Tankboy

Thursday, January 22, 2026

Ashes And Diamonds is the missing link I'd been looking for.

Ashes And Diamonds: Bruce Smith, Daniel Ash, and Paul Spencer Denman
(Photos by Chelsea Miller, Regan Catam, and Stuart Matthewman)

In the ’80s I got into a really heavy Love And Rockets phase. Both the comic book and the band, but for this post I’m talking about the band. My high school girlfriend introduced me to their music and it sent me down a rabbit hole of reading and searching out all things Bauhaus, Tones on Tail, and Bubblemen; import cassette tapes and 12” singles; and an effort to connect the dots between all the varied sounds and trace them back to the three men—Daniel Ash, David J, and Kevin Haskins—who spanned all those different musical outfits various configurations.

I saw Love And Rockets play in the late ‘80s as they toured their self-titled 4th album—with The Pixies opening!—and as they teetered on the edge of what appeared to be stardom, I eagerly awaited the next album.

And waited. And waited.

And while there was no new Love and Rockets album in sight, when Daniel Ash released a solo album in 1990 I bought it immediately and was let down by its collection of hushed ballads, but since it was a solo album I figured he was just exploring more personal whims while Love And Rockets proper worked on their next masterpiece. And what a masterpiece it might be! Though some rumors claimed the band was exploring a jazz direction (hinted at on recent b-sides from the time) I convinced myself that would be fine as long as the jazzier numbers were nestled alongside louder rockers.

And I waited some more. And then some more. And neither jazz nor rock ensued…

Then, seemingly suddenly after a 5 year wait, Love And Rockets finally released Hot Trip to Heaven and…it was a disappointing album more interested in half-baked club beats then the waves of melody and guitar I’d been hoping for. I understood the direction, having already been through similarly sounding but more rewarding wild ride with Psychic TV, another fave of mine, but it felt like Love And Rockets was working a sound that had already run it course, an unusual position for 3 guys like that to be in, in my personal opinion.

I never stopped being a Love And Rockets fan, and dutifully bought every new release after that, but I had to admit that they seemed more interested in avoiding the sound that I had loved than producing anything along those lines again. And I got it; they’d been around a long time and in quite a few influential groups already and preferred to follow their own interests instead of delivering on fan expectations. It’s the deal you agree to when you become a fan of an artist instead of a fan of a sound.

So, imagine my surprise last year when the album Are Forever by Ashes And Diamonds landed in my inbox, a new “supergroup” of sorts led by Ash, and…the “Love And Rockets” album I’d been waiting for since 1989 seemed to have finally burst into existence!

Are Forever is the spiritual successor to Love And Rockets, of that I have no doubt. And it somewhat confirms my belief long ago that is was indeed Ash willfully avoiding replicating the sound that had made his old band so popular just prior to the dawn of the ‘90s. But whatever reservations he must’ve had about that sound seem to finally have been shed, and I couldn’t be happier.

Well, I might’ve been happier had this come out 35 years ago, but that’s young me griping; old me is happy to have this sonic sequel finally arrive. I would’ve written about this earlier, but I confess I kept waiting for the album to pop up on Bandcamp before doing so, since I’ve grown to believe that’s the superior platform to link reviews to since you can easily test drive the music and then buy it if you dig it.

Today I noticed it is indeed on Bandcamp now! So now you have all the words above to set scene, and the album below to finish the picture for you.

Spin it. Dig it. Buy it and have it…for forever!

Wednesday, January 21, 2026

Holy moly Blackwater Holylight!

Photo by Magdalena Wosinska.

I've enjoyed Blackwater Holylight's music for a few years now, and dug last year's If You Only Knew quite a bit. The darkly atmospheric metal racket the band's members conjured up on that album seemed like it'd make for a great, slamming basement set if I ever had the chance to see them live. (This is a high compliment.)

But on this year's Not Here Not Gone, out at the end of this month, the band does one of those quantum leaps from being a strong genre contender to being a great band.

Sorry for the brevity of my thoughts here, I was listening to this at work and was like holy heck why did I put off listening to this until today? and don't want you to make the same mistake. Get a taste below the whet your appetite until you can get your fill on January 30.

Tuesday, January 20, 2026

There is no correct answer, only honest responses.

