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Dare Dukes & The Blackstock Collection – “Thugs and China Dolls”

• Album Reviews

Record Label: Starland Records
Genre: Folk
Band Link: www.daredukes.com
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Slightly jangly folk that goes at an unhurried donkey’s pace, “Thugs and China Dolls” has some unexpected gems. If you can get past the vocals that are simultaneously high, nasal, and mealy-mouthed, the lyrics are smart and the simple banjo-and-drums accompaniment can be cute.
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The Hammer Vault: Treasures from the Archive of Hammer Films

• Book Reviews

Author: Marcus Hearn
Publisher: Titan Books
Genre: Film
Pages: 178
Retail Price: $34.95
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For fans of 1950s and 1960s horror, sci-fi, camp, exotica, and shlock, this coffee table book is a must have.
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My Brain Hurts: Volume Two

• Book Reviews

Author: Liz Baillie
Publisher: Microcosm Publishing
Genre: Minicomic
Pages: 128
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* COOZER PICK *

This second volume collects issues 6-10 of Liz Baillie’s excellent mini comic that follows the lives of LGBT teenagers in New York City as they navigate school, parents, friends, and relationships. As with the first volume, this mini comic is smartly written and touching.
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My First Time: A Collection of First Punk Show Stories

• Book Reviews

Edited By: Chris Duncan
Publisher: AK Press
Genre: Music
Pages: 200
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It’s a nice idea to get a large group of punky people (band members, skateboarders, zinesters, etc.) to jot down their earliest punk show memories. Too bad everyone seems to have the exact same memory.
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An Unlikely Prince: The Life and Times of Machiavelli

• Book Reviews

Author: Niccolo Capponi
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Genre: Biography/History
Pages: 324
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It was fortuitous that I picked up this book at the same time I started playing Assassin’s Creed II. A scholarly biography and a video game wouldn’t normally have much in common, but the two leveraged each other well.
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Shell Corporation – “Force Majeure”

• Album Reviews

Record Label: EFM Records
Genre: Punk
Band Link: www.fucktheshellcorporation.com
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Shell Corporation plays solid melodic punk and post-hardcore with a fun, fuck-you-style skatepunk attitude. The approach sometimes come off as a little forced, but the music is pretty cool. It didn’t quite rock my nuts off, but it came close.
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The Brains – “Drunk Not Dead”

• Album Reviews

Record Label: Stomp Records
Genre: Psychobilly
Band Link: www.myspace.com/thebrains
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The line that separates cool and lame is especially thin for psychobilly and horror punk, which inherently revels in cheese. Unfortunately, Montreal’s The Brains don’t have the snarl or swagger to sell it.
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Amenities Package – “Out Of Phase EP”

• Album Reviews

Record Label: Feralette Special Products
Genre: Rock
Band Link: www.feralette.com
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This Nashville group plays clean, harmless rock with simple, classic rock chords and amiably folky but out-of-tune vocals.
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Planet Smashers – “Descent Into the Valley Of…”

• Album Reviews

Record Label: Stomp Records
Genre: Ska
Band Link: www.planetsmashers.net
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** COOZER PICK **

I feel bad for the Planet Smashers. Sooner or later, the Devil will come by to claim the souls they sold to him. There is no other possible explanation as to how this third-wave ska band can be so consistently catchy and pitch perfect. Even the Toasters have their bumps in the road.
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Revenge of the Platypus – “Dreams Instrumentals”

• Album Reviews

Record Label: S/R
Genre: Ambient
Band Link: www.revengeoftheplatypus.com
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I’m not familiar with this West Coast trip-hop band, nor have I heard their album “Dreams.” This release – “Dreams Instrumentals” – is that album sans vocals. I’d be curious to hear the vocal version; hopefully it contains rhymes or melodies or SOMETHING to lift this music from the muck.
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