new release Archive
24 Oct 2012
A Really Big Shoes Interview, Part 3
Continued from Part Two… Bill Kopp: I think Shoes fans – especially ones outside the Midwest – think of you more as a studio band. Why don’t you play out […]
23 Oct 2012
A Really Big Shoes Interview, Part 2
Continued from Part One… Bill Kopp: I bought the Present Tense LP when it came out; I was 13 (fifteen; Math is hard! — bk). Gary Klebe‘s “I Don’t Miss […]
22 Oct 2012
A Really Big Shoes Interview, Part 1
Shoes are that curious breed: a powerpop band that’s consistently lauded critically, but that makes only occasional modest commercial inroads. They’ve been plying their trade – catchy, muscular, hook-filled rock […]
11 Oct 2012
Album Review: The Fusion Syndicate
Progressive rock musicians are — by their very nature and out of necessity – an ambitious, adventurous lot. So it’s not an insurmountable conceptual leap to get a bunch of […]
08 Oct 2012
Album Review: 45 Grave – Pick Your Poison
Way back in 1981, a bunch of L.A. scenesters put together a compilation album called Hell Comes to Your House. The now-rare (I have a copy!) punk/proto-goth/death-rock LP featured tracks […]
09 Jan 2012
Album Review: An American Underdog – Always on the Run
To the degree that such inherently qualitative things can be quantified, a key determinant between good and great pop is what the songwriter/performer does beyond the verses and chorus. Yes, […]
29 Sep 2009
Album Review: The Smithereens Play Tommy
The Smithereens are well-known rock fans. Their unique, canny take on rock music is informed by everyone from the Four Freshmen (drummer Dennis Diken cites them as a large-looming influence) […]
31 May 2009
DVD Review: Johnny Winter — Live Through the 70s
The DVD kicks off with a true oddity, a performance that is bizarre in any number of ways. This excellent-quality Danish TV clip from 1970 finds Winter playing with his […]
21 Mar 2009
Album Review: Peter Holsapple and Chris Stamey – hERE aND nOW
✰✰✰✰✰ Once in awhile a record comes along that is so special, so singularly amazing, that it nearly defies criticism. The album hERE aND nOW by Peter Holsapple and […]
04 Jan 2008
Chris Cornell Thinks Your Music Video is Cheesy
Story by Annelise Kopp Chris Cornell says that once a song is written and released in some way that it “has its own life.” With each new interpretation of the […]