A couple of months ago the infamous Mr. Brown sent me a copy of The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night and after falling head over heels in love with it I made the bold statement (for May) that it was going to be the best rock album I heard all year. I’m not yet … Continue reading
This morning I cracked out a Rhino edition Wilson Pickett Greatest Hits and headed out onto the 110 Freeway with it cranked to full volume. It was quite a recognition of a summer that has, thankfully, been slow to get either warm or sunny here in South Bay Los Angeles. After spending much of the … Continue reading
One magical night in the mid-nineties some friends and I stumbled into Chicago’s Smart Bar (under the world famous Metro) for some Monday night drinking. The crowd was thin that night and we were early. To our surprise upon taking a booth against the wall we found that (the now defunct) Tower Records down the … Continue reading
Wow. I had waited almost a year to see the sequel to Rob Zombie’s Halloween because I was fairly certain I would not like it. And believe it or not that idea bothered me. I’ve staunchly defended the man’s films for years: In my book House of 1000 Corpses and Devil’s Rejects are (pretty much) … Continue reading
I had been waiting for China Mieville’s Kraken for just about a year, ever since his last novel City & the City came out stateside in May, 2009. I’ve read everything by Mieville to date and every book has been amazing. However… Kraken is… maybe a bit of a mess. We all know how it … Continue reading
The wait that I have suffered for the debut album from The High Confessions has been like that of the crack whore for the tiny tin foil package – and while it is true that any eminent project that comes down the tubes from Chris Connelly immediately ranks on the top of my list, the … Continue reading
The other day I received High Tension in the mail from good ol’ netfix and sat down later that night to re-watch a movie I’ve not seen since it both captivated and completely alienated me five years ago. High Tension reminds me a lot of the American re-make of Ringu, The Ring, not because they … Continue reading
It was not too terribly long ago that I received word that Glenn Danzig was, after a six-year absence, releasing a new album. You can call it Danzig Nine but to some degree that is a misnomer – the numbered Danzig albums ceased after Danzig 7: I Luciferi because those were, in fact, a Magickal … Continue reading
I was worried about this one. It can be a pain but experience has taught me that whenever an underground artist I dig starts to pop up everywhere, well, saturation can be a bad thing. So when for the two months preceding the May 4th release of Flying Lotus‘ new album Cosmogramma Lotus was mentioned … Continue reading
Having lived in Los Angeles for four years now I really have no excuse for never having been to Spaceland, a tiny indie venue up in indie rock mecca Silverlake. I don’t do shows as much since leaving Chicago; part of this is money, part agoraphobia, part the remaining strains of heartbreak that accompanied watching … Continue reading