Rick Spears & Chuck BB–Black Metal (2007)

SOUNDTRACK: POSSESSED-Seven Churches (1985).
Back in high school I was really into heavy metal.  And I got into something of a contest to find the heaviest, scariest metal bands around.  (To counter the guy in class who was into Stryper, naturally).  Well, I think I hit the jackpot with this album.

Larry in Possessed

This is brutally fast [...]

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Chris Ware–”Unmasked” (New Yorker, November 2, 2009)

SOUNDTRACK: TINDERTSICKS-”curtains” (1997).
“Rented Rooms” from Curtains is another one of my favorite songs. It is dark yet sensual at the same time: “We had to go find somewhere else more… you know.”  The disc itself works similarly to their first two discs.  It’s not as long, and is a little less dynamic.  But it is [...]

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Comic Book Tattoo (2008)

SOUNDTRACK: TORI AMOS-Abnormally Attracted to Sin (2009).
It’s been almost a decade since I was blown away by a Tori Amos album.  I feel like she has really been so engaged in the concept of her albums, that she has lost track of the tunes.  And while I don’t hate anything she’s done in the last [...]

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Periodical: Public Libraries

Public Libraries is the magazine you get when you belong to the Public Library Association, a division of the American Library Association.  As you might gather, this division is for public librarians.
Like American Libraries, this magazine starts with a letter from the President of PLA.    But it’s the Tales from the Front section that I [...]

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Periodical: American Libraries

You get American Libraries magazine if you’re a member of the American Library Association.  So you can see that the audience is rather specific.
A lot of the magazine is advocating for librarians (and for librarians to attend the annual ALA conference).  (The word advocacy appears about 200 times in each issue).
The magazine opens with letters [...]

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Jimmy Gownley–Amelia Rules: The First Three Trade Paperbacks (2006)

SOUNDTRACK: FEIST-Let It Die (2004).
I’ve recently discovered Feist through Broken Social Scene.  I know that she is huge (and “1,2,3,4″ is a really great song that we used for our son’s 4th birthday video), but it took me a while to catch on.
This first album (technically her second, but her first was released only on [...]

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Andi Watson-Glister, Issues 1-3 (2007)

SOUNDTRACK: DEERHUNTER-Microcastle/Weird Era Continued (2008).
Somehow, I can never remmeber what this disc is going to sound like when I pop it in.  Once it gets going the songs are all familiar and very good, its just that initial listen, where I forget that the band is rather delicate and poppy.  I tend to forget this [...]

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Elliot Serrano & Ariel Padilla–Army of Darkness: Ash Saves Obama [Issue 1 of 4] (2009)

SOUNDTRACK: UI-Sidelong (1996).
I mentioned this band in my review of The New Yorker because Sasha Frere-Jones writes the music column for the magazine and he’s also the main guy here.
This disc is challenging to describe but certainly not to listen to.  It is a gorgeous smooth/funky/instrumental set.  The band plays with sound effects and [...]

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Bryan Lee O’Malley–Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together (vol. 4)

SOUNDTRACK: SONIC YOUTH-Silver Session for Jason Knuth (1998).
This record came about for two reasons. One was the suicide of longtime Sonic Youth fan (whom the band didn’t know) Jason Knuth.  And the second was because when they tried to record vocal tracks for One Thousand Leaves, the band upstairs was so loud, it kept interfering [...]

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Bryan Lee O’Malley–Scott Pilgrim & The Infinite Sadness (vol. 3)

SOUNDTRACK: SONIC YOUTH-SYR 3: Invito Al Ĉielo (1998).
This SYR release adds Jim O’Rourke to the mix (O’Rourke played with with them on A Thousand Leaves too).  I’ve always been aware of O’Rourke but I’ve never really listened to any of the bands that he’s been associated with (and there’s a lot).  So, I’m not sure [...]

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