Music Review: Amanda Shires, My Piece Of Land

By Melissa Bratcher

Some pregnant women nest by painting walls, decluttering, pasting photos in albums. Amanda Shires wrote an album. My Piece Of Land was written and recorded as a way of dealing with her pre-motherhood anxiety when she was pregnant and unable to travel. The result is introspective, incredibly honest, and furiously lovely.
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Music Review: Riley Etheridge Jr., Secrets, Hope & Waiting

By Melissa Bratcher

There’s always a trickiness to concept albums. Do the songs work on their own merits, or do they need the framework of the concept to bolster them? Is the concept explicit, or do you need to read copious press materials or liner notes to ferret out a theme? Will I need to take psychedelics to understand this album?
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Popshifter is Attending the Toronto International Film Festival!

Popshifter will be on a brief hiatus during the Toronto International Film Festival, which runs from September 8 through September 18.

Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for TIFF updates.

We’ll see you after the Festival!

Music Review: St Paul and the Broken Bones, Sea Of Noise

By Melissa Bratcher

It would be hard not to like St. Paul and the Broken Bones. You can call them what you like, soul revival or neo-soul or just soul, but the end result is the same: a band that makes bracingly soulful music that feels both classic and modern. Lead singer Paul Janeway vocally brings to mind the greats (Otis Redding in particular) and adds his own particular twist, with his testifying vocals (as you may recall, Janeway studied to be a preacher, and it certainly shows in his voice).
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Music Review: The Meters, A Message From The Meters: The Complete Josie, Reprise & Warner Brothers Singles 1968-1977

By Melissa Bratcher

We truly live in an age of miracles. You can stroll down to the record store and pick up A Message From The Meters: The Complete Josie, Reprise & Warner Brothers Singles 1968-1977, and then you will hold in your hot little hands, a collection of ALL of the Meters’s singles, with B-sides. And you will be given a fantastic entry point to the best funk band of all time (Oh yes, I will die on that hill because it is a true fact). You could even download it digitally, if that’s your jam, and then you’ll at least have it. But the point is, you need this album.
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Can I Get A Witness? Absolute Preacher Is A Triumph

By E.A. Henson

The first season of the darkly funny and hyper-violent Preacher TV series recently wrapped up and DC/Vertigo Comics has, coincidentally, just published the first volume of Absolute Preacher. If you’re a new fan of the show or an old fan of the comic this hefty tome is definitely something worthy of your attention.
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Music Review: Farewell Milwaukee, FM

By Tyler Hodg

Wisconsin may get bitterly cold, but Farewell Milwaukee’s music is nothing but warm. Their fourth studio effort, simply titled FM, wraps around you like a heavy blanket, comforting you with familiar folk-rock sounds that are reminiscent of artists like Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen. The album may not be the most original collection of music, but that doesn’t mean it still doesn’t have a lasting effect. Continue reading ‘Music Review: Farewell Milwaukee, FM’

Blu-Ray Review: Venom

By Less Lee Moore

It’s been a good year for Oliver Reed fans. Though the actor passed away in 1999, there have been several recent reissues of his work on Blu-Ray. First, there was Ken Russell’s The Great Composers box set from the BFI, which includes the rarely-seen but significant Reed performance in The Debussy Film. Then there was Hired To Kill, which Arrow Video reissued on May 17. And then, there’s Venom, reissued May 31 from Blue Underground.

I should make it clear that those last two movies are not exactly examples of Oliver Reed at his finest.

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Music Review: Various Artists, Close To The Noise Floor

By Less Lee Moore

Cherry Red Records has done it again. This time, their triumph comes in the form of Close to the Noise Floor, a four-disc set which gives music junkies a taste of the “quiet electronic revolution that took place across the UK in the late 1970s and early 1980s.” The contents are staggeringly impressive and endlessly fascinating, with each disc flawlessly sequenced and boasting its own unique essence.

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Music Review: Silverhead, Silverhead; 16 And Savaged; Live At The Rainbow, London 1973

By Hanna

Though largely without commercial success at the time, Silverhead were influential by metal and hair metal, besides also being a well-loved glam rock band. Singer Michael Des Barres is a cult figure in music and acting, having combined a fairly successful career in both, and Nigel Harrison of Blondie also started his career in Silverhead.

This series of releases by Cherry Red includes the entire Silverhead discography: the two released albums, Silverhead and 16 and Savaged, some single mixes, live tracks, and B-sides. The series is rounded out by a live album, Live at the Rainbow, London 1973.

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