Category: Reviews – Vinyl
Metal still sounds best on large, round pieces of pressed vinyl. The smell, the artwork – and it gets played through a needle.
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Tesla – Psychotic Supper LP (vinyl reissue)
It’s a little hard to believe now but, twenty-five years ago, the music business seemed to be getting suddenly and violently pulled in several directions at once. At that time, glam metal and hard rock were still pumping out some pretty important albums. Guns N’ Roses would release both Use Your Illusion albums in ’91,…
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Fat White Family – Songs For Our Mothers LP
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Songs For Our Mothers LP by Fat White Family. It doesn’t happen often in the post-CD, post-digital music marketplace but, with Songs For Our Mothers, Fat White Family has proven that creating a satisfying and balanced long-playing vinyl album – with the peaks, valleys and thematic…
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Hater – s/t LP (reissue)
I must confess that I had never heard of Hater before Ben Shepherd put out In Deep Owl a couple of years ago. I was really, really taken with that album and had been thrilled at the prospect of taking an interview with him when the opportunity came up; in fact, I jumped at it.…
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Control / Harrington Saints – Pick Your Poison
While I happily admit that I appreciate the 7” single format, a split 7” is often a much harder sell with me. Why? Often, the focus feels too diverted on a split; the amount of time that each band involved has to leave an impression is very short and splitting focus two ways only makes…
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Yesterday’s Heroes – La Llama Que Nunca Se Apaga 7” EP
I could open this review by writing something trite like, “When it’s done well, whether listeners comprehend the language that a song was written in or not is irrelevant; its meaning will come through in the passion with which it was performed.” But that would probably make some readers scoff. It should – such statements…
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The Bar Stool Preachers – Blatant Propaganda LP
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Blatant Propaganda LP by The Bar Stool Preachers. It’s pretty incredible how much a band seems to change as soon as people start paying attention to them and their fanbase swells. History is littered with bands who seemed not to change for years as they attempted…
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Kriegs Legion – The Anti-State War Machine EP
It’s impossible to listen to Kriegs Legion‘s new EP and not flash on the crew of bands which came before them who didn’t exactly typify hardcore or punk rock in any manner but did explode forth with a sound and vision all their own under those banners. Bands of this tradition included names like D.O.A., Cosmic…
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Bum City Saints – Bum City Saints LP
While some critics may claim that an album or artist being “derivative” is a negative trait, that’s not always true – in the right context. Sometimes, the right sequence of sonic elements can align and instantly throw listeners back into the mindset thought to be long forgotten. It can be exhilarating and comforting all at the…
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Cheap Trick – At Budokan, The Complete Concert (2 LP reissue)
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Record Store Day reissue of At Budokan – The Complete Concert 2-LP by Cheap Trick. The 1970s are known for lots of things which happened musically, like the break-up of The Beatles, the deaths of Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, John Bonham and Elvis Presley,…
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Fews – Means LP
Even at first sight – before a note of music is heard from the Means LP – those who happen upon Fews‘ debut full-length will get the sense that they’re about to bear witness to an important musical EVENT. The front cover poses a bunch of very tantalizing questions. On it, a camera captures a…