Playlist 2020

Here is a list of awesome music I assembled over the past year. It spans a multitude of genres and moods. Each song has within it, at it's very center some indescribable magnetic draw. I'm not always certain what the exact source of that spirit is but in short, here is why the following songs made the cut. 

The format is very condensed. In short, all of these songs are worth a listen (at least once). These selections span everything from the deepest center of commercial pop music to the furthest fringes of disparate niche genres. 

CLICK HERE FOR THE 2020 PLAYLIST

I say just click it and let it play in the background. But if you are curious as to why a certain song made the cut, below I provide the artist name, a short description of the type of music they play, or I think they play. Then in bold is the song title with a short description of why it's on the list.  I didn't do a deep dive into all of these artists, so for some of them I am only familiar with the track(s) on this list, so I might have just guessed at the genre/style. 

What is your favorite? 

• Hiromi - Jazz Piano
• Spectrum; Endlessly creative and relentlessly confident throughout.
• Jacob Collier - Alien
• Home Is; Achingly precise. Sanctified tension. Absolute resolution. 
• The Avett Brothers - Bittersweet, Self-Aware Folk Legends
• Bang Bang; It is difficult to discuss current political/moral stances through popular music. Nice effort. 
• Brass Against - Big gnarly brass band, covers rock songs
• Laterlus; Tool cover that is way too fun!
• Soil & "Pimp" Sessions - Deceptive Japanese(?) Lounge Bebop
• Shapeshifter; Infectious groove. Surprise subversive solos.
• Architects - Alternative Rock(?)
• Change; Really solid Deftones cover with nice orchestral backing.
• Louis Cole - Hard Edge Slant Funk
• My Buick; Some riffs can't not be listened to.
• No BS! Brass Band
• Ain't Even Gonna Call Ya; Gang vocals singing a great hook!
• The Mountain Goats
• Cadaver Sniffing Dog; Innovative story-telling, deceptive content/mood juxtaposition. 
• Doom Side Of The Moon - Pink Floyd tribute band
• Time; Excellent tribute. Added drums, guitar and more. Same flavor, double the mood. 
• Bon Iver - Cryptic Pop Folk
• iMi; Amazing production, reminiscent of the best of Dirty Projectors. HQLo-Fi.
• Marilyn Manson - Sacrilegious Pantomime Rock
• God's Gonna Cut You Down; Haha, Devil man do God song. wow much irony. Good song though. 
•  Nina Nesbitt - Sultry throat warbles
• Toxic; Brittany Cover. Completely indulgent. I dare you not to sing along. 
• Tides of Man - Instrumental Evolution
• Static Hymn; Solid Indie vocabulary throughout. Supremely satisfying transition at the end. 
• Their Dogs Were Astronauts - Djent adjacent Indie-Metal Instrumental
• Contortionist; Meditative and fluorescent. Polyrhythmic foundations. Scorching Synth Solo.
• Save Us from the Archon - Progressive Jazz Metal
• I. You Don't Recall Our House Near the Ocean; Challenging, glitchy & unafraid. Long Static Bridge.
• 福居良 - Relatively Unknown Japanese Jazz Pianist
• Early Summer; Sublime, sophisticated, surprising, calm to wildly adventurous and back again. 
• Scenery; Slightly out of tune piano? Gorgeous voicings and forever haunting melody. 
• Mellow Dream; Technical Magic. Meditative Momentum.
• Tumoric - Fuck you and your whole world
• Frontierer; Get rekt.
• Bent Knee - spacious indie diva
• Holy Ghost; She leaves it all in the booth. 
• Land Animal; This lady's voice. Huge production with a lot of space and direction. 
• Beck - Beck
• Chemical; Love is a chemical, I'm so high. Production, Lyrics, Everything. Beck is Beck. 
• Moses Sumney - Indie Soul(?)
• Call-to-Arms; Smooth and sexy. Easy to listen to meandering into chaos jazz glory at the end. 
• The Westerlies - Instrumental Horn Music
• Robert Henry; Classically fundamental construction. Wonderful use of practical composition effects. 
• The Physics House Band - Progressive Indie Jazz Metal Rock
• Death Sequence I; Amazing Journey. Colossal shift of moods throughout. 
• Injury Rerserve, et. al. - Rappers
• Jawbreaker; It's a pop-rap thing. Super catchy hook and fun verses. 
• IDLES - Dark Rock
• Colossus; Builds to a wonderful frenzy. It goes and it goes and it goes. 
• Magne Furuholmen, et. al - Loungey High-brow Jazz 
• Take on Me; 80's cover that almost completely obscured by the arrangement. And it works!
• The Lumineers - Alt Country
• Classy Girls (B Vers.); LoFi demo vibe. Great song, early Obserst vibes. 
• La Dispute - Emo Cult Rock
• Footsteps at the pond; Glitchy Hook Goodness, Temper Tantrum music featuring delicate production
• Jordan Klassen - Easy Fun Nostalgic pop
• I Want To Move In To Your House; Lyrics, vibe, melody. Triple Check. 
• Fucked Up - That is the name of the band
• Dose Your Dreams; Production is glitchy and clever. Outro is worth the listen. 
• Glass Beach - Reminds me of JPop Jazz, but it's not. 
• Classic J Dies And Goes To Hell Part 1; Melody and lyrics lead the listener into surprising transitions.
• Mount Eerie, Julie Doiron - Sleepy Contemplative Folk
• Belief; Empty Space filed with casually sung epiphanies. Sparse and thoughtful. 
• Ohmme - Indie Pop Alternative
• Water; Patient, Fuzzy Distortion. Fun drums. Satisfying Build.
• Car Seat Headrest - Some kind of Indie 
• The Ending of Dramamine; Long Song. Worth every minute. Enjoy the Journey. 
• Frances Quinlan - Solo Female Vocals with Rhodes
• Piltdown Man; A story of nostalgic youth and energy. Vulnerable and excited.
• Swamp Dogg - I honestly have no idea what this is. Sampled Electronic Remix?
• Answer Me, My Love; Bizarre and disruptive production setting vocals apart in unfamiliar territory. 
• Thee Oh Sees - Indie Rock with a Classic Rock backbone
• Sentient Oona; Why have many lyrics when few lyrics do? Aggressive Organ Hits. Solid Outro. 
• Eddie Hazel - Lofi Blues Guitar
• California Dreaming; Unrecognizable. Taking production out of equation entirely. Only the performance remains. A sacred space. 
• Chili Gonzales - Virtuosic Novelty
• Weezer Medley; An answer to Meldauh's Radiohead? Expertly arranged. Beautiful. 
• Dirty Projectors - Pop Rocks
• Isolation; Innovative production. 'Isolation' is repeated over and over. 2020. 
• Sheena Ringo - Japanese Cinematic Pop?
• 宗教; Enigmatic and compelling. Super Gritty Drums and lush textures. Powerful rising cadences. 
• The Taxpayers - Urban Stomp-Punk
• As the Sun Beat Down; Unbridled and cryptic. Ranting and Raving by a very angry saxophone. 
• Big Thief - Mellow Indie Pop
• Contact; Patient and calm through the end. Then.. a scream! 
• Deerhunter - Unpredictable Modern Rock
• Timebends; A meandering journey into disparate emotions, circling back to eclipsed foundations.
• Tropical Fuck Storm - Rough Edge Alt-Pop
• You Let My Tyres Down; I am constantly humming this chorus to myself. Powerful and Moving. 
• Paradise; Charismatic Vocalist. Beautiful dissident arrangement. Glorious build up and release. 
• Theo Katzman - preachy pop folk
• 100 Years From Now; Catchy song with good wisdom that it's nice to be reminded of often.
• Like a Woman Scorned; Great build. A bit on the nose but great music, performance and message. 
• Good Tiger - Unpredictable Indie Poprockmetal?
• If You Weren't My Son I'd Hug You; Incredible transition and mutation occurs.
• Bad Religion - Pop Punk. Legends. 
• Faith Alone 2020; Familiar arrangement, surprising production. 
• Kamasi Washington - Next Level Improvisational Saxophone.
• Clair de Lune; Beautiful Melody, Adventurous arrangement. Brilliant and soothing manipulation. 
• The Dear Hunter - Operatic Rock
• The Lake and the River; A production of epic scope and ambition. Manifested with a perfect ease. 
• Weatherday - Lo-fi Gritcore
• My Sputnik Sweetheart; Infinite energy. Broken microphones. Psychedelic nostalgic memory punk. 
•  Saintseneca - Folk Rock
• Pillar of Na; Catchy hooks. Echos of Neutral Milk. 
• Harry Styles - International Pop Superstar
• Falling; Just a damn good song. 
• Lights Up; That Dirty Projectors Vibe. I could get behind a larger aesthetic movement in this direction. 
• FINNEAS - Derivative Indie Pop
• Die Alone; A direct clone of something from Manchester Orchestra. Gorgeous hook though and it goes it's own way after that. Beautiful and Haunting. 
• Halsey - Emotive Female Pop
• Finally // beautiful stranger; Right in the pocket. Everything about this hits in a very satisfying way. 
• Mestís - Progressive Rock
• El Mestizo; Fun Grooves  and thoughtful transitions. jazz metal. 
• Little Tybee - Some kind of progressive gypsy rock
• More Like Jason; A satisfying groove that gives way a crunchy bridge and polyrhythmic outro that widens the space between ones ears. 
• PUP - Indie Rock
• Scorpio Hill; Lo-fi folk turns to focused 90's alt punk ethos. Vulnerable and honest lyrics. 
• Anderson .Paak - Rock/Hip-Hop fusion
• CUT EM IN; Infectious. 
• Dawes - Retro Soft Rock
• St. Augustine At Night; A beautiful sung song. poignant lyrics. sweet but far from saccharine. 
• Busdriver - kooky, philosophical, technical hip-hop
• the big think; Spastic flow. Gymnastic articulation. Nuggets of things we need to hear. 
• Deftones - Alt Rock Powerhouse
• Ohms; So happy to have new Deftones. Classic sound only matured by time. Chino on his A-game. 
• Lukas Graham - Swedish Pop Band
• Share That Love; Ear Candy. Tiny bit of auto-tune spice. Wonderful hook. Authentic performance. 
  
