, Jane’s Addiction represented a way to transition from the staid, well-established values and forms evident in classic rock to the far most untested and new paradigm exemplified in alternative rock in the Nineties. 1990’s Ritual de lo Habitual was the band’s third album and proved...
Scott Pilgrim vs the WorldOriginal Movie Soundtrack If you haven’t seen Scott Pilgrim Vs The World stop what you’re doing right now and go watch it. I’ll wait. Done? Good, we can talk now. It’s so good, right? If you appreciate good movies, this one should become a mainstay in your quoting catalog. If you’re like me, your whole life might change. I don’t think anyone can really prepare themselves for just what this movie has to offer. Scott Pilgrim...
Czarface & MF DoomSuper What? photo: turntablelab It’s a funny thing when it hits you that an album you’ve been enjoying is your favorite album of the year. The only way I can describe it is that the world stops for you when you put it on. That’s when you know you’re onto something special – that an album means a lot to you. Unexpectedly, that was the Czarface & MF Doom collaboration Super What? The world is a sadder...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the reissue of The Lorrainas’ Party ‘Til It’s Dark LP. Sure, this vinyl reissue of Party ‘Til It’s Dark – The Lorrainas’ first and only full-length studio album – may seek to re-introduce material which is now seventeen years old, but anyone who hears it will excitedly admit that the music sounds one hundred per cent fresh; after the rush of endorphins which come with the music initially begin to fade. The...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into a reissued copy of the Charm School Dropouts LP by The Vapids. For almost three decades now, The Vapids have been one of the hardest working bands in Canada. Since the day they started in 1993, The Vapids have never stopped working; the band has toured regularly as well as doing one-off shows from their home-base in Hamilton, Ontario, and kept a respectably consistent stream of releases on their merch table both...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the You’re Class, I’m Trash LP by The Monsters. Arguably the greatest compliment one can pay to a punk record is not to call it “good” or “great” or anything like that (because such terms can be – and have been – dismissed as a matter of opinion or as a matter of perception), but to simply exclaim, “You’ve gotta hear this” to as many potentially receptive ears as possible. Word tends...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Voodoo Rhythm Records Label Compilation Vol. 5 LP. I confess that label compilations have never been my favorite thing. Not that I’m definitively against the form (I have heard some good comps over the years, and labels like Sub Pop, Killrockstars, Epitaph, Fat Wreck Chords and Pirates Press have a longstanding history of having produced some pretty great ones), it’s just that many of the compilations I’ve heard (and this includes...