Alison Ross

Clockwise Cat publisher and editor, Alison Ross, uses Zen-Surrealism as her guiding aesthetic. Alison has been a featured poet at Surreal Poetics. In addition, she has published reviews and editorials in various publications, including Fear of Monkeys and PopMatters. Links to her work (poetry, polemics and reviews) can be found at: www.symmetryofbirds.blogspot.com.
‘Between Two Worlds’ Traverses Class Issues with Privileged Ease

‘Between Two Worlds’ Traverses Class Issues with Privileged Ease

Between Two Worlds critiques third-party storytelling as working-class exploitation.

Protomartyr Showcase Subtle Expansion of Their Shadowy Sound

Protomartyr Showcase Subtle Expansion of Their Shadowy Sound

In Formal Growth in the Desert, Protomartyr have subtly evolved their sound into something not as claustrophobically volatile as previous efforts.

The Cure’s ‘Wild Mood Swings’ Indulges the Glories of Genre-Jumping

The Cure’s ‘Wild Mood Swings’ Indulges the Glories of Genre-Jumping

The Cure’s ebulliently eclectic masterpiece ‘Wild Mood Swings’ is misguidedly maligned. What is more tantalizing than music that exalts eclecticism to such stupefying heights?

Post-Punk Tree of Life: Twin Tribes and Black Swan Lane Sustain the Genre

Post-Punk Tree of Life: Twin Tribes and Black Swan Lane Sustain the Genre

Post-punk bands Twin Tribes and Black Swan Lane hail from the sunny climes of the southwestern and southeastern US, and yet sonically mirror the late ’70s/early ’80s post-punk from the rain-sodden UK.

Poet Laureate Tongo Eisen Martin Subverts Verse to Infect the Senses

Poet Laureate Tongo Eisen Martin Subverts Verse to Infect the Senses

Poet Laureate Tongo Eisen Martin’s words snake their way into one’s consciousness and viciously bite at the tragic absurdity of American racism.

The Cure’s Genre-Defining and Genre-Defying ‘Faith’ 40 Years On

The Cure’s Genre-Defining and Genre-Defying ‘Faith’ 40 Years On

The Cure’s Faith–released 40 years ago this April–comes from a haunted, solipsistic place and it seduces you into its tormented world.

Martyrs and Murderers and Post-Punk Dialogues Between Dublin and Detroit

Martyrs and Murderers and Post-Punk Dialogues Between Dublin and Detroit

Dublin's the Murder Capital and Detroit's Protomartyr both delve into murky existential lyrical terrain as riotous riffs reverberate and drums pound militantly, infusing the atmosphere with ominous sonic shadows.

Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera Sings ‘Every Day We Get More Illegal’

Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera Sings ‘Every Day We Get More Illegal’

Every Day We Get More Illegal, seems to foretell a diatribe vibe, but threaded throughout Herrera's verse is the musicality--the calming, invigorating melodies that remind us, ever so sweetly, if insistently: Latino lives are beloved.

Bright Eyes’ ‘Down in the Weeds’ Is a Return to Form and a Statement of Hope

Bright Eyes’ ‘Down in the Weeds’ Is a Return to Form and a Statement of Hope

Bright Eyes may not technically be emo, but they are transcendently expressive, beatifically melancholic. Down in the Weeds is just the statement of grounding that we need as a respite from the churning chaos around us.

The Cure’s ‘Seaside’ Cure for Sheltering at Home

The Cure’s ‘Seaside’ Cure for Sheltering at Home

In these times of pandemic turmoil and outright trauma, what better match does the tempestuous human soul have than the sea? And what better lyricist than the Cure's Robert Smith, who twins the wrath (or sadness) of the sea with similar human emotions?
Nostalgia for the Downtown Slacker: Bertoglio’s ‘Downtown 81’ and Linklater’s ‘Slacker’

Nostalgia for the Downtown Slacker: Bertoglio’s ‘Downtown 81’ and Linklater’s ‘Slacker’

Both Bertoglio's Downtown 81 and Linklater's Slacker showcase characters who are blissfully aimless, anarchic souls discretely or overtly spurning a predictable, soulless society.

Fontaines D.C.’s ‘Dogrel’ and the Power of the Voice

Fontaines D.C.’s ‘Dogrel’ and the Power of the Voice

The vocals on Fontaines D.C. debut, Dogrel, are megaphonic, more shouty than croony. Indeed, Fontaines D.C. is spoken-word, white-boy rap at its most vociferous and off-kilter.