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...
Katy PerrySmile It used to be hard to find a bigger pop star than Katy Perry. Nowadays, it’s a little easier. At the height of her stardom, it was absolutely obvious what Perry’s appeal was: her music was fun at the most visceral level. It’s truly interesting to watch what has been happening to Katy Perry over the past several years. Sure, she never appealed to everyone, but the woman has solidified herself as a pop music heavy hitter ever...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Fat Possum reissue of the Catholic Boy LP by the Jim Carroll Band. Readers need to know that, first, I did not sleep on this review – the truth is that I’ve written and then started over with this review a multitude of times, but it has always stalled at one point of another, and caused...
El Camino: A Breaking Bad MovieOriginal SoundtrackDave Porter & Various Artists(Mondo Vinyl) Like many viewers, I started watching Breaking Bad because for obvious reasons: buzz, recommendations, and Netflix. However, it quickly becomes apparent what makes Breaking Bad stand out, and it’s mostly because unlike other shows, we get rewarded for the investment we put into the show. While other shows focus on plots of suspended disbelief, one-dimensional characters with unjustified behavior, cheap laughs, ridiculous plotlines, senseless...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Existential Reckoning LP by Puscifer. Ever since Maynard James Keenan first appeared on the rock radar, the singer’s depth as a creative entity has never been questioned or debated. The singer has always been so prolific that his muse has required three bands to be contained and satisfied; Tool came first and accommodated the heavy/mathy/stoic root of the singer’s output, A Perfect Circle arrived next to satisfy the singer’s poppier, “rock...
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 Oi! This is Streetpunk! 2020 compilation from Pirates Press Records. This far into the evolution of punk rock, it has reached the point where the myriad sub-genres that punk produced are easily able to stand on their own as well as having a dedicated, autonomous fanbase which doesn’t necessarily rely on crossover appeal to get over with listeners. Simply said, hardcore bands don’t have to hope for some runoff fans from...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the 2LP, black and blue pressing of (MIA) by The Germs. There’s a certain perfect irony about the fact that, upon opening my vinyl copy of The Germs’ (MIA) reissue , I found that the sticker on the C-side of the album was mangled and torn in a manner which, while it was recognizable,...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the For Family and Flag Volume 1 compilation album. After the 3LP, red-covered release entitled One Country, One Flag was released two years ago, the idea that punk rock compilations were still a viable format (by then Punk-O-Rama had been retired by Epitaph and so had most of the other compilations that used to get given away for free at Warped Tour – only Fat Music For Fat People was still sort...
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...