Evening Spin: Jakob Skott’s ‘Doppler’

El Paraiso Records in Denmark pretty much own me. Yeah, I’ll admit it. 2014 has been the year of El Paraiso for me, musically speaking. First it started with a curious listen of Causa Sui’s ‘Summer Sessions 1-3’ which led me to Papir, Psicomagia, Jonas Munk’s Pan, then finally Jakob Skott. Munk and Skott are […]

The Art of Art

So is there an art to being artistic? It seems like being an artist shouldn’t be an art in itself. The idea of that seems really fake and non-creative in the worst sense. But lately I’ve come across some situations where it seems like being seen as an artist, or playing the part of an […]

Down In Front: Sunday Night at the Drive-In

There are a few things that still exist today that are a direct link to our past; both the past we exist in and the one that existed before us. Cultural significance can be debated all you want(there are plenty of folks who love that s**t.) For me, in order for something to have cultural […]

Music On Vinyl: Making Spins Sound Better

So Saturday July 12th my wife and I were supposed to go to Chicago and see one of my favorite songwriters Jeff Tweedy play at the Taste of Chicago Festival. He was going to play part of the show with a small band(including his 18 year old son Spencer on drums) and the other part […]

United Waters :: Sunburner

United Waters’ Sunburner is the sound of a hot apartment in July. With the air conditioner on the fritz the windows are wide open in the blazing afternoon and the sound of the neighborhood seeps in like the humid belches of heat that consume you. In the distance a guy cranks his stereo and blares […]

Corrosion of Conformity :: IX

I didn’t start listening to Corrosion of Conformity till 1994. It was the next phase in their sound. Before the album Deliverance they were a hardcore punk band. They had street cred and lots of hardcore punk fans. But Deliverance saw the band head in more of a dirge-filled, Sabbath-oozing direction. Pepper Keenan as lead […]

Underrated : The Flaming Lips’ 7 Skies H3

I’ve been listening to The Flaming Lips 7 Skies H3 a lot since RSD and I have to say that it’s probably my favorite Lips release since Embryonic. I think I’m pretty accurate in saying that I’m speaking to a room of about 10 people that even give a s**t, but I’m going to keep […]

Cabin Fever: How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Sunday June 29th, 2014: Day One We left the house close to noon. The kids were pushy as usual. None of them took my Nyquil-laced ice pops I offered them, so the drive was going to be loud. We made our way to the south side of town to drop the family pooch(officially he goes […]

Wilco’s Dark Passenger :: A Ghost Is Born Ten Years Later

I don’t think there’s a more divisive Wilco record than A Ghost Is Born(maybe Wilco(The Album)). It was a record filled with claustrophobic silence, whispered musical intentions, and the sound of numbed pain. It was the record where people asked “What’s going on with Jeff Tweedy’s voice?” Well I asked it, anyways. It felt both […]

Earthless and Heavy Blanket at Roadburn

So I’m sitting on my couch. I often do that after a long day of work, and when the dog is using my chair as a canine throne. Today though, I chose the couch. I like to sit on the couch when listening to new vinyl. Yesterday I received not one, but two new albums […]