Musings on the past and present state of music, film, and pop culture. Get off my lawn.
Concert Review: Slowdive at ACL Live: shoegaze legends show offer cross-generational transcendence during Austin set, with Drab Majesty supporting. ★★★★★ Fans of a certain age (i.e., me) remember Slowdive as a band that never got their due, breaking up in 1995 amidst record label indifference and cynical album reviews from indie rock snobs. It was […]
Blushing ‘Sugarcoat’ Review: Austin quartet channels classic shoegaze and alt-rock through a modern prism on third album. ★★★★ Something interesting happens when American bands gain inspiration from British shoegaze. Groups like Garbage, The Veldt, True Widow, Deafheaven, and The Smashing Pumpkins borrow elements from My Bloody Valentine, Curve, Slowdive, Ride, et al, but with an […]
10 Best Alternative Rock and Metal Albums of 2023: these are the albums that got us through a crazy year. It’s almost time to say goodbye to 2023. And that means it’s time for SLIS to do our annual Best-of Year list. 2023 was not a massive year for rock. But what it lacked in […]
Slowdive ‘Everything Is Alive’ Review: Reunited British Shoegazers prove once again they are a vital entity not dependent on 90’s nostalgia on new album. Slowdive have had quite the career reappraisal. They were critically panned during their 90’s tenure before being dropped by Creation Records and then disbanding, only to garner a massive cult following […]
King Woman ‘Celestial Blues’ Review: Kris Esfandiari returns with a punishing and rewarding follow-up to 2017 debut. Musical busy bee Kris Esfandiari has a host of musical projects, including the industrial tinged NGHTCRWLR, the shoegaze driven Miserable and the poppy Sugar High. But fans of her work with the doom metal outfit King Woman will be […]
Episode 36: The Mission UK’s Wayne Hussey Discusses Charity Single ‘TOS2020’ Featuring All Your Favorite Musicians: Mission frontman assembles a dream team of alt-rock greats for a worthy cause. Wayne Hussey is goth-rock royalty. Between his tenure as guitarist in The Sisters of Mercy to founding the The Mission UK, the frontman/guitarist has created some […]
Episode 35: 25 Albums Turning 25 in 2020-The Best Albums of 1995-SLIS Podcast Following last year’s podcast episode celebrating the best albums from 1994, co-host Chris Logan and I dive in to the best 25 albums from 25 years ago, in this case the year 1995. ’95 was another great year for alternative rock in all […]
Episode 11: 25 Albums Turning 25 In 2018: The Best Albums of 1993-SLIS Podcast: celebrating a watershed year for alternative music. Following on the heels of our podcast episode ranking the best albums from 1988, co-host Chris Logan and I decided to tackle all the best albums turning 25 this year. To do so, we […]
SLIS’s 17 Best Rock Albums of 2017: picking the best alternative and metal albums from a year that tested our sanity. Let’s not mince words. 2017 was pretty shitty (remember when we thought 2016 was bad? Oh those were the days!). From the political landscape to natural disasters, mass shootings and the loss of icons, […]
A Shoreline Dream ‘Room For The Others’ Review: Progressive-shoegaze duo release 5th single from forthcoming album. [rating=5] Colorado neo-shoegazers A Shoreline Dream are working steadily on their next full-length album, but they’re giving fans a taste of each new development, releasing each completed track as a single. Each song paints a picture of a band […]
