Rating System Best Albums Since 1965 Best Artists of 00s Best Artists of 90s Best of 20th Century Best Reggae Albums Other Lists 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 1989 1988 1987 1986 1985 1984 1983 1982 1981 1980 1979 1978 1977 1976 1975 1974 1973 1972 1971 1970 1969 1968 1967 1966 1965 1949-1964

Think I'm obsessive? Go here and catch the list bug yourself, mwa ha ha haaaa:

Articles 'n' Features

• Nação Zumbi: Brainy Crabs & Cannibals (February 2008)
  I first heard of Chico Science and Nação Zumbi in late 1995 on a music discussion list. I was just launching fastnbulbous.com, and a couple members of Tortoise had provided an intruiging list of music artists the were not strictly influences, but simply their favorite music. The name Chico Science & Nação Zumbi stood out as a name I had never heard of. This is understandable, as their debut album, Da Lama ao Caos (From Mud To Chaos) was just released in 1994, only in Brazil.
  
  
• 1987: 20th Year Reunion (April 2007)
  I just watched a DVD of The Smiths In Review, and got the double CD reissue of The Cure's Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me in the mail. The album was never a favorite, but listening to it gave me flashbacks to the year it came out, 1987. I also just received a notice in the mail that my 20th high school reunion is this year. It's an ordeal that I'm actually planning to face.
  
  
• The Last of The Independents: Five Music Magazines That Mattered (September 2006)
  In 2001, Puncture Magazine ended a brilliant 19-year run at issue #47.  Along with the also-defunct Trouser Press, Option, Matterand Lime Lizard, Puncture influenced the evolution of my taste and knowledge in music.  They demonstrated four key ingredients of great music journalism -- knowledge, passion, taste and integrity -- that is sorely lacking in most magazines today. Five years later, it's surprising to see that another half dozen good magazines have cropped up.
  
  
• Heavy Metal Holidaze (December 2005)
  Reviews of Rough Guide To Heavy Metal (2005), Martin Popoff's The Collector's Guide To Heavy Metal (2005) , Deena Weinstein's Heavy Metal: A Cultural Sociology (1991), Robert Walser's Running With The Devil: Power, Gender and Madness in Heavy Metal Music (1993), Ian Christe's Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal (2003), and Lords Of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground (1997), by Michael Moynihan and Didrik Soderlind. Also a brief history of metal, and a Top 200 Metal Albums list.
  
  
• Dr. Fester's Secret History Revealed! (October 2005)
  To commemmorate the 10th Anniversary of Fast 'n' Bulbous, the secret history of the site's muse and inspiration, Dr. Fester!
  
  
• Lee "Scratch" Perry: Now Well-Loaded (January 2005)
  In January 2005, John Corbett gave the first public screening at the Gene Siskel Center of excerpts from his 1990 interview with Lee Perry in Zurich, Switzerland. The clips and brief talk on Perry's music inspired me to revisit all the music I owned that was made or produced by Scratch.
  
  
• Grim Reapers and Haunted Melancholy: Music of Autumnn (September 2001)
  A new Fast 'n' Bulbous essay about the history of autumnal music and its cultural precedents in art and literature, including a discography. After the atrocities and tragedies of September 11, Britney Spears and N'Sync don't seem to cut it anymore.
  
  
• Rotten TV (May 2000)
  Review of Episode #1 of Johnny Rotten's TV show on VH1. There were supposed to be seven episodes, but during the filming of the fourth one, Rotten and VH1 had a tiff and the show was cancelled.
  
  
• Trout Mask Replica Review (January 1999)
  Perfect Sound Forever's Captain Beefheart retrospective.
  
  
• Sam I Am (January 1999)
  An interview with The Sea And Cake's Sam Prekop in Chicago Magazine.
  
  
• Funkadelic: The Afro-Alien Diaspora (October 1995)
  A historical tribute to the Funkadelic. While many people are familiar with the funky hits of George Clinton's Parliament, his darker, grittier brother band is often overlooked. Their first seven albums are rock-funk classics of unearthly perfection.
  
