Lollipop Magazine

The Guts – Sometimes You Just Can’t Win – Review

July 29, 2007

Clear, ’50s sock-hop I-killed-my-baby influences. One dude was in The Queers and Nobodys, which makes sense. Every song sounds different. Even better.

Tori Amos – American Doll Posse – Review

July 27, 2007

Tori at her most flexible and multi-faceted. The sheer length of the album could be a turn off to people who don’t have the time or perseverance to harvest it.

The Rosebuds – Night of the Furies – Review

July 27, 2007

The rich hooks and ringing guitars are still here, but now so are dance beats that bring out a whole new color, and recall OMD, The Cure, and Morrissey.

Samael – Solar Soul – Review

July 27, 2007

Beginning life as a poisonous black metal cabal, moving through luminous, magical industrial metal, through too much techno, and now, back to a heavy medium.

Patton Oswalt – Werewolves and Lollipops – Review

July 27, 2007

Reference points I might use: He compares Bush and Cheney to the Dukes of Hazzard in their ability to escape impossible predicaments with improbable ease.

Paradise Lost – In Requiem – Review

July 27, 2007

Sung and recorded better than a Sentenced album, but every time the verse starts, you’re bored. Stodgy, oppressive songs which, in the end, aren’t that heavy.

The Bigs – Review

July 27, 2007

Accessible, fast-paced, arcade-style hitting, pitching, and fielding. Brawls. An entertaining create-a-rookie mode, and an addictive homerun/destruction derby.

Fu Manchu – We Must Obey – Interview

July 27, 2007

An interview with singer/guitarist Scott Hill

Dark Tranquillity – Fiction – Review

July 27, 2007

The best of their past, combined with new, forward-looking tricks to become something flawless. Fresh, nostalgic, beefy, futuristic, classic, and catchy.

Dali’s Llama – Chorata – Review

July 27, 2007

Chugging, tense rock with a non-denominational punk ethic curling under hardened boogie cum cock rock guitars/rhythms from a gritty-eyed libertarian position.

Björk – Volta – Review

July 27, 2007

Björk claimed it to be: Fun, a throwback to ’80s house/techno, and catchy. Volta really is the opposite of all those things. Björk’s worst record so far.

The Queers – Munki Brain – Review

July 22, 2007

If Ramones were the Beach Boys of punk, The Queers are the Jan & Dean. The softer, younger brother of surf punk. They’ve got shobby-doo-wops, for God’s sake.

Metal Slug Anthology – Review

July 21, 2007

The complete series on one disc. There aren’t many more satisfying 2D action games than the Metal Slug series. A non-stop blast-a-thon with a sense of humor.

Cover Your Tracks – Review

July 20, 2007

New Deep Elm artists covering old Deep Elm classics… ooooooh boy, this is gonna get ugly. Cold, hard proof that the glorious ’90s are long, long gone.

Sonata Arctica – Unia – Review

July 20, 2007

Emotion worn on the hearts of their white, frilly sleeves, Sonata Arctica sometimes get too close to maudlin. On the more orchestral side of the catalogue.

Rufus Wainwright – Release the Stars – Review

July 20, 2007

Rufus has battled through decadence, disillusionment, near death, love loss, and finally love gained, he’s not just The Guy Who Uses Orchestras.

Megadeth – United Abominations – Review

July 20, 2007

You hear about Dave the Christian, but he’s also an intense American, addictive, and he’s angry (again), and a student of rotten politics, conspiracies, and the flow of the money. A lethal combination.

Machine Head – The Blackening – Interview

July 20, 2007

An interview with guitarist Phil Demmel

Culture Shock: We Love Balls – Column

July 20, 2007

It’s easy to slip into arrogant mockery when surrounded by the unfamiliar, particularly when as wide-eyed and bushy-tailed as Japanese Culture.

Culture Shock: Pig Farts – Column

July 20, 2007

It’s easy to slip into arrogant mockery when surrounded by the unfamiliar, particularly when as wide-eyed and bushy-tailed as Japanese Culture.

Bad Brains – Build A Nation – Review

July 20, 2007

Many camps took Bad Brains’ lead, from Fishbone to watered-down 311 and Sublime. But few have produced a work as edifying and emotionally whole as this.

Viva Death – One Percent Panic – Review

July 13, 2007

To enjoy the album as a whole requires a broad palette, such as that of the eclectic Mr. Freese. Expertly performed, executed, and produced.

Travis – The Boy With No Name – Review

July 13, 2007

Even as The Boy With No Name returns the band to their glory of penning effective happy/sad anthems, many are quick to complain.

Tracy Thorn – Out of the Woods – Review

July 13, 2007

Before Björk, Goldfrapp, or Imogen Heap, Tracy Thorn was utilizing her soft yet no-nonsense angel croons to add life to electronica ballads and dance anthems.

Rival Skulls – Hell Ouverture – Review

July 13, 2007

Rival Skulls trade off between Misfits demonizing “Vampyrism Theory” and AFI hardcore “Luciferian Path” with a humorless but pretty damn cool delivery.