Alone 1980 : Blood Ritual

Sweden’s Alone 1980 stands out in the crowd of imagined film score and heavy synth artists. For over the past 7 years this electronic wizard has cast buzzing, circuital spells via cinematic records that pay tribute to the musical scores of late 70s/early 80s VHS sleaze. Covering the film worlds of unrated slashers, b-movie sci-fi, […]

Jonathan Sharp : Neon Night Ride

It’s 1984. You’re up late on a Friday night with a beer buzz and searching for something to fall asleep to. You pause on USA Up All Night and see the neon glow of L.A.; buildings shimmering in a dusk-lit landscape, twinkling lights like doomed stars pulsate in the inescapable push of night, and an […]

L.A. Guns : Leopard Skin

There’s not too many of the classic 80s Sunset Strip rock bands left making music that sounds even remotely close to what they sounded like back in the neon decade. Have you seen any current clips of Mötley Crüe? How about Ratt? Or Dokken? Quiet Riot, anyone? Time, booze, and narcotics have not been kind […]

Set Adrift On Memory Tapes 80s Bliss

I grew up in the early days of indoor malls, neon buzz, and Cannon Films. Dual cassette players, VCRs, and arcades were the technology I worshipped. If a movie didn’t have at least a part III or IV it wasn’t worth the trouble. Microwave cakes, hi-top Reeboks, and t-shirts enshrined with Alf, The A-Team, and […]

Into The Lungs Of Hell : Revisiting Megadeth’s ‘So Far, So Good…So What!’

If it weren’t for an older brother who was getting into thrash and speed metal in the mid-80s I may not have donned the mullet and devil horns until much later in my life. As it turned out I was probably 13-years old and I was spending the week after the last day of 7th […]

Cat Temper : From A Whisker To A Scream

Mike Langlie is a fan of the feline persuasion. His long-running musical project Cat Temper proves as much. From the album art, to the song titles, to yes even the project name it is quite apparent that Langlie loves cats. Cats might just be his muse that spurs his creativity. But don’t think for a […]

Cate Brooks’ ‘Prismatics’

I love the fact that no matter how much music you think you know about, or how vast your knowledge is there’s always something new to you just around the corner. I’ll go months not discovering anything new(or new to me), and then all of a sudden like a “Eureka!” moment something new hits my […]

It’s Still (Satanic) Rock N Roll To Me

Growing up in the 80s there was plenty to be scared of. We always had the threat of nuclear war with Russia hanging over our heads, and the movie The Day After Tomorrow to completely traumatize us through must-see TV. There was the ‘stranger danger’ campaign that made kids like me absolutely horrified of people […]

Jake Schrock : Temporal Visions EP

Jake Schrock builds very specific sound worlds. They feel familiar yet wholly singular to the Texas-based analog electronic composer. His 2018 Holodeck Records debut Tropical Depression was this island vibe-heavy record. Schrock painted visions of steely shores and sinking suns with vintage synths and drum machines, giving us an album that was equally Caribbean and […]

“There Must Be Some Misunderstanding” : Growing Up With Phil And Genesis

There were a select group of artists that I grew up with. Not artists that I was a fan of and bought their albums necessarily, but more so were hoisted upon my ears via radio waves; Casey Kasem’s Top 40 Countdown, 80s FM chart toppers, school bus rides to middle school, and extended drives with […]