Blog Posts

  • The Best Songs of 2023

    Since this year’s favorite album post got a bit wordy, I’ll try to keep my intro here short but I do want to comment on a couple things. When I compiled this songs list, I noticed it was dominated by indie-rock and country, unlike my favorite albums list which had more diversity than usual. Part Read more

  • The Best Albums of 2023

    At the end of 2022 I made a goal of opening myself up to a broader range of new music. I had started to feel like I was in a bit of a rut, finding most of my new music from the same handful of sources, with a rotating set of the same artists filling Read more

  • Going Back 50 Years: 1973

    I spend a lot of my time focused on new music. At points, it feels like too much time. Sporadically jumping from album release to album release in search of the new and shiny, the next big thing, in a way that risks full appreciation of the music. And strangely, the constant focus on “What’s Read more

  • Terrible Drummer

    Last week, I wasn’t a drummer at all. I’d never played drums before. As of this week, I am a terrible drummer. I’m not sure when or how the idea first got into my head. When listening to any kind of music, my attention is frequently drawn to the rhythm, the drum line that sits Read more

  • Unburied Treasures: Unsolved Karate

    While I was an avid consumer of indie-rock and post-punk/hardcore throughout the ’90’s, somehow I never stumbled upon Karate. Maybe because they were a Boston area band and I was more aware of the West Coast and D.C. area scenes. Whatever the case, thanks to a Bandcamp article highlighting the reissue of their 2000 album, Read more

  • Unburied Treasures: The Reds, Pinks & Purples

    While poking around the crevasses, corners and edges of the “Second Wave of New Wave” I found the music of The Reds, Pinks & Purples, one of many projects for San Fransisco musician Glenn Donaldson. The prolific Donaldson performs and collaborates in a range of different bands. The Reds, Pinks & Purples is a solo Read more