I posted the below personal thought on Threads and Facebook for fun over the weekend, with a little bit of an additional intro on the Facebook version making it clear this was a thought meant to spur good-natured conversation, and that there are obviously no "wrong answers." When writing the mini-post I decided to add a few additional parameters to make the query a little more interesting, since I am not a fan of posting things that elicit disagreement over creating conversation. I actively avoid writing posts meant to simply "spur engagement" and little more. I'm always more interested hearing other people's actual thoughts instead of warring responses.

In the whole Beatles v. Stones v. The Who debate, I realized I love and respect all 3, but evaluate the question based on both studio and live configurations.

The Beatles were superior in the studio, but their fame obstructed them ever becoming a great live band; the Stones were dependable in studio and onstage, but seemed overly predictable to me; while The Who developed into a group that exploded both inside and outside of the studio with impressive consistency.

So for me, it’s The Who. 🤘🙂

Overall, I was really happy with everyone who took the time to reply to my little thought with an answer, and while the vast majority of responders seemed to understand this was meant as fun, with 100% of Facebook respondents being absolutely delightful, I noticed that there were a small percentage of responders on Threads that seemed to have only read the first couple of words and the final lines, ignoring the nuance of the parameters that drove me to my personal conclusion. As a whole though, I loved scrolling through all the comments, even the ones that called me an idiot for choosing The Who as my personal favorite.*

Also, the number of people that answered "The Kinks!" made me smile.

*It's worth noting that of course think The Beatles are the most influential of the three bands; it would be silly to argue otherwise, and I do love the vast majority of their ground-breaking catalog. But when it comes to having the strongest personal impact on me, it is The Who. And of course, when it comes to full career catalogs, it will always be David bowie for me, but he arose after being influenced by The Beatles, The Stones, and The Who.

Friday, January 16, 2026

Memento mori, memento amoris.

It wasn't until I rewatched 28 Years Later last night in preparation for seeing 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple this weekend that something really crystallized for me.

As much as 28 Days Later was a horror movie, its sequel really has more in common with the Station Eleven TV series as a meditation on the importance and beauty of human connection, punctuated by occasional scenes that read more as suspense thrillers than anything approaching terror. And like Station Eleven, 28 Years Later is filled with some really breathtaking bucolic imagery.

Seriously, the number of internal whoahs that erupted as I took in some of the scenery continued to surprise me.

And while I didn't cry as hard during the rewatch as I did in the theater this first time I saw 28 Years Later, overall the film had a more deeply emotional resonance for me this time around. Whoulda thunk a zombie franchise could be so masterfully malleable to surprise me in entirely new ways every time I engage with it? But hey, ain't that the whole point of creating art?

I have no idea what's coming next, but I'm incredibly eager to see what new direction the third film takes!*

*And, as always, look forward to enjoying movie theater nachos at 10:30 in the morning, the way they were meant to be enjoyed.

Wednesday, January 14, 2026

Coming soon to a TV screen near me!

As many people recently seem to be realizing that they miss physical media, I’m one of those few that never gave it up! I keep all my outdated media formats and pile on as the new ones come out. Personally, I’ve always preferred having a library at my fingertips, and avoided dependence on the whims of streaming platforms. It’s not that I eschew all digital media, I just prefer to own my own copy of something (which is probably why I love Bandcamp so much…download those WAV files and save ‘em, just in case)!

I’m also now the kind of person that will immediately preorder something that catches his eye, and the last few weeks there have been 2 reissues coming to Blu-ray or UHD (whichever you prefer) that I couldn’t hit “buy” on quickly enough.

One is a sentimental favorite; a deeply flawed film that I have a soft spot for anyway…and not just because the title character's original comic book incarnation gave me my 1995 AOL email name...and the name has stuck to me since.

The other is a film that made a huge impact on me as a kid, being the first R-rated film I watched at home with my parent’s (begrudging) explicit permission. It’s also one of those films that has long deserved but eluded the super deluxe treatment, complete with tons of extras, so I am really looking forward to the day this package shows up in my mailbox.

I've also got a new reissue of Donnie Darko heading my way near the end of this month, and that's on top of the recent spate of full-run Blu-ray and DVD sets of television shows I've long loved that have been piling up on the to-watch list, so even if all the streaming services were to spit out crud for the next few months, I've got plenty to keep me busy for a quite a while. Woo hoo!

Thursday, January 08, 2026

Ten years later, David Bowie's final album is still challenging and thrilling...

