Music

I need to revisit this album and Shades of a Blue Orphanage once in awhile to remind myself why I don’t own them. These are very humble beginnings for a band that would a few years later become mind-blowingly fantastic.

PSA: The essential Thin Lizzy (studio) albums are the middle five. They are, in chronological order: Fighting, Jailbreak, Johnny the Fox, Bad Reputation, and Black Rose: A Rock Legend. If these don’t do anything for… See more →

Virtually every aspect of Evile’s music is copied directly from late ’80s Metallica. I don’t fault them for it – I’d rather hear a faithful reproduction of something great than a mediocre stab at something original. However, though their instrumental chops are on par with Metallica’s, their songwriting skills are not. Pretty much everything on here is instantly forgettable.

I’ve lost count of how many times this record has saved my life.

Somehow, the ridiculous anarchist drama club monologue in this song doesn’t sink the whole album.

Art communicates. The core message might be as simple as “I like Slayer” or as complicated as “Let’s begin reversing centuries of female marginalization.” The work’s context and various expressive textures contribute narrative layers that enrich that core message. The more we identify with the message, its layers, and their convergence, the more we like the art, even if we can’t explain what those things are or how we connect with them.

In the who,… See more →

Someone left $20 in the ATM, so I’m getting paid to see Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter and The Sadies tonight. I like this arrangement.

When music is great, there’s nothing better.

Believe the hype about Fucked Up’s live show.

I’ve been a casual Japancakes fan for about ten years, and a more-than-casual My Bloody Valentine fan for a bit longer than that, and somehow I only just discovered this album today. It sounds exactly like you would expect a Japancakes version of Loveless to sound, and the occasional pleasant surprises it mines from those familiar melodies make it a worthwhile listen. But I don’t think anyone can argue that covering a work as singularly… See more →

It is no secret that Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. Is there any other event celebrated on a mass scale whose very purpose is to challenge the tenuous divide between pain and pleasure? Halloween encourages us to enjoy our fear, to find mirth in the macabre, to recognize how death enriches life. On every other day, fear holds us back; on Halloween, it propels us forward. What’s not to love?

And so it… See more →

Skip the drama and check Questo’s list. I love stuff like this.

Over three years ago, I won my first air guitar competition in Philadelphia. It had more of an impact on my life than I ever would have expected, introducing me to a bizarre and joyful underworld of free spirits who forced me to reevaluate what it means to experience music.

A few months later, and not entirely coincidentally, I accepted a job offer in Boston at what might be described as competitive air guitar’s above-ground… See more →

Phil Lynott really came into his own as a songwriter in 1975 with Thin Lizzy’s fifth album, Fighting, and his precipitous decline began just five years later with Chinatown. His first solo album, Solo in Soho, arrived that same year, and like that album, this one has its moments, but it’s mostly bland and painfully dated. For completists only.

The Michael Bay of indie rock. If it is possible to mean that in a nice way, I don’t.

Context hurts this record. Would I have enjoyed it if it was made by a bunch of pissed off twenty-somethings in 1980? Possibly. But I know it was actually made by a bunch of pissed off forty- and fifty-somethings in 2010, and that just makes the whole thing feel like a mid-life crisis, or worse, arrested development. I’ll give credit where it’s due: Keith Morris’s vocals have every bit of manic energy and fury they… See more →

If there had been a Shudder to Think album between Pony Express Record and 50,000 BC, it would have sounded like this.

A spacious, ethereal departure for Besnard Lakes, much of which borders on ambient. This type of atmosphere can be found on their long-players as well, but there it’s tempered with other textures and tempos. Isolated as it is on this EP, it makes for a less compelling listen.

Holy moly, that guitar solo.

Excellent review of what may be my favorite record of the year.

Staff at a new venue giddily pulled us off the street for the final moments of a Fred Frith performance. I ❤ Brooklyn. roulette.org

Click through and read Albini’s entire post.

What is it about punk rock jocks five times your size that makes them think it’s cool to throw you into a pile of chairs?

Read the full response letter. It is enjoyable.

Even from the insurmountable egos involved, the bloated boasting on display here is a painful read. But I have to admit I’m curious to hear this record, even if it’s a morbid curiosity.

Time for Tombs to blast the residue of this crappy day off me. @ Studio at Webster Hall gowal.la/c/4p8TJ

Holy shit, Tombs was fucking fantastic. A sound like theirs can easily turn into a murky mess live, but they brought it to terrifying life.

To my Philly people: I’m not saying I hadn’t been to an R5 show in ages, but the last time I saw the sound guy, he was clean shaven.

Today’s agenda: 1. Drive across the desert with @essl and @VictoriaMia. 2. yfrog.com/h0bjeifj

Indio’s Motel 6 is currently dirtbag central. We are home.

I'm at The Big 4 Festival in Indio, CA gowal.la/c/459Fh

A N T H R A X

S L A Y E R

For some reason, Twitter didn’t want you to know about M E G A D E T H and M E T A L L I C A .… See more →

Thin Lizzy without Phil always seemed like a bad idea, but holy hell am I glad I saw them tonight. He’s gone but certainly not forgotten.

By all means, bring your identity-starved girlfriend accessory to the metal show and clutch each other all night like junior high is ending.

Mixed feelings about Godspeed You Black Emperor tonight. Iffy setlist, but great to hear them live and insanely loud again after so long.

I don’t like the execution, but the idea is adorable.

This is more like it.

I wish there was more information here. Is this inflation-adjusted? How are sales distributed across singles, albums, etc?

Tonight I danced my ass off to a live Dismemberment Plan set for the first time in seven years.

I’m not sure there has ever been a subject more deserving of a documentary probe than this one.

Travis’s vocals on “What Do You Want Me to Say” are kind of terrible, but they sound fucking great otherwise. Can’t wait to see them next week.

If Archers tour, my show-going ratio of current bands to reunited bands may just tip irrevocably into "you are old and irrelevant" territory.

I didn’t even know she was sick. This is so sad.

In a career like this, it’s interesting to try to pinpoint the moment when the question changes from "How can I keep doing stuff I love to do?" to "How can I keep people paying attention to me?"

The song is bland as hell, but the video is really, really well done.

I am so confused. How/why did this happen? Who the fuck are those three doofuses that keep popping up?

I would have omitted the Misfits logo, made the eyes completely black, and dialed the date back thirty years, but still, this is pretty rad.

Feeling pretty sorry for those of you that didn’t see Man or Astro-man and Dex Romweber Duo on the tour they’re wrapping up tomorrow.

Oh, fuck you.

Ouch.

One of my favorite Samhain songs, but it has always bummed me out that the studio version sounds so terrible (as was the case with a lot of Samhain stuff, really). I think I’ll record my own version.

My earplugs were no match for Swans.

I can’t put my finger on what I like so much about this poster. I do know that something about its seemingly random noise invited me to explore it, and that the actual information is easily discernible despite that noise, thanks to a clear focal point and succinct text.

Man, I might have hoped A.V. Club would be above the whole “quote the snippet where he talks shit on the beloved famous people!” thing, but at least it linked to the rest of the interview, which is great. As much as Albini usually kinda comes off as a dick, I can’t say I disagree with him. And regarding his own past dalliances in the mainstream music biz, I’d really like to know what he… See more →

Juggalo culture is unlikely to ever hold any appeal for me beyond morbid fascination, but damn if this lengthy interview didn’t make make me go, "You do your thing, Violent J. High five."

As expected, seeing Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter was worth every penny of that overpriced Sunn/Boris ticket.