Tag: rock

jane's addiction - nothing's shocking
CD, Vinyl

Jane’s Addiction: Nothing’s Shocking (1988)

Jane’s Addiction always brings up a very specific sense memory for me: driving to high school with my friends in the backseat of a station wagon, transitioning from the suburbs to the country, hearing these songs mixed in with Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix (it was always the Smash Hits compilation), and Minor Threat, among others. Ritual de Habitual may have been the chart breaker as it rode the alternative wave in 1990, but I always preferred the hazy, Zep-heavy debt of Nothing’s Shocking. Recently my brother and I went record shopping looking for the songs we grew up with, and whereas his Perry Farrell fix came from Porno for Pyros (we’re seven years apart), mine was with the OG. This just came in on vinyl yesterday, so no better time to give it a fresh spin.

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elvis costello - my aim is true cover art
CD, Vinyl

Elvis Costello: My Aim Is True (1977)

I’ve been away for a while, I know. I have been writing, whether it’s the 30+ reviews I wrote over at Cinema Dual for the annual Hooptober horror marathon, or the twice-weekly posts for Nine Circles to help out while we slowly start to build up staffing. But writing purely for myself has been rare, and I want to come back and find my voice, find myself again where there are no parameters or guidelines for what I have to write about (well, except it would be music-related). So I came up with an idea, something that will probably take a couple of years before it’s done, and I’ll kick that off in the next couple of weeks here on the site. In the meantime, I’m going to spend some time writing about my favorite records, the ones that have become a part of my DNA. And for no reason other than the fact I grabbed it off the shelf today, we’re going to start with My Aim Is True, the debut from the one, the only, Elvis Costello.

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zz top's first album
Vinyl

ZZ Top: ZZ Top’s First Album (1971)

Day 20 of the #mayvinylchallenge asks for an unpopular album by a popular band. It’s crazy that as popular as ZZ Top, are there’s not a lot of talk about their debut, wonderfully titled ZZ Top’s First Album, as if they were certain there would be more. One listen to that singular guitar tone and I can understand why. There may not have been a huge hit on the album (their second, Rio Grande Mud, would kick off with “Francine” and “Just Got Paid”) but you can already hear that Gibbons’s tone is there, and the rough and tumble electric blues they would come to dominate for decades was fleshed out if not fully formed from a songwriting perspective from the get-go.

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radio company - vol 2
Vinyl

Radio Company: Vol. 2 (2021)

Day 17 of the #mayvinylchallenge asks for a guilty pleasure. I get the intent, but not the connotation: if you really enjoy something, do it unreservedly. There’s no room for guilt when there’s so much darkness out there; why hide your joy with something behind inane clichés like “guilty pleasure”? But I can understand sharing something that seems out of the ordinary from what you’re typically known for liking, especially when it comes to music. So let’s talk about how much I love Vol. 2, the second record from Radio Company, which too many people might pass by thinking it simply a vanity project from television star/heartthrob/mancrush Jensen Ackles except…damn, it’s so good.

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songhoy blues - résistance
Vinyl

Songhoy Blues: Résistance (2017)

Day 2 of the #mayvinylchallenge asks for your newest discovery, and for me that would be the driving blend of Afrobeat and rock from Mali band Songhoy Blues. I’ve been drawn to the incredible music coming out of Africa – particularly the funk and rock from the 70s – for a while now, and after hearing about the band from Henry Rollins in his latest Stay Fanatic! volume I sought out something from the band and grabbed their second album, Résistance. Afrobeat, rock, blues, some horn-driven funk all smashed together? Yes, please…

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zappa - hot rats
CD, Vinyl

Frank Zappa: Hot Rats (1969)

We’re back with the #mayvinylchallenge, and Day 1 is all about introducing yourself. And while there were plenty of artists and albums that made me love music, the first artist whose music made me obsessive about it was definitely Frank Zappa. A deep dive on his music has been a long time coming, and I still plan on it (between vinyl, CDs and box sets I’m over 70 albums) but if I were to introduce myself by way of a record, there’s no better artist. And even though Hot Rats wasn’t my first exposure to Zappa (that was Apostrophe (‘)) over time it’s become one of my favorite and most listened to records, regardless of artists or genre. So let get to it.

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