• Where I'm From; Wiz Khalifa on the chorus. Inspirational. Easy groove. 
• Otoboke Beaver - The best punk band you've never heard of
• Bakuro book; Pre-chorus is a gravity-well of magnetism. Chorus is to fun. 
• anata watashi daita ato yome no meshi; Everything you know about punk rock is wrong. 
• What do you mean you have to talk to me at this late date?; Relentless and constantly surprising. 
• Anata Ga Falling Love Shita No Ha Watashi Ga Kirai na Onnanoko; Long song titles.
• Guster - Indie Alt Jammy Pop? 
• Ruby Falls; Kind of Pink Floyd vibe. Beach boys bridge.  Meandering and relaxed muted trumpet outro.
• Bicurious - Weird Rock
  
• I Don't Do Drugs, I Just Sweat a Lot; A direct export from some past experience of mine. 
• Black Country, New Road - Spoken Word Free-Form Jazz Rock
• Sunglasses; One of my absolute favorites of the bunch. Chaos channeled into focused meaningful absurdity. 
• jizue - Technical minimist Jazz (Japanese?) 
  
• Rain Dog; Has that cool JavaJazz groove mixed with a Phillip Glass philosophy allowed to go off the rails every now and then. 
• 錯乱前戦 - Chinese(?) alt-country roadhouse indie punk
• TAXIMAN; Further proof that lyrics are secondary to groove. I don't know what they are saying but I understand this music. 
• Daniil Trifonov - Classical Piano
  
• L'oiseau de Feu. Suite pour piano: III. Finale; Gorgeous 20th century composition, wonderfully performed. 
• Pinegrove - Meditative Zen Frequencies
  
• Marigold; Vibrations that hit the spot. You know the one. Patience through end for completion. 
• Christian Soctt aTunde Adjuah - Creative Improvised Music
  
• X. Adjuah (I Own the Night); Great tune followed by a short lecture on the reevaluation of performer, audience, instrument and music. 
• The Bad Plus - Jazz
  
• Avail; Some spicy voicing and rhythmic concepts I wanted to be reminded of. 
• Dogleg - Thicc, greasy punk rock
• Fox; Perfect gang vocals on chorus, relentless vocals. non-stop cymbals. They lean in. 
• György Ligeti, Khatia Buniatishvili - Minimilist Dueling Pianos
• Musica ricercata No. 7 in B-Flat major; Constant Energy from the start. Can't tell if it's improvised. Don't care.
• The Smoking Flowers - Sloppy Folk Rock
• Carry The Torch; Reckless abandon with harmonies at the end. 
• Eastern Youth - Japanese Driving Pop Punk
• 沸点36℃; I want to learn Japanese just to understand this. Emotive and soul piercing. 
• Lighting Bolt - Heavy Overwhelming Whitenoise Rock
  
• Blow To The Head; Really cool "quiet loud" production. A slight SOAD influence but solidly in their own aesthetic space. Very original and fun to listen to. 
• Death - Jammy Progressive Folk
• Let The World Turn; Unpredictable to the end. 

I hope these tracks inspire you and lead to great discoveries of your own through the next year. If you are interested in following along with the journey for 2021. Check out my 2021 Dig List. This is a list of songs that are damn good, but don't quite hit the spot. It will grow throughout 2021 as I use these tracks as jumping off points for deeper exploration throughout the year.

Be safe out there! 

Ornette Coleman - Science Fiction (Part II)

Ornette Colemen
Science Fiction - Part II
1971

Why am I writing about this record? [LINK]

OK. My mind is ready. Pushing 'Play' on 'Happy House'; 

An element of that template discussed in part 1. all instruments playing in unison while drums and bass roll around in the background. Short bursts of ideas punctuated with long rests. Setting up a free-for-all of chattering in the pre-solo section.

Is it unfair that saxophone always makes me think of ducks? There is a temptation to associate this kind of feeling with a frantic panic or manic psychosis. David Lynch loves this kind of shit. But there is an underlying current of calm, serene focus. For anyone that's ever played an instrument and tried/accomplished playing lines like this, you know there is an amount of total focus and control that is needed to give the impression of no focus or control.

If Jazz is a koan, this is the answer to the koan. In the interim between this and the first part, I did look up who played trumpet on this record. A lot of different people. But yes, many times it does appear that Ornette Coleman himself is playing the trumpet. I suppose I should have known this, but I didn't. That's a pretty cool thing to learn! I Don't think it is him on this track though.

I really find myself trying to look through the mix to find the bass. That guy is just doing some incredible work here. I don't understand drums enough to pick out the subtleties of the percussion, but the bass work is clear as day to me. As I said before, it is clearly revolutionary. There are a few really nice textures he helps build. Dropping out for 4-8 bars at a time when everyone starts chattering. Edging in and out with rising or descending half-steps or modal tones. These are things I want to process and begin including in my own compositional/arrangement theories.

Another seminal sounding drum solo. These tracks are like water flowing down a creek, turning into a river, finding small eddies inside stony nooks. 'Elizabeth' - swirling, methodical. The Bass is being bowed and finding all manner of effects not truly appreciated in the mainstream until the advent of ubiquitous electronic production.

I find myself again searching for the 'glue'. This sound clearly holds together, but how? It's as if an invisible force fills in the gaps, making it coherent. Again with the Star Wars references. I wasn't purposefully doing that because of the title of the record. Interesting how the subconscious works.

There is a lot to be learned here for musicians of every genre. The concepts and consensuses that hold these sounds together, willing them into coherency are the principals of arrangement. Ethereal concepts, cousins to Platonic solids.

