Alternative music, cult films, and pop culture explored through a Gen X lens — with reviews, interviews, and a deep-dive podcast.
Album Review: Puscifer – Normal Isn’tFeb 6/Puscifer Entertainment / Alchemy Recordings / BMG More than two decades into its existence, and closer to a quarter-century if you trace its earliest incarnations, Puscifer has quietly become Maynard James Keenan’s most prolific and responsive creative outlet. Where Tool moves with tectonic patience and A Perfect Circle operates […]
New documentary Every Time You Lose Your Mind offers an unflinching look at Failure’s rise, fall, and rebirth. Streaming June 28 on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ The new documentary Every Time You Lose Your Mind charts the tumultuous history of alternative pioneers Failure. Directed by frontman and multi-instrumentalist Ken Andrews, the film is an […]
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 […]
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 […]
Blu-Ray Review: Tool ‘Opiate2’: band celebrate 30th anniversary of debut EP ‘Opiate’ with deluxe Blu-ray featuring re-imagining of title track. 30 years ago Tool released their debut EP Opiate, which featured the labyrinthine title track that would become a fan favorite. In honor of the anniversary of both song and EP, Tool released Opiate2, a […]
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 […]
Concert Review: Tool at Frank Erwin Center-prog-metal titans belie their age in a powerful, propulsive set. “Supposedly, Austin…Work on it.” That cryptic yet acerbic comment came from Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan addressing the packed house at Austin’s Frank Irwin Center this Tuesday. But Keenan mostly eschewed chitchat and let the band’s music do the […]
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 […]
