As 2012 comes to an end, we are taking a look back at some of our favorite posts of the year by our guest editors.
Redd Kross just released its first album in 15 years, which we honestly didn’t think was going to happen. Researching The Blues (Merge) is as close to our Platonic ideal of what a rock ‘n’ roll record should sound like: punk-rock fury mixed with power-pop hooks and tinged with a fringe of psychedelia. Researching embodies the best of what the band has done since it started out 34 years ago (during the first wave of L.A. punk) and continued throughout the ’80s and ’90s while taking perpendicular approaches to the prevailing trends of the era. In an age where the tenets of genre conventions and the rigidity that once separated sounds and scenes are no longer relevant, Redd Kross returns as prodigal sons. Brothers Jeff and Steve McDonald, Roy McDonald (no relation) and Jason Shapiro will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new feature on them.
Roy McDonald: I went into this movie with a lot of reluctance. I used to read my son the Maurice Sendak book practically every night and couldn’t figure out how Spike Jonze was going to stretch 10 sentences into a feature-length film without screwing it up the way Ron Howard did with How The Grinch Stole Christmas. Within 10 minutes of the movie starting, I was crying my eyes out, transported back to when I was an eight-year-old with an overabundant imagination, too much energy and not enough friends. No film has ever captured the internal life of a little boy quite like this. This was my favorite film of the decade.
Video after the jump.
