Tag: alt-rock
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The Flaming Lips – The Hypnotist EP
The Flaming Lips The Hypnotist 12” EP (Warner Records) 2023 marks the twentieth anniversary of Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots and, to celebrate, Warner Brothers has embarked on an impressive campaign to re-examine the album (stay tuned for more on that later) but, without question, one of the most unusual parts of that endeavor is…
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Pop Evil – Versatile LP
Okay, this first observation of what Pop Evil is offering with their sixth album, Versatile, doesn’t actually have anything to do with the music pressed into the vinyl, but it would be easy to extrapolate an impression of the merits of this album, how it’s presented and the potential difference between “how it’s presented” and…
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Urge Overkill – Saturation LP (reissue)
Quick history lesson: By 1992, Urge Overkill had already established itself both in the fairly unforgiving Chicago music scene and on the North American college radio circuit with the help of albums like Americruiser and The Supersonic Storybook. Not only that, the band has cut a fairly striking and peerless image; unlike so many other…
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Art Bergmann – The Apostate LP
In Canada (which, let’s face it, is a country packed with musicians who are underrated on the international stage), there is simply no musician more criminally underrated and under-appreciated than Art Bergmann. Since first appearing on the Vancouver punk and indie rock scenes in the eighties, Bergmann has regularly had to fight to get popular…
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Flipper – Generic Flipper (vinyl reissue)
In music, as is the case in chemistry, the most important element is the one that ultimately provides the catalyst which sets everything else in motion. In chemistry, for example, the right combination of sulfur, charcoal and saltpeter can still remain perfectly inert but, when a spark gets added to that mix, the results are…
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Radio Free Universe – Casa Del Diablo
Firstly, kudos to the splendidly named Radio Free Universe (inspired by World War 2’s ‘Radio Free Europe’) for their commitment to the physical format of music, this is one excellently designed CD. In a fair world, Radio Free Universe would be the next Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam or Soundgarden, not because they sound like those…
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The Second Coming of Heavy Chapter 5 – Desert Suns/Chiefs split
I know I’ve reviewed the last couple of these Ripple Music compilations, and as long as they keep ‘em coming, I’ll keep listening. The fifth installment of The Second Coming of Heavy features a couple California outfits in Desert Suns and Chiefs, both from San Diego. As opposed to the third coming, which combined a…
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Alice In Chains – Live Facelift 12″ EP
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Record Store Day Exclusive Release pressing of Alice In Chains’ Live Facelift 12” EP. While readers may be familiar with parts of Alice In Chains’ new Black Friday/Record Store Day release, Live Facelift, it’s nearly guaranteed that they don’t know the whole thing. They may know…
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XIXA – Shift and Shadow 12” EP
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Shift and Shadow 12” EP by XIXA. XIXA released its debut full-length album earlier this year (discussion of that release will be coming in the very, very near future) but, now that it’s out and it has had the chance to really establish itself with the…
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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.…