// Category Archive for: Reviews

TV Review: The Walking Dead, “Hearts Still Beating”

Published on February 17th, 2017 in: Current Faves, Horror, Reviews, TV, TV Reviews |

By Laury Scarbro

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I’m not even going to sugarcoat it. Season 7 thus far has been rather lackluster compared to other seasons. With the exception of a few episodes here and there, and how this episode began, I was really beginning to question whether the writers had just lost heart. But thankfully, I was proven wrong.
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Blu-Ray Review: Psychomania

Published on February 16th, 2017 in: Blu-Ray, DVD/Blu-Ray Reviews, Movie Reviews, Movies, Reissues, Retrovirus, Reviews |

By Tim Murr

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Psychomania has been on my list to watch for a long time, though I never knew anything about it outside of the trailer. It features troublemakers that return from the grave to wreak havoc on an unsuspecting English town; there are motorcycles, action, cool costumes, witchy undertakings, shades of A Clockwork Orange and The Wild One, a badass 1970s soundtrack. That’s what the trailer for promises. The film itself breaks most of these promises and is instead a dry, absurdly comic B-movie, that’s too slow and doesn’t play up any of its strengths.
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Book Review: Zero Saints

Published on February 16th, 2017 in: Book Reviews, Books, Culture Shock, Current Faves, Horror, Reviews |

By Tim Murr

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Fernando is a drug dealer from Mexico living in Austin, Texas. He works for a man named Guillermo and is doing all right for himself since crossing “la frontera.” Then one night he’s attacked, shoved into a trunk, and presented to a man named Indio. Indio isn’t the kind of man you usually find in Austin; a large, powerfully built monster, covered in so many tattoos that his skin is almost black. He wants to take over much of Guillermo’s territory and wants Fernando to deliver a message. Part of that message involves having to watch the torture and murder of his colleague Nestor. So begins Zero Saints, a fearful, fast-paced descent into what may be the final few days of un hombre invisible.
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Podcast: TV or GTFO Episode 12, “Out Of This World”

Published on February 10th, 2017 in: Comedy, Podcasts, Reviews, TV, TV Or GTFO, TV Reviews |

By Sachin Hingoo

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A show about teenager with near-infinite power, who can bend the very fabric of space and time. A show about the shocking revelation that our main character is half-alien, and her father is millions of miles away from Earth, communicating only through a mysterious glowing cube. A surefire hit? No, it’s Out Of This World, a late 1980s sitcom that more than one outlet has called the worst sitcom ever!
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Music Review: Executive Slacks, Complete Recordings 1982-1986

Published on February 10th, 2017 in: Current Faves, Music, Music Reviews, Reissues, Retrovirus, Reviews |

By Less Lee Moore

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Fans of industrial music have likely heard all the heavy-hitters already: Throbbing Gristle, Test Dept., Einstürzende Neubauten, Cabaret Voltaire, Skinny Puppy, and beyond. Last year, Dark Entries re-released the eponymous debut EP from Philadelphia’s Executive Slacks, who are rarely mentioned in the same breath as those other seminal bands, if they are mentioned at all. Originally released in 1983 on Red Records, the release was an appetizer that contained just four songs.
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Music Review: Otis Taylor, Fantasizing About Being Black

Published on February 10th, 2017 in: Culture Shock, Current Faves, Music, Music Reviews, Reviews |

By Melissa Bratcher

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“After 15 albums, i’ve taken all of my thoughts about the history of racial injustice and created a musical interpretation for modern times,” says trance blues artist Otis Taylor. His latest, Fantasizing About Being Black is shattering and thought-provoking. By looking backwards, Otis Taylor has made an album that is unfortunately still prescient.
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Music Review: Son Volt, Notes Of Blue

Published on February 10th, 2017 in: Americana, Current Faves, Music, Music Reviews, Reviews |

By Melissa Bratcher

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The latest Son Volt album, Notes Of Blue, may just be precisely the album that will put your anxious brain at ease. It’s inspired by Nick Drake, but it’s also inspired by Mississippi Fred McDowell and Skip James. While the influences of the latter are more easily evident, Son Volt’s leader Jay Farrar says he was “aiming for where blues and folk and country converge.” He’s certainly hit his mark.
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Game Review: “Yakuza Zero” (Playstation 4)

Published on February 3rd, 2017 in: Game Reviews, Gaming, Reviews |

By Sachin Hingoo

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Comparisons to Rockstar Games’ unbelievably popular crime opus, Grand Theft Auto, are always apt with the Yakuza series. Like those games, Yakuza Zero, a prequel to the prior five main entries and several spin-offs in the series, attempts to provide a snapshot of the culture embodied in its distinct setting (fictionalized cities in America in Grand Theft Auto, Japan in Yakuza) by telling stories about their criminal underbellies. Though fundamentally similar in this way, it’s the cultural distinctions that make both games into well-crafted, interactive time capsules, albeit with some confounding elements.
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Music Review: Mick Harvey, Intoxicated Women

Published on January 31st, 2017 in: Current Faves, Music, Music Reviews, Reviews |

By Tim Murr

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Multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Mick Harvey will likely be best known as Nick Cave’s longtime collaborator, from their first 1band The Boys Next Door, to the Birthday Party, to Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds. Harvey worked with Cave for 36 years, but he’s also had a distinguished solo career in his own right with Crime And The City Solution, The Wallbangers, and under his own name. It seems whatever Harvey has touched has been at the very least a fascinating addition to the annals of rock and roll.
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TV Review: The Walking Dead, “Sing Me A Song”

Published on January 20th, 2017 in: Horror, Reviews, TV, TV Reviews |

By Laury Scarbro

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After a fairly slow episode last time, we’re met with, you guessed it, another build-up episode. That’s perfectly OK because there must be build-up if there’s going to be anything explosive to look forward to. And I’m sure the writers at The Walking Dead will not disappoint. I’ll be addressing the different plotlines individually, as this episode had quite a bit of hopping around, with very little detail to them other than a quick scene with only a few lines. At the end of the day, this episode should have been called “This Is Why Carl Should Stay In The House, a.k.a. Dammit Carl!”
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