Musings on the past and present state of music, film, and pop culture. Get off my lawn.
Concert Review: Tool at Moody Center, Austin: L.A. prog-metal icons show their enduring power over potent set. “Be present.” That was the mantra and conditional agreement that Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan requested from the rabid Austin crowd that gathered at Moody Center Wednesday evening marking their first Austin appearance since pre-pandemic 2020. The crotchety […]
Puscifer “Existential Reckoning: Rewired”: Review-inventive album offers intriguing remixes from Maynard James Keeenan fronted 2020 album. Remix albums are a curious beast. Some are essential, adding new dimensions to established songs. Others are filler, offering excessive, bloated renditions that undermine the power of the original material. So where does Puscifer’s new remix album Existential Reckoning: Rewired […]
Best Rock Albums of 2022: 10 awesome rock albums from another crazy year, featuring releases from Placebo, Suede, Dead Cross, The Cult and more. As 2022 comes to an end, it’s time to reflect. The pandemic has become more manageable, but is still with us, and on a global scale most things still feel out of […]
Concert Review: Puscifer at Bass Concert Hall, Austin: Maynard James Keenan’s art-music collective channels and parodies modern angst in explosive performance. Puscifer are a hard act to quantify, their mix of electronic tinged rock/comedy troupe/performance art is unconfined, elastic and multi-dimensional. And while their discography is formidable, the project formed by Tool / A Perfect […]
Billy Howerdel ‘What Normal Was’ Review: A Perfect Circle mastermind strikes out on his own with impressive solo debut. “This is me stepping back into my early teen self and making the record I would have made if I had the means and the knowledge when I first picked up a guitar—just in 2022. It’s […]
Puscifer ‘Existential Reckoning’ Review: Maynard James Keenan’s experimental trio perfectly encapsulates the WTFness of 2020. Maynard James Keenan has been on quite the prolific roll the last two years, releasing long awaited albums from both A Perfect Circle and Tool. And now he’s back with Existential Reckoning, the latest from Puscifer, his experimental multimedia project […]
Tool ‘Fear Inoculum’ Review: At long last, the 13 years-in-the-works “new” Tool album has arrived. Was it worth the wait? “If I had to ‘psychology 101’ [it], I would have to say, ‘Well, yeah, that’s why it would take 13 years to write something, because you’re paranoid that it’s not gonna be the best that […]
SLIS’s 18 Best Albums of 2018: celebrating the best in rock, metal, alternative, electronica and alternative hip-hop amidst a chaotic year. We’re just a few weeks away from saying goodbye to 2018. It was a year that rattled nerves, tested our mettle, and raised questions about where we’re heading. Luckily we had a great soundtrack […]
Viva Death ‘Illuminate’ Review: 90’s alt-rock supergroup has anthems to spare. What do you get when combine members of Face to Face (Scott Shiflett, Trever Keith), Foo Fighters (Chris Shiflett) and A Perfect Circle and Weezer (Josh Freese)? You get an excellent throwback to heavy 90’s alternative rock, that’s what. The band in question is Viva […]
Concert Review: A Perfect Circle at Austin360 Amphitheater: band brought politically themed new album ‘Eat The Elephant’ and more to vivid life at Texas show. ★★★★★ Austin’s Wednesday weather necessitated a rescheduled performance, and luckily A Perfect Circle opted for a one day delay vs a cancellation. The skies were clear and cool and the […]
