Hunter (the Bad Disciples MC #2)

No More Shall We Part ended a four-year recorded silence from Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds. No new material had appeared since 1997's landmark, The Boatman's Call. With that record Cave had finally delivered an entire album of deeply tragic and beautiful love songs without irony, sarcasm, or violence…

This music documentary weaves together performances from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' 2016 album Skeleton Tree with candid footage of Cave opening up about the death of his 15-year-old son. Directed by Andrew Dominik (Chopper, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford).

A posthumous collection of all of the Wonder Stuff's singles from 1987 to 1993, plus a cover of Slade's "Coz I Love You" from a charity compilation, If the Beatles had Read Hunter…the Singles is both a fine starting point and, for most, all the Wonder Stuff they'll ever actually need. Albums one and three, 1988's The Eight-Legged Groove Machine and 1991's Never Loved Elvis, are solidly entertaining (in wildly differing styles) throughout, but the rest of the group's output was fairly inconsistent. However, in the classic Brit-pop tradition pretty much all of the band's very best material, from the Kinks-like, music hall-style tune "The Size of a Cow" to the manic buzz of "Give Give Give Me More More More," was released as singles. There are a couple of iffy inclusions, particularly the frankly terrible version of Tommy Roe's "Dizzy," recorded in collaboration with British comedian Vic Reeves, but overall, this is a solid, completely representative overview. Those whose curiosity is stoked would do well to buy The Eight-Legged Groove Machine next.

While fans of The Dear Hunter have been waiting in anticipation for the prospective 'Act IV', Casey Crescenzo and the band sent something a little different our way, although equally as exciting; not one, but nine EPs released simultaneously. This project is called 'The Color Spectrum', and each of the EPs is a four song set that is meant to reflect whatever given mood each color evokes. It is granted that nine releases is a pretty difficult chunk to digest all at once, and especially considering that the EPs are currently only available on vinyl, it is a bit of an investment for someone that might only want for of a single album's experience. Luckily, The Dear Hunter did opt to release an album version of 'The Color Spectrum'; a selection of songs from each of the EPs that is meant to give a taste of what the project is all about…