Best Of 2015: Jeffery X Martin
Published on January 1st, 2016 in: Blu-Ray, Comedy, Horror, Movies, Music, Pro Wrestling, Reissues, Retrovirus, TV |
When you compare and contrast 2015 with other years, it really wasn’t half bad. It was a great year for movies, an absolutely stellar year for music, and television reached new heights of creativity and watchability. Sure, there were some celebrity deaths that shook me to the core (these are still hard times, Dream), but there wasn’t a whole lot to complain about in 2015, except how difficult it was to choose the best things of it.
So let’s start with the movies, shall we? In ascending order, please, Maestro. (more…)
Music Review: R. Kelly, The Buffet
Published on December 31st, 2015 in: Current Faves, Music, Music Reviews, Reviews |By Paul Casey
R. Kelly’s thirteenth studio album, The Buffet, is an album of conflicting styles. Up front, The Buffet takes all of the ridiculous sex metaphors from throughout Kelly’s career and amplifies them to an extreme. Like Black Panties and 12 Play before it, things get dark and filthy. You can probably imagine the kind of sexy food metaphors that Kelly employs in pursuit of the perfect dirty song, but here is a quote anyway: “Come and feed me baby / girl put your body on a dinner plate / I just can’t get enough of your buffet and I’m so hungry / baby feed me.”
Today in Pop Culture: Lots Of Stuff!
Published on December 31st, 2015 in: Comics, Music, Today In Pop Culture |
It’s the end of the year and as we look back through pop culture history, this is a big day! Lots of things happened, and it’s hard to pick just one. Therefore, I’m not going to. Why do hard things? Ugh. So here’s a quick list of interesting things that happened on December 31st!
Top 10 Things That Made Me Happy In 2015: Melissa Bratcher
Published on December 31st, 2015 in: Best Of Lists, Movies, Music, TV |
As it is every year, my Top 10 is a mix of things: music, TV, movies and one experience that rises above all others. While 2015 isn’t quite over, and awesome things might still happen, these are things I keep coming back to.
Five Albums You May Have Not Heard in 2015: Tyler Hodg
Published on December 31st, 2015 in: Best Of Lists, Music |
By Tyler Hodg
Every year, certain albums fly under the radar despite their worth. It’s impossible to get around to listening to everything, so I’ve compiled a small list of my favorite records released in 2015 that deserve to be looked at more closely.
Best Of 2015: Vetiver
Published on December 31st, 2015 in: Best Of Lists, Music |
Favorite 2015 Releases
Tom Furse, Digs
Meg Baird, Don’t Weigh Down The Light
Max Richter, Sleep
Monika, Secret In The Dark
Chris Weisman, The Holy Life That’s Coming
Palmbomen II, Palmbomen II
Kurt Vile, B’lieve I’m Going Down…
Joan Shelley, Over and Even
Floating Points, Elaenia
Róísín Murphy, “House of Glass (Maurice Fulton Remix)”
Vetiver’s Complete Strangers was released in March through Easy Sound.
Today in Pop Culture: Paul, Frank, Elvis, And Sid
Published on December 30th, 2015 in: Music, Today In Pop Culture |
It is 1968, and at the end of the year, in the twilight of his singing career, Frank Sinatra steps into a recording studio and sings the song that would become his trademark, “My Way.”
The song was based on a French tune called “Comme d’habitude.” Songwriter Paul Anka, known mostly for being interchangeable with other songwriter Neil Sedaka, bought the rights to the song for a measly dollar, thinking he could take the tune and make something better out of it.
Best Of 2015: Little Wings (a.k.a. Kyle Field)
Published on December 30th, 2015 in: Best Of Lists, Music |
Things Loved and Discovered in 2015:
1. Super Snark tuner with insurance: We only brought one on tour and would pass it around on stage. It became a game.
2. Patagonia “Houdini” windbreaker: Compacts into its own pocket. Wore it after the July 5 Dead show in Chicago as my phone was dying trying to meet up with our Uber. I felt like ! was in a new post-post-modern X-Men movie.
3. Playing Sou’wester with Michael Hurley in creepy October and getting a response in our room from the Lodge itself (lightbulb turned off) when we asked,” Do you think this place is haunted?”
4. Staying in a haunted house outside of Philly on our tour with Weyes Blood: The next morning the host asked if we had heard anything during the night like the little boy that stomps on the floor outside of your bedroom door.
5. Lee Baggett’s behind the head guitar solos: He actually plays better that way.
6. Danny Brown’s Noisey Vice video when he visits the Gathering of the Juggalos: It did not make me confident that I would fit in there as well as he did.
7. Meeting Doug from Built to Spill after seeing them cover a Michael Hurley song at the Treefort Music Festival (thanks Erik!).
9. Space Kamp’s “Red Hot Chili Peppers Fake Fan Fiction” zine (thanks Elverum!).
10. The Echovox EVP (electronic voice phenomenon) phone app and finding places on tour to use it! Such as that olde theatre in New Haven, Bard College Chapel, the haunted cave in Avila Beach, and the Big Sur Lighthouse.
10. Hydro Flask insulated canteen for keeping things hot or cold.
Little Wings’ latest album, Explains, was released by Woodsist in May.
Today in Pop Culture: From Murder to Broadway
Published on December 29th, 2015 in: Music, Today In Pop Culture |
His name was Thomas Becket, and he was a well-respected man about town, as they say. Quick-witted, an eloquent speaker, Becket fell under the patronage of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Becket was sent to law school in France and, when he returned, he was made the Archdeacon of Canterbury.
There are lots of Arches in this story. Do try to keep up.
Music Review: Giuda, Speaks Evil
Published on December 29th, 2015 in: Current Faves, Music, Music Reviews, Reviews |By Hanna
Giuda’s third album, Speaks Evil, continues where their previous albums left off: the band is still making cheerful glam rock of the stomping, junkshop kind. Image-wise, they have moved away from their earlier Sharpie style, and gone for something more pared down, heavy on monochrome and denim. Now they look like Crushed Butler, or, if you’re in a bitchy mood, a lesbian mechanics’ union. In any case, they look authentic, and they sound authentic, too. If you play a lot of glam rock, this album will blend right into your playlists and nothing will remind you that this was made in 2015, even when–very occasionally–you wish it would.