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 […]

Odd Thoughts and Mild Insanity

I had a dream once my dog turned into a giant snake. I looked down and what was once my cute miniature schnauzer was a python. He crawled up my body and started licking my face like he would often do in his salt and pepper terrier form. That was it. No more dream. I […]

Craft Spells :: Nausea

Justin Vallesteros makes music that puts you in a particular place and time. He goes by the band name Craft Spells but like many younger, shy songwriters he’s really the only guy making all that magic and putting it to tape. Idle Labor was Craft Spells debut for the Brooklyn record label Captured Tracks and […]

Cozy Couches and Strummed Songs

Somewhere, located in this universe, is a couch. It’s a pretty regular couch. It’s one you can sit on and maybe kick back, drink a beer, and listen to some records. But unbeknownst to the naked eye this couch is something more than just a receptacle for lounging. It’s a couch that offers more […]