“The Boundless And The Infinite” : In Conversation With Musician, Composer, And Label Runner zakè

Central Indiana is a vast, endless horizon of cornfields, farms, and the occasional city strewn in for good measure. If you’ve ever been to West Texas you’d feel right at home in this Midwest pocket of agriculture, small town life, and the feeling of being nowhere and everywhere in just a single glance. Interstate 65 […]

In The Wee Small Hours Of Sixpence

There’s very few things I take pride in regarding myself. One of those few things is that I’m a great sleeper. My older brother, my mom, and my late grandma all were/are terrible sleepers. Waking in the middle of the night, wandering the halls and out to the living room to attempt to lull themselves […]

A Few Words On Why I Write

Ever since I was a little kid growing up in the Midwest, USA, I’ve been fascinated with music and film journalism. Music and film critics covered the two most important things in my life: albums and movies. Before I dove head first into buying albums in the 5th grade the movie theater was the most […]

Painting, Music, Books, And Concerts: A Few Quick Notes

Hello. How is it going in your neck of the woods? Did the weekend treat you right? Spins some tunes? Watch a movie or two? What book are you currently reading? I’m trying to get through Chuck Klosterman’s Fargo Rock City. I’ve actually been trying to get through it for a couple months now. I’m […]

“I’m Here, Deal With It”: RIP Luis Vasquez and The Soft Moon

It was the fall of 2012 when I first heard about the band The Soft Moon. They might have been recommended to me, or maybe it was an album review for their then new LP Zeros. Whatever road it was that led me to them, I was thankful once I arrived. The Soft Moon was […]

Sub-Zero Blues And Stack Of Records

We’re now well over halfway thru January, 2024. It feels like we barely got through the holidays and now we’re looking down the barrel of February. Valentines, Easter, Memorial Day, Fourth of July,…repeat. The next thing you know I’ll be 65-years old sitting in my chair and wondering what I made with my life. A […]

Assassun Returns in February With New LP ‘Post-Climax’; Listen To First Single “CPR”

Assassun is the industrial/hard electro project of Alexander Leonard Donat, a musician and songwriter that wears many hats. Besides making music under Vlimmer and Fir Cone Children, Donat runs the versatile and expansive record label Blackjack Illuminist Records out of Berlin, Germany. While Donat’s spirit and aesthetic runs throughout all of his musical worlds, each […]

Paul Riedl : Quintessence

Quintessence quite simply means “the purest form of something”. It’s the essence that gives something its magic. The essential center that holds those secrets that only the universe whispers when you need to hear them the most. It’s that hum in your head that calms the static when it encroaches too close to your being. […]

Making Things, Jazz On CD, Tapping Into The Universal Hum: 2024 Edition

I’m coming into 2024 hot, folks. Okay, maybe not hot but with a dull, orange glow of a meteor entering earth’s atmosphere. That glow is the glow of creativity. I told myself on New Year’s Eve that I wanted to make this year one where I put energy into making things, as opposed to letting […]

Jake Schrock : Temporal Visions EP

Jake Schrock builds very specific sound worlds. They feel familiar yet wholly singular to the Texas-based analog electronic composer. His 2018 Holodeck Records debut Tropical Depression was this island vibe-heavy record. Schrock painted visions of steely shores and sinking suns with vintage synths and drum machines, giving us an album that was equally Caribbean and […]