As our series on hipsters comes to the end, we look at the history of the subculture- it’s past, its present, and its precarious future.Will they continue to dominate long after shutter shades and ironic tees disappear from the mainstream, or fade away in wake of one of the worst economic malaises in modern history?
What do a documentarian, a humorist, a journalist, and a professor have in common?
They’ve all known hipsters, or someone who does. Some have even penned books and lengthy articles about them, many more verbose than …

The National Rifle
Man Full of Trouble
Unsigned/self-released
7/10
The last thing anyone thinks of when they think of Philly is indie music. Seattle, most definitely. Portland—awesome (in a related note, this writer has yet to visit either city, despite a close call)! Philly, well, not so much. Well, The National Rifle is out to change all that, and no, they have nothing to do with the National Rifle Association. The unsigned band has just cut a third album, Man Full of Trouble, and it’s everything antithetical to the …

C. Albritton Taylor, Donovan Leitch, Jim Rugg
One Model Nation
Image Comics
6/10
It’s rare for us here at Racket to review a graphic novel, let alone admitting to have read them. [Emperor's note: That's not accurate, I have a profound fascination with graphic novels, as does Caitlin.] The last time this reviewer touched a comic book was perhaps ten years ago, and that’s not counting stuff slugged for school newspapers and the like. So when we found out about One Model Nation, we were skeptical. It turns out that skepticism …

Josh Ottum
Like the Season
Cheap Lullaby Records
8/10
By all accounts, Josh Ottum is the quintessential come-from behind artist. No, really. He literally recorded songs in his basement and then suddenly burst out of nowhere to rave reviews. Is it cliché? Probably, but there’s no denying his musical talent. There’s plenty proof of it on his debut album, Like the Season, a mellifluous mix of beats and chords that’ll keep listeners tapping their toes.
The first line of evidence, “It’s Alright,” is a smooth, poppy melody that is …

  Femme fatales, bad girls, pistol packin’ mamas.  We all know who they are, what they are, their voluptuous figures and hard faces thrust in our eyes in television, movies, even video games.   Their names are etched in our brains.
  Sarah Connor.  Lara Croft.  Jill Valentine.   The list goes on and on, and stretches as far back as the earliest days of cinema, and even further still considering the volume of dime novel westerns published in the late 19th …

Curtains for You
What a Lovely Surprise to Wake up Here
Spark and Shine Records
7/10
There are two types of bands.  The moody, highfalutin kind, obsessed with lyrics and imagery (vintage R.E.M., circa 1980’s-early 90’s), and the technical, melodic version (think The Beatles, and just about any band, British Invasion or otherwise, pre-1967).  Curtains for You, definitely falls into the latter category.  Despite their similarity to their idols, the Seattle based band is anything but derivative.  Fusing the do-wop, rockabilly sound of previous eras with the grungy sensibility of their native city, they …

I am human and I need to be loved, just like everybody else does
In part 4 of the “Deck” series, we explored the impact of the hipster culture on Black America. Now we explore a topic that is near and dear to hipsters everywhere: the dating game. Online, in the bar, it’s all the same- only the contest has gotten cheaper, financially and otherwise, with sometimes humorous results.
Since time immemorial, men and woman have gone to extraordinary lengths in order to woo …

The story of Adam Marsland is the story of America.  From humble beginnings as a teenager playing gigs at county fairs, to a successful-yet-tumultuous career in the 1990s, he is Exhibit Number One of how artistry does not necessarily equal laboring in obscurity.  But success has not come without a price- and how staggering it is.  Dropped from two major record labels in the ‘90s and early 2000s, he has endured personal tragedy and professional setbacks on the road to becoming a Horatio Alger story of his own, including a …

We’ve all seen their faces splashed on the TV sets smiling and smirking as though taunting us inferiors about our bourgeois desire to drive their Bentleys, live in their $20 million dollar mansions, and sleep with whoever we please- which is why there is nothing funnier than a celebrity getting their mug taken by the boys in blue. The following photos are courtesy of mugshot.com without which this article would not be possible. Without further ado, here are the top ten celebrity mug shot photos.
10) Brad Renfro …

Disclaimer: Sorry for the delay. We’ve had a hard time finding people to talk to for our fourth installment of “Deck.” However we did find a trio o hipster-ish folks who opened their mouths- and their hearts- to us, touching on one of the biggest controversies in hipster culture right now: that of the so-called “blipsters.” Consider this one of the more educational writings we’ve done.

For hipsters, the man known to the rest of the world as Colonel K is hardly a radical in the ink-and-barrel sense. …

By all accounts, Joel Allen Schroeder has few vices. Besides his love of filmmaking- a pursuit which has landed the Minnesota resident in Hollywood after a stint at the University of Southern California- and Priuses, the Milwaukee-born director and producer is atypically average for H-Wood. He doesn’t drive fancy cars. Nor does he carry a Rolodex of names in a Blackberry somewhere. To outside eyes, he is the very definition of milquetoast. Yet behind the façade lies a secret life few have glimpsed, until now.
For Joel …

Ryan Sollee is not the typical American rock star. Born and raised in the cold, moose-populated environs of Alaska, the former punk rocker, marine biologist, and four of his best friends have traveled the long way around on their journey to pop success. Playing in the streets for attention, rooming in each other’s apartments as they balance professional and musical interests in dreary Portland–their hometown)– they have conquered the folk scene, block by excruciating block. Several years later, the quintet called The Builder and the Butchers has …

Mean Creek
The Sky (Or the Underground)
Old Flame Records
8/10
The quartet, known as Mean Creek aren’t exactly pussies. In a space of a year and a half, the band composed of Chris Keene, Aurore Oanjian, Matt Sisto, and Ken Marcou have put out debut feature length album Around the Bend,and toured with the likes of The Dead Trees and Daro, among others. Not ones to take a sabbatical so soon after entering the musical fray, they have struck again with a sophomore album, The Sky (Or the Underground). …

Dappled Cities
Zounds
Dangerbird Records/ Speak N’Spiel
9/10

Australia is known for two things: Vegemite and Men at Work. Soon to be three, actually, thanks to the Dappled Cities. Since 2004, the quintet has been entranced with their particular blend of avant-garde minimalism, complex tempos and neo-new wave sound. After a four year hiatus (and a colorful stay in New York’s East Village) the guys from Sydney are back on the scene with their third record Zounds. The result is an album that defies characterization, even as it draws from …

Frankel
Anonymity is the New Fame
Autumn Tone
8/10
By day, Michael Orendy is just another regular, working class musician, playing in bands, moonlighting in dingy bars, [insert cliché here]. But when he’s not “on the clock,” he dons his musical cape and cowl and assumes the identity of Frankel, singer-songwriter extraordinaire, fighting mediocrity with his assortment of strings, electronics, and whatever else he happens to have in his L.A. County bat cave. The result, Anonymity is the New Fame, is a calling card of sorts, encapsulating the best of the singer-songwriter …

Danny Ross
One Way
Self-published
8/10
Think Danny Ross, and you think Brooklyn (or, at the very least, lower Manhattan). Since 2006, the native New Yorker-artist-Congressional staffer has made a reputation as a virtuoso artist, part sentimental pianist part rock n’roller, recording his impressions of his corner of the City of Eight Million Stories. But unlike some of his contemporaries, this guy isn’t a generic softie. He’s just as comfortable embracing his inner Beck as much as his inner Billy Joel and it shows on One Way, an album as diverse …