45 Grave ‘Autopsy’

March 31, 2009

I bought this tape (as a mall-shopping teen) for two reasons: Firstly, there was some mention of the band being an undeniable influence on Christian Death. At that point in my life, Christian Death (both the Rozz Williams stuff AND the Valor-fronted group) were a complete embodiment of everything lyrically and visually I’d wanted out […]

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Shane Capone

March 30, 2009

Apparently, hip-hop has the power to completely transform people. I remember my 6th grade Wood Shop class, turning around in my desk to see a quiet, pale kid wearing a green velour shirt hunched over his notebooks. He had a whisper of a moustache and the faintest hint of dandruff. There was little indication that […]

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I want a Fates Warning t-shirt

March 26, 2009

I hold Fates Warning singularly responsible for pretty much the entirety of my journey through all of the many varied forms of music I now know and love. That may sound like a huge accusation on my part, but it boils down to this: as a kid, I was an adoring Iron Maiden fan. Maiden […]

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Hankshaw

March 25, 2009

I have a particular bent for male vocalists with high voices – particularly the whole androgyny/feminine-voice thing. The heavy metal singers are easy: John Arch and Ray Alder (Fates Warning), Geoff Tate (Queensryche), Michael Sweet (Stryper), Alan Tecchio (Watchtower, Hades)…the list goes on. Classic-era metal had tons of vocalists with high-pitched wails. Then, of course, […]

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Jeremy Enigk ‘United States Of Leland’ Soundtrack (2003)

March 24, 2009

At first, I wasn’t a huge fan of the film ‘The United States of Leland‘ – much like I didn’t immediately take to Sunny Day Real Estate, the emo band Jeremy Enigk fronted until he later became an eponymous Lennon-esque bard. Sunny Day Real Estate arrived via Sub Pop Records around 1993 and enjoyed rather […]

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Dig Hay Zoose ‘Struggle Fish’ (1991)

March 20, 2009

In the late ’80s, there was a handful of “Christian” metal/punk bands I was aware of (and actually liked) thanks to a local student radio show. In the thrash metal genre, there was Believer and Vengeance Rising. Also around that time, I began to get into the dark, brooding hard rock act called Undercover. There […]

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A few words about blank cassette tapes…

March 10, 2009

I like to think that the internet and blogosphere is teeming with folks who have completely grown up around digital music — to the extent of having little to no experience with recordable cassettes. The word ‘mixtape‘ itself sets up a sort of dividing line between the current generation of music consumers, and the somewhat […]

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Only Living Witness, Miltown, & Milligram: an open letter to Jonah Jenkins

February 10, 2009

Dear Jonah Jenkins, While driving home tonight, I gave the Milligram ‘This is Class War‘ CD a solid play: perhaps the first & only attentive listen I’ve given it since its release in 2003. I had originally purchased two copies of the Traktor7 edition (the one in the sewn, camouflage fabric bag)…and then when I […]

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Sweet Lizard Illtet – self titled (1992)

January 24, 2009

The rap-metal thing has never really worked for me; and I am bold enough to point out that it’s never really worked for anybody. First off, you should understand that I do cherish genuine hip hop. I revere the entire b-boy culture, and my endless appetite for thrift store jazz, soul, and funk LPs is […]

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The Beyond ‘Chasm’ (1993)

January 18, 2009

England’s The Beyond is one of those bands that – at least in the U.S. – went straight to the bargain bins at the local indie record stores. Their debut full-length ‘Crawl‘ had an obnoxious folding digipak case with multiple cardboard flaps, all featuring a rather simple graphic of deep blue waters teeming with hammerhead […]

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