Foundational elements. I just described this track as 'swirling'. And now five minutes in, it has started to develop into shapes and figures. A microcosmic, musical analogy for the formation of the universe. The Bass droning and dropping half steps slowly. Slipping in and out of poly-meter. Resting briefly on a small patch of ii-V-I, then off to play again. Those effects! The bass makes up a large part of the otherwise unobservable glue here (and possibly most of the tracks). When all else (including the drums) carry a connotation of aimless wandering, the bass provides a solid contrast of intent.

Absolutely not to say that the other parts are not intentional. They surely have to be. But they do not carry that immediate ethos of intent. The bass is going somewhere. Always either going somewhere or holding down the tarpaulins from flying away.

When the other instruments are playing the melody line, it sounds almost as if the bass is playing the same notes as in the melody but just a little faster. It gives these parts a 'slippery' feel. The track ends with those gorgeous bass effects! wow!

If you only listen to one track on this record, make it 'Elizabeth'. Stunning!

'Written Word' - These tracks with only trumpet, drums and bass are likely Coleman. deduced by language and context. It's his record, so if there's only one lead instrument. probably him yeah? Nope.. there's the sax. Damn. That guy was blowing hard af. I forgot to look up whether Coltrane came before or after. I'm thinking before now. I don't know.. Was Coltrane in the 50's?

"Miles is not pleased with you!" :(

There is a modern Indian Saxophonist who I can not remember the name of, but he plays a lot of licks like this. It sounds just like language, which obviously music is. But it really SOUNDS like TALKING when played like this!  I love these moments when the musicians are just dressing out the skeleton of the chart. Again, like the cover of the record so perfectly captures, this pastel blending quality of the notes being played to the harmonic context they appear in.

It's also interesting to note that there is no 'chordal' context in a lot of these tracks. With only the base to hold down the figure, almost all harmony becomes completely fluid and subjective. This becomes a powerful weapon in the hands of a true Jedi. Whereas some tracks feel like Finn speeding down the mouth of a miniaturized death star, this track feels more like Luke projecting himself from the top of Mt. Whateverthefuck into the battle zone. A calm, yet all-encompassing energy. An Energy that would not be capable of being so powerful if it was anything but absolute calm. As the track unwinds we get a glimpse of Kylo Ren realizing that none of it was real. A small smattering of thoughts and a decaying cymbal crash show us Luke, dissolving into the everlasting force as he also realizes that none of it is real. 

I wonder, why did they call this 'Science Fiction'? 'Broken Shadows'; Two saxophones. Three Saxophones? 2 in the back, 1 solo. A distinctly different texture than the other 'slow, slippery' tracks on the record. The drums are very restrained, insisting on a groove instead of swerving around it. The addition of a solo instrument 'talking' over the background texture is the main new element here that gives this a three-dimensional aspect compared to the vocal tracks of the same style earlier.

It's as if all the previous tracks have worked to teach you the basic building blocks and now they are putting them together in some novel ways. The way a foreign language course builds in complexity, each unit dependent on and assuming you comprehended the previous.

'Rubber Gloves' - perfect track for being quarantined. This is how I feel most days now. a little stir crazy and a bit too slap happy. Stuck inside. Learning how to live with people that you live with. When you are stuck together with people for a long time like almost none of us have ever been. You find out that conversations are tricky without the naturally occurring intervals during the day and week where one can find space to process or gain perspective. There is a Call/Response format through the beginning of this track, which gradually becomes longer solo sections which are in and of themselves just longer calls and longer responses. But this is not a break dancing battle where opponents square off on a cardboard mat to challenge each other or try to be better or more creative. It's not a competition, it's a conversation. The difference is essential to understanding why this music sounds like it does.

'Good Girl Blues' I had to restart this track several times. What an INCREDIBLE SOUND! That has to be one of the reasons this album was called science fiction. in 1971 there were definitely bands experimenting with synthesizers and learning to painstakingly craft new sounds that we take for granted today. But no electronics are in use here, but the intro to this tune could have been one of those WHO songs like 'Baba' where Pete was experimenting with loops and synths!

I am not a huge fan of this swinging zoot suit kind of sound. The whole Brian Setzer vibe seems out of place for the context of this album. I would have skipped this track if it was much longer. It kind of just took me out of it. But all those crazy sounds were worth it! If Jody reads this, I know he'll accuse me of blasphemy on several levels. But I'm counting on his (and Miles') disappointment over my pathetic knowledge of jazz/music history for him to notice too much.

'Is it Forever'; Another one with this guy. He's probably a famous singer and a legend. This one is better than the last by miles (pun intended). It doesn't seem so presumptuous. But still, it sounds too affected. Did he know he was on the same record with whoever the female singer was on the first part? He is not hanging with her in the least. I know some of it was the style at the time. His voice is good, but it smacks to me like a movie-star looking dude that just. can't. act. His voice is killer, but the style is much too kitsch for me. 

Before I can get too tired of it, the instruments come back in with a very modern sounding orchestral arrangement. If you took out the glissandos, this could be a 1980's string quartet or something of that vintage.

I hate to have even one criticism of this record. But I have two. Both tracks with this guy on it. I would have much preferred to hear just instrumentals or bring back the woman singer from the beginning. I'm going to feel so dumb when I find out who it is, right? I have to know. The record is over. I'll look it up. Webster Armstrong. Hmm. I don't know, I guess I don't feel so bad about ragging him now. Killer voice. Let me make that clear.

While I'm researching things;

Charlie Haden on bass. Yeah, I know that name for sure. Can't say exactly from where. Probably as the bassist for Ornette Coleman. Ha!

And I don't feel so bad about the timeline thing. Looks like Coletrane and Coleman were contemporaries and I was right about the '50s'.

Perhaps Miles is only 'mildly annoyed' at me then. And I'm definitely going to get shit about that Brian Setzer comment.

Ornette Coleman - Science Fiction

Ornette Colemen
Science Fiction - Part I
1971 

Why am I writing about this record? [LINK]

Authors Note: This record is really dense and I decided to take a gonzo, real-time free form approach to the experience documentation. It is also a LONG double-disc/LP and I had to break it up into two parts. These are my impressions of part 1.

Pre-listen;

This suggestion comes from one of those few living masters of the Alpha Wave. My dear friend Jody. Our relationship began with him as my piano teacher. I only took a few lessons and then I had to disappear into the world and into myself for awhile to process even the first grain of knowledge he tried to give me. 10 years later we would reconnect for another series of powerful lessons that I am still processing. I love Ornette Coleman but I would say I haven’t ever really ‘listened intently’ to more than a few tracks. I have put his music on while I was studying or playing games, and I recognize his voice. However, there is so much information it feels a bit like trying to absorb Kant or Voltaire.

Fortunately I’m slightly better equipped to process Coleman than Voltaire (thanks in large part to Jody!) so I have an idea of what to expect and I’m eager to jump right in. But because I know what to expect I’m going in with a plan, of sorts. I want to keep from trying to comment on the technical or theoretical aspects of the music and instead I want to listen deeply and try to describe any Proustian jetstreams which are released. This could get weird.

What Reason Could I Give;
Loud, Rhapsody in Blue long notes. Summertime and the living is easy. The fish are jumpin' and everyone in sync. All horns follow the vocals in parallel while the drums and bass coordinate their own independent party. Solid introduction. Close my eyes. Turn up the volume. I swear I hear Chris Cornell in these vocal lines. He no doubt lifted a few things from this type of music.

Civilization Day; Bring it! Excited Geese running the streets of New York on a rainy night. Street lights reflected on wet pavement. Manic obsessiveness for the sake of existing. Joyous Panic. Drums bass, trumpet. Some reverb. That is all. The space is full and brilliant. I resist the urge to look up who is playing here. I should have done that beforehand. "I have to pee!" - “You should have done that at the last gas station” - “Whaaa!”. The sun comes out, it’s morning. What did we do last night? That was crazy. Fast forward motion lights blurred into carnival UFOs. Look out for that car! Jesus am I hung over or still high?

