// Category Archive for: Retrovirus

Punk Rock and Picasso: Q & A With Billy Zoom

X’s 13 x 31 tour in Portland, Seattle, and Cleveland

Intro by Ladycakes
Questions by Christian Lipski
Seattle photos by Gully Foyle, Cleveland photos by Julie Finley

Photo © Gully Foyle (more…)

Brave and Vogue in a Zone of Clones: Top Ten 45s from Garbo’s Daughter

Intro by Less Lee Moore

Garbo’s Daughter call themselves the “last of the rock and roll innocents.” Their music is as sweet and delightful as they are.
(more…)

The First Shall Be Made Last: David Bowie’s Let’s Dance

By Christian Lipski

I have to begin with the obvious by marveling at how long it’s been since Let’s Dance was released, simply because twenty-five years? It’s insane. I was fifteen and didn’t know anything about anything. When I taped Let’s Dance from a record I checked out from the library, I didn’t even know much about David Bowie at the time. I had heard “Changes” on the radio before, and probably other songs, but always on the fringe of my attention. 1983 was Bowie’s year to shine. Let’s look at the album in order, and I’ll see what each track dredges up.
(more…)

Top Five Records Bought For A Dollar (or less!)

By Katrina Randell
All photos by Matthew Armstrong

I love records. I love buying campy records at thrift stores, the Sally-Anne, or places like Toronto’s Neurotica records. Below you will find my top five favorite records that either me or my fiancé purchased for a dollar, or in some cases, less.
(more…)

Married and Buried: Punk As A Four-Letter Word, Part Two

By Less Lee Moore

Read Part One of this article here.

This year, I got a copy of Nirvana, a book by music journalist Everett True. Although I own Come As You Are by Michael Azerrad, I’ve never even read it. So to be fair, I read Azerrad’s book first.

(more…)

The Beach Boys: Concert Abstinence is Not the Answer

By Christian Lipski

It seems odd now, considering my current obsession with music, that my first concert would be a band I didn’t know very well. I wasn’t very heavily into music In 1983 when my mom asked if I’d like to go see the Beach Boys at the Garden State Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey. I will say that as a kid I really took to the surf/car songs I heard on K-Tel TV commercials, and my first LP was Jan & Dean (a re-release, in case you think I am 75 years old), but it never really became a habit. As a result, my reaction was a mild assent.
(more…)

Thriller: My Introduction to Pop Culture

By Laura L.

It’s hard to believe it’s been twenty-five years since the release of Michael Jackson’s Thriller. It’s even harder to believe it’s been almost as long since I listened to it for the very first time. I don’t remember exactly how old I was, and I don’t even remember whether it was the very first tape my dad bought me, but I know it was one of the very first. To go with this gift was my older cousin’s brown, hand-me-down cassette case, featuring some hand-me-down tapes. Thriller fit right in the collection.
(more…)

Duran Duran’s Seven and the Ragged Tiger

By Less Lee Moore

In the eighties, I became a Duranie. I grew fascinated with them after seeing the “Planet Earth” video on MTV. My friend later played Rio for me and I couldn’t get enough of it so I scrounged up allowance money and bought my own copy. Previously I’d been obsessed with Adam Ant, but since I didn’t think Strip was up to the standard he set with his previous albums, my interest began to wane. Enter the Fab Five.
(more…)

No Sense Makes Sense: Peter Bogdanovich’s Targets

By Less Lee Moore

“My father is the jailhouse. My father is your system… I am only what you made me. I am only a reflection of you.”
—From the testimony of Charles Manson in the Tate-LaBianca murder trial, November 20, 1970

(more…)

My One-Night Stand With Kevin Ayers

By Hanna

Ayers, Nico, Cale, Eno

Kevin Ayers, both as a member of Soft Machine and as a solo artist, is one of the most respected musicians alive today. Because of his easy-going good-humor and extensive back catalogue of avant garde music, he has been revered by music lovers for decades. Similarly, his collaborations demand respect and admiration, and confirm his position as a mainstay of what is considered intelligent music. His work with John Cale, Andy Summers, Ollie Halsall, and Mike Oldfield are examples of his eminent good taste in other music as well as his own.
(more…)