The Only Christmas Album You Need : Vince Guaraldi Trio’s ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’

Growing up in the Midwest Christmas was always a special time to me. The family gatherings, the mysterious gifts that appeared under the tree, the spirits both in the air and in my parents glasses, and of course the true reason for the season. There was a mix of happiness and bittersweet, as you thought […]

Too Many Candles, Not Enough Cake

Eighteen years ago I celebrated my first birthday as a father. We had a six-month old going on seven months. It was that spot in new parentdom where you begin to feel a little comfortable with this living, breathing being that can make you feel on top of the world and as if you’re losing […]

Kanaan : Windborne

There’s a certain kind of band that just seems to be connected on the molecular level. A band so in tune with the vibes that their jams are like on a telepathic plane. Without talking they shift tempos or keys without a second thought, knowing that’s what the other is thinking. One such band is […]

“I Know What It’s Like”

Listening to Jeff Tweedy’s newest single from his upcoming new solo album WARM was like a slap of nostalgia. I absolutely loved the Tweedy album Sukierae(one of my favorites of 2013, actually), but I’d be remiss if I didn’t say that hearing this new song was like heading back in the wayback machine to 1997. […]

Jakob Skøtt’s Way Out Sounds : A Guide To The Musical World of Jakob Skøtt

When one of my favorite modern musicians is ready to drop a new album, I can’t help but get excited about it. There’s so little to be excited about nowadays, anyways. Climate change deniers, flat earth society(there’s a whole society of those bastards), California fires, Brexit, tear gas being shot at children in diapers…I mean, […]

Jakob Skott : Instrumentality

I remember hearing Jakob Skott for the first time. It was before I realized he was the drummer in Causa Sui, or the co-label runner of El Paraiso Records. I’d just opened my brain up to the world that El Paraiso was building within their roster. I was a newly baptised believer and was primed […]

Eric, Ron, and Me

Back in the mid-2000s there was a guy that started working at our facility named Ron. Now Ron was quite the character; shorter, boisterous, and always up for a good laugh. Ron was from Chicago originally and my guess back then was that he was in his mid-50s. He was African American and would often […]

Thomas Ragsdale : Self Zero

Artwork by Darren Hopes Thomas Ragsdale has been one half of the electronic duo worriedaboutsatan since 2005. If you happen to dive into the musical world of Ragsdale and Gavin Miller you’ll hear a prolific body of work spanning styles ranging from techno, glitch, post-rock, and ambient. They’re not a band that wants to be […]

AT-PL120

Chicago, 2008. My wife and I drove to the windy city in October of 2008 to see My Morning Jacket. The show had been cancelled because just a couple nights prior Jim James took a spill from an extremely high stage and messed himself up pretty good. The hotel where we’d made reservations wasn’t understanding […]

Deadwax

I binged all 8 episodes of Graham Reznick’s excellent new Shudder series Deadwax yesterday. Much like his music, Reznick’s new series works on several levels and reveals a bit more about itself as you go along. In the same respect, I think there are elements you shouldn’t try to understand. At times you need to just […]