Only five minutes into the first track. I’m exhausted. I haven’t discovered how to listen to hyper bebop like this in a relaxed way. I think that’s the point. It forces you to either leave the room or get fucking hyper. And I know it’s going to keep pushing. I’m strapping in. I’m just going to let it take me. I’ll try to remain still and listen thoughtfully. When the energy finally pushes me to move, I will wait a little longer until the only avenue my mind has is to write the next sentence here.

Street Woman bass solo. How does only bass fill up so much space? Unrelenting forward pocket. Cohesion of aggregate sounds. Trying to identify all the instruments involved during the chorus. Sax, trumpet, bass drums obviously. But something else.. Two additional instruments? I remember, no, this is a quartet. 4 players. Is that right? Overdubs? Surely no overdubs. This feels too fluid, it had to have been played all live.

Science Fiction; There is no chaos here. There are a lot of notes. Some conflicting opinions and competing motives, but it exists as smoke. formless, yet cohesive. This track sounds exactly like the album art looks.

A consensus reached by the players that they should only exist within a wholly shared resonance. Once that consensus is reached, they can do anything they like and the center will hold. Even the introduction of a crying baby which is scientifically proven to be a jarring and unsettling sound is only slightly out of place and while it still pulls at those biological triggers deep within, it serves mostly to to put the rest of the sound into context.

Crying babies are a truly upsetting and dissonant sound, designed specifically by nature to sound so bad you must respond to it. Compare that please, directly with these other sounds. By direct contrast you see the ‘smoke of sound’ being produced is actually quite serene. Perhaps even joyous and meaningful.

There is likely some other meanings that can be derived from the baby, all of which have surely been dissected in a million student essays and critiques during the the last 50 years. There was a man saying something in severely punctuated sentences. Forcing the mind to automatically access the parts of the brain necessary for making sense out of noise. But because the words are so far apart, they lose their meaning. And in the spaces, the brain is forced to use that activated space to solve something, so it goes to work on the music, bringing it all into focus. Good trick.

Rock the Clock; Let’s play all the most annoying noises we can on the fiddle. This is experimentation with magic. A consensus has been reached with these fellows. As long as all of them are 100% in agreement at all times, the center will hold. "Hey, let’s see if we can do this thing that would not work under any other circumstances!" There is a wookie growling at someone in the background of this track. Do Wookie's play trumpet?

All My Life; Thank God, a respite. I love listening to the drums on the ‘calm’ tunes. Testing the absolute boundaries of the pocket. ‘The Pocket’. The holiest of temporal concepts, understood only vaguely by most and by me, practically not at all. Until I met Jody. It took him a long time but he was patient and I finally got it. I can’t always execute my feelings exactly in the pocket, but I can instantly recognize it now and maintain a deep appreciation for the dual tangible and quantum natures of it.

This is a template. Drums and bass carry on in tandem and seemingly obvious to the rest of the band. The rest of the band follows in parallel with a sliding and slow melody line. Both times accompanied by a solo/soaring vocal.

Law Years; Bass is revolutionary here. My concept of music history and who’s who is always a bit fuzzy. I don’t hold details like that in my brain very well. But this has a little bit of Mingus, some Ellington and something else? Bill Evans? It’s classy but incredibly dirty. Such perfect reciprocity with the drums. Of course, I know that Ornette Coleman is a sax player. But the trumpet player sounds just like him too. I’ll have to look this up afterwards. I’m not aware if Coleman played trumpet at the same level as the sax but it has got to be the same person. Except, I’ve heard trumpet and sax at the same time. Of course, those sounded like written lines that could be played by 'anyone'. It’s the improvisation parts on trumpet that sound exactly like ideas coleman would have on sax.

Drum solo. Every drummer since this time must have just lifted the vocabulary from this record. What he’s doing sounds like 99% of drum solos I’ve ever heard, but this feels like it’s close to the original source material, if not directly it.

Speaking of, ‘The Jungle is a skyscraper’ begins with an extended drum solo that is pure imagination. Then back to swinging. God, I should know where Coleman falls in relation to Coltrane. But off the top of my head, I do not. I’m going to say coleman comes before Coltrane. This is where Jody would point to a GIANT picture of a disapproving Miles Davis he kept on his studio wall and say something like "Miles is not pleased with you." I know, I know. 

I hear a lot of the same thoughts but Coltrane sounds more like a ‘roughed’ up Coleman. So, how did he rough it up if he didn’t already hear it somewhere? The trumpet player here is different. And that must be Coleman on sax growling/screaming into it as he plays. Visceral Carnage.

Each song is over before I can even process what I’m hearing. I wanted to just listen and be taken away but it keeps re-engaging my brain. Then the metacognitive kicks in and I want to examine what these hooks are. How they are grabbing me? Where are they sticking? How hard are they pulling?

School Work; Currently, the hooks are embedded deep in the adrenal glands, releasing adrenaline in massive quantities. Quickened breath. Acute sense of shift in vibration. The bass is responsible. Existing in a difficult to define space between “as forward as possible in one pocket” and “as far back in the next one”. Somehow existing outside all of time and space. I wonder if this is called school work because it consists of little ‘exercises’? The sax solo sounds like a series of small technical workouts vs. the stream of consciousness flavor of previous breaks.

Country Town Blues; One thing I’m noticing these days with masterworks such as these; If you really focus your attention, you can hear every note. Every idea is crystal clear. Even if there are several thoughts happening at once, the perfect counterpoint created by total consensus supersedes any Fuxian theories transcending instead to a driving conduit of pure energy. But each phrase is full of intent and purpose and without approximation. Crystal clear signal from Outerspace.

A translation of universal vibration in the same way an antenna can pick signals out of the air and convert them to sound, so are these musicians communing with a higher plane and translating the physical information back to us via music. This is coaxium. Unrefined. Pure energy. This is the data inside of an optical undersea cable. A blurring flood of bundled information to be decoded on site. ?Refined quickly before it can explode. 

This is the light of a long dead supernova, reaching through eons of space to trigger the aurora borealis in your soul. 

This is one of my favorite performances available online from Jody (he’s the one on piano). There are moments of transcendentalism that still spark my core every time I listen to it. Go listen to at least the first 10 minutes to get your tits completely blown off. [LINK]

Dismemberment Plan - Emergency & I

Dismemberment Plan
Emergency & I
1999

Why am I writing about this record? [LINK]

This suggestion was sent to me by a 'new, old' acquaintance. I have an amazing anecdote about this friend, but that will have to wait for another time. So, let's just jump right in! It starts off aggressively saccharine in a weird jane’s addiction kind of way. Around the middle of the first track ‘Life of POssibilities,’ there is a change in texture that hints there might be something more to come. The bass transforms into a flapping tire and stays there, fluctuating on the edge of intonation in a pleasant way.

Track 2, “Memory Machine” - immediately detours from any kind of pandering pop with a delicious crystalline structure of guitar noises, distortion and a perfectly placed organ that is often the secret ingredient in a sound like this. And again, at the end, this structure is pushed to its limit with a mantra of driving madness.

By Track 3 - “What Do You Want Me To Say?” I think I understand what to expect from the sound of this record. Typical late 90’s alternative rock melodic hooks dressed up with an aggressive garage punk aesthetic. Notice I did NOT say ‘pop-punk’ because it isn’t exactly punk rock by rhythmic or format definition. But there is a gritty, reckless approach to the arrangements that are dripping with an authentic desire to distance themselves from the established vocabulary of pop-rebel music.

Each track seems to start with an invitation to get comfortable. The melodies are cushy, the guitars and warm and the lyrics are just off-kilter enough to hold your attention. But then as the songs unfold, a collection of ‘other sounds’ begin to invade the space until at some point during a bridge or outro, you find yourself completely encased within a chrysalis of cacophony. Brief respites of this theme such as ‘The Jitters’ only serve to build a stronger more cohesive structure as this precedes ‘I Love A Magician’, which starts out directly in high gear.

