THE CAMPAIGN TO BE RELEASED ON APRIL 1st, 2008  Boston, MA – Commonwealth Records is thrilled to announce the signing of the Massachusetts based hip-hop group The Camp (which consists of Dese, Grime Tha MC, Excetera and DJ Hevan) to its ever expanding roster of talented recording artists. The Camp, renowned for their live shows, are one of the fastest rising groups on the Boston hip-hop scene and they…
Get Off My Lawn! #18 36 pages/half-size. This is of the picture,text school of zine making, and as a result, maintains the clarity of text, since they don’t embed their text in a picture. This magazine is great, and after going to their site, I come to this review with a heavy heart. Yes, I would think I should report that this awesome magazine is coming to an end the…
Original. Honest. Personal. These are just some of the words that describe the independent release, Stirred Not Shaken, by singer-songwriter Mike Rickard. The 11-song collection displays Mike’s sensitivity and humor in dealing with the big issues of life: things like fear, loss, and loneliness, to finding happiness and love. Indeed, the album title comes from the irreverent, unapologetic line, “So here’s to all the therapy I guess I should have…
Gone Baby Gone / 2008 Miramax / 114 Minutes / http://videos.movies.go.com/gonebabygone / By this time, Gone Baby Gone has achieved a number of accolades. For be it for Miramax to stop this momentum, so they have went forth and made this one fo the first DVDs (and Blu-Ray discs) that are a “must buy†for 2008. For those individuals that might have missed this Ben Affleck-directed movie when it was…
Atreyu have released their new single, “Falling Down,†off Lead Sails Paper Anchor. “Falling Down†is already getting airplay across the country and climbing the rock charts. Atreyu is currently preparing for the Taste of Chaos tour where they will hit the road with Avenged Sevenfold and Bullet For My Valentine. The tour kicks off on February 29th. Atreyu will also the launch of their new CDVU extended version of…
The Ghost of Silver Cliff : The Malay Mysteries 2 / 96 Pages / $6.95 / Shoto Press, P.O. Box 331, Delhi, NY 13753 / This is probably the most professional bit of anything that I’ve ever had the pleasure to review, coming from an Obscurity Unlimited Chat session. The Ghost of Silver Cliff is pretty much an manga-style comic book, but perfect-bound and put into a smaller format. The…
Here is a sneak preview from “Microphonepet” from prolific electronic maestro Mochipet (David Wang). Further showing off his versatility, Mochipet’s latest offering is his take on hip-hop from the future featuring collaborations from Jahcoozi, Dopestyle, The Freshest Kids, Casual & Opio (Hieroglyphics), Meanest Man Contest, and many more.
Merle Haggard – Working Man’s Journey / 2007 Cracker Barrel / 12 Tracks / http://www.merlehaggard.com / Before I had a chance to read up on Merle Haggard, I had no clue that ey broke out of prison over 17 times before making a career for eirself as a country star. Haggard has came to complete a 180 in regards to working with and against the system. Where it was breaking…
Sally-Ann D’Amato is a native of Yonkers, NY, which is also home to one of her greatest musical inspirations, Ella Fitzgerald, a childhood friend of her grandmother’s. Sally grew up listening to her grandmother’s stories of Ella’s voice wafting in through the open windows on hot summer nights. It was this music that later inspired Sally at a young age to find her own voice.Up until the age of 12,…
Genetic Disorder #18 / $3 / :30 / 68M / http://www.geneticdisorder.net / Genetic Disorder was one of the few zines that I keep around after I review it. One of their earlier issues dealt with Satanism heavily, and brought to the table a great deal of primarly-source documents. For this issue, the size has changed (from a full to a half-sized zine) and the topic has changed (from Satanism to…
“…This compilation is the culmination of the very successful Members of the Trick 12” series. Compiled by TRICKSKI. Exclusive tracks include LEROY&DARNELL 4 Members Only, SCHMUTZIG DE MUTZIG Thank You Daniel and TRICKSKI tracks Paperbitch Move Me featuring HANS BLITZ (HEADMAN Livedrummer) on drums and YANNICK LABBÉ on the mic for the first time ever……..And listening to the compilation, one can only hope that it won’t be long until the…
The Ghosts of Ready Reference / :15 / 32 Pages / Fourth-Sized / Love Bunni Press, 2622 Princeton Road, Cleveland Heights, Ohio 44118 /Â Finally, a topic that I am familiar with and can vouch as being reasonably accurate. In The Ghosts of Ready Reference, Volume Two, a cast of characters has their lives in the library fleshed out through their interactions with a librarians. The typical cast of miscreants…
‘RED i CLAN’ is the brainchild of Sor (vox), a classically trained musician that studied classical guitar and composition in Europe. It grew from the need to make something new, yet still edgy. To accomplish this he enlisted the help of his friends, Drey (bass), Raul (guitar) and Alex (drums), all of whom are professional musicians.
Billy Vera – Hopeless Romantic / 2007 Shout Factory / 14 Tracks / http://www.shoutfactory.com / When I first received “Hopeless Romanticâ€, I really thought that Billy Vera was Billy Ocean. Imagine my surprise when I put the disc on and hear a very funky, soulful brand of rock instead of “Caribbean Queenâ€. For those individuals that do not know who Billy Vera is, ey has had a career in music…
Rolling Stone– Breaking Band “On their loud and raw EP Let’s Talk About It, which was written and recorded in a 1940s Spartan trailer, the band combines the Stooges’ raw power, Hendrix’s psychedelic flourishes and the White Stripes’ stripped-down blues rock.”
Johnny Bennett – Red Light Room / 2007 Self / 5 Tracks / http://www.myspace.com/johnnybennett / The first track on “Red Light Room†is “Chance Meetingâ€, which starts out in an interesting way. This is due to the fact that Bennett’s vocals start out in a speaking role. It is only when the instrumentation kicks in that Bennett starts to craft eir own style of music. Bennett’s unique style links together…
CLARA HILL is one of the leading figures of Berlin-based label Sonar Kollektiv. With an impressive discography including the two critically acclaimed full-length albums Restless Times (SK074CD/LP) and All I Can Provide (SK099CD/LP) and many 12“s featuring the crème de la crème of Electronic and Jazz knob twidlers such as JAZZANOVA, ATJAZZ, VIKTER DUPLAIX, CHARLES WEBSTER, SLOPE, and KING BRITT. CLARA HILL belongs to those few artists that can look…
Genetic Disorder #17 / $3 / Half-Sized / 80 Pages / PO Box 15237, San Diego, CA 92175 / http://www.geneticdisorder.net / Genetic Disorder is probably one of the best zines that I’ve ever read, even if I have only had the pleasure to read one issue. This time, the format is different, the newsprint less newsprint-y, and the issue only goes by faster than before. Starting off with both of…
New York indie artist Ari Hest launched an ambitious new experimental music project titled “52,” a web-based subscription service designed to deliver a new song each week throughout 2008. In March, Hest will debut the new material in New York City before embarking on a West coast tour. In the first month, Hest has registered over hundreds of subscribers – mostly by word-of-mouth – and released four new original songs:…
The Jaguar Club – Ceci N’est Pas Le Club De Jaguar / 2007 Self / 6 Tracks / http://www.jaguarclubofnyc.net / Judging from the band’s web site title, there are more than one jaguar clubs in existence in the world. Anyways, this New York City band starts out “Ceci N’est†with a very angular type of rock. The disc’s first track, “Beat of My Heartâ€, takes a lot from the eighties…