In Defense of The Download, part 2:

September 12, 2008

Being a crazed music enthusiast is largely a thankless condition. Your appetite for hearing new stuff can easily exceed your available funds, especially when new releases are involved. Both iTunes and eMusic provide budget-friendly download plans, but I have to assume that most folks run out of downloads each month before even beginning to knock […]

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The Thought Industry ‘Short Wave on A Cold Day’

September 10, 2008

Thought Industry’s final chapter is a brief tale which I’ve decided to pair with a surprise to reward your patience. After a spell of silence and some degree of uncertainty as to whether there would be another album (their Metal Blade contract involved one more release), Brent resurfaced with an all-new lineup, assembled from various […]

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September 3, 2008

I figured I’d take a recess from the Thought Industry coverage to say goodbye toan old device from my audio labs that recently turned up during a basement cleaning. The little guy pictured above is the telephone pickup that I used occasionally in the years between 1988 until perhaps around 1998, by which time I’d […]

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the Thought Industry’s Black Umbrella

September 2, 2008

By the time Black Umbrella rolled around, I pretty much felt like a K-zoo regular. At one particularly humble show in a defunct brewery (all ages, no drinking, no smoking), I lounged among the “backstage” couches with bassist Herb Ledbetter as the band members arrived slowly, after their day jobs. It was still daylight, and […]

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LPs? Vinyl?: How to Buy Thrift Store Records

August 31, 2008

Digging for vinyl in the Detroit area has become something of a gamble; it’s a long way from the ‘old’ days when records were often 5 (or sometimes 8!) for a dollar, or 3 for 99 cents. At this point in time, expect to pay $.99 per LP (Salvation Army) or $ .50 at select […]

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The Thought Industry – Martinis? Outer Space?

August 21, 2008

I realize now, that – back then -I must have come across as quite a crazed, obsessive fan – since I would go to every Thought Industry show I could get to, most of them in Kalamazoo (which was a 2 to 3 hour drive for me). The first Club Soda (the venue in K-zoo) […]

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thOught industry – patiently waiting for…the next album

August 13, 2008

How long does it take for a rather obscure Metal Blade-signed Kalamazoo, Michigan band to release their third album? When does an adoring Michigan-based metal fan get to hear the follow-up to perhaps the most genre-defying, innovative, and perplexingly avant-garde early-90s metal disc yet recorded? In 1993/94, the Internet (at least in my corner of […]

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thOught industry – mOds carve the pig

August 6, 2008

It was approximately one mile from my home where Thought Industry returned, in early 1993, to perform at a small neighborhood bar where a few pool tables occupied more space than the stage. Forthcoming sophomore effort Mods Carve the Pig: Assassins, Toads, and God’s Flesh was a mysterious entity with its lengthy title and minimal […]

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thOught Industry – my favOurite band

August 6, 2008

Michigan’s greatest rock export – despite what you’ve heard – is not Ted Nugent, Alice Cooper, or even Iggy Pop. This band has a thousand times the talent – yet a tiny fraction of the fame – of Eminem or Kid Rock. They’re not from Detroit; and to be fair, they’ve probably played most major […]

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In Defense of The Download, part 1: You Can’t Get That Stuff No More

July 30, 2008

I now consume more recorded music than anyone I know. My weekly driving routine takes me to twelve (12) different thrift stores that are “local” to my area, and there are occasional jaunts to more remote areas – all in the name of vinyl. Beyond the records, these thrift stores are a great resource for […]

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