Incredibly lush and well-defined production on this collection of art-pop. The lineage of VELVET UNDERGROUND to CHRONOPHAGE to 2026 is complete with this one. Every instrument is showing you most if not all of their best tricks, but not at any detriment to the music. The songs are engaging and short enough that this one […]
Read full "Fear On My Own Time LP" review
Chicagoan band DADDY’S BOY has returned with another full-length after a few years away from the studio. The eleven-song Four Hombres LP is a chaotic rock’n’roll vision of the daily struggle. High-speed rhythms surge beneath vocals that occasionally remind me of PROPAGANDHI, but also have a unique stream-of-consciousness delivery with lyrics deriding modern development. Fuzzy […]
Read full "Four Hombres LP" review
This is the second album of Ακραίφνιο’s ΦΟΡΜΟΛΗ (yes, that’s in Greece, in case it was unclear), a band I had read about, because the fantastic label Extreme Earslaughter contributed to the project, but never listened to. But as ZOUNDS said, “there’s a new band every day,” and one does not have endless time even […]
Read full "Tombs of Hell LP" review
New LP from Berlin’s BLITZER that delivers a tight mix of brisk garage punk with a light egg topping, like the SAINTS meets R.M.F.C. with Peter Hook’s bass tone settings. The title track opens the record with a fast snare roll and post-punk guitar/bass interplay before erupting into some serious classic rock action, albeit reverbed […]
Read full "The New Conspiracy LP" reviewErika Elizabeth plays the now sounds of then & the new sounds of now on this week’s episode of MRR Radio.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 59:39 — 54.6MB)
My first encounter with the Tape Op universe happened when I picked up a magazine that was laying around Mike Pack’s studio, Revolution Sounds, in Chattanooga, TN. This was twenty-plus years ago. Listening to LANDLORD track “More Trouble” on Beneath the Wheel, and being frustrated that they didn’t do the ending phrase twice. I was […]
Read full "Making Music: Conversations with Record Producers" review
Last Night at the Lusty: Remembering San Francisco’s First Unionized Strip Club is a fascinating expose of North Beach’s most notorious haunt. Filled with shocking twists and urban legends (but are they?), Janelle Blarg’s most recent comic also highlights the risks, the racism, and the management’s reluctance to address many of the employee’s workplace concerns. […]
Read full "Last Night at the Lusty: Remembering San Francisco’s First Unionized Strip Club" review
While working on the Murray Bowles photo book, I found myself in an early ’80s Bay Area punk frenzy, gobbling up old photo books, zines, and newsprint rags of the day, and digging into internet rabbit holes left and right. Along the way I came across this gem, self-published in 2021, which I immediately needed […]
Read full "Alternative Voices: 1980’s Punk San Francisco" review
Far from any major cities and never a convenient spot on a touring route, the seemingly sedate neighbouring seaside towns of Falmouth and Penryn are an unlikely setting for a growing punk scene. However, over a long period of time, a local punk community has thankfully become a regular presence here. Cover photo: Dee Loraine […]
Read full "No End in View: A Falmouth & Penryn Scene Report" Article