As we’ve seen so many times, reunion albums are, at worst, unlistenable, and at best, pale reflections of what once was great. Just consider the recent ones by Van Halen, Black Sabbath, Soundgarden…the list goes on. But just as they’ve so often bucked trends, musically, so too do Faith No More buck the reunion slump with Sol Invictus (CD, digital, vinyl), which mostly sounds like they’ve picked up where they left off nearly twenty years ago.
Aggronautix have announced that they will release a numbered, limited edition Mudhoney Throbblehead of that band’s singer/guitarist Mark Arm in late Spring.
In 1975, when Led Zeppelin were prepping what would become their sixth studio album, Physical Graffiti, they decided to make it a double album by including unreleased songs originally recorded for previous albums. But while the regular version of this reissue (CD, vinyl, digital) presents this classic album with amazing sound, most of the new outtakes included on extra disc of the deluxe edition (also available on CD, vinyl, and digitally) don’t live up to this album’s legacy.
With me being a guy who write about video games, and he being a guy who publicizes them, most of my conversations with Peter Van Nguyen have been about games. But Peter’s first love has always been music, hence his new role as the singer and guitar player for The Gold Medalists. With their new album, Versus The Sea, hitting iTunes, Spotify, and other online outlets, I spoke to Peter about the band, their music, and how he plans to coordinate his band duties with that other job of his.
In December of 1977, jazz pianist Red Garland did a five night stint at the Keystone Korner in San Francisco with drummer “Philly” Joe Jones (with whom he’d recorded such classic Miles Davis albums as Workin’, Cookin’, and ’Round About Midnight) and bassist Leroy Vinnegar. The significance being that this was the only time this threesome would ever play together. Thankfully, someone had the foresight to record those shows, highlights of which are now available as Swingin On The Korner: Live At Keystone Corner (CD, LP, digital).
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD
Of all the surprises to be found in Sunset Overdrive (Xbox One), none come as far out of left field as when you recruit Buzz Osborne, the singer and guitarist from the Melvins, to help you out…and it’s really Buzz doing his own voice. But in talking to King Buzzo about his role in the game, it seems this gig was as far out of left field for him as well.
As anyone who got the recent deluxe editions of Led Zeppelin’s eponymous debut, second album, or III can tell you, while the remastered versions were great, the second discs didn’t always make these special editions worthwhile. Now we have the next batch — Led Zeppelin’s symbolically-titled 1971 fourth album (available in regular, deluxe, vinyl, and digital editions) and 1973’s House Of The Holy (also regular, deluxe, vinyl, and digital editions) — and, sad to say, they’re somewhat less impressive than the first.
Last year, when Primus played The Fox Theater in Oakland, California on New Year’s Eve, the trio spent the second set playing the soundtrack to the classic 1971 movie Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory. Now they’ve recreated that experience with their new album, Primus & The Chocolate Factory With The Fungi Ensemble (CD, vinyl, digital), which is their first new recording with original drummer Tim “Herb” Alexander since they did new songs for 2003’s best-of collection Animals Should Not Try To Act Like People, and that line-up’s first full-length studio album since 1995’s Tales From The Punchbowl.
As a fan of both nine inch nails and experimental instrumental music, I’ve never listened to The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo or The Social Network albums by n.i.n. mastermind Trent Reznor and his composing partner Atticus Ross as if they were soundtrack CDs. Instead, to me, they’re sonic soundscapes, instrumental collections just like nine inch nails’ 2008’s ghosts i-iv. And so it is as well with Gone Girl, their third instrumental collaboration (CD, vinyl, iTunes, digital).