Authors: Cody Kirkland
Review: Nobunny – Secret Songs: Reflections from the Ear Mirror
Hearkening back to the ramshackle electric lo-fi of 2008’s Love Visions, Secret Songs: Reflections from the Ear Mirror is a deranged mix-tape of Justin Champlin’s dingy, tattered, bunny-mask-clad garage punk interpretations of classic rock n’ roll styles. … read more
Review: Meatbodies – Self-Titled
Meatbodies = Ty Segall + Nobunny … read more
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