Unwinnable

Goodbye to Dad’s Star Trek, Welcome to Glasnost. (more…)

Remember when Elvis’s hip shake was the most scandalous thing about music? Us neither. As soon as music could be recorded and reproduced, it pushed up against the polite boundaries of society. For over 130 years, music has used its unique ability to shock in order to question authority (“Fuck the Police“), religion (“Dear God“) and politics (“Maggie“), but no other subject has had so many taboos shattered by song than sex. So, for Sex Week, we’ve collected the sexiest, dirtiest, perviest songs we could find and mixed them together into two of the naughtiest hours of pounding drums, penetrating guitars and moaning vocals that your ears will ever hear.   (more…)

I was playing Manhunter 2: San Francisco on my computer in the basement. I really liked that game and to this day I wait for a sequel. I was a sophomore in high school. When I shut off the computer and went upstairs around 9 p.m., my grandmother was watching the news and the Berlin Wall was coming down. We were seeing history happen from our living room, as the Soviet Union crumbled on our TV. My grandmother said, “Joseph Stalin was a monster.”

One of the first things I thought was, “Who is going to be the bad guy now?” The Nazis were great bad guys, because we beat them and we won. Now we “beat” the Soviet Union. But did we win, or did they just fall apart? (more…)

If you are the kind of person who looks at year end lists to turn up your nose, feel anger that your pet fave didn’t chart or debate ranking order then go ahead and excuse yourself now. We say, “Good day to you, sir or madame.” We at Unwinnable are of the mind that such exercises aren’t meant to put a universe of personal expression in order, but to shine a light, share a vibe and spread the word. Our staff didn’t disappoint this year. With 145 records nominated, some of this year’s charters made the cut with only two votes. I’m proud to be among a crowd with such diverse, iconoclastic musical tastes. Our list willfully ignores prejudice in favor of passion. Join us, won’t you? (more…)

Ah, the holidays: good times, good friends, too much food and far more booze than one person can drink by themselves. It is no secret that Unwinnable loves a good party – and nothing beats a holiday party. So our gift to you, dear friends and dear readers, is a rocking 100 minutes of Christmas songs. It’s an instant party, full of good cheer and best wishes from the Unwinnable family to you and yours. (more…)

Boo! It is Halloween and what better way to celebrate the spooky season than by bringing back everyone’s favorite lord of darkness, Gus Mastrapa?

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Pat Longo is a groovy guy – an accomplished artist, musician, DJ, record aficionado and family man. You might see him spinning vinyl at a local soul night or catch his band opening up for Archers of Loaf or just riding bikes with his son Hank in the Heights section of Jersey City. He’s that guy with a shine in his eye that says he has something cool he wants to show you. Let it be known that everything Pat shows you is pretty cool.

In this case, Pat graciously allowed Unwinnable into his home so he could show us his Batman records.   (more…)