Alternative music, cult films, and pop culture explored through a Gen X lens — with reviews, interviews, and a deep-dive podcast.
Swans ‘To Be Kind’ Review; post-punk veterans follow-up masterwork ‘The Seer’ with similarly epic ‘To Be Kind’, which is sometimes too much of a good thing. [rating=4] With 2012’s ‘The Seer’, noise-rock pioneers Swans did the unthinkable; they made their breakout album 3 decades into their career. They indulged all aspects of their legacy and […]
Buzz Osborne ‘This Machine Kills Artists’ Review: Melvins’ leader unplugged solo album packs plenty of high voltage. [rating=5] When Melvin’s leader Buzz Osborne announced he was making an all acoustic album, he nipped any misconceptions that he was going folksy in the bud: “I have no interest in sounding like a crappy version of James Taylor or […]
Buzz Osborne Interview: Melvins’ frontman goes acoustic, but doesn’t go soft on new album ‘This Machine Kills Artists.’ When one thinks of the Melvins, sludgy, monolithic riffs and seismic percussion immediately come to mind. So it was somewhat surprising to learn that bandleader, guitarist and vocalist Buzz Osborne is releasing an acoustic album, entitled ‘This Machine Kills […]
The Horrors ‘Luminous’ Review: British quintet keep expanding and polishing their retro element into intriguing new shapes. [rating=4] There are few band’s better at mining vintage rock sounds to great effect than British group The Horrors. Each album helps to refine their mix of 60’s psychedelia, 70’s krautrock, 80’s new wave/ goth, and 90’s dream […]
Ken Andrews Interview: Failure frontman discusses band’s reunion, future and his diverse body of work. Failure were one of the great unsung bands of the 90’s. Fusing power-pop, alt-rock, space-rock and more, they were as unclassifiable as they were unforgettable. But lack of exposure, record label pressures, and internal band conflicts led to an early […]
Stream New Horrors Album ‘Luminous’; Listen to ‘Luminous’ in full before it’s May 5th release After hearing the excellent new singles ‘So Know You Know’ and ‘I See You’ Horrors fans have clamored for a chance to hear more off their new album ‘Luminous.’ And now they’re in luck; the band are streaming the entire […]
‘Mad World’ Book Review: New Wave fanatics will eat up all the nostalgic tidbits in ‘Mad World: An Oral History of New Wave Artists and Songs That Defined the 1980s’ [rating=4] Both obsessive and casual 1980’s New Wave fans will have much to enjoy with the new book ‘Mad World’ by 80’s veteran music journalists Lori Majewski and Jonathan […]
Albums Revisited: The Cure’s ‘Disintegration’ Turns 30, a look back at one of the best albums of the 80’s (or any other decade). A timeless gothic masterpiece. On May 2nd, 1989, The Cure released their eighth album ‘Disintegration.‘ It’s now renown as a singular expression of heartache, introversion, solemn resolve and bleak beauty. It’s hard to fathom […]
Watch video of Portishead’s Beth Gibbons Black Sabbath covering Black Sabbath, aka ‘Black Sabbeth’ with UK metal band Gonga In totally out-of-left-field yet completely awesome news, Portishead vocalist Beth Gibbons has collaborated with metal band Gonga. They’ve done a cover of Black Sabbath’s ‘Black Sabbath’ and it sounds sensually evil. Click here to see where […]
The 2014 ACL Fest lineup feels similar to other mega-festivals this year The 2014 Austin City Limits Festival has officially been announced, and has a similar roster akin to other festival lineups this year. It doesn’t quite ring my bell this time around, but I’ve felt a little meh on most festival lineups this year. […]
