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Peter Murphy has always worn his influences on his sleeve. Bauhaus had a number of covers to their name and their take on “Ziggy Stardust” not only defined the band, in a way, it took Bowie’s own trademark song away from him and made it a Bauhaus standard. That’s not to mention the band’s Eno, T-Rex, and Norman Greenbaum covers. So, while covers albums are often throwaway releases, stop gap releases, or contractually obligated releases, for Murphy, it’s kind of a self-defining moment. And his picks here make a lot of sense. On one hand, it may have been interesting to hear Murphy cover something totally left field. But instead, we get the exact recipe of what makes up Peter Mu...

Here’s a fun surprise. Reno’s Rotary Club play fast, bouncy, raw punk rock. Between their slamming riffs and sing-songy delivery, the band could fit in with the early Dangerhouse Scene or the arty punk of the classic Sf punk scene. Their debut Lp, Sphere of Service finds the band remarkably honed on doing what they do. And what they do is comment on the intrusion of modern technology as contrasted to 2020s isolation all to a fun beat. But, there’s the important catch. The music is fun and at times, winkingly self aware, but they always keep a dangerous edge in there somewhere. “Pop-Corn” finds the band spelling the title but its preceded by an almost Cro-Magsian smash. Throughou...

Stick To Your Guns (or simply STYG) have been doing their thing for over twenty years at this point. That’s insane. I think of them as being…well, not part of a new hardcore faction, but certainly not OG’s. And that’s not me passing judgement, just basically saying they don’t feel like they’re a band in their 3rd decade of existence. Not one jot of that particular instinct that I have revolves around the band’s output or how much fire they have in their belly, I should point out. And it’s probably important to say that, as eight records in, most bands have lifted their foot off the gas to some extent. I mean, I’m probably less likely to lose my shit in quite such an unhinge...

American Rebel Songs (2024-2025)I mean, overall, I can’t complain. At Punknews, I got to do some cool interviews. Buzz of Melvins talked about the band’s 40th year anniversary. Cheetah Chrome of Dead Boys ranted about AI. I did a short profile on Mean Jeans. I also got to design some cool Dwarves special edition album jackets and I got to throw Ramonesmania wherein DanJoMar, the band fronted by Joe of Dead Milkmen, did an ASTOUDINGLY GRE...

Hey folks. It’s that time again. And in a weirdly apt yet unintended homage to 2024, I’m writing this with literal hours left to the deadline for submission. 2024 has been another bin fire of a year socially and politically, but that has inevitably brought about some great music. The following list is a bunch of stuff that I’ve vibed with this year, for one reason or another. Annual disclaimer: this is the stuff that I personally like the most, it’s not what I believe to be objectively best, which is a subtly different thing. I’d also like to shout out a few records that almost made the list; specifically those from Hidden Mothers, Regional Justice Center, Dodsrit, SeeYo...