I reviewed S’s Sadstyle for Tiny Mix Tapes.
This album is indeed a four-track project from the 90s, but it’s also a reminder of exactly why the home-recordings aesthetic works. These songs can feel messy at times, but that mirrors the messiness of the lives documented in them, something Ghetto’s lyrics and (especially) …
Heading out of town for a couple of days for a foray — my first — to scenic Las Vegas, Nevada. Posting will resume once I’m back.
When I was in Seattle last month, I caught a set from Javelin at the Vera Project. It wasn’t quite my thing — in the world of ramshackle DIY …
Up today at Dusted: a review of My Education’s Sunrise.
If you’ve read any recent think-piece about how the lines between rock bands and classical ensembles are blurring, you could pretty easily swap their name into the list of case studies provided without sacrificing accuracy. Besides recording their own compositions, they’ve also …
The dangers of having one’s digital camera around while one is writing: one may take self-portraits.
And learn that, sans glasses one resembles a dude in a metal band.
“Dude, we’re totally gonna end up on Hydra Head with these songs!”
Heading out of town tomorrow for a week and change in a trio of Northwestern cities: Portland, Eugene, and Seattle. While there, I’m hoping to see many fine people; take in the Stumptown Comics Fest, make some headway on my punk rock anti-romance short novel, see some live music and some soccer, and generally clear …
At Flavorwire today, I have reviews of a quintet of recent albums that defy expectations of what a retro-inspired sound might be. Specifically: Clogs, Jack Rose, Evelyn Evelyn, The Tallest Man on Earth, and Eluvium.
For Dusted, I reviewed Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra’s Kollaps Tradixionales.
Calling this Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra’s most accessible album should not be taken as an indication that we’re in pop-song territory, or even that most of these songs have a verse/chorus/verse structure. The group’s discography (and, for some of …
It’s not long after midnight on the Friday after Thanksgiving. I’m at my parents’ house in New Jersey, my onetime bedroom now occupied by a pair of sleeping beagles.
I’ve spent the last two hours looking for two very random objects: a piece of sheet music and a photograph of myself circa winter 1994, in order …
I’ll be taking part in Vol.1’s regular reading series this month — tomorrow (i.e. Nov. 19th), in fact. More information can be found here, and below.
Come wish us a happy winter break as we present our final Vol. 1 Brooklyn Storytelling of 2009. This month, we present two contributes to our site, and three newcomers …
A little while ago, I linked to my review of David Ohle’s chapbook Those Bones.
In the time since then, Calamari Press has released a collection of two novellas from Mr. Ohle: Boons and The Camp, provided in the increasingly-popular flipbook format. Both novellas are worth your time — they’re unsettling in both their imagery and …
My first encounter with Curtis Harvey’s music came via Rex’s C, around 1996 or so. Musically, I was starting to explore work that was outside the boundaries of the hardcore and alt-rock I’d previously obsessed over. It’s a fine, textured album that’s held up remarkably well, as has their followup to it, 3.
Rex vocalist Curtis …
For Flavorwire, I interviewed David Wingo of Ola Podrida and numerous film soundtracks, including — most recently — Gentlemen Broncos. A number of questions, including some relating to Ola Podrida’s upcoming album Belly of the Lion, were cut for reasons of space; they appear below.
Where during this period of time did the songs for Belly …
Up now at The Rumpus: some thoughts on the work of Le Loup, examining their evolution from solo project to full-on band.
In the summer of 1995, shortly before leaving my hometown for college, I went to a house party in Middletown, New Jersey — memorable in part because that was where I heard numerous bands who would later become personal favorites. Seam in particular, but also the Louisville post-rock ensemble Rachel’s. All of which is prelude …
Featherproof has launched their TripleQuick application for the iPhone. Four sample stories — from Shane Jones, Lindsay Hunter, Paul Fattaruso, and Amelia Gray — can be read on Featherproof’s site.
Among the other contributors is, well, me. Writing at that length (the stories had a maximum length of 333 words) was one of the hardest things …