Screenshot via the internet Archive

Ten years ago today I published what I didn't realize at the time would be the last review of a new David Bowie album I would ever write.

You can only see the review via the Internet Archive these days, since the Chicagoist archives disappeared from the internet a few months ago, and I have lost hope they'll ever return. But I'm still proud of this piece, though it does bring back a flood of memories. I would leave for a vacation in San Miguel de Allende a few days after this was published—news broke of his death in the night before I left—and I spent that week haranguing every bar I was in to play Blackstar over and over, along with other selections from the Bowie catalog. It wasn't as depressing as you might thing, and quite honestly not a single person ever asked the various bartenders to turn it off in favor of something more conventionally upbeat.

In the decade singe then we've seen plenty of reissues, repackaging, and unreleased material from Bowie hit the market, and I certainly have mixed feelings about some of them. However I'm mostly pleased to have been able to enjoy the stream of Bowie-related material that has been released since his death.

But it's still hard to live in a world where Bowie will never produce anything that's brand new.

Updated 2:20 p.m. I just finished reading Chris O’Leary's new entry about the song "Blackstar" from his indispensable Pushing Ahead of The Dame blog, and he closes the excellent piece with the tease that there are in fact a few final unheard Bowie recordings. And he summarizes my thoughts on this so perfectly I must share his writing with you:

A final perspective. There are five new David Bowie songs, songs that we know nothing about, not even their names. We may never hear them, but we know that they exist. Let them be unheard. Let this be our gift to the future. There will never be a last David Bowie song if there are always five more to come. The end of the David Bowie story is that it doesn’t end. There will always be another chapter to write. An old-time ambassador, may he forever keep pushing ahead.

Wednesday, January 07, 2026

On never losing your edge because you've never found a home.

LCD Soundsystem at Hollywood Bowl, photo by me.

I was thinking about LCD Soundsystem's "Losing My Edge" the other day—as is the wont of most middle-aged men, I suppose—and realized my read of the song, and here my sometimes embarrassingly intense identification with its seemingly tall tales, is based in loneliness and not the realm of the ultra cool.

For years I felt bad for identifying with the song to much, since so many others view the song as a tongue-in-cheek takedown of the hippest cat in the land. But I realized that to me, the song is evidence of an extremely lonely existence, narrated by a man never at the center of the scene, but constantly drifting through scenes. This isn't the tale of someone so cool he is at the center of every monumental happening and historical trend, it's the perspective of someone with no constant community, who finds himself drifting into these situations through his constant but never fruitful search for belonging.

You generally can't experience a ton of disparate experiences when you have a solid social circle or are rooted in a found family, because those roots help keep you somewhat grounded and on a firm path. Then there are those of us eternally cursed to surf the edges of endless different scenes with the bittersweet payoff being we actually do get to experience fractured planets of history firsthand, but it's only because we are constantly in a wobbling and ever expanding orbit, doomed to never have a true home to call our own.

Monday, January 05, 2026

Some meandering thoughts about legacies that aren't mine to open up the year.

I was listing to the forthcoming Ulrika Spacek album in the car yesterday, and halfway through it my girlfriend turned to me and said it was the most Radiohead-sounding album not by Radiohead she'd heard. I had been thinking something similar, but more along the lines of that this is what an album by a band in love with a handful of latter-era Radiohead songs instead of the band's full breadth of work would sound like. If Paloalto's self-titled 2000 album was a resurrection of Bends-era Radiohead, Ulrika Spacek's EXPO is what someone unfamiliar with their pre-Kid A work might come up with.

Radiohead are clearly now a bedrock in the musical landscape and for most bands Radiohead has always existed as a part of their life. There is no pre-Radiohead world for them. I mean, Radiohead can tour whenever they feel like it despite not having released a new album in about a decade now, yet still sound very much of the now, and not like some legacy act. So I respect their rightful place as demigods in most musician's playbooks.

I started doing the quick mental math and almost choked upon realizing Radiohead has now been around actively for over 35 years. It doesn't seem like it could possibly be that long to me! To put that in context—or at least my personal context—when The Who reunited to resurrect Tommy after their first break-up a few years earlier, it was right around the time of that album's 20th anniversary. So they had already broken up once, and their with their most influential output was arguably long behind them by that time. It didn't stop me from shelling out what to me was a ton of dough for the pay-per-view performance they did and savoring that VHS tape for years. But The Who were very much a legacy act by then, and they'd only been around a total of, what, 25 years!

