Assemblog: May 31, 2013 – Critiquing The Role Of Women in Hollywood

Lynn Ramsay on the set of We Need To Talk About Kevin

New this week on Popshifter: Jeff presents the last days of Metal Mayhem with Iron Maiden and Spinal Tap; Chelsea describes the “smart, talented trio” known as Hot Club of Cowtown in her review of their new Rendezvous in Rhythm album; Lisa praises Elementary as “the abomination that wasn’t”; I share 15 hilarious minutes with Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick of The Venture Bros., have a dance party with King Tuff’s reissued Was Dead album, and fall in love with Charles Bradley: Soul of America.

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Assemblog: May 24, 2013 – On The Purpose Of Art

Velvet Goldmine, 1998
Screencap from Screenmusings

New this week on Popshifter: Jeff explains what Billy Squier and Ratt have in common in this week’s installments of Metal Mayhem; Melissa describes the “strange mix” on the reissued The Legend/Come Back To Me disc from Marty Robbins and is brought to tears by Davell Crawford’s My Gift To You; I review the “dark, disquieting” film Comforting Skin, now out on DVD and the anything-but-boring Ready To Die from Iggy and the Stooges, and attempt to unpack David Bowie’s new video for “The Next Day.”

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Assemblog: May 17, 2013

James Spader, from NBC’s The Blacklist

New this week on Popshifter: Chelsea thinks Xenia Rubinos’s Magic Trix is a “thrilling listen”; Metal Mayhem continues with Jeff’s take on Dangerous Toys and Judas Priest; Jeff also says that Big Country’s The Journey is the best new album he’s heard this year; Melissa B. parties traditional style with the new album from Kermit Ruffins and gets transported to the past with the reissue of Marty Robbins’s El Paso City and Adios Amigo; I recommend both the glam psychedelia of Burnt Ones’ You’ll Never Walk Alone and the party music of Dead Ghosts’ Can’t Get No, and revisit 2002’s excellent, unsettling One Hour Photo, recently released on Blu-Ray.

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Assemblog: May 10, 2013

New this week on Popshifter: Jeff starts some Metal Mayhem with Night Ranger and Mötley Crüe (more installments are coming throughout the month); Luke reviews the “brilliant” cooperative game Monaco: What’s Yours Is Mine; Brad gets transported back to childhood through Jason Lapeyre’s new film I Declare War; and I am impressed with ChristCORE, a new documentary on the Christian hardcore scene seen through the eyes of a nonbeliever.

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Assemblog: May 3, 2013 – The Future Of Streaming And Television?

New this week on Popshifter: Jeff praises The Armoury Show’s “gorgeously slick cathedral Goth with strangely danceable grooves” in the Cherry Red reissue of Waiting For The Floods; Danny calls the new Meat Puppets album, Rat Farm, “the band’s most playful and diverse offering since 1985”; Melissa B. laments the passing of George Jones in her review of the CD reissues of George Jones Country and You’ve Still Got A Place In My Heart; I describe the “geographic grandeur” of the full-length, self-titled debut from Big Black Delta; describe how no-budget, sci-fi flick Manborg “comes from the heart”; explain the “nuanced, complicated” joys of A Royal Affair; congratulate Melvins on their excellent album of covers, Everybody Loves Sausages; and get excited and photo-happy about the upcoming Vicki Berndt art show in Los Angeles.

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Assemblog: April 26, 2013

Logan, we miss you.

New this week on Popshifter: Melissa calls Luke-Winslow King “one to watch” in her review of his “excellent” The Coming Tide; Jeff wonders how the labouring man can find time for self-culture in a new installment of “Waxing Nostalgic”; I discuss the new Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead short film Wrecked, praise the “spirited” Chapin Sisters album A Date With The Everly Brothers, and call Life of Pi a “certified cinematic breakthrough.”

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Assemblog: April 19, 2013

New this week on Popshifter: Jeff describes how Cliff Richard is wired for sound and explains the pros the cons of hitch hiking; Julie saw The Hives and has photos to prove that they’re a “fantastic rock & roll band in the purest sense”; I praise the exquisite songwriting on IO Echo’s debut album Ministry of Love; and Chelsea mourns the loss of Scott Miller (Game Theory, Loud Family).

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Assemblog: April 12, 2013

The Assemblog is on a three-week hiatus. It will be back on April 19.

New this week on Popshifter: Jeff finds Todd Rundgren’s new album State frustrating, but recovers nicely with two new Waxing Nostalgic entries on The Pretenders and Devo; and Hanna knows that both fans and not-yet-fans will appreciate the new Lynsey de Paul anthologies from Cherry Red Records.

Assemblog: April 5, 2013

The Assemblog is on a three-week hiatus. It will be back on April 19.

New this week on Popshifter: Paul thinks Bioshock Infinite “has a good shot at defining an entire generation”; LabSplice is disappointed in the “utterly forgettable” G.I. Joe: Retaliation; Cait feels that Johnny Marr’s The Messenger will “add to his considerable legend” and that we’re “very blessed” to have Here Tonight: The White Light Demos from Gene Clark; Lisa has ten ideas on how NBC’s Grimm could improve; Maureen visits the Game of Thrones exhibit in New York; and Jeffery ponders Alice Cooper’s take on New Wave in a new installment of “Waxing Nostalgic.”

Assemblog: March 29, 2013

The Assemblog is on a three-week hiatus. It will be back on April 19.

New this week on Popshifter: My final Canadian Music Week Film Fest 13 reviews for Bad Brains: A Band in DC and Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me; LabSplice explains The Only Hope We’ve Got movies in his Olympus Has Fallen review; Paul praises the underrated poppy funk of Wendy and Lisa‘s reissued, self-titled debut album; Jeffery brings the “Waxing Nostalgic” column back from the cut-out bins with “Escalator of Life”; and J Howell calls the new Atoms For Peace album Amok, “brilliant.”