There is an element of using competing instrument ‘noises’ as ‘percussion’. That is, less attention is paid to the tonality and harmony of individual parts than is to how they fit together in a rhythmic puzzle. This can be seen in other major avenues of thought emerging around this time from places like Omaha/Saddle Creek and in particular, I’m thinking of a band like Cursive.

I can also see slight parallels with Dubstep which would not emerge for another 10 years or so. Mainly I’m thinking of how noise and distortion are used in polyrhythmic combinations to create undeniable grooves.

‘You Are Invited’ begins with the kind of tension I’ve come to expect from this album already. An almost 80’s drum machine loop punctuated by a single Casio keyboard sound on every other & of 4. This creates a rhythm that is easy to bob your head along to, but unless you are paying attention that little ‘catch’ keeps you on your toes. A swirl of ambiance threatens to overflow into more of that catchy chaos, but this track stays reserved except for a straight-produced pop bridge. For me, the payoff was not here. I could have done without the middle section.

I know that the term ‘emo’ is a trigger word. I’ve seen analyses of the genre that place it’s origins back in the ’80s and there are internet rumors that this style of music still exists today. For me, ‘emo’ became part of the ‘consciousness of music’ sometime around 2000. While I know that there is nothing more dangerous for a critic to do than mislabel any band emo. I’m going to say that this band could be prototypical of the style.

I just did a quick Wikipedia search for a list of emo bands and I see this one is on there. So I feel relatively safe saying that. However, also on this list are Death Cab and Weezer. Both of which I have heard many passionate and near-violent arguments over when it concerns the label of ‘emo’.

It doesn’t matter. I probably should have left the whole emo thing out of it. It’s good music, that’s all. ‘Gyroscope’ has a shimmering vocal effect that made me stop everything and just listen. That’s all I really want out of music, anyway. Do something that forces me to listen. I'm more than willing to give any music my full attention. But only rarely does something DEMAND my attention. And this little vocal effect does just that. Beautiful.

‘The City’ has a vocal line that Brendon Urie would be proud of. ‘Girl O’ Clock’ sounds a little like the Rugburns trying to do Primus. Frantic Performance Art. I approve. And I know that a little record from 1999 is desperately seeking my approval in 2020. But I’m just saying that a track like this that has been around for 20 years and has less than half a million listens on Spotify is disappointing. It doesn’t look like people are digging into the depths of these cuts.

With a project like this, the last tracks are often the best. Remember this was released on a CD. [insert sarcastic description of what a CD is to assert snarky generational authority] - When a band like this hits the groove, They don’t put the ‘worst’ tracks towards the end as most people believe. Some bands did that just to fill out a record back in the days (surely they don’t do that anymore!) but the energy here from the beginning was one of uncorked inspiration. So the last songs are going to be the most adventurous as the band, rightly, assumes that anyone listening this far is on board with the premise and is therefore willing to follow them all the way down the rabbit hole.

As far as rabbit holes go, this band is elbow deep and one can imagine some kind of Napoleonic frenzy of activity below the surface. A fuzzy piranha nest of teeth and fur. When the hand is pulled back, the remaining stump of the arm brings sudden inspiration. Dismemberment Plan. Warm and fuzzy until it isn’t. And then it really isn’t.

So, I just recently learned that Napolean was once set upon by a thundering stampede of violent rabbits, forcing his small army to retreat in terror. Hence that incredibly clever 'Napoleonic frenzy' line. My God, I really am just that good!  Check it out!

The Boomswagglers - Bootleg Beginnings

The Boomswagglers Bootleg Beginnings from the Shack out Back - HillGrass BlueBilly Sessions 2011

Why am I'm writing about this album? [CLICK HERE]

Suggested by my cousin, who is currently wrapped fully in that beautiful twilight of hubris that often comes along with a strong jaw, surplus of musical talent, an intimidating vocabulary and a knack for philosophy. A dangerous combination. For the world or for himself, we have yet to see. I recognize his journey as well as seeing that he is closer to the heart of the matter at this point than I was at the same age. This suggestion of his is the case in point. I did not reach the particular guidepost which would allow me to appreciate or create this type of music until late in my 20’s. Also, he has already heard of Jeff Buckley, Conor Oberst, John Prine and Voltaire. I blame YouTube.

During one of the high points of my artist output, my friends and I played a style of music that we called ‘Goo Grass’. A kind of sticky, off-balance bluegrass. The kind of self-assured stylistic choice borne out of an inability to reach a more refined variation of the same sound.

Boomswagglers have moved beyond this primordial soup we called Goo-Grass into what I easily recognize as the mature archetype of our early experiments. Their choices here do not stem from a lack of ability but seem instead to flow from an uninhibited delight of folk-magic.

These are people who have mastered the elements of the hill music. The masters of this magic are free to wield it however they like. This is the dirt-sorcery. They call it HillGrass, BlueBilly music which speaks to the same lexiconic symbolism as our term, ‘Goo Grass’, but garners a more robust structure which is reflected perfectly in this music.

Unabashed loose ends. The record sounds purposefully jagged. Overblown mics. It exists in that narrow seam between naïveté and carelessness. Focus without Attention and Attention without Focus. Easy to do accidentally, difficult to maintain consistently.

‘Why I sleep Alone’ is a perfect concoction rusty production of traditional melodic anchors whiplashing into a jug band jubilee with an unstable and fluctuating tempo. It’s a little squishy, but not ‘Gooey’ This is the sound I was always looking for but never found. It pleases me greatly that this music exists.

If you’ve heard of Avett Brothers. This is what happens if those boys ever get hooked on the methamphetamines. And not in a Trampled-by-Turtles-manic-ethos kind of energy. The sitting-around-an-oil-lamp-in-the-freezing-winter-laughing-so-hard-one-of-your-tooths-falls-out kind of energy. Like the Avetts, Boomswagglers hang vivid contemporary narratives and modern imagery on the hooks of old gospel, country and bluegrass standards. However, If the Avetts are defined by INTIMACY then Boomswagglers are IMMEDIACY. It is an immediacy that is starkly defined by the splintery nature of the recording and reinforced by the name of the band, the record and marketing in toto. Everything about the package tells you to expect something raw, seedy and untamed.

“Jim & Jack” is a profanity-laced blue ballad laid over the bones of Johnny Cash’s ‘A Boy Named Sue’ - Or it could be an ‘R’ rated Ray Stevens song. One is forced to immediately consider whether the rawness and lewdness is meant to be comical or poignant. I believe it’s a bit of both. ‘Mornin’ Pills’ threatens to honestly confront the listener with a serious expression and ‘Wilco Blues’ continues this theme of the earnest confessional in a convincing and fulfilling way.

The final track threw me a little. ‘Run You Down’ starts out with a very upfront kik and guitar in direct contrast with the rest of the record which was very vocal-heavy. At first, I was confused by the drastic change in sound and feared it was a change in production style. Perhaps they were going to lift the curtain and show us a traditionally produced track? But then the vocals came in, still overloaded but buried way back in the back. Scooping the middle out of everything and preserving the continuity of the record as a whole while introducing a small element of shape to the dynamics at the very end. It’s easy to miss that this song seems to be about the singer running a woman over with his car over because she was in love with another man.

Despite the dark themes and contemplative turn towards the end, there is an obvious tongue-planted-firmly-in-cheek approach to the entire endeavor. This often comes as a necessity with production like this because I believe the artist compensates for the inherent balance that the listener needs to appreciate it. The listener's mind must be framed to accept that this is an ‘off the cuff’, ‘work with what we have’, ‘just fucking around’, ‘one-take’ kind of production. The easiest way to do that is to begin with a spat of ‘novelty’ sounding songs that stomp the boots and then turn ever so slightly to face the listener and say ‘can I be real with you for a moment?’. It makes for an enjoyable and powerful moment. Not to belabor the Avett connection but 4 Thieves gone gets right to the heart of this in terms of how production choices affect listener engagement. That record begins with a very raw seedy track that would be at home on this Boomswaggler record and then immediately turns to face the listener and becomes very sincere. Boomswagglers wait just a bit longer and when they do turn to face you, their face is still a bit in the shadow.

