Musings on the past and present state of music, film, and pop culture. Get off my lawn.
The 15 Best Rock Albums of 2024: the best in alternative, metal and more from a year that sorely needed musical solace. 2024. What a year, huh? I’m personally worn out from it and dreading 2025, but I take my pleasures where I can find them, and music remains a source of solace for me […]
Concert Review: The Sisters of Mercy at ACL Live: Goth icons conjure nostalgia and break new ground with first Austin performance since 2006. It’s been 17 years since Goth legends The Sisters of Mercy last played Austin, TX. So to say the eager, black clad faithful attending their performance at ACL Live last Saturday were […]
10 Must See Shows Coming To Austin in 2023: picking out the best of the cavalcade of concerts coming to ATX, including Ministry, Depeche Mode, The Cure, and more. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, or don’t use apps like Bands In Town, you are probably aware that the amount of great bands coming […]
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 […]
35 Albums Turning 30 in 2022: The Best Albums of 1992: a list of the best alternative, metal, hip-hop, indie and experimental releases from 1992. Last year I boldly declared that 1991 was the best musical year of the 90’s. And I still stand by that. But by damn, 1992 is a very close second. Whereas […]
SLIS Podcast Episode 42-Albums Revisited: U2’s ‘Achtung Baby’ Turns 30: we look back on the album that reinvented U2 for the 90’s on its 30th anniversary. 30 years ago this Thursday, U2 released Achtung Baby, the 1991 opus that helped them roar back to relevance after being sidelined by the commercial and critical disappointment of […]
Episode 27: 30 Albums Turning 30 In 2019: The Best Albums of 1989-SLIS Podcast: celebrating the end of the 80’s and the beginning of a musical movement–and one of the best albums of all time. Following on the heels of last year’s Smells Like Infinite Sadness episode ranking the best albums from 1988, co-host Chris […]
Spotlights ‘Love and Decay’ Review: Brooklyn trio’s sophomore album offers new insights into their unique musical landscape. Brooklyn’s Spotlights made big waves with their 2017 full-length début album Seismic, taking a disparate influence of post-metal, shoegaze, space rock and goth that made them one of the most refreshing new acts in metal. One cursory listen […]
Episode 25: Our Take on the 2019 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees-SLIS Podcast: ranking the RRHOF class of 2019 in advance of this week’s induction ceremony. On this week’s episode of the SLIS podcast, co-host Chris Logan and I dive into the 2019 inductees for the RRHOF, including Radiohead, Roxy Music, The Cure, The […]
Evi Vine ‘Sabbath’ Review: single from forthcoming album showcases a furor of dark delights, and an impressive goth pedigree. When you’re about to listen to a song called Sabbath for the first time, expectations are high. The title of course draws associations with the progenitors of metal Black Sabbath, but it also conjures images of religious […]
