Musings on the past and present state of music, film, and pop culture. Get off my lawn.
The Best Alternative Rock and Metal Albums of 2020: 13 of the best releases from a year that needed great music more than ever. What more can be said about the shit-show that was 2020? It’s been awful, exhausting, demoralizing, harrowing, maddening and relentless. But despite that, we found ways to adapt, some by sidestepping […]
Episode 23: 10 Bands You Either Love or Hate Part 2-SLIS Podcast (our conclusion to our list of bands who inspire volatile reactions). Earlier this week co-host Chris Logan and I discussed “10 Bands You Either Love or Hate Part 1,” those artists who are so polarizing, so divisive and so resolute in their vision, […]
Concert Review: Gary Numan at The Mohawk, Austin-Electronic pioneer brought the cool on a sweltering night. ★★★★★ It was an overcast evening last Friday, but it was still oppressively hot. But not even the unrelenting humidity could stop the enthusiasm of the black-clad crowd at The Mohawk. They were there to welcome the return of […]
40 Alternative Rock Albums Turning 20 in 2018-Best Albums of 1998: SLIS and contributor Peter Marks look back at landmark albums hitting the two decade mark this year. As the 90s began to wane, there was a cultural shift. Alternative rock, be it grunge or Britpop was winding down. Electronica never really reached past it’s […]
The 17 Most Anticipated Rock Albums of 2017: the albums most likely to get your rocks off this year. After a rocky 2016, we’re off to a fresh start to 2017, but most are expecting an unpredictable, bumpy ride with our current state of affairs. Luckily we’re going to have some badass music to get […]
Slipknot, Marilyn Manson Austin360 Amphitheater Concert Review: sweaty heads banged on a simmering August night. [rating=4.5] A muggy, August Texas night seemed about right for a Slipknot concert, and the packed crowd of maggots at Austin’s 360 Amphitheater were ready for some bludgeoning. Things kicked off with serviceable metalcore from openers Of Mice and Men, which […]
SLIS’s 15 Best Rock Albums of 2015: the best metal and alternative rock albums of the year. Last week I covered the 25 best rock songs of 2015, and now it’s time to celebrate the best albums of the year. As always I pride myself on sticking to rock oriented releases in a sea of pop nonsense, […]
SLIS’s 25 Best Rock Songs of 2015: counting down the most rocking tunes of the year. It’s just a few weeks until we say goodbye to 2015 (really?), so that means its time to break our best-of lists, starting off with the best rock tracks of the year. Here’s my favorite 25 from the worlds of alternative, […]
Just a few months after burying the hatchet on a years long feud Billy Corgan and Marilyn Manson have announced a co-headlining tour. The End Times Tour will be in support of Manson’s latest album The Pale Emperor and the Smashing Pumpkin’s 2014 album Monuments to an Elegy. Click here for my Pale Emperor review and […]
Marilyn Manson ‘The Pale Emperor’ Review: the best comeback album in recent memory. [rating=5] Shock rockers have a notoriously short life span..at least musically speaking. Alice Cooper is known as a grand showman, but he peaked musically in his 70’s heyday. Marilyn Manson was his heir apparent, rising meteorically to fame in the 90’s with his nihilistic industrial glam. […]