If you allow your ears to acclimate to the piercing atmosphere of this record, a lot of depth can be found. From how the percussion and bass get laid into the mix or the flangy/ping-pongy ethereal curtain behind ‘Wilco Blues’ is especially beautiful.

I didn’t do any research so for all I know this is a ‘joke’ band of some kind made up of superheroes. It wouldn’t surprise me. The songwriting is on point, the performances are essentially flawless, and the production is not near as sloppy as it pretends to be. The total effect is that I believe this music is not only completely authentic but also authentically complete. It sounds like 2 or 3 guys and there may have been overdubs, but if you told me it was actually recorded in an open-air shack by a couple of dudes with a 4track, 2 mics, a woodstove and too much beer. I would not doubt you for a second.


That is all that matters.

To hear what I was doing around this same time, check this LINK which is as close as I could get to the aforementioned 'Goo Grass'. Check out my cousin's fledgling journey down this same jagged path HERE

It's Been A Minute

Continuing the cycle of overextending myself, getting burned out, rising from the ashes as some intoxicated Pheonix to do it all over again I have now returned to this nest of half-thoughts and philosophical introspection disguised as innocent and rambling blog posts.

Last I spent any real time here I was trying to listen to all the new music put out by everyone in the world during a single year. Yeah, it went about as you would expect, but you can explore past posts to see what survived. I'd like to try that again someday. But Believe it or not, there is more music created than can ever be listened to. You can never hear it all. Isn't that strange? In a world where all the music is available, we'll never hear it all.

I am writing to you in the midst of the global crisis of my lifetime. The COVID-19 pandemic. We have been isolated inside our houses for weeks now and there is no clear end in sight. Despite the magic of the internet and constant interactivity over social media and text, there is a real crushing sense of disconnection beginning to set in. Phone calls and Facebook can not replace casual conversation that takes place over coffee, face to face, in a chance meeting or as part of your routine mundane social patterns. There is no exposure to strangers or random encounters with that person who will never see again but has something to say that speaks right to your heart. And everyone is dying.

At least it seems that way. I haven't had any directly related COVID deaths in my life at this point, but celebrities and musicians are dropping like flies and a couple of recent events got me reminiscing on the connections and relationships I've been honored enough to cultivate during my life.

John Prine died this week of COVID. Obviously, such a tremendous loss and I was given cause to examine my relationship with his music. As a budding songwriter, I obviously was exposed to and listened to his work but It took a casual face to face interaction with a dear friend of mine to really drive the power of his songs home to me. It was on Sunday's that my friend Jon (different Jon) would get together and play guitars in my basement in Nebraska. He was of my dad's generation and as we took turns playing songs back and forth he would often play old folk and bluegrass covers. Many of which were the first I had heard them. Without fail he would play a Prine tune that I wasn't familiar with and the power was so potent that it stood out from everything else we were doing. If it wasn't for my friend Jon I may have never truly learned to appreciate Prine.

I also lost a long time friend to cancer this week. The combination of the two events led to different trains of thought but they both met in the same place. My friends are pretty great! I'm not a very communicative person. I don't call a lot, I don't text a lot. I often let friendships lapse for months or even years. But my friends. always seem to still be there when we do reconnect. As if no time has passed. I think this is a special bond and I'm happy to have more than a few.

When I think back to the impact my friends have had on my life, I almost always and immediately go to music. Not just playing music but also listening to it. I surely discovered much great music on my own, but those occasions where someone shared with me a special treasure that they knew about are powerful moments.

Sitting in my friend Chris' garage on two metal folding chairs. A boombox in between us on a milk crate. We light a joint and smoke it down while he plays for me Badmotorfinger for the first time in my life. Unforgettable and transitory.

My friend Mike and I, rummaging through his dad's CD collection to find all the ones that mike had heard the 'F' word on. He said 'check this one out' and puts in NiN Downward Spiral. Yeah, I heard the 'F' word on there for sure and we giggled our stupid little heads off, but I also heard something else. Something that cracked open the veil of perception as cleaning as any hit of LSD or religious epiphany. Taking that entire stack of CDs back to my house and listening to them one by one in headphones on my mom's Boombox/CD player. The sound of 'Once' by Pearl Jam fading in. My first listen through of TEN still burned in my memory and more visceral to me now than the memory of losing my virginity.

Moving to Nebraska and making friends that had been neck-deep in the birth of the Saddle Creek/Omaha music scene. And here's me, having never heard of Conor Oberst, Bright Eyes, Cursive or any of it. Having this treasure trove of experience dumped at my feet as common knowledge was one of the most humbling moments of my life.

The kid who passed me a primus cassette tape in 7th grade. This might have saved my life.

The girl who spelled her name with numbers who passed a cassette mix-tape of all her favorite punk bands. I wish I could find that tape. A firehose introduction to Black Flag, Prong, Minor Threat, Green Jelly and the like. Monumental shifts of perception that still define who I am to this very second. It is the people I associate with and the often the ones who became the best of friends that have turned me onto some of my favorite bands. Music that, in turn, sculpted large parts of my world-view, aesthetics, and personality.

As I sat thinking of these things, staring at a political argument I was having with another friend who has turned me onto some great music, I began wondering what was really important here. I put out a call on my Facebook wall for my friends to comment with a record they think I might have never heard. I'll be listening to these as they come in and write a short post on my initial reactions and see where that takes us.

Contemplation

I'm writing to myself. But I'm putting it on the internet. Letters that should be hidden away in a drawer or burned. Instead, mailed out. Return to Sender. Enveloping opines. Wrapping them up in impulsively knitted designs of erudite temperament.

2016

It was alright.

I did not make it through the list. Of course. My choices were abysmal by any decent standards. I am thankful for Scientists, in specific Thank You Scientist. Moderat caught my ear. Krizz Kaliko some other stuff was OK. I learned to hate myself and love again and the other way around. I've been upside down. But here we are. For at least one more sentence. Me now. You in the future. This moment, again. See you next time!

Album Of The Year

Kriss Kaliko - Go
Feature Track: Bite My Tongue. 
Keep Listening: Really, just keep listening.. wow. 
Middle Cut: Orangutan
Deep Cut: No Love
Go All The Way: Happyish

My only fear is that is will turn into some kind of R&B mutant. Full of nightmare sex scenes and bump and grind grooves that are ironic on a good day. Track 1 is full of so many new sounds I am about to faint, though. Every track is rated explicit. 16 tracks. If it can hold this momentum... ().()

My issue with music like this is the same as with the poppiest of Pop Country. Some of the best sounding songs have the absolute worst as the only intelligible first-listen lyrics. I am hoping for more Bite My Tounge type tracks. The next track is Didn't Wanna Wake You. Both of these have more "sentimental" vs. "party-time" content. They make for much more powerful experiences. The hooks in the latter are ripped!

There are too many, too fast to really nail down the one that holds it together. But it's a toss up between the subtle yelp and the screaming "Yes, It's something real(?)". The sonic space explored here is really visionary.

Scanning the track list, I see that TechN9ne is featured on two  three of the tracks, including the next one. And I have no intention of skipping Outta Line. OK. Let's dig in. This going to be tasty.

Behave is a total let down, right off the bat. It drops right into the flow a sick beat that falls off the cliff of another break-up banger. Tech N9ne verse gonna pull it around? Meh. Maybe I just don't get R&B irony? I admit, this is a possibility.

Right into drill piece, More. War music. At 2:10, I am positive that Stevie Stone(?) is spitting over the rhythm and melody of Devil Dent Down to Georgia. That is damn cold.

