Rec
📚
One of my favorite books about music. Checks all the boxes for me.
Here's the official blurb:
SELLOUT: The Major Label Feeding Frenzy That Swept Punk, Emo, and Hardcore (1994-2007)
The stories of 11 bands and their major label debut albums, including: Green Day, Jawbreaker, Jimmy Eat World, Blink-182, At the Drive-In, The Donnas, Thursday, The Distillers, My Chemical Romance, Rise Against, Against Me!
Here's the official blurb:
SELLOUT: The Major Label Feeding Frenzy That Swept Punk, Emo, and Hardcore (1994-2007)
The stories of 11 bands and their major label debut albums, including: Green Day, Jawbreaker, Jimmy Eat World, Blink-182, At the Drive-In, The Donnas, Thursday, The Distillers, My Chemical Romance, Rise Against, Against Me!
Feb 2, 2024
Related Recs
Rec
1994. Dookie drops, and suddenly punk was everywhere – on MTV, on the radio, in the charts. What used to get you funny looks in a pub was now playing over the speakers in supermarkets.
It was wild, surreal, and honestly? Kind of thrilling.
While Green Day were going global, Travis Cut were tearing around the UK in a clapped-out van, playing every floor, toilet venue and back room we could find. The stakes weren’t the same – but the energy was. We were all caught up in that moment, when it felt like anything could happen.
Three and a Half Minutes of Fame is my attempt to bottle that era. It’s not about fame in the way you think – it’s about believing in something loud and fast and real, even when the world doesn’t care. It’s about chasing noise, finding your people, and hanging on for dear life while punk flirted with the mainstream.
That moment in time – part chaos, part glory – is in every page.
📘 Out now from Earth Island Books.
It was wild, surreal, and honestly? Kind of thrilling.
While Green Day were going global, Travis Cut were tearing around the UK in a clapped-out van, playing every floor, toilet venue and back room we could find. The stakes weren’t the same – but the energy was. We were all caught up in that moment, when it felt like anything could happen.
Three and a Half Minutes of Fame is my attempt to bottle that era. It’s not about fame in the way you think – it’s about believing in something loud and fast and real, even when the world doesn’t care. It’s about chasing noise, finding your people, and hanging on for dear life while punk flirted with the mainstream.
That moment in time – part chaos, part glory – is in every page.
📘 Out now from Earth Island Books.
Jul 5, 2025
Rec
Shameless self promotion alert -- my new book (published by the good folks at HoZac) is officially out on Friday and some of the advance press is now starting to land, which is fun to see. (You can order it here, if you're so inclined: https://hozacrecords.com/product/aifl/)
Our friends at Flood Magazine were among the first to write it up and decided to feature a book about EPs by.... posting a playlist of some of my/contributors' favorite songs from their favorite EPs. Sounds about right!
"His new book An Ideal for Living: A Celebration of the EP, both makes a case for the format’s legitimacy and backs that claim up with a fairly bulletproof top-25 EPs list for every decade dating back to the 1950s. From the Joy Division release referenced in the book’s title to the iconic Simon & Garfunkel collection depicted on the book’s cover and well beyond, duBrowa is intent on helping readers understand the value of these truncated tracklists as being much more than an afterthought in an artist’s oeuvre."
BONUS POINTS FOR THE USE OF THE WORD OEUVRE. :)
May 30, 2024
Rec
Playing Cycledelic by Johnny Moped today. This album was chaos, charm, and genius all rolled into one. And for me, it’s more than just a punk classic – it’s a reminder of where it all started.
Back in the days of sticky floors, cheap strings, and big dreams, I was in a band called Travis Cut – loud, fast, and barely held together. The kind of band that lived for the next gig and maybe the next pint. That whole era, and the beautiful mess of it all, is what inspired my book Three and a Half Minutes of Fame.
The book isn’t just about music – it’s about the scene, the spirit, and the people who somehow survived it. If you ever pogoed in a basement, argued over setlists in the van, or found meaning in a 7-inch single, this one’s for you.
Punk’s not dead. It just writes books now - thanks to the brilliant team at Earth Island
Back in the days of sticky floors, cheap strings, and big dreams, I was in a band called Travis Cut – loud, fast, and barely held together. The kind of band that lived for the next gig and maybe the next pint. That whole era, and the beautiful mess of it all, is what inspired my book Three and a Half Minutes of Fame.
The book isn’t just about music – it’s about the scene, the spirit, and the people who somehow survived it. If you ever pogoed in a basement, argued over setlists in the van, or found meaning in a 7-inch single, this one’s for you.
Punk’s not dead. It just writes books now - thanks to the brilliant team at Earth Island
Jul 7, 2025
Top Recs from @theclack
Rec
The perfect lil snack for when you don’t want a big snack
Rec
Here it is, folks! Volume I of what could very well be a continuous project. Thank you so much to everyone that submitted - I smiled the entire time I was putting this together. It's best listened to with headphones ☺️
Liner Notes:
This collection of field recordings is a collaborative effort with users of PI.FYI, each of which recorded their own pieces. It features audio from all over the world and exhibits eclectic moments from London Underground commutes to cuckoo bird calls in Dhaka to the sounds of a century-old American diner.
Online communities like PI.FYI often represent a diverse set of people, places, and experiences, but together, the submissions form a living collage that highlights the commonalities of modern life - a unifying message for such a tumultuous time. The first track features all of the sounds played at once in an attempt to create an audio snapshot of an online community but in their offline lives.
The individual recordings are unedited except for minor gain and compression adjustments for consistency across the collection.
Online communities like PI.FYI often represent a diverse set of people, places, and experiences, but together, the submissions form a living collage that highlights the commonalities of modern life - a unifying message for such a tumultuous time. The first track features all of the sounds played at once in an attempt to create an audio snapshot of an online community but in their offline lives.
The individual recordings are unedited except for minor gain and compression adjustments for consistency across the collection.
