Side A — Assembled 3/24-4/5 This may as well be titled March Sucked (Here's Some Music).  The saying may state "silence is golden", but I can confirm that that's never the case when it comes to my silence. It's normally work-related. Still trying to fix that. For music, I have a million tabs open on now multiple browser windows that I keep because "I may get back to it". These wind up being selections for these comp posts. Do these comp posts gain any views or pique enough interest to incentivize interaction (Holy alliteration, Batman!), or is this a waste of time? Not sure. Either way, these entries do provide somewhat of a handy-dandy checklist at the end of the year for me to reference when I'm selecting my favorite singles or albums of the year.  I know blogs are dead, but I still enjoy writing when I'm able. Don't laugh, but I've begun building an audience on TikTok and I'm trying to figure out how to engage this new audience wit...

Good afternoon, Looking ahead at 2022. Here's some music I enjoyed this week.  ______________________________________________________________________ Wadada Leo Smith, Henry Kaiser, Alex Varty:  "Pacifica Koral Reef (preview)" (via 577 Records) Bandcamp — https://577records.bandcamp.com/album/pacifica-koral-reef 577 Records —  https://www.577records.com Via 577 Records: "I’m supposed to be writing about Pacifica Koral Reef , this record that I’ve made with my friend Henry Kaiser and his friend Wadada Leo Smith. And while the music it contains is, for me, a miraculous late-career achievement after 50 years of mostly playing in alternative rock bands, writing about it is a downright odd thing to have to do. In my parallel life as an arts journalist, I’ve interviewed everyone from Ornette Coleman to John Cage to Robert Plant but I’ve rarely had to write about myself, and I much prefer it that way. Fighting against my natural tendency towards self-effacement is the fact ...

Chad Clark and Erin Nelson of Beauty Pill (photo by Morgan Klein) A new single from Beauty Pill called “Instant Night” was released yesterday as a plea for the public to vote in the upcoming Presidential election. Accompanied by a mesmerizing video featuring illustrator (and ex-Beauty Pill member) Ryan Nelson as he inks portraits of Donald Trump, Lindsey Graham, and Mitch McConnell, Chad's Clark's avant-centric fascinations provide a fluid backdrop for singer Erin Nelson's musings:  “Empathy! Oh, Empathy! That's the weakness they talk about in the movies…” A satisfying series of melodic phrases and acoustic instrumentation arranged across undulating, fuzzy pulsars, Clark's continual evolution as a composer and sound alchemist has enjoyed three vehicles in 2020: Sorry You're Here , Please Advise , and now “Instant Night,” which is available to purchase at Bandcamp .  Quoting Clark: “Science fiction authors have warned us about dystopia for a century now. George O...

No more silence! Behold!  Spotlights : "The Age of Decay" (via Rarely Unable /  Ipecac Recordings  / YouTube) Via Rarely Unable: Spotlights , the Brooklyn-based band whose music finds “that perfect balance between crushing heaviness and dreamier melodies” (WFPK), release Love & Decay on April 26 via Ipecac Recordings. Spotlights' music is iron tone in a velvet glove. They strike with full force, perfectly balancing the weight and sound spectrum of each instrument. And yet it's a weight that's also sublime in its beauty, with dream-like vocals encased in the mix of subharmonics. A rich and unctuous vibration that melts in your ears, nourishes your brain, and engulfs you with their warmth