Authors: Cody Kirkland
Review: Michael Rault – Living Daylight
Michael Rault = T. Rex + (Emitt Rhodes – Paul McCartney) … read more
Review: Liars – Mess
The band is now adept in the electronic manipulation they flirted with in WIXIW. Mess moves beyond the yearning of WIXIW and offers an alternative—a cheerfully dark counter to tradition and the world at large. … read more
Review: King Tuff – Was Dead
I usually think that reissued records are stupid and lazy, but goddamn, I’m glad King Tuff did it. … read more
Review: Iggy and the Stooges – Ready To Die
I dreaded listening to this record. If 2007’s The Weirdness was any indication, the Stooges can’t be resurrected. They could have fallen back on their raw, stripped-down, live-in-’73 sound that bands today try to emulate. … read more
Review: Flesh Wounds – “Bitter Boy” b/w “Kennel Cough” and...
Flesh Wounds = Johnny Thunders + Condo Fucks … read more
Review: Dog Party – Lost Control
I wish I was as cool as these girls when I was a teenager. … read more
Review: Burnt Ones – You’ll Never Walk Alone
I pioneered a new rating system to evaluate this record: I drew plus signs next to songs I really liked, minus signs next to songs I disliked, and nothing next to songs that made me feel nothing. Despite sounding uncannily similar to their psych rock peers, the sexy, grimy reverb spiral of “Vision Forever” gets a plus sign, as does the mighty bubblegum fuzz of “Fountain of Youth” and “I Care – I Don’t Care.” The time-changing brain burner “Cloak” gets a plus sign, too. … read more
Review: Bleached
They’re like Vivian Girls, but more polished and with better singing, like Best Coast, but punk rock. Jennifer and Jessica Clavin, formerly of the all-girl punk band Mika Miko, join with Jonathan Safley and Sara Jean Stevens to form LA’s Bleached. … read more
Review: Bleached – For The Feel
Luckily, three-song EP For The Feel comprises only good songs … … read more
Review: Blank Realm – Go Easy
Judging by the opening bass line of the first track (“Acting Strange”), I thought Blank Realm was a Swedish hardcore band. … read more
Review: Airstrip
Willing is the debut album of this Chapel Hill, N.C. outfit. It is primarily slow, rhythmic, guitar-driven rock with a few poppy, almost upbeat numbers thrown in. … read more
Review: Against Me! – Transgender Dysphoria Blues
Though there are a few stinkers, Transgender Dysphoria Blues actually isn’t horrible. “Drinking With The Jocks” and “Osama Bin Laden As The Crucified Christ” kick ass like the Eternal Cowboy and Searching days, and “Two Coffins” is the most paralyzing song I have heard in a long time. … read more
