Heavy-hearted in the Midwest since 2011
At first I thought I was coming down with a bug. My whole head felt hot, like I was running a fever. The air leaving my nostrils was hot as well. My face would feel prickly and my neck was tight and sore. Surely I’m coming down with some sort of strange bug. This would […]
Read More Just A Few Words Before The World EndsI can remember hearing “…And The Hazy Sea” for the first time back in 2009 and being completely floored. Cymbals Eat Guitars had created this musical world that encapsulated all those wonderful elements that made the early 90s indie rock movement so magical. Bombastic guitars, quiet moments, tinkling keyboards, wobbly vocals that go from fragile […]
Read More Cymbals Eat Guitars : Pretty YearsAlmost Holy is a documentary directed by Steve Hoover, and it’s about Pastor Gennadiy Mokhnenko, a rogue man of the cloth that works and lives out of Mariupol, Ukraine. In his city there was a massive influx of homeless, drug-addicted children and “Pastor Crocodile”, as Mokhnenko likes to call himself, felt it was his duty to help […]
Read More Atticus Ross/Leopold Ross/Bobby Krlic : Almost Holy S/TD Ferren is the quintessential singer/songwriter. He makes gritty tunes that aren’t quite country and aren’t quite folk, but very much rock and roll. He adds bits of familiarity; the organ-fueled white soul of Whiskeytown here, and the guitar crunch of early Wilco there. But even with those inspirations present, Ferren’s musical world is a […]
Read More D Ferren : Something Like ForeverPreoccupations is the band formerly known as Viet Cong. Viet Cong was a band that put out one of my favorite albums of 2015. Preoccupations is a band that may have put out one of my favorite albums of 2016. Not only for the fact that their self-titled album is a beautifully dark concoction of […]
Read More Preoccupations : PreoccupationsWhat a strange dream. Last night I dreamt I saw the Flaming Lips at Headwaters Park in Fort Wayne, IN. What a bizarre thing to dream, right? But man, I’m telling you it was so realistic. The sights, the sounds, the smells…I even clearly remember the name, “Middle Waves”. That was the name of the […]
Read More Last Night I Dreamt I Saw The Flaming Lips In Fort Wayne, IndianaI can only imagine that at some point in an artist’s life taking yourself and your art so seriously can get pretty heavy. Eventually real life will start to outdo you in the drama department and what you once took so serious doesn’t seem all that important anymore. Health crisis, getting older, losing loved ones […]
Read More Wilco : SchmilcoFor a short week it’s been a loooong week. It always happens with having Mondays off. By Wednesday you’re like “Man, it’s Wednesday already! That’s great!”, then by Thursday you’re like “Jesus, it’s only Thursday?? What the hell, this week’s dragging, man!” It never fails. I haven’t had much time to put the digital pen […]
Read More We Ask You To RideI have to be honest, besides a vague awareness of the name I wasn’t all that familiar with Silver Apples. I knew they were instrumental in pushing electronic music into the ears of folks that would go on to revolutionize the genre. Experimental electronic, Krautrock, motorik beats, and the whole German electronic music scene of […]
Read More Silver Apples : Clinging To A DreamThe first thing that hits you on Morgan Delt’s excellent Sub Pop debut Phase Zero is the breezy, island sway of “I Don’t Wanna See What’s Happening Outside”. Vocalsjust shy of a whisper cascade along a mellow, shuffling rhythm with wobbling guitars, synths, and a prominent proper meaty bass line holding it all together. It […]
Read More Morgan Delt : Phase Zero