Blog Posts

  • Favorite Songs of 2025

    We’re a few days in to the new year now, the door has been closed on 2025, and I’m finally getting to the last part of my music recap. A bit tacky, but I suspect no one will be too upset about it so let’s get to my favorite songs of the year. Again, I Read more

  • Favorite Jazz and Instrumental Albums of 2025

    I haven’t kept an actual tally, but I’d guess a third of my listening time in 2025 has been spent soaking up jazz. It’s the one consistent thing (musically) that has kept me most interested and excited this year – partly driven by my fledgling drum practice (oh how I fantasize about having actual jazz Read more

  • Favorite Albums of 2025

    During the last year it feels like I’ve experienced a growing tidal wave of people putting out their own personal music reviews. Maybe nothing’s actually changed and it’s just a matter of the social media algorithms feeding me a new view of the world based on some adjustment in my type-cast. There’s obviously always been Read more

  • The Sound of Jay Bellerose

    One of my favorite albums from last year (in fact, I’m still confused on how I missed it when writing up my “2024 Best Of” list) was a live recording of long-form improvised, atmospheric jazz by Jeff Parker and the ETA IVtet. While the album as a whole is great, one particular aspect that stood Read more

  • The Best Songs of 2024

    It’s time to get 2024 done and dusted so I’ll finish up with favorite songs of the year. These are individual tracks from outside my top album choices – an opportunity to highlight additional artists who released recommendation-worthy music. The selection process for favorite songs can be… “fluid,” and putting them in ranked order felt Read more

  • The Best Albums of 2024 – Part 2

    Having covered my favorite jazz/ambient/electronic/instrumental albums for the year in Part 1, let’s get into what I guess I’ll lump together as “everything else.” You’ll find some Americana, country, post-punk, and latin, a dash of hip-hop, a bit of good old rock, and maybe some bits and bobs. These lists come together differently every year. Read more