// Category Archive for: Issues

Black Moth Super Rainbow, Eating Us

By Noreen Sobczyk

When you visit the Black Moth Super Rainbow website, you’ll find that their new album Eating Us is available in a limited “hairy summer jacket” version. Well if that doesn’t say it all, what does? Hopefully this review will help elaborate on this, at least a bit, because a lot of the beauty of Black Moth Super Rainbow is that the music must be experienced and can’t be fully explained in text. Does that sound pretentious? It’s not, I promise. Take a tab of BMSR and you’re guaranteed not to have a bad trip.
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Adanowsky, El Idolo

By Julie Finley

There is a recurring phenomenon when the offspring of a talented parent tries to come out with something creative and it just sucks. For example . . . anything that Sean Lennon has ever done, and that sums it up! So I never have high hopes from anyone that comes from a top notch pedigree, and the fact they were born into “connections,” is really irritating!
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Dots to Connect: The Music Of The Prids

By Jemiah Jefferson

Tribute albums can be a tricky thing. Gathering the right combination of bands and artists to do the best work in performing new versions of well-known songs has got to be difficult. This is one of the facts that makes this compilation’s success as remarkable as it is. Not every track is a keeper, but the ones that are stand on their own as showcases for the bands performing them as well as the exceptional songwriting that has become one of the Prids’ trademarks.
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Gargoyle Sox and That Song

By Less Lee Moore

Anyone who’s discussed music with me at length knows about the box of dusty old tapes I’ve kept since I was a teenager. Back in the day, when my music taste was heavily informed by WTUL New Orleans, I would spend hours taping songs from the radio. In fact, I didn’t buy a whole lot of albums at that point because buying blank tapes gave me more bang for my broke teenaged buck.
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I Heard Your Voice In Cambridge: Elvis Perkins In Dearland

By Chelsea Spear

Brattle Theatre, Cambridge, MA
April 22, 2009

The music of Elvis Perkins has a cathartic quality that borders on the spiritual. His vivid, fever-dream lyrics draw on Biblical themes and imagery (note the title of his first album, Ash Wednesday, and its closing song “Good Friday”), his melodies share the memorable simplicity of hymns, and he and his band perform them with great fervor and no small emotion. Thus, it seemed appropriate that they would grace the stage of the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, Mass.
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The Venture Bros., The Music of JG Thirlwell

By Megashaun

Cartoons are typically not known for their musical scores. In fact, for many that I watched growing up, the music was often more of an afterthought (outside of the main title theme, that is). Incidental music in The Transformers, for instance, was so generic and overused that the show even shared many of its compositions (if they could be called that) with its counterpart half-hour Hasbro commercial, G.I. Joe.
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The Bitter Tears of Jessica Savitch

By Emily Carney

“I very much wanted to be accepted by my peers, to be considered a serious journalist.”
—Jessica Savitch

Photo from People archive

Due to dire economic circumstances across the US in the last few years, and particularly in early 2009, there has been a decline in the television news audience nationally and locally. Many TV stations and networks have downsized considerably; it certainly helps one who desires to carve out a niche in broadcast news to have an extremely impressive CV in reporting and anchoring. The ultimate cautionary tale in how not to conduct a network news career continues to be the final, sad slide of Jessica Savitch.
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Top Five Music Scandals Which Never Actually Happened

By Emily Carney

Author’s note: This piece is almost entirely fictionalized. Enjoy.

5. Midge Ure’s Backstage Throwdown With Bob Geldof, 1985

In the 1980s Midge Ure was best known as the lead singer of mope rockers Ultravox, while Bob Geldof was best known as the husband of Paula Yates and a guy who really, really liked money. He also did some philanthropist work. In 1985, both men mobilized their talents for the massive rock concert known as Live Aid.
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Before They Were Big: Gwar, Pop Will Eat Itself, Oingo Boingo

By Christian Lipski

“Before They Were Big” could also be seen as “Before They Sold Out,” or “Before They Got Good,” depending on your point of view. What I really mean is that these albums are from the artists’ earlier days, before what would become their more popular period. In my own personal opinion, these particular records are some of my favorites from the artists. While I don’t begrudge any band the opportunity to become successful and evolve one’s style, I do like having their earlier stuff around.
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These Are My Salad Days: Spandau Ballet On YouTube

By Less Lee Moore

You can’t step twice into the same YouTube river. The channel has undergone enormous transformations since its debut. In just the last few years, there have been heated disputes over copyright in the US and the UK, embarrassing incidents of corporate confusion, and irate fans who rejoice in finding long-loved-and-lost videos only to be crushed when those videos are removed for various reasons.

Thankfully, many bands have stepped up (with apparent legal muscle as well as capital) and created their own Official YouTube channels. This issue we’ll be profiling the Official Spandau Ballet YouTube channel.
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