Pop music and comic books share many sensibilities and influences, and often cross over in unexpected and interesting ways. Comic artists illustrate album covers, bands utilize four-color imagery in videos and live shows, musicians try their hands at writing and…
Author: Patrick A. Reed
Album Review: Urge Overkill – “Rock And Roll Submarine”
Yes, this album is called Rock & Roll Submarine. It’s a ridiculous title, and that’s only fitting; Urge Overkill, better than most anyone, have always personified and reveled in the inherent absurdities of rock and roll. And they’ve finally returned. …
Pop Music Comics: Sonic Disruptors
Comic Books and Rock & Roll have a complex and entangled relationship, full of shared influences, common history, and thematic cross-pollination. Both started as disposable forms delivered in small doses, became emblematic of youth culture and rebellion in the cold…
One Song Wonders: 90 M.P.H.- “Mackframalama”
I had never heard this song until a few months ago, and now it’s something that gets stuck in my head and I spin in a large percentage of my DJ sets. Much like the Freshco and Miz record I…
MoCCA Festival 2011
Springtime in NYC brings the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art festival: a two-day showcase for all the comic book medium has to offer, with a particular focus on independent publishers and creators. The 2011 fest took place on April…
The Glory Stompers: Live at Brooklyn Bowl, 4/1/2011
The Glory Stompers are a five-piece band from Los Angeles; their thrilling brand of rock and roll melds heavy-metal riffing and dynamics with hardcore punk attitude and a stage presence that takes no prisoners. At Brooklyn Bowl last Saturday night,…
Comics Through The Years: Angel And The Ape
In the late 50s, DC Comics editors Irwin Donenfeld and Julius Schwartz noted that sales went up every time an one of their comics featured an ape on the cover. Predictably, what followed was a flood of simian-centric issues. By…
Album Reviews: Yuck, Gorillaz, Bob Geldof, Alex Turner
Yuck- s/t (Fat Possum Records, released 2/15/11) A couple years back, there was a band called Cajun Dance Party. I adored them; they recorded one album of glorious shimmering brilliance, and then they split up. Their vocalist and bassist (Daniel…
Album Reviews: Gang Of Four, R.E.M., Clinic, Wire, “West Indies Funk”
Gang Of Four- Product (Yep Roc Records, released 1/25/11) Well, Gang Of Four’s first record of new material in far too long is… Pretty good. Not phenomenal, but good. It contains all the squeal and rumble and resigned lashing-out one…
Comic Book Mini-Reviews, March 2011
Herculian by Erik Larsen (published by Image Comics) Wow. An oversized thing that looks on the surface like about the most generic superhero comic book imaginable, but inside is anything but. I’m a little torn, on the one hand wishing…