I don't know. That kind of blew my mind and made me realized how much our perspective (and expectations) of rock bands have changed over the years. I'm also starting to feel my age insofar as it relates to how most other people relate to this stuff, despite my relative inability to get sentimental about single periods in time since it's all been a continuous stream to me with little slowing down or stopping. I might not have seen it all, but I have seen a lot.

Anyway, to close the loop here, don't read my opening observations of EXPO as slight incitements. It's a pretty nice little album and I think a lot of people will dig it. If Radiohead's not gonna make Radiohead music any more, it's still fun to hear someone who is.

Programming note: This little site is already one of the more long-running blogs still in existence, and I've decided this year will see my return more regular posting. So expect more fragmented thoughts like the above as I just share what's rattling around up there without worry too much about it being particularly concise or focused. I'm done letting my fear of not framing my thoughts perfectly get in the way of me posting my thoughts at all. Y'know what I mean?

Tuesday, December 16, 2025

Musings on 'Machina.'

A while ago I made my way through the 48-track version of The Smashing Pumpkins' 'Machina' as presented in the recently released box set Machina: Aranea Alba Editio*,and it was a lot of fun to hear the "proper" version of this monster (and I mean that word in the best way) of an album after making do with the numerous unofficial versions I've downloaded online over the years.

It did remind me of the time I had an advance copy of Machina/The Machines of God and was playing it at Kamehachi prior to its release.** I had just gotten it and was eager to hear it for the first time and when I was managing the upstairs there, I'd set up a rule that after 10 p.m. we cold play "heavier" music for the late-night crowd.

I was really getting into the album when one of the servers rushed back to the bar, exclaiming, "One of the customers is complaining about the music!"

I said, "Tell them we play louder music after 10, but I can turn it down a bit if it's really a problem."

"But the customer is D'Arcy!" said the server.

I turned off the album immediately.

D'Arcy was always a terrific customer, and I truly liked her so had no interest in torturing her, and felt incredibly bad I'd caused her any discomfort after her exit from the Pumpkins. But I still maintain that Machina, had it been released in its full double- or triple-album version back in 2000, would have gone a long way to cementing Corgan's latter-era Pumpkins as a continuing force to be reckoned with, instead of a coda that felt like a missed brass ring upon its release.

*That's not a typo, there's no "n" in "Editio" when it's spelled by Billy Corgan, I guess.

**Ah, my days in restaurant management. What a gathering of conflicted feelings and memories...

Friday, December 05, 2025

It's the last band camp Friday of 2025!

I did another round-up over at Third Coast Review of albums well worth your time (and $$$) to check out this Bandcamp Friday!

Have fun checking them out!

Wednesday, November 19, 2025

Lotsa love for 'Little Darlings.'

I watched this movie a zillion times as a kid in the ‘80s, and last night I finally got around to watching the 4K reissue I’ve had for a while. And you know what? It’s still pretty great! I threw the little collage you see above together as I started watching—I’ve started to share little things like this online* as I dig through older movies and TV shows—and a) I really love how quickly just 3 photos set the tableaux for the story to follow and b) I was caught a bit off guard by the number of people for whom these images unlocked a slew of their own memories to share with me!

*While I refuse to resume activity on the site I shall forever call Twitter, I have become pretty active on Threads, so feel free to follow me there if the spirit moves you. Honestly, it's where most of my political musings go these days, and I do try and keep them more constructive or informative rather than shooting for "engagement" through inflammatory approaches. Plus, lighter fare like the above.**

**Though if lighter fare is more your thing, I would recommend keeping up with my Instagram stories and posts too!

Wednesday, November 12, 2025

I'm grateful to be here to witness all the beauty of this world.

Yesterday was quite a day. One of those jam-packed days at the 9-to-5 where you feel like you’ve done a week’s worth of work in a single day. But it was also the kind of workday that ended with me feeling incredibly happy and accomplished. As I was standing on my front porch in the evening, the rolly-polly-ist of raccoons came to my front step to say hi before adorably wobbling off.

Then my Aurora app alerted me there was a super-low chance the Northern Lights might be visible in my area, but living in the middle of a brightly lit city like Chicago, I initially discounted it. Until I saw the slew of posts from friends who were seeing them within the city limits, which spurred me to walk over to the nearest park in hopes of catching a glimpse.

