Alternative music, cult films, and pop culture explored through a Gen X lens — with reviews, interviews, and a deep-dive podcast.
Garbage ‘Strange Little Birds’ Review: veteran alt-rockers return with their best album since 2001’s ‘Beautiful Garbage.’ [rating=4] If generic 21st century pop depresses you, Shirley Manson feels your pain. The Garbage vocalist expressed her frustration with modern music in the press statement for the band’s new album Strange Little Birds: “I’m aching for some dark and dismal. […]
Music Videos Revisited: Metallica’s ‘Until It Sleeps’ Turns 20: the horror…oh the horror. This week marks the 20th anniversary of ‘Load,’ Metallica’s polarizing 1996 album that continued their sprint away from thrash metal towards southern style butt rock. Click Here for Albums Revisited: Metallica’s ‘Master of Puppets’ Turns 30 IMHO no album lives up to […]
Albums Revisited: Smashing Pumpkins ‘Gish’ Turns 25–celebrating the Pumpkins indie début album on its 25th anniversary. May 28th marks a Gen-X musical milestone: on that date 25 years ago, The Smashing Pumpkins released their début album Gish, the highest selling indie record at that time (until 1994’s Smash by The Offspring…ewww… let’s keep’em separated). Gish […]
Minor Victories Album Review: alternative supergroup excels on exciting début. [rating=5] Let’s face it: supergroups are usually more exciting in theory than in practice, failing to live up to the grand expectations raised when noted musical personalities collide. But Minor Victories, featuring Slowdive vocalist Rachel Goswell, Mogwai guitarist Stuart Braithwaite and Editors’ Justin and James […]
Daniel Ash Talks New Album Stripped: musician discusses new album featuring fresh takes on classic tracks from Bauhaus, Love and Rockets and Tones on Tail in our exclusive interview. Daniel Ash has kept quiet the past few years. The former guitarist/vocalist/saxophonist from goth icons Bauhaus, post-punk one-offs Tones and Tail and alternative rock pioneers Love and Rockets has […]
Original Misfits Lineup to Reunite For Riotfest 2017: Festival Confirms Reunion via Official Press Release They said it would never happen. They’ve hated each other for years. They even had a Hot Topic lawsuit. But today Riotfest confirmed that the original Misfits lineup, featuring frontman Glenn Danzig, bassist Jerry Only and guitarist Doyle Wolfgang Von […]
An Interview with A.R. Kane’s Rudy Tambala The last few years has seen a resurgence of shoegaze and dream pop groups of the 80’s and 90’s. But while bands like My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive and Ride hog the spotlight, there is another group back in action deserving equal attention. That would be A.R. Kane, a band that actually […]
Music Video Premiere: Sounds of Sputnik ‘Light Stream’ Featuring Ummagma–atmospheric video showcases shoegaze collaboration. May 16th will see the re-release of ‘New Born,’ the début album from Russian act Sounds of Sputnik. And to mark the release (via Moon Sounds Records), the group have made a video for ‘Light Stream,’ their collaboration with Ukraine/Canadian shoegaze […]
Levitation 2016 Kickoff Party Review: Chelsea Wolfe, The Veldt: a silver lining to a cancelled festival. Downtown Austin was filled with many sad, bewildered faces last Thursday evening. The unexpected announcement that Levitation 2016 was cancelled due to bad weather reverberated throughout the city. While all festival attendees were guaranteed refunds, for those traveling from […]
It’s been a decade since Tool’s album ‘10,000 Days’. Or should we say 365,000 days since ‘10,000 Days’? May 2nd, 2016 shares a dubious distinction in musical history. On that same date in 2006, Tool released 10,000 Days. their last album to date. That’s right: a full decade with no new music from a band who never broke up. […]
