Spouting From The Fringes of the Universe or Why I’m Me

You know, I try to pride myself on keeping up on music. It’s one of the few things I’ve always been reasonably knowledgeable in. It’s been something that was bred into me, actually. I can remember parties in the basement of my parent’s house when I was 4 or 5 years old and hearing Zeppelin, […]

And Now For Something Completely Different

Man, I hate election time. I hate the campaigns and the vitriol. I can’t stand the ridiculous exclamations in front of hundreds of gullible “marks” that lap up whatever sour milk is poured in the bowl in front of them. Right here in my world currently it’s been nothing but some twisted comedy stand-up routine […]

Beach House : Thank Your Lucky Stars

While I consider Beach House to be a special sort of band, I’d never consider then to be particularly prolific. This is a band that takes a good couple years in between albums in order to cultivate and organically grow a Beach House record. That sort of melancholy and malaise doesn’t just grow on trees(unless […]

Skeletal Lamping In Kalamazoo

There are times when I want to feel like my younger self. You know, that guy that for him a 4 1/2, 5 hr drive to a concert was just a mere drop in the bucket. We’d done it for Rush, Primus, Joe Satriani, and Wilco to name a few. Just hopped in the car, […]

Zombi : Shape Shift

Listening to the heavy synth band Zombi is like zoning out to the opening credits of some imaginary sci fi or horror film. As you listen to the synth strings well up and overpower the mix, and the Neil Peart-like precision of the drums you can almost picture some imaginary scene of intense space flight. […]

“I love you, I’ll always love you.”

Sometimes I tend to get caught up in my own little whirlwind of everyday chatter. Get up, make the coffee, pack the lunch, wake the family, drive to work. Then it’s do the work, make the money, pretend you get along with everybody, get through the day. After that it’s sweat at the gym, […]

Protomartyr : The Agent Intellect

Over the last fifteen years there have been many bands to emerge that wore the post-punk moniker proudly. That’s not to say they deserved to wear that moniker, mind you. That’s also not say they picked that moniker out themselves. It seems music critics(I’m not one as I don’t get invited to their soirees, nor […]

Seasonal Spins : Halloween Jams

So we have firmly entered into my favorite time of the year. A chill has made itself known in the air, the days are getting shorter and the nights longer, and those summer shorts are being put in moth balls until next spring. October is here, and it’s brought with it those cool, breezy overcast […]

Windhand : Grief’s Infernal Flower

Windhand sound like the kid brother to Sleep’s bleary-eyed, paranoid big brother. They make music that creeps and crawls slowly along. Maybe they’re stoned, or maybe they’re just cautious purveyors of doom. Their dirges of fuzz and thunderous metal would remain in the doldrums if it weren’t for singer Dorthia Cottrell. Her vocals add a […]

Deafheaven : New Bermuda

Never in my life did I ever think I’d like a so-called “black metal” band. Up until a few years ago I didn’t know what black metal really was. The black metal genre was something I looked at from a distance and thought better to indulge in it. I got the Gothic stuff. The sludge-y, […]