White

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Serfs Up! LP by Fat White Family. While I can safely say that I did enjoy Fat White Family’s sophomore album (Songs For Our Mothers) when I reviewed it in 2016, it proved to be for the wrong reasons. I liked it, but I missed the point (or at least I think I did); it wasn’t until I sunk a stylus into Serfs Up! – the London-based band’s third album –...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the White Stuff LP by Royal Trux. Listening to White Stuff (Royal Trux’ first album of new material since 2000’s Pound For Pound), I simply could not stop thinking about and drawing comparisons between it and Danny Boyle’s film T2 Trainspotting. In the film, all of the characters who survived the events which played out in Trainspotting have found life after heroin addiction and discovered new fascinations – be it crime, working...

Artist: Various Artists Album: American Epic (5CD Box Set) Label: Legacy/Third Man/Columbia/Sony Music It might sound like a bit of a reach on the surface, but the first thing that listening to American Epic reminded me of was my university experience and how music like that which can be found on this box set changed my life. My first full-time year – in addition to the classes which were requisite for a bachelor’s degree in Communications – I took a...

Artist: Jack White Album: Acoustic Recordings 1998 – 2016 (2CD) (Third Face/Third Man/Columbia/Sony Music) Over the last twenty years (yes yes yes – it’s hard to believe that it’s been so long), Jack White has worn many hats. In that time, he’s been a punk and indie rock-identified pop star, a blues and folky troubadour, an opinionated artist of music and opinionated record label owner, and an innovative composer who has reinvigorated the blues almost single-handedly – causing young audiences...

  A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Songs For Our Mothers LP by Fat White Family. It doesn’t happen often in the post-CD, post-digital music marketplace but, with Songs For Our Mothers, Fat White Family has proven that creating a satisfying and balanced long-playing vinyl album – with the peaks, valleys and thematic movements which propel the music along smoothly from A-side to B- without being “a formless collection of songs” – is not a lost art...

Artist: Fat White Family Album: Songs for Our Mothers Label: Fat Possum Records Isn’t it incredible how, over time, the basic structures of established musics can become re-imagined/re-engineered for no other reason than they’ve become displaced from the time and places they were first developed? The possibility of time and place being so important for something non-corporeal like music may seem like a dubious one but, in listening to Fat White Family’s new album, Songs for Our Mothers, it suddenly...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the “White Walker” 12” picture disc by Mastodon. When fans first hear the “White Walker” 12” picture disc, the first thought which will pass through their minds (ALL of their minds) will likely be, “Wow – this doesn’t sound like Mastodon at all.” There’s no arguing that; “White Walker” has none of the metallic crunch that albums like Leviathan, Crack The Skye or The Hunter had, and it features none of the...

If you see enough “rock n’ roll” movies, eventually you begin to realize that there are always a few key points that are totally unbelievable: the best bands came from nothing (and a lot of them started by accident); their rise to greatness really begins at the moment the hardworking group sticks it to the man and starts doing things their own way, they reach a pinnacle of appeal and creative power at roughly the same time or immediately before...