Unfortunately, for some reason, a Chicago police SUV was parked there with its brights on, so I was about to give up until I realized that the church parking lot near my place might have enough open space with minimal light pollution for my needs. After getting there and initially seeing nothing, suddenly a brilliant and shimmering red stripe of aurora borealis popped up overhead, and I spent the next 10 minutes alternately gazing up in awe and snapping lots of photos.

I couldn’t believe how bright the Northern Lights were, visible to the naked eye without the aid of an extended camera exposure, and the experience filled me with wonder and joy, and I got that super intense pleasurable tingle from an experience you’ve truly never had before. I’ve been trying to hold onto that sensation for as long as possible, before it just fades into an experiential memory.

It took me an hour or so to come back down from that natural high, but once I did I settled in to watch Dracula A.D. 1972, a film recommended by my partner that I hadn’t yet finished, and it was the grooviest end to a truly remarkable day.

Our times are currently incredibly turbulent and uncertain, but days like yesterday remind me why we keep moving forward. It’s a beautiful world out there, and we only have so long to experience it. And me? I’m glad I’m alive to do so.

Tuesday, November 04, 2025

No joke—it's time to brighten up your day with Sadlands!

Photo by Brittany Rose Queen

Anyone who knows me also knows that I consider the Josie & the Pussycats soundtrack to be one of the greatest power-pop albums of the aughts, and dang if Sadlands doesn't give me similar feels on their full-length debut, Try To Have A Little Fun.

I'll be writing up something a little more substantial for this album, but everything in the world has been so terrible that I felt the need to inject at least one super-duper-positive recommendation into the universe to hold y'all (and myself) over until the Quick Spins I plan on running this Friday (Bandcamp Friday, y'all!) over at Third Coast Review.

Tuesday, October 28, 2025

The return of Rocktober (in spirit)!

I think I’m going to have to stop labeling myself as largely being a hermit! I’m back to going to at least one or two shows a week, though these days it’s mixture of music, comedy, interviews, theater, and spoken word getting me out and about instead of just 5 concerts or something like that.

Just last week we saw my old friend Rachael Yamagata perform a stunner of a show at City Winery and then caught one of the hilarious tapings for Chris Fleming’s forthcoming HBO special. This week I’ll be at a taping for Slate’s Political Gabfest (I attended their very first taping during Obama’s first inauguration and try and catch them every time they’re in town).

And November is even more stocked with events I’ve committed to and will not miss!

The world is a scary place right now, and I can’t overstate how much the recent events in Chicago have impacted my stress levels. For the first time in years my resting heart rate has spiked for a sustained period of time, if that gives you any clue as to just how much tis city feels like it’s under attack by our own government. (If you're interested in my thoughts about that, I try and post reasoned commentary on Threads, so you can follow me there.

This makes out even more important to feel connected to others, and celebrate community. So I feel lucky that my own ability to socialize more often happens to coincide with a time when we all need human contact the most.

Wednesday, October 15, 2025

Shredding riffs and Super Creeps.

Dave Suh & the Dirty Wings, photo by me.

I had a really great time at LiveWire Lounge Chicago last night seeing Dave and Skid’s bands play. I’ve known Dave for most of his musical career, beginning with helping his old band Emil Muzz out (and even helping to get them onto an MTV reality show at one point!) so it’s been a true joy to see his musical evolution in the years as he played both sideman and frontman in variety of bands, currently landing on a group that sounds more “him” than any that’ve come before; Dave Suh & the Dirty Wings. I saw them about a year ago and that was good, but last night’s show was nigh perfect.

Super Screeps, photo by me

I’ve booked shows with Skid’s numerous bands throughout the years as well, and he’s always been a consistently great entertainer with an amazing ear for new-wave and danceable rock. So when he started fronting the local David Bowie tribute band Super Creeps I knew it would be good, but since I’ve been such a hermit the last couple of years I hadn’t had a chance to check them out until last night.

Holy heck, they are GREAT! And that’s coming from a guy who’s seen a couple Bowie tribute bands that included actual former Bowie band members!

Due to the Cubs game*, the night went late and I could only catch the beginning of Super Creeps' set, but over those few songs they showed they could tackle every era of Bowie’s career with equal comfort and magnetism, and I am eagerly awaiting my chance to see them again and catch a full set!

