Die Kreuzen is one of the many bands of the '80s and '90s about whom my principal awareness derives from having seen their records in the bins at my usual Harvard Square haunts (I've always been much more of a browser than a buyer, alas). Since I studied German for all four years of high school, I …
Well, now I'm depressed. I just did some math, and it turns out that in 1990, when John Doe took a break after having released six albums as a member of the legendary punk rock band X (see here for #6) and released his first solo album - as practically an elder statesman of punk rock - he was 3 yea…
Dos, the fearsome bass duo of Mike Watt and Kira Roessler, belongs to that rarefied class of bands that I know I love without ever having knowingly heard them. Their music is played entirely on two basses, the charmingly low-key punk rock hero Mike Watt is half of the band, they seem to love what t…
The last time I posted on The Smiths in this space, I was pretty bummed about the disappearance of various local businesses and the gloomy weather. Good thing those days are behind us, right? Hahahahaha! Ha! Ha. Suffice it to say it's been a while, and there are a number of fine Smiths albums with …
I learn so much writing these blog posts! For instance, did you know that Michael Penn (whom you probably first heard about for his delightfully earwormy 1989 hit "No Myth," but has since done many serious and critically acclaimed things - not that there's anything unserious about "No Myth," that's…
The main reason I pulled this album out is because Richard Lloyd! Television! Not only did I recently see his legendary old band, sadly without him, but it turns out that the man himself is embarking on a very rare solo tour which will bring him to our own beloved Columbia City Theater this Septemb…
I have to admit that after reading up a little bit on the goings-on in the life of Ripton Hylton, a.k.a. Eek-A-Mouse, in the past decade or so, I was unsure as to whether I should be talking about this particular album. But after a little more reading and thinking (and listening), I decided to go a…
You know, it's bad enough when there's a band that I'm vaguely familiar with, that I know I should really check out, but have never quite gotten around to (we see a lot of those in this column). But when there's a band that I totally think "yeah, I know that band! I like them," only to realize that…
In 2018, KEXP celebrated the 30th anniversary of local record label Sub Pop with a four-month retrospective, "counting up" every catalog number in their vast discography of over 1,200 releases. Dig into the archives of our catalog coverage, featuring in-depth coverage on the history of their releases.
