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Gary, Author at The Panic Manual

SXSW Song of the Day: Wolves of Glendale – The Gym

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No more than two minutes into “The Gym” from Wolves of Glendale, it became clear that this is the funniest song I’ve heard in years. In the same vein from which Weird Al and Flight of the Conchords were drained, their comedic libretto set to stereotypical pop not only brings a smile to your face but does double-duty as late millennial midlife commentary. Also, I’ve never even heard of the Saxon Pub on Lamar – I’d say those are all …

SXSW Song of the Day: BackDrop Cinderella

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BackDrop Cinderella is a 4-piece punk band from Tokyo. Having formed in 2006, they eventually cobbled together their own record label and self-produce pretty much everything at this point. Atypical of their 2000s era Japanese J-pop origin as well as the harsh upbringing self-promotion must have involved, they are surprisingly upbeat. There is a video of them on location in Austin TX in 2023 floating around if the one below isn’t ska-punk enough. Their single official show at Elysium is one that I …

Song of the Day: Hiromi’s Sonicwonder, Sonicwonderland

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Submitted to your attention for grading, a recorded game session starring the musicians playing with the jazz pianist Hiromi. Please disregard aphysical changes in gravity and cohesive theme, as well as the free pilfering of no longer IP-protected elements from Super Mario Bros., 1942, and numerous other legendary NES gems. Sonicwonderland is out now via Concord Records.

Album Review: Spiritual Jazz 14: Private (2023, Jazzman Records)

Posted on by Gary in Albums | Leave a comment

Where do the fans go when the FTPs and ICQ of yester-years have long since gone dark? Wherever do we find satisfaction now that Spotify supplies the pressure to an infinite variety of musical firehoses without the tiniest speck of care and regard for us on the other end, slaking (or I gather, just subsisting) like patients on feeding tubes? Well, if it is to be anything and everything, then I might as well insist it be more analog, more …