Dubstep is deconstructed and put back together into a cubist master-piece in No No's.

If you are looking for motivation, focus, or energy. Throw on something from this album. Beware, this is a very intense experience to take in one sitting. But individually, dare say randomly, this is an album that is sure to surprise and impress! Orangutan convinces me that Behave was definitely ironic. Ya'll gond' meet a black person in this song. This record is the end of rap/hiphop. The only reason to go back now is because you don't know about this album. The only thing it is missing is a Prince (RIP) solo.

A couple of skippable tracks. But I haven't heard anything that sounded so new and magnetic for quite awhile. Yes, I know how it looks that two of my featured tracks are the Tech verses. But they really are the best ones on this already breathtaking album. "I never said you would be B-E-A-U-T full".

The amount of bravery, talent and preparedness for the delivery of these verses in No Love. The beats are breaking me. They aren't even beats. There needs to be a new word for what is happening here. The only thing beat here, is everyone else's game.

There is another word that comes to mind under the cathedral arches of Stop the World. Comp. As in Comp-ton. As in assembling visual images together into a composite. As in musicians improvising a supporting mesh of sound so that a soloist or spoken word artist can deliver their message.

Beats are out.
Comps are in.
Comped in.
Compton.

Album of the Year.

No Love is a message from the cosmic sentience that has been mistaken for all manner of deities throughout time. Broadcast to the whole world through the one of the loudest megaphones in the universe, Western, Urban, Pop Music. "Noah" Love, Tech will be swallowed by no whale.

M83 - Junk
Feature Track: Go!
Keep Listening: For The Kids


I am in the middle of listening to M83's Junk for the 3rd time. I always get interrupted and I haven't finished yet. It seems like I am listening to dumb house music, but it's not. Am I going crazy? I think this album is fucking amazing too! The guitar solo on Go! alone! Maybe this one is album of the year. Do I need to wait until the whole year is finished before I can decide for sure? Surely something even better will be released, or already has been. Perhaps we will even see the greatest record of all time emerge this year!

Is one be able to, without any uncertainty,  able say what the best album ever created is? And I'm not even speaking objectively here. I mean exactly what I said, subjectively. From your perspective, whatever it may be. Is it actually possible to hold any belief? Even if there is no God. Even if  you and your mind are the only force of reason or perspective. Even if you had the agreement and blessing of every real or imaginable form of secondary confirmation. Would it be possible to truly hold any belief? One as simple as "The best album ever made." or "Album of Year".

Even, "The best song I have heard today" is such a fleeting, ephemeral notion.

Moon Crystal is like Krizz & Tech's Behave. When artists have the ability to make any kind of hook sound any way they want, they get a little carried away in the studio sometimes. It's understandable. That power is better used on the immediate following track, For The Kids, featuring Susanne Sundførd. Do you have any idea how hard it is to put that o with a slash through it when you don't type it often? That alone should show how much I want you to listen to this track.

But you also have to listen to Solitude! Deep breaths. The Wizard takes on that Moon Crystal Vibe without being so conscious about it. These little breaks are silly. The only feature I recognize is Beck. I haven't gotten to that track. I am not at the half-way point. Sure to be interrupted again. There are several tracks featuring MAI LAIN. What is the convention behind spotify ALL CAPS or not? Is this an artist or spotify choice? I notice it a lot in "urban" or "rap" titles and across all genres in features. However, that is very inconsistent. I hate the song Laser Gun but it that hook is indestructible. 2017 is going to see the sound of horns and glorious symphonic reconditioning done to shit until the mere mention of a trumpet will send the prospective Listener running AWAY from the headphones. What kind of fucked up crazy world are we living in?® 

Don't get me wrong, this record sounds awesome. But you really might not feel good about yourself after you do. They are playing with the "bliss point" of some of the most potent vibration theory available... To Be continued.

Short Term Memory

Terrace Martin
Velvet Portraits

I was going to say something about this record. I forgot what it was.

It was pretty good, tho.

Someone is Listening to my Phonecalls...

Deftones; Gore
Feature Track: Doomed User
Keep Listening: (L)MIRL
Deep Cut: Gore

I only owned a few band T-shirts back in the day. And one of my favorites was a white baseball syle logo (in blue). If you are any kind of responsible music listener, then you must realize that Deftones possess one of the most unique and infectious sounds in all of rock music. However, in my opinion the last few albums have sounded more like a really good cover band trying to make their own originals.

But Gore comes out of the gate with a fresh new energy that should make even the hippest and most hyped new alternative rock bands tremble with a awe. This is barbaric. It is the classic sound of my youth, imbued with some creative recording techniques to sound like what we remembered feeling like when we first heard this sound.

This looks to be a great experience. The title track, Gore sounds like a social commentary on modern times and hits with a brutality beyond comparison.

I just re-listened to Around The Fur and scanned White Pony to make sure.

The best record they have ever made.

Thank you, guys!

smh

Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals; Call It What It Is

So this album is only streaming on Pandora. Since I switched to Spotify a few years ago, I have never looked back, but I ventured back into Pandora's box to see if I could get a listen to this new record. I love Ben Harper (who doesn't?) and was pretty excited to hear a new effort from him after almost a decade.

However, it seems that I can only get to a list of the songs, but can't actually play them. So I guess I have to create a station and then wait for the songs off the album to come up in rotation randomly.

*long sigh.....

I'll call it what it is. Stupid. It's fucking stupid. I'm sure this album is awesome, but I will never know for sure because now I'm moving on to the next one in the list. Deftones. Their new album Gore is on Spotify, because they are not stupid. smh.

Worth a Little Bit of Patience

Black Stone Cherry: Kentucky
Feature Track: Shakin' My Cage
Keep Listening: Hangman
Deep Cut: The Rambler
Even Deeper: I Am The Lion

If you are the type that revels in derivative post-grunge pop, Please make it Black Stone Cherry. A band that sounds kind of lame at first but constantly provides its own salvation through truly grunge tones and textures. Big guitar fills and solos.

By track three, the trauma of the last 10 years of shit-grunge starts to recede a little and I feel like I can hear this band for what they are. I have nothing left to give of this type of energy, but I would have played this in steady rotation during my teen years.

If one can forget the pathetic popular evolution of grunge, it is easy to imagine Black Stone Cherry the next obvious successor to the dark and dirty, sticky wood floors that birthed Soundgarden and AiC.

Kentucky combines a strange combination of authentic late-80's pre-grunge with a modern nearly-kitshe production. Literally, every song starts out with me rolling my eyes. However, almost every song wins over a small part of my hardened, cynical soul with a few perfectly placed riffs or legitimate grungy breaks.

I would say that the music is predominantly generic and would only appeal to a very specific demographic (I will not say which one). A lot of you might want to associate a band like this with Nickel Back, Creed or Matchbox 20. But I feel that there is some subtleties taking place that put Black Stone Cherry into a slightly different category. It is worth taking a quick look at this 15 track album.

If the song sounds like a shitty alt-pop song at the beginning, skip it. But if you like how the opening riff hits you, stay in for the whole song. You will find some definite gems on here, like Hangman!

Schrödinger's Unfortunate Discovery

Autolux - Pussy's Dead
Feature Track: Listen to the Order
Notable Mention: Brainwasher
Keep Listening: Change My Head


My kind of guitar solos! Noise, with only the bare essentials of a hook to hold it together. Sound portrayed as music.Beginning with the break in the first track, Selectallcopy, Autolux lays out the thesis for a collection of songs that breaks from the 'Pink Floyd-esque' ideas of their back catalog. With Pussy's Dead, Autolux solidly steps foot into a new evolution of hook.

Noxious bass lines that reflect off of the pads like a craggy old tree on a winter lake. This band will fool you into thinking you are listening to just another house track. Then, suddenly, it will be an ugly pop song screaming with urgency, breaking free from the pablum. A contemplative album that ebbs and flows with brave expressions of rhythm and granular synthesis.