If you see shows coming up featuring either Dave Suh & the Dirty Wings or Super Creeps, take it from a person who has seen thousands of shows over the years—you will NOT be disappointed!

*Sorry for your loss Cubs fans, but their last World Series win knocked us onto the worst timeline, so I’m not terribly eager to see them win another one, for fear of what that might do to the world. Then again, maybe another Cubs World Series win would knock us back onto a better timeline?

Thursday, October 09, 2025

A more personal, positive check-in.

I did a reset on my eating and some other health-related habits* over our vacation a few weeks ago and am now at the level of toxin-free sobriety where my brain is firing on all 10 cylinders, and what I thought was an already inhuman forward drive has kicked into almost frightening levels.

I thought I was operating at a higher level over the last couple of years since I quit drinking**, but I haven’t felt this preternaturally sharp since I was a teenager! (And now with (hopefully) more wisdom!)

It’s kind of scary…but really exciting. And here I thought I was destined to remain a distant hermit, hanging as a shadow over my previous accomplishments. But now I feel a whole new chapter of possibilities opening before me.

(If I can ever quit smoking—the one addiction I've yet to be able to shake—I can only imagine what that would do for me. But for a guy who didn’t think he was going to live to hit 50, the way I feel now I makes me think I could make it to 90 (depending on which side of my family’s genes end up deciding the whole longevity thing…)!)

*For the curious, I excised a few bad health habits, but the one that's made the biggest immediate difference has the radical reduction of my sugar intake. I had gotten to the point where I was stress-eating 1–2 pints of Jeni's ice cream a night, and while that was delicious, it appears that was really throwing a lot of sludge into my system and slowing me down.

**It just occurred to me this is something I haven't talked about at all in this space, preferring to work through the first couple of years of freedom from my addiction to alcohol, only sharing progress with friends and family through Facebook. This has been because I've never been sure what I can offer to others with similar struggles to mine. But I've been free from alcohol for over 6 years now, and perhaps it's time for me to try and figure out better ways to share some of those experiences in hopes they will help others. Sorry for the digression, but since I broke the seal on that topic here for the first time, I figured a bit of context would help. Though I also imagine longtime readers put 2 and 2 together about this topic long ago.***

***I also realize that when I started this site as an extension of the original Tankboy email newsletter back in 2002, I often mixed my personal life with my cultural critical thoughts, and I think if I'm going to be more active in this particular space, I'll have to get comfortable mixing those two things more readily again.

Friday, October 03, 2025

Happy Bandcamp Friday! Check out these new releases (and one surprise)!

First of all, head on over to Third Coast Review to see my recommendations for Bandcamp Friday. I mean, these are my recommendations every day, but perhaps knowing all dough goes to the artists will spur you to check them out and pick up the ones you like today!

And while you're on Bandcamp, Tuff Tamale (Kip and I) have finally released our "proper" debut album The New Masters Of Tuff as a free download for all to enjoy! (And it's also available on all the usual streaming services for those who prefer that route of listening.)

Tuesday, September 30, 2025

Refreshed and rarin' to go!

I just returned from a week-long vacation in L.A. and am feeling unusually refreshed and energized. I'm still getting used to vacations that are actually, y'know, vacations again but even with that in mind, I can't remember the last time I had such a lovely time that was both action-packed and truly restorative.

A nice side effect? I feel I broke through a few logjams that have held back my (personal) writing output, so expect a deluge of new music reviews over at Third Coast Review and more activity here as well!

Tuesday, September 02, 2025

It was mega to see Oasis return to the U.S.!

I saw Oasis last week and it was everything I'd hoped for. Read all about it in my review for Third Coast Review!

Incidentally, I did not plan on reviewing the show. But as I was making coffee the next morning I suddenly felt that familiar yet irresistible pull and as I ran to my keyboard I realized I'd already written a full review, it was just fighting to get out. Hope you dig it!

Monday, August 18, 2025

Recent reviews!

If you don't have Third Coast Review bookmarked or in your feeds (and why don't you?!) you may have missed two reviews I did last week.

I covered the new album from The Kickback, and it's both a doozy and the best thing they've done so far. And I think everything they've done is great, so that's saying something!

And Dave Suh & the Dirty Wings released their debut collection of hooky rockers that left me feeling really good.