SOUND BITES

I've done variations on this theme several times in the past, usually after a long period of time during which I abandon my responsibilities around here and allow unreviewed releases to pile up high. Now that my "reviews" are shorter and without much deep thought involved, I kind of figured we wouldn't get to this point again so soon; and yet, here we are. Anyway, here are some albums I've checked out over the summer but not yet shared my opinions on; I could have done haiku just as easily as dropping one or two sentences as I have below, but it turns out I'm too lazy to even arrange this shit into the proper lines and syllables. Shrug. MONDO COZMO New Medicine June 12, 2020 • Last Gang Highlights Black Cadillac • Upside Down • Come On For his second album as Mondo Cozmo, Josh Ostrander got help from some heavy hitters; Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's Peter Hayes features heavily, both as a guest guitarist and co-producer, and previous single Come On was co...

As a standalone album, the tenth by metal titans Metallica ticks all the boxes. Like the thrash-centric assault they built their empire on? Check. Like the groove-laden riffs that helped them conquer the world a quarter century ago? Check. Don't feel like it's really a Metallica album without a nagging issue or two? Check and check. The good news is, Metallica haven't sounded quite so engaged in what they're creating in some time. This is certainly an album crafted with the songs and the overall listening experience in mind. As for the songs, there's very little filler (although Murder One , an heartfelt tribute to fallen star Lemmy, reeks a bit of cheese despite best intentions); there's also a conscious effort to sneak away from the forced back-to-basics vibe of Death Magnetic , which resulted in some pretty good songs but, overall, struck me as at least a partial act of pandering. This time out, only about a quarter of the album thrashes, while the majori...

Ah, the '80s: a time of excess, the world a neon wonderland where money flowed like champagne and cocaine flowed like money. Oh, and music videos were at the height of their influence, with MTV still playing them and all; as for me, MuchMusic was a raging addiction not unlike those Wall Street power junkies and their powder. By 1986, my consumption of the stuff was up to a solid four hours a day give or take, as I soaked in all that I could. I was an impressionable 10 year old kid with a proxy membership to Columbia House through my older siblings and, between that and regular trips to K-Mart and Zellers County Fair, my cassette collection was growing nicely. 1986 was a year of ups and downs for me; I was excelling at school and living a young and carefree life, but I was also in for the worst injury of my life to date. On December 1st, a snowmobiling mishap (I was riding on back) ended up with both bones of my right ankle snapped. All told, I was bedridden for about a week an...

6  OKAY Ever since they released "the black album" a quarter century ago, Metallica has been embattled with legions of "fans" who claim everything they've done from that point "isn't metal". With that in mind, it seems every five to eight years we get an over-the-top attempt to appease the closed-minded, a contrived attempt at recreating a feeling that died with their first multi-platinum seller; a borderline tantrum to anyone saying "not metal", a petulant "is too". Hardwired may be the most contrived, desperate and disingenuous thrasher Metallica have turned out in the last 25 years. It's also a calculated bid at shushing the haters that almost works. The thing is, as decent as the tune is (and let's not get it twisted, it's a decent tune), there's that underlying feeling that it's all surface; at the end of the day (or, in this case, nearly eight years of waiting), it's thrash-by-numbers, with ...

1991 was a really big, and kind of weird, year for rock music. The world was ushering in change in the form of technological advancements and social reforms, and the music world would soon follow suit. As the year progressed and the wave of hair metal had begun to run its course, a new and powerful force was on the rise. By year's end, it was clear that we were on the cusp of a true rock revolution, the likes of which hasn't been experienced again since. I turned 15 years old in 1991. By this time, I was already what I'd consider a music lover, but I hadn't yet figured out my musical identity. As a devoted member of Columbia House, I was hoarding cheap cassettes and quickly becoming not just a music fan, but also a collector. My tape collection was kind of impressive in size, but was stylistically scattered beyond any real sense of logic or reason (case in point: alongside my thriving collection of hair metal were albums by such classic pop/rap superstars as Vanilla...

(DISCLAIMER: The intent of this article is not to belittle the art of the double album, nor is the point to diminish the worth of the albums featured below. My goal is not to "fix" these albums, and I support the artists' decisions when it comes to how they present their art. Just so we're clear.) The double album: a career move meant to distinguish a batch of songs as something special. An artistic vision that simply can't be confined by standard definitions or time constraints. Many of our greatest musical landmarks run outside of the accepted parameters of what an album should be. Sometimes it's a grand statement, a series of musical moments strung together into something magical and cinematic. Other times, it's a way to express disparate emotions, a way to segregate when an artist is going for two distinct approaches at the same time. Sometimes it's simply a case of a creative outburst that grew too fast and too wild. Far be it for me t...

Somewhere along the way, record labels figured out what most businesses already knew: there were good and bad times to sell your wares. The Christmas shopping season was a given; there were also benefits to selling in spring (with Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day, graduation etc.) and early fall (as kids went back to school and parents started thinking about St. Nick). So, record labels developed a strong tendency to release what they considered their best shots at hit records during these peak selling weeks. If you look at a full year's worth of releases, you'll probably notice a glut in April, May, September and October. Which makes my collecting habit a somewhat boring proposition eight months of the year.

Ah, the double album. The ultimate artistic statement. When your vision absolutely, positively cannot be confined to the restraints of a single platter. Over the years, we've seen countless artists try to tiptoe down this slippery slope, and only a few have made it to the bottom without grass stains on the ass of their jeans. The double album's meaning has been warped and twisted so many times in the last half century that it's often confusing when trying to determine what counts as a double album or not. When the compact disc raised the maximum length on one disc, many double albums technically became single albums; likewise, many single albums recorded since are so long that they would have undoubtedly been doubles in the original vinyl age. With the albums on this list, though, it's not necessary to bicker over the rules. These albums aren't like the others.

"I would cut my legs and tits off when I think of Boris Karloff." When your album starts off with this pleasant couplet, it's obvious that what you're in for isn't going to be your standard rock fare.  And that is certainly true with Lulu , the bizarre and challenging collaborative effort between Lou Reed and Metallica.  Based on German expressionist writings, filtered through Reed's rose-colored glasses and piled recklessly on top of a loopy, mundane Metallica jam session, the album is a near 90-minute exercise in musical Russian roulette.  And every chamber is full. The last album to perplex and intrigue me in such a way was They Were Wrong So We Drowned , Liars' 2004 batshit insane ode to witches.  That album basically made me rethink my limits taste-wise.  Disjointed, ugly and messy, that album was a full-blown endurance trial, one that made the listener feel as though they were tied to the stake and watching the flames rise.  It was downright ...