Alternative music, cult films, and pop culture explored through a Gen X lens — with reviews, interviews, and a deep-dive podcast.
Le Butcherettes’ frontwoman talks Crystal Fairy’s début album featuring The Melvins’ Buzz Osborne and Dale Crover and At The Drive In/Mars Volta’s Omar Rodriguez-Lopez. When Le Butcherettes supported The Melvins on their 2015 tour, vocalist Teri Gender Bender found a kinship between Melvins’ members King Buzzo and Dale Crover. This friendship would result in a split […]
Albums Revisited: Skinny Puppy’s Cleanse, Fold and Manipulate at 30–full of addictive mixtures and living on fear By Peter Marks Where it all changed and where their heaviest era began. There’s a widely held view that Skinny Puppy did not reach their full potential until 1988’s ‘VivisectVI’ and I’m more than happy to dispel this […]
20 Albums Turning 20 in 2017: the best alternative releases of 1997 The alternative rock landscape had changed by the late 90s. Grunge was pretty much dead, no longer considered a viable commercial option for record labels. Nirvana were over, Soundgarden had split and Alice in Chains were hobbled by Layne Staley’s heroin habit. Pearl […]
Albums Revisited: Alice in Chains’ ‘Sap’ Turns 25: Seattle Grunge stars acoustic EP remains one of their most satisfying efforts. February 4th marks the 25th anniversary of Sap, Alice in Chains 5 song EP, which filled the gap between 1990’s Facelift and their 1992 full-length epic Dirt. And while Sap didn’t get the same attention and […]
Electronic music pioneers return with first single off forthcoming album Spirit. Veteran synth pop group Depeche Mode will release their new album Spirit on Columbia Records March 17th. And the band have just released the first single Where’s the Revolution which you can check out via YouTube below: It appears the group foresaw the current […]
Albums Revisited: David Bowie’s ‘Earthling’ Turns 20: a look back at Bowie’s underrated electronica excursion on its 20th anniversary. While the late David Bowie is celebrated as a groundbreaking icon, whose strokes of genius stretched far and wide, his 90’s output remains the most underrated and least celebrated work in his catalogue. And while his […]
Morricone Youth ‘Mad Max’ Soundtrack Review: alternative film score artists give post-apocalyptic thriller a unique sonic makeover. [rating=4] Morricone Youth are a NYC collective specializing in an unusual musical forte: creating alternate scores for classic films. Last October I reviewed their wonderfully creepy soundtrack for Night of the Living Dead, and now the group return […]
Gene Loves Jezebel’s Jay Aston Discusses Crowdfunding New Album: frontman discusses PledgeMusic campaign for new Gene Loves Jezebel with Jay Aston release and much more in our exclusive interview. Gene Loves Jezebel always stood out from the pack of rock bands in the 1980’s. A unique mix of goth, glam rock and New Wave, they basically […]
John Garcia Talks New Acoustic Solo Album The Coyote Who Spoke In Tongues: ex-Kyuss frontman discusses new solo album in our exclusive interview. John Garcia is a stoner metal (or desert rock, depending on your preference) icon, fronting the landmark group Kyuss along with other acts including Unida, Slo-burn, Hermano and Vista Chino. But lately, the […]
The xx ‘I See You’ Review: British trio bounce back from the sophomore slump on their triumphant third release. [rating=5] London’s The xx are one of those rare bands: a group that storms out of the gate fully formed, with an assured, unique style that many bands take years to accumulate. Their 2009 début became an […]
