(Editor’s note:  The two people above are analyzing the phenomenon of “remixes” and “mashups” and their relevance to the current “internet.”  The graph the creepy fellow is pointing to represents the roller coaster like voyage of the “remix”in the American zeitgeist.  Sideburns lady thinks it’s all cool as long as the acts involved are staples [...]

It only takes around fifteen seconds to identify and digest the new Japandroids release, Post-Nothing, and I’m a little bit ashamed we didn’t review this thing more properly when it first surfaced awhile ago.  To connect to a more personal realm, Bon Iver is set to release his side project, Volcano Choir, and I already [...]

I love The Specials.  If I had a time machine, I’d be the good looking dude in the pork pie hat in the front row in London in 1979, shaking my ass and pulling on my suspenders.  “Ghost Town” is a top-ten all-time single, “Too Much Too Young” is the least douchey political song ever [...]

Mrs. Citizen and I went out for brunch on Sunday morning, snagging an omellete and eggs benedict at Cleveland Heights’ venerable Nighttown.  The wealthy dowager sitting next to us was coolly sipping a glass of white wine when we rolled in, rapping with her companion about the intricacies of her younger sister’s marriage.  When the [...]

When a single guy gets sick, what’s the best remedy?  I’m not a fan of the doctor’s office, so this is generally out of the question.  If there’s an OTC medication for whatever’s ailing me, I snatch it up at the local CVS and create a sort of DIY hospital in my bedroom.  I pop [...]

(Editor’s Note: The man in the photograph above is named only “cattle millionaire with new Cadillac.”  How’s that for a comment of the bloated nature of our national character?  A symbol of our wasteful and fattening dietary habits resting behind a symbol of our crippling dependence on oil and the opulence of twentieth century capitalism, [...]

In light of yesterday’s events, It is impossible to start off the day with anything other than a tribute to the King of Pop.  Michael Jackson may have never been considered an indie artist by any stretch of the imagination, but his brilliance and stature in the musical universe makes him one of the few [...]

As Brian’s been treading water this week and clearly relating to our readership, it’s been a week where our ethos has taken a left turn.  I’ve been in Advance Placement English Teacher Boot Camp all week, and I’ve barely had a second to lie down, much less prop my feet up and fire out 800 [...]

(I’m pretty sure that this should go down as an editor’s note:  Full disclosure:  My good friend Robert and I have been well primed to catch Crocodiles for a good long while; we missed their recent trip to town with Holy Fuck and were righteously disappointed when a March gig at the Grog Shop turned [...]

For those of you following the continuing saga of “Dicks Doing Things Other Than Blogging,” we thought we’d hit you with a quick update:
James: Our own Diamond Jim is hot on the trail of Peruvian arms smugglers, currently tracking a band of guerrillas through the South American veldt.  He’s posing as a minor member [...]

Kevin’s at an AP conference.   James is moving into a new apartment.  I’m taking a break from slogging through the relevant research on behavior-specific praise and it’s effect on student on-task behavior in advance of a meeting with my doctoral advisor tomorrow.  (Fascinating stuff, by the way.  If you’re looking for something to take into [...]

Friday is our typical “hodge-podge” of interesting things, but today will probably resemble the same concept.  By the time you read this post, I’ll have already called my father (he’s an early riser) and will be gearing up for a great week of live shows here in Cleveland.  Those of you who get to head [...]

(Editor’s Note:  It’s an atypical Lazy Saturday; Chad (Citizen Dick’s Western Suburban Division co-chair) and I trekked to southwestern Pennsylvania on Thursday to catch Phish, so, in lieu of our usual grab bag of live goodies, we’ve got some thoughts on that experience paired with some tracks from a stellar Phish show from the [...]

It’s been a pretty hectic week for me here at Citizen Dick’s Chicago outpost.  Between cracking down on the job search, scrambling to find a new apartment before the first, and preparing to get my birthday on this weekend I haven’t had a whole lot of time to listen to new music.  As such, today’s [...]

Today is Kevin’s birthday.  He shares the day with Paul McCartney and Lou Brock.  (He gets the lamer Beatle and a base stealing champ with a memorable rhyme in a Tribe  Called Quest song (“I’ve got the scrawny legs, but I move just like Lou Brock”), so I guess that’s kind of a mixed bag.  [...]

(Editor’s note:  Kevin and I are in Cleveland.  (You know this, but in case you don’t, now you do.)  Diamond Jim is smack dab in Chicago, surrounded by things that the world acknowledges have cultural and musical relevance and merit.  Cleveland holds the same treasures, but we’re too often typified by tired stereotypes about our [...]

The 80’s decade was a weird time musically, folks.  We’re all already aware of that.  This isn’t to say that great and seminal bands didn’t span through that awkward time, or even define it musically.  If I was in my twenties during this time, I’d no doubt have some analytical approach to dissect the awkwardness [...]

Jets Overhead are almost as interesting for some of their ideological positions about music and its dissemination as they are for the quality of their sophomore LP, No Nations. Jets Overhead’s debut full length and an earlier EP are available for “voluntary purchase” on their website; the page explains that “new systems for distributing music [...]

There have been a ton of covers albums this year, many of which we’ve already talked about (Headless Heroes, Condo Fucks).  While Matt Krefting’s I Couldn’t Love You More (out June 16th on Ecstatic Peace) is another album composed solely of songs written by others, it’s a bit different than many other albums of the [...]

We were pretty upfront about our love for Megafaun’s 2008 release Bury the Square (we put it on both our best of 08 album list and song list).  While some of us found the more wandering, less linear aspects of the record occasionally frustrating, Brian, in particular, latched onto the band’s willingness to push [...]