All Posts by

Mark Lager

Mark Lager has been writing music reviews for Julian Cope's Head Heritage website since 2007. His music writing also appears in PopMatters. His film writing is featured in CineAction, Cinema Retro, and Film International. His poetry has been published in Chiron Review and Opossum. His translations of the French poet Raoul Ponchon have been published in Circumference, Columbia Journal, and Denver Quarterly. He has also written a Southern Gothic screenplay (To Death With You) and a novella about the crisis in Syria that takes place during 24 hours in Aleppo (The Dust Shall Sing like a Bird).

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Amon Düül II Mark Lager Music

Mark Lager’s Summer Vinyl: Amon Düül II – Carnival in Babylon & Wolf City (1972)

Amon Düül was originally a collective that emerged from a far-left commune in Germany, the more musically talented members of this group formed the band Amon Düül II, arguably the most psychedelic band of the Krautrock scene, led by Chris Karrer on guitar, violin, and vocals and featuring John Weinzierl on guitar and vocals, Renate …

Kyuss Mark Lager Music

Mark Lager’s Desert CDs: Kyuss – Blues for the Red Sun (1992)

Best listened to on CD in your car stereo with the volume cranked up while speeding down a desert highway, Blues for the Red Sun is the band’s best (alongside Welcome to Sky Valley) and not only one of the greatest heavy metal albums of the 1990s, arguably one of the greatest heavy metal albums …

Mark Lager Music Scott Walker

Cinematic Genius and Haunting Poetry of Noel Scott Engel

Noel Scott Engel a.k.a. Scott Walker was born on January 9, 1943 in the midwestern United States. His ancestry on his father’s side was German- the meaning of the surname “Engel” is “angel”, echoed later in his song “Angels of Ashes”- and his ancestry on his mother’s side was French. The meaning of her surname …

Mark Lager Music Wanda Robinson

Gritty Poetry of Wanda Robinson

Wanda Robinson was born on November 18, 1949 in Baltimore, Maryland during the same year as Gil Scott-Heron who became a chronicler of African American culture and a fierce critic of politics, society, and the U.S. government, an innovator with his rhythmic poems anticipating hip-hop/rap. During the same years when Gil Scott-Heron released his albums …

Gary McFarland Mark Lager Music

Gary McFarland’s Cinematic Forgotten Genius

Gary McFarland is a forgotten name by most music listeners. This is a tragedy since he was a bit of a genius- an arranger/conductor for jazz musicians, a cinematic composer of his own recordings, and a producer of a psychedelic hidden gem. Gary McFarland (born October 23, 1933) began his career arranging and conducting jazz …

Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter Mark Lager Music

Mark Lager’s Summer Vinyl: Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter – Marble Son (10th Anniversary)

The atmosphere circulates moisture from the Pacific Ocean and Gulf of California (Sea of Cortez) and the winds carry these clouds from the west over Mexico during May. The North American monsoon season develops during June as the rains move northward into New Mexico. The North American monsoon season peaks in July and August in …