// Category Archive for: Current Faves

July Comics Rundown with DC, Marvel, and IDW

By E.A. Henson

Let’s take a look at some of my favorite titles from July of this year!
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Music Review: Ryley Walker, Golden Sings That Have Been Sung

By Melissa Bratcher

The Ryley Walker that brought to mind frolicking in sun-dappled fields on his last album, Primrose Green, has vacated those fields. His latest, Golden Sings That Have Been Sung, moves past his love to 1960s and ’70s British folkies (though the occasional field is still dappled in sun) and embraces a more “whole band” approach, throwing in unexpected instrumentation and taking his experimental playing even further. His unbelievable finger-picking is still there, but it’s come with friends this time.

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Music Review: The Hollywood Brats, Sick On You: The Album/A Brats Miscellany

By Hanna

The Hollywood Brats are really an anomaly; difficult to place and more difficult to analyze the longer you listen to them. While they don’t quite have the almost intellectual artifice of the New York Dolls and Heavy Metal Kids, they do share the same deep sense of bad taste and irony. The defining characteristics of their music are a tendency to shock and a rather cutting irony, combined with a deliberately simplistic style of music which can be seen as a precursor of punk. For a short space of time they were shouting obscenities into the void of American glam rock, before disbanding in 1974. But right now, they’re having a moment of revival after singer Andrew Matheson’s book came out last year out and he’s been playing again, so it’s a good time to have another look at their actual output.

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Music Review: Stewart Eastham, Dancers In The Mansion

By Tyler Hodg

Stewart Eastham’s latest effort, Dancers in the Mansion, is like a wild night in a Nashville bar: the swinging country music encourages you to hit the dance floor, while occasional somber sounds result in moments of reflection. All that’s missing is a little too much bourbon. (more…)

Music Review: Hymn For Her, Drive Til U Die

By Melissa Bratcher

You know what’s easy to love? A two-person band. Do you know what band you’re about to love? Hymn for Her, a nomadic pair who make their home in a ’61 Bambi Airstream trailer (with their daughter) and make the kind of music you can crunch away the miles to.

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Music Review: Jon Reynolds, Generation, Love

By Melissa Bratcher

On the nature vs. nurture question, music so often comes down to nurture. It’s a time and place thing, colored by experiences and environments. On Jon Reynolds’s new EP, Generation, Love, Reynolds explores racism, sexism, and gender roles, specifically in the American South. Having recently moved to Tennessee, Reynolds found himself wrestling with the intrinsic, embedded prejudices (including his own) and has taken these things and molded them into a quartet of 1950s-flavored, hooky pop treats.

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Music Review: Tiny Tim, Tiny Tim’s America

By Hanna

The 20-year anniversary of Tiny Tim’s death continues with an absolute treat for fans in the form of Tiny Tim’s America. This release is special because it’s comprised of new material, from recordings Tiny made in 1974 when he was in between recording contracts. Using this demo tape, a number of songs were chosen to compile a vinyl album (plus mp3 download). The original entire demo recording is also included on the mp3 download.

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Music Review: The Move, Move and Shazam (Reissues)

By Less Lee Moore

Though I’d always been a fan of “Dream Police” and “She’s Tight,” it wasn’t until 1993 that I fully embraced the many pleasures Cheap Trick had to offer. Checking the liner notes on their 1978 album Heaven Tonight revealed that amongst the album’s many fantastic tracks was a cover by someone named Roy Wood. “Who the hell was Roy Wood?” was my first thought and my second was “This song is incredible!” As it turned out Wood was the main songwriter for British band The Move, who’d found much success in the late 1960s and was a big influence on Cheap Trick’s musical style.

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Movie Review: Lucha Mexico

By Sachin Hingoo

The lure of a colourful mask, high-flying and fast-paced energy, and over-the-top characters can’t be denied, even among non-fans of pro wrestling. Lucha libre, Mexico’s own brand of pro wrestling, is an intrinsic part of Mexican culture, and Alex Hammond and Ian Markiewicz’s documentary Lucha Mexico puts this phenomenon on full display, warts and all.

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Music Review: JG Thirlwell, The Venture Bros. Original Score, Volume Two

By Ben van D

The truly terrific soundtrack should be harmonious with its narrative and transcend and elevate the work as a whole. After all, Psycho isn’t Psycho without its violent shower strings; Star Wars isn’t Star Wars without its “Imperial March;” and the panther isn’t pink without Mancini setting the palette. JG Thirlwell is equally inseparable from the DNA of the Venture Bros., and this collection is hard evidence as to why.

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