A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Now Or Never 12” EP by The 45 Adapters. From note one of their new 12” EP Now Or Never, it’s patently self-evident that while the band took almost four years between the They Call It Justice 7” and this new, six-song EP, they must have been working – because they don’t sound quite like the same band. As soon as stylus settles into groove on the A-side and the title...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Young & Dying in the Occident Supreme 12” EP by Mobley. Such events are undeniably rare in any language, but Mobley’s Young & Dying in the Occident Supreme is possessed of an imagination and design that is simply unheard of. The record goes out of its way to present listeners with a series of ideas which do not correlate; the A-side features six fantastic and undeniably unique pop songs while the...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into PWR/UP by AC/DC. For basically the last thirty-eight years, AC/DC has tried a few different things and taken a few different turns to try and grow up (or age up? Or act their age?) with limited success at most. Every time the band has tried to move forward from the callous one-liners and double entendres that first helped to make them famous (Flick Of The Switch was the first occasion), AC/DC has...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Jealous Butcher reissue of Infinite X’s’ self-titled album. After Longstocking met its end in 1997, singer/guitarist Tamala Poljak was clearly still riding some residual inspiration when they began assembling the music which would become Infinite X’s’ debut album. When the time finally came to start recording, the group of players assembled to comprise the band gave an ideal illustration of what it would sound like; Poljak’s pedigree was all about West...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Jealous Butcher reissue of the Once Upon a Time Called Now LP by Longstocking. Some events simply defy the laws of probability – and that Longstocking never got a fraction of the attention the band deserved is definitely one of them. Seriously – how did the band get overlooked as much as it did? They were in the right place (in Los Angeles) at the right time (from 1995 to 1997...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the limited edition “Gratuitous Red” pressing of the Born Stupid LP by Paul Leary. When vinyl records made their return as one of the foremost music media in or around 2014, a lot was discussed regarding the difference in the sound and fidelity of vinyl and pretty much everything else on the market, at the time. It was an exciting moment; vinyl sales went up 280 percent from what they’d been in...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into Dave Depper’s Europa LP. It might sound a little unusual, but sometimes an explanation is required when an artist ventures so far from their established normal creative output – if only so fans don’t get outraged because they’ve purchased something that they did not expect in any way. It doesn’t take much – explanations can often be made in a space roughly the size of a hype sticker – and then the...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Midnight Manor LP by The Nude Party. After seeming to just pour significant step after step on the public over the last two years or so (two singles and an LP, all of which made a hell of a lot of noise, in some circles), the release of Midnight Manor may find some listeners soured by the fact that Midnight Manor feels a little more subdued in tone – but it...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Rat-A-Tat-Tat LP by Dale Crover. Listening to Dale Crover’s second solo album apart from The Melvins is a funny/unique experience because, after having made music with the same band (well, “the same musical counterpart,” singer/guitarist Buzz Osborne, anyway) for so many decades, it’s hard to remove that sensibility from the music – or hard to remove it completely, anyway. As one listens to Rat-A-Tat-Tat, for example, it’s easy to imagine Buzz...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the 2LP From Elvis In Nashville set by Elvis Presley. Many detractors may (and have) claimed that the Seventies were a period of decline for Elvis Presley. Over a decade into his career, the singer had already scaled several mountains; Elvis had already broken through and helped to establish rock n’ roll as the dominant musical idiom of the twentieth century, had already written and recorded an enduring songbook of hits, had...