SLUGmag
Review: GOD SAVE MY QUEEN: A TRIBUTE – DANIEL NESTER
GOD SAVE MY QUEEN: A TRIBUTE DANIEL NESTER Soft Skull Press Street: 04.2003 In Daniel Nester’s simultaneously lyrical and obsessive treatment of Queen’s musical and metaphysical legacy, both band and ostentatious frontman Freddie Mercury are offered far greater fates than the reputation that precedes the group’s recognizable work, i.e., “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and Mercury’s highly publicized
Review: PICNIC GROUNDS: A NOVEL IN FRAGMENTS – OZ SHELACH
PICNIC GROUNDS: A NOVEL IN FRAGMENTS OZ SHELACH City Lights Street: 04.01.03 Composed in a clean literary style devoid of muddied metaphors and overarching allegories, the hauntingly brief vignettes of Oz Shelach’s Picnic Grounds are guided by the concept of the commons: a series of publicly utilized resources, plots of land and amorphous societal rights.
Review: NOISE OF THE WORLD: NON-WESTERN ARTISTS IN THEIR OWN...
NOISE OF THE WORLD: NON-WESTERN ARTISTS IN THEIR OWN WORDS HANK BORDOWITZ Soft Skull Street: 01.20.05 Don’t tell Condi, but imperialism is bad. That’s not necessarily so, however, when it comes to music. While it’s ironic that whiteys like David Byrne, Peter Gabriel and Paul Simon have opened up the world’s music to the West,
Review: DARKER BLUES – DAVID RACCUGLIA
DARKER BLUES DAVID RACCUGLIA Fat Possum Records Street: 02.01.03 Fat Possum’s motto is “We’re trying our best,” and I’d say their best is damn good enough. This is a beautifully papered, beautifully bound book with artsy, full-color photographs of the Fat Possum roster of Mississippi’s second generation of original bluesmen with a two-disc label sampler
Review: Bitter, Bitter Weeks – Revenge
BITTER, BITTER WEEKS REVENGE My Pal God Philadelphia’s Brian McTear is vying for your attention and with Revenge he has earned it. These are songs that call back to the days when folk musicians were every bit as political and biting as anything punk would spit out. McTear is clearly dissatisfied with the world he
Review: DESTRUCTO MAXIMUS – ANTiSEEN
DESTRUCTO MAXIMUS ANTiSEEN Steel Cage Books Street: 01.01.03 This book drips blood; I’m not kidding. The pure destructo rock evil of ANTiSEEN inhabits it. A black leather cover and silver foil lettering is more than appropriate for a book I can’t put down, which I’m a little afraid of. Destructo Maximus is a collection of
Review: CD ART: INNOVATION IN CD PACKAGING DESIGN
CD ART: INNOVATION IN CD PACKAGING DESIGN Charlotte Rivers Rotovision Street: 11.02.03 Charlotte Rivers had an unusual number of challenges when she chose to write a book about CD design: The writing had to be solid and interesting. The layout of the book had to be foxy, but could not overstep its role as
Review: ROCK FACES: WORLD’S TOP ROCK ‘N’ ROLL PHOTOGRAPHERS AND...
ROCK FACES: WORLD’S TOP ROCK ‘N’ ROLL PHOTOGRAPHERS AND THEIR GREATEST IMAGES Oliver Craske Rockport Publishers Street: 08.2004 From one’s youth and throughout one’s life, there will always be a photograph or a number of photographs that touch the very heart of your existence. A powerful, artistically rendered photograph can establish an intriguing rock-star
