MAINE’s ‘IV’ Gets Gorgeous Vinyl Reissue With Midnight Mannequin Records

My first experience with MAINE, the all-analog electronic music project of France’s Michel Dupay, was with 2017s V. There was something haunting, enchanting, and all-encompassing about the songs on that record. Dupay records with all analog synths, real drums, and real strings and without the use of MIDI, so the songs sound and feel organic […]

Phaseshifter : Music For Cosmic Connection

The Komische vibes are strong in Philly, at least according to heavy synth artist Phaseshifter, who hails from the city of brotherly love. I don’t know much about Phaseshifter, other than he’s one man and many synthesizers creating heady, dense, and decidedly cosmic music to zone out to. If you’re familiar with names like Tangerine […]

Backs Get Sore, Everyone Gets Old, and Life Moves On : A Feel Good Tale

I’m entering week four of working by myself at the 9 to 5. I may becoming feral, like my primitive ancestors that lived in caves, drew on walls, and bought T-Rex steaks at Yoder’s Meat Market in the 70s. I’m getting lots of work done, oddly enough. I think if you cut out human contact, […]

Check-In 3 : Staying Creative, Staying Engaged, and Tempering The Melancholy

Already over halfway thru January. I’m staving off those winter blues by trying to keep the creative wheels turning in my head. For the most part I’d say it’s working. If I’m not working on art I’m writing. I finished a painting on Sunday. Monday I started a collage piece that will be a mixed […]

2022 In Review : Carl Weingarten And The Return Of Delay Tactics

The first time I became aware of musician Carl Weingarten was back in 2018. Azure Vista Records label head Jonas Munk sent me a copy of Weingarten’s 1985 album Living In The Distant Present, which Munk was re-issuing on Azure Vista on vinyl. The album had a short cassette run when it came out, so […]

Under The Weather…Getting Over The Hump

The concept of sick seems to have changed dramatically in the last two and a half years. Before Covid you could say you felt like shit and nobody would blink an eye at you. Coughing, sore throat, sniffles, maybe even a slight wheeze in your chest and it was “Oh, well I’ll stop at CVS […]

Edena Gardens : Edena Gardens

As far as supergroups go, Edena Gardens is about as super as it gets. The latest project to emerge from the great El Paraiso Records out of Denmark consists of multi-instrumentalist Martin Rude, Papir guitarist Nicklas Sørensen, and Causa Sui drummer Jakob Skøtt. The music that emerged from the trio’s long form improvisations is dark, […]

Panic Priest : Psychogoria

“death, sex, and doomed romance”. These are three main themes that run through the evocative, dark wave music made by Jack Armondo, aka Panic Priest. His rich tenor cuts through the mix of guitars, drums, and synths like a hot blade through flesh. There’s a pop eloquence in his vocals that bring the otherwise Gothic […]

Fall Break

The day has arrived. We’ve been looking forward to this week since we booked the Air BnB months ago. Vacation week is here and I couldn’t be more thrilled. It was a year ago that I found out the plant I work in would be closed for good by July 2024. The place I’d worked […]

Things Found In A Midwestern Safe

A couple weekends ago my dad came over at his usual time of 9am for our Saturday coffee and conversation. As he came into the door our miniature schnauzer greeted him with the usual shrieks, barks, and bellows… excited for what grandpa had in the Ziploc baggie for him. As I was walking to the […]