// Category Archive for: Reviews

Music Review: Hollywood Vampires, Hollywood Vampires

By Tyler Hodg

Hollywood Vampires is a “supergroup” consisting of core members Alice Cooper, Johnny Depp, and Joe Perry, with guest appearances by Brian Johnson, Dave Grohl, Slash, Perry Farrell, and Paul McCartney, to name a few. Yes, this is a real thing.

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Concert Review: Riot Fest 2015 in Toronto

By Tyler Hodg

Coheed and Cambria

Toronto music fans came out in droves to witness this year’s Riot Fest. The traveling festival made a stop in “The Six” on September 19-20, with international artists such as Weezer, The Prodigy, Motorhead, Wu-Tang Clan, and Canada’s hardcore darlings Alexisonfire all showcasing their stellar live shows to a very hungry crowd.

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Movie Review: Scorpions, Forever And A Day

By Jeffery X Martin

Somewhere around the halfway point of this rockumentary, I came to an odd realization. Here I am, a man who lived through the Eighties, watched the rise and fall of Hair Metal, and yet I have taken the band, Scorpions, completely for granted. After all, has there ever been a world where “Rock You Like a Hurricane” hasn’t existed?

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Music Review: Spooner Oldham, Pot Luck

By Melissa Bratcher

Muscle Shoals keyboard stalwart Spooner Oldham (who has possibly the greatest name of all time) has had his fingers on myriad classic tracks. Co-writing hits like the Boxtops “Cry Like A Baby,” Percy Sledge’s “Out Of Left Field,” and James and Bobby Purify’s “I”m Your Puppet” with collaborator Dan Penn might be enough to secure a spot in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (which he was inducted into in 2009), but he also lent his keyboards to music from Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, the Stones, and the Flying Burrito Brothers. He’s frequently toured with Neil Young and in 2007, toured with the Drive-By Truckers. His pedigree is incredible.

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The Official Popshifter Podcast, Episode #02: 57 Maidens

Welcome to The Official Popshifter Podcast, Episode #02, “57 Maidens and No Wrestling at TIFF”

Featuring Managing Editor Less Lee Moore and Featured Contributor Jeffery X Martin! Enjoy and thanks for listening.

Reviews:

La Grande Bouffe Blu-Ray

Ghost, Meliora from Dirge Magazine

Iron Maiden single, “Speed Of Light”

Music Review: Dr. John, The Atco/Atlantic Singles 1968-1974

By Melissa Bratcher

If there’s one thing Dr. John does well (though he does loads of things well), it’s setting a scene and creating a vibe. In listening to Omnivore Recordings’ Dr. John collection The Atco/Atlantic Singles 1968-1974, there is such a rich, immersive feeling—a deep swamp that reaches slippery fingers up to pull you down—that it is like taking a trip to the Bayou, sans surprise alligators. Dr. John’s mix of blues, funk, and psychedelia is inimitable, much like his trademark boozy vocal yawp. He’s a one of a kind.

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Music Review: Angéline, Back to Pike Place

By Tyler Hodg

Angéline is the type of singer-songwriter that is impossible to not find inspiring. Her music is soulful and true, and her latest release, Back to Pike Place, is no exception. The EP compiles five beautifully-written songs (and one intro) that are all unique in their own ways. While the music may not necessarily make you want to jump up and dance, it will, however, make you want to cheer for its honesty.

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Blu-Ray Review: Immoral Tales

By Jeffery X Martin

The 1970s were a time of sexual revolution. Women’s liberation, bra-burning, birth control pills, swingers, orgies, and who knows what else? It’s not like people didn’t know about sex before, but in the ’70s, sex exploded (which sounds gross). Suburban couples were lining up around the block to see Deep Throat and Behind the Green Door, two pornographic films that found both mainstream success and legal troubles, as both films were placed on trial for obscenity.

Obscenity still has an elastic meaning, and at times the line between artistic license and simple prurient leanings is blurry and hard to see. That’s precisely where 1974’s Immoral Tales lives, in that strange tesseract on the corner of Softcore Porn and Arthouse Loophole.

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Music Review: Duran Duran, Paper Gods

By Jeffery X Martin

Duran Duran has been around for a holy crappin’ 37 years. Is that possible? How old am I? Never mind that question. The amazing thing is they’ve never been out of the public eye in all that time. Well, there was one album, Medazzaland, that just sort of fizzled, but we’ll just give that time period a miss, shall we?

It’s possible that the band is on the verge of their third career resurgence with the release of Paper Gods, a schizophrenic dance album for those with bad backs and broken hearts.

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Concert Review: Sloan At Massey Hall

By Tyler Hodg

Photo shamelessly stolen from Sloan’s Facebook page

September 11, 2015
Toronto, ON

For only the second time in their career—and the first time since 2000—Sloan brought their talent to the legendary Massey Hall in Toronto on September 11. As singer/guitarist Chris Murphy pointed out, the band “never really got massive,” but the venue was packed with their die-hard, loyal fanbase. For those who were in attendance, it was a night to remember. For those who weren’t in attendance, it will be a night you will hear about for a long time.

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