new release Archive
26 Jan 2015
Hundred-word Reviews: January 2015, Part 1
There’s a never-ending stream of new music, so it’s time once again for some hundred-worders to work off some of my backlog. As always, these all deserve full reviews, but […]
23 Jan 2015
Book Review: The Clash — The Only Band That Mattered
One of the exciting – and at the same time exceedingly frustrating – qualities of modern media is the disappearance of what we might call the gatekeeper. Time was, if […]
20 Jan 2015
Hoo-Ever Land: A Chat with Jamie Hoover, Part 2
Continued from Part One… What I didn’t realize at the time is that the setback of rotator cuff surgery and recovery wouldn’t keep Jamie Hoover from creating new music and […]
19 Jan 2015
Hoo-Ever Land: A Chat with Jamie Hoover, Part 1
For the last thirty-plus years or so, Jamie Hoover has been known as a highly regarded producer, musical collaborator, and member of the Spongetones. I first noticed his production credit […]
16 Jan 2015
Album Review: Son of Kraut: The Next Generation of Krautrock
Though it might seem otherwise to the casual observer, the term krautrock is neither pejorative nor disparaging. In its classic sense, the label refers to improvisationally-based rock with spare musical […]
15 Jan 2015
Album Review: Black & Blue – The Laff Records Collection
A new 4CD collection of vintage comedy records, Black & Blue: The Laff Records Collection exemplifies the abbreviation NSFW (“Not Safe for Work”). The low-budget stand-up comedy records (usually but […]
14 Jan 2015
Album Review: Sid Griffin — The Trick is to Breathe
In the immediate wake of the excesses brought forth by psychedelia, popular (rock) music took a decided turn toward the simpler, more pastoral. Mere months after Cream were hitting the […]
13 Jan 2015
DVD Review: The Complete Truth About De-evolution
Beginning in the 1970s, DEVO established themselves as among the most effective artists using using the creative tool of video in the musical idiom. Contrasting starkly with the the myth-making […]
12 Jan 2015
Book Review: British Invasion
I’ve read countless books about The Beatles, about their fellow British Invasion (aka Beat Era) acts, and about the sixties from both musical and socio-cultural points of view. To say […]
05 Jan 2015
DVD Review: Looking for Johnny
One of the less appealing qualities of music culture –both in rock and jazz, at least – is a tendency toward romanticizing certain fallen characters. While there’s no denying the […]