  
• Laurie Anderson & Feminist-Postmodernist Representations: Can oppositional avant-garde performance make a difference in mass culture? (May 1991)
• Whose Imaginary? The Televisual Apparatus, The Female Body and Textual Strategies in Select Rock Videos on MTV (April 1991)
• Underground Newsgroup Year-End Summary (January 1991)
  A rare surviving example of my contributions to the Underground Newsgroup, which I founded in January 1988 to share information about local music scenes, and the general state of "underground music," as I liked to call it back then. Members were contributing reports from music scenes all over the globe, including Sau Paulo, London, Berlin, Barcelona, Tokyo and Moscow. It was cool. After a four-year hiatus from writing after I graduated from college, the web was underway. Sadly, the advantages of the web, including the opportunity to cheaply publish a webzine like Fast 'n' Bulbous, was a tradeoff. With more people involved, commerce eclipsed discussion, effectively killing newsgroups discussions. Any potentially interesting threads are drowned out with people polluting the newsgroups by trying to sell shit. While some decent newsgroups still exist, they don't have the same popularity as they did in the late eighties/early nineties.
• The New Feminism in MTV Videos: Can There Be A Revolution to be Televised? (December 1990)
• Postmodernist Music: The Culture of "Cool" Vs. Commodity: Shop as Usual . . . and Avoid Panic Buying (Summer 1990)
• Struggle for the Right to Rock: Racism, Corporate Libaralism, Cultural Hegemony & Black Music (May 1990)
• Cultural Hegemony in Music: A Struggle Of the Privileged (February 1990)
• A History of Punk (February 1990)
  A history of punk divided into two parts: "What Are The Politics of Boredom?" and "Punk and Post-Punk Subcultures: Do It Yourself." I get emails every week, mostly students, asking for more information. A reading list is available in the books section of my Reviews 'n' Rants page. I'm uncomfortable being cited as an authority, however, as much of the information is second hand. Someone even approached me to publish it in a book. I tried to update and improve it, and the result is an expanded Part One. However, I don't think it merits publishing. Another common question is whether I'll update it to include the past twelve years. The answer is no. While I do believe that punk is very much alive in the form of micro-scenes around the world, and I even enjoy some of the popular stuff like Rancid, I don't think that chapter of punk holds much historical interest. Basically punk has evolved into another form of folk music that can be easily learned and played. That's cool, but to me, the social and musical implications of punk were much more exciting in a specific time and place -- specifically its birth in Detroit and New York in the early to mid 70s, and England soon after. Enjoy the expanded Part One!
• Walt Mink Does More Than Rock (September 1989)
• The Feelies And Lou Reed Make History (April 1989)
• The Smelly Underground Prevails: Sonic Youth, Die Kreuzen & Laughing Hyenas at First Avenue (November 1988)

-- A.S. Van Dorston

All-Time Favorite Reggae Albums | Mar 13

The Stooges Play Madonna | Mar 11

Hard Rock Park | Mar 4

Nação Zumbi: Brainy Crabs & Cannibals | Feb 3

The Best Artists of the 00s (So Far) | Jan 29

Book Review: Lewis Shiner, Glimpses | Jan 21

2007 Year-End Summary & Fester's Lucky 13s | Dec 30

Woofers Go Wubble: Dubstep | Dec 10

Analog Vs. Digital Redux | Dec 5

2007 Reissues | Dec 3

End of Year Critic's Lists | Dec 3

The Next Great American Band | Nov 1

Complete Home Theater Systems | Oct 1

Criminally Underappreciated 90's Guitar Bands | Aug 1

1987: 20th Year Reunion | Apr 20

You can buy some of the albums reviewed/listed in Fast 'n' Bulbous, particularly imports and reissues, at The Ideal Copy. Since Amazon inhaled CDNow and Djangos lied and cheated me out of my affiliate credit, I'm banning corporate affiliates. Shop indie! If you can't find what you're looking for at The Ideal Copy, check Insound, Alldirect, Dustygroove, and Siren Disc for imports.

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Since October 1995, Fast 'n' Bulbous has been a one man operation, a labor of love rather than profit venture. I maintain an editorial policy of publishing mainly positive reviews, with the idea that people should be turned on to the best music. I only review what I feel like because I don't get paid for it. If you think I should review something I don't like, feel free to pay me. I will happily (or begrudgingly, depending on my mood) review crappy albums for $.50 a word. Don't think this buys you a positive review, this ain't Rolling Stone. Most likely I'll attack it like a rabid dog on a captured squirrel.

What with the fame, drugs, groupies and celebrity girlfriends, the only drawback to this site is the drain on my resources. I only receive promos for a fraction of the albums I review (email me at the address below and I'll send the address where promos can be sent). The cost of this obsession has set back my paying off student loans over a decade. And while I only review the cream of the crop, I have listened to thousand s upon thousands of albums ranging from average to vomit-inducing, so that you don't have to. While you spend your valuable time having a life, furthering your education, raising a family, making a real living, having fun, I take the bullet, sacrificing my time suffering through the pabulum to unearth the gems. Feel free to express your appreciation for this service with a donation!

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