Album Review: Barbaras - 2006-2008

By Evan Minsker on November 19th, 2012

They're gone, but it’s easy to hope that they’ll rise again.

Trash Collector: Ten Overlooked Trash Albums of 2012

By Evan Minsker on September 13th, 2012

With 2012 over halfway over, this seems like as good a time as any to start getting things together for the inevitable “year end” list. So let’s keep it simple. Here are 10 awesome and overlooked trashy, garage rocky, power poppy, grungy, grimy, slimy, noisy releases that I haven’t already talked about in this column this year.

Trash Collector: Timmy Vulgar’s Raw Sewage Roq

By Evan Minsker on July 27th, 2012

Trash Collector: "That's High School Music"

By Evan Minsker on June 26th, 2012

To date, this column has offered this timeline: 1) I listened to the Ramones, 2) I listened to a steady stream of In the Red and Burger albums. If only that was the case. Before I discovered the labels behind the trash I listen to now, I followed two labels very closely: Epitaph and Fat Wreck.

Trash Collector: The Return of Johnny and Joey

By Evan Minsker on May 18th, 2012

It’s a special springtime here at Trash Collector, as the spirit guides of trash connoisseurs everywhere, the Ramones, have two crucial releases out: Johnny Ramone’s autobiography, Commando, and Joey Ramone’s second posthumous album, …ya know?. Since the Ramones are probably the reason why I started this column in the first place, I’m taking the opportunity to analyze Johnny’s book, Joey’s album, and what they add to the band’s mythology.

Trash Collector: Burger Kings

By Evan Minsker on April 13th, 2012

Here’s what I remember about the first time I visited San Francisco: I saw Alcatraz, I paid an all-silver man to robot walk while playing a kazoo, and I was giddy when I learned that George Lucas lived nearby. I was 10.

Trash Collector: Chic-A-Go-Go

By Evan Minsker on March 6th, 2012

The summer before I moved from Chicago to West Virginia, I worked as a dishwasher and busboy at Bob Evan's. I was fine with the job itself, but really, some of my co-workers were some high-grade assholes. But I put up with it, because hey, I needed that money. As I worked, I kept looking forward, spending a portion of every paycheck on a concert that would take place that fall in Chicago.

Trash Collector: Introductions and Memphis Treets

By Evan Minsker on February 7th, 2012

Hey, so I’m Evan, and since this is a new thing, let me take a minute to explain what this column is and why it exists.

When I was 13, skinny and gangly, inexplicably wearing enormous Space Ghost (really, Brak) T-shirts, my mom worked at the Huntington, West Virginia Borders. At some point, she bought a Ramones compilation with her employee discount, and in short order, it was added to my listening rotation...

Live Review: Ty Segall, Mikal Cronin at Chicago’s Empty Bottle (10/1)

By Evan Minsker on October 2nd, 2011

Thrashed and bashed with CA garage stomp stalwarts.

Live Review: Andrew Bird at Ann Arbor's Power Center (6/18)

By Evan Minsker on June 19th, 2011

In this instance, the imperfections are far more interesting.