Deadly unproductive drone tracks such as Brainwasher more than make a nod to The Beatles, but in a way that highlights the power of that McCartney turn rather than try to directly exploit it. Listen to the Order promises A Wolf at the Door kind of high and delivers in less than two minutes with the first guitar break. I am getting blindly and wonderfully disoriented into the world of the drummer during this track. at 2:30 when the rest of the animals come out to play I am beyond elation.

Reappearing sounds like a 60's summer beach song with played in 3 different keys at the same time. Their complete disregard of the currency that is harmony brings a warmness to my soul.

Change My Head is a masterpiece. It sounds like they used a speed-affected sample at different speeds to imply a bass line. These muddy sounds are replaced by an actual bass guitar for the meat of the song, which plods along like kurt kobain trying out a new progression.

Don't let the above comparisons come off as diminutive towards Autolux's accomplishments with this album. I see this band as one who is working to understand the new language of alternative/psychedelic music. This language has rapidly developed  in the last 15-20 years as main-stream rock, alternative rock, EDM, classic rock, hip-hop, jazz and classical have all started to blend together as influences of popular music. It is an ever shifting and ephemeral dialogue and Becker is as fine a punctuation as any to end any significant statement. Such as, Pussy's Dead.

Lubomyr Melnyk - Illirion

Lubomyr Melnyk - Illirion


Eternal Bliss. Freedom of motion, outside of time. A discipline of thought manifested as sound. Vibrations bound by intent and focus, momentum obtained and retained by presence, alone. Submission to the changing moment of continuous existence. Motives built on breath instead of Meter. Searching. Painting with Black.

PEARS - Green Star: A Breath of Life for a Dead Genre

PEARS
Green Star
Feature Track: Anhedonia
Keep Listening: Green Star
Deep Cut: Doorbell

When I was a freshman in high school, there was a group of upper classmen who I met through community theater. I can't say that I was ever "part of their group" or anything, but they were nice to me and introduced me to a few things that contributed to my nascent personality. For instance, my first beer was a Rolling Rock poured into my mouth from the 2nd balcony by Scott Kearny at a cast party.

One of the most influential people for me during that time was a girl name Br3it Anderson. Yes, she spelled her name with a 3. I thought it was badass. Actually, I still do. Br3it was a bad ass chick. Rumors abounded that she met Marilyn Manson at the Rock & Roll hall of fame and "dated" him for a bit. I have no idea if that is true, but I want to believe it. She was the daughter of my English teacher. Her father introduced me to the work of Joseph Campbell and once gave me extra credit on an exam because  I was able to name the song 'Rats' by Pearl Jam based on a 15 second clip of the song. Her mother was an obsessive Rock & Roll fan and had a 8'x6' afghan with the likeness of Steven Tyler on it. She made it herself. She always had an Aerosmith shirt on.

Anyway, one day during a rehearsal for our Highschool production of Three Musketeers, she gave me a mix tape, out of blue. I have no idea why she gave it to me or what made her think (realize) that I needed it. This was back when mix-tapes were literally cassettes. I can't remember all the tracks, but I remember most of them. It was a collection of the sickest tracks I had ever heard. Blag Flag, Prong, Minor Threat, Green Jelly, Bad Brains, Fugazi and many other bands I had never heard of. I wore that tape out! My first listen through that tape was one of the most crucial moments of my youth and it sticks with me and informs my sensibilities to this day.

The older I get, the more difficult it becomes to really get excited about bands in the "punk" genre. Over time this genre has become so watered down and confused that one never knows what will come out of the speakers. It could be pop music, hard-core, screamo or any number of other types of music that do not make me think of "punk".

From the get-go I knew that PEARS was legit. The average length of any track is about 90 seconds and their sound flows through meter changes and sonic moods in a way that took me right back to that cassette tape. There is a specific feeling that I get in my gut, head and soul when I hear some of those old mix-tape songs and for me most of this new album resonates on that same frequency.

PEARS brings a new sophistication to a legitimate brand of punk by allowing subtle hints of pop, rock and hardcore to seep through for seconds at a time while never veering from the tried and true patina of dirty garage punk rock.

One Weird Thing is That You Have Probably Never Listened To This Album

The Bears
Eureka! (2007)
Feature Track: On

I know about The Bears because of their association with guitarist, electronics guru and producer Adrian Belew. Their 2007 release Eureka! is a masterpiece. However, if you hurry now, perhaps you can be the 700th person to listen to the album on Youtube. On Spotify, The Bears are not faring much better.

Despite the relative small impact these metrics would suggest, with the advent of nearly flawless data storage and playback system with little or no degradation, time will prove this band out to be one of the most influential and powerful musical forces to emerge out of this era of recorded pop music.

This band touches on the edge of the best sounds Weezer ever achieved while intermittently breaking out into disastrous hooks that must be an influence on Dave Grohl's ever maturing sound.

Relentless pop assault delivered via viciously purposefully counter-sound. Eureka will be 10 years old next year. It stands with anything released this year or last.

Moderat III

Moderat
III
Rating: Essential

I listened to this at least three times. Something would always come up and I would have to turn it down or off. Quite a few times, I let it play on through into the next albums (different versions of III) I found myself entangled. Huge tracks full of space. Animal Trails is characteristic of  this "crashing silence". Discover this gem for yourself.

Lukas Graham
Lukas Graham
Feature Track: 7 Years
Keep Listening: Better Than Yourself

The wikipedia for this artist reads like a artist-centric fantasy novel. It's impossible to believe anything on the internet. So this guy ordered an MPC from amazon, threw a track up on youtube and then sold 20,000 concert tickets. Magic record deal descends from heaven. 5 years later almost 500M plays on a few spotify tracks.

The harmonies on Mama Said are religious and highly original. They sound as if they were truly sung and not queued in. I feel like Joe Satriani/Cold Play are going to crash down on Lukas Graham's Happy Home. The vocals on this one are definitely tweaked. The sting is lessened by the smooth horns on Drunk in the Morning.

My complaint with Bruno Mars has always been that his songs are brilliant, but essentially without substance. Graham sits in a much more authentic pocket. I would say that Funk making a comeback, but did it ever really leave? From Bad Brains to Pearl Jam's Dirty Frank and into Daft Punk, funk has maintained a steady place in the peripheral awareness of any music worth listening to. Strip No More. o__o

Better Than Yourself  opens up into Graham's self-confessional autobiography. This is an artist bringing everything he has, even though he doesn't understand what it is yet. He faces the fear of blossoming with a soliloquy of self-expression. Singing to a brother who is jail, literally, metaphorically opening up a bevy of avenues for the listener to reflect upon. Dude has a voice. It is easier to believe the Wikipedia history by the end of this album.

Laura Gibson - Empire Builder

Laura Gibson - Empire Builder
Feature Track: The Cause
Keep Listening: Five and Thirty
Rating: 4

It helps if the first track is undeniably epic. But it is not required. Often, if the sonics are right, I find a few introduction tracks to be a nice 'wading in' experience to some albums. The Cause tip-toes into a barren creek bed. It starts to gently rain. Then with, seemingly, more force than that being applied by the surrounding precipitation, the river is running.

An effectiveness of pronunciation highlights the lilt of an accent and the words float through the air like the stories of Ulysses' bard. Not Harmless is a post-grunge folk masterpiece. Empire Builder was a roller coaster. I was unconvinced until the guitar faded in at the very end and the toms were uncovered. Five and Thirty is intentionally phased. The listener is required to complete the puzzle and verify the artist's intent. This is a vulnerable position for artist and listener. Simply entering this space, the listener has the power to examine qualities of their own sentience that are independent of genre or lyrical content.

Dark Lake provides a perfect segue from the broken back beat of Five and Thirty into the unapologetic pop of Two Kids. From here, I was tuned out while doing some work. But it finished strong with big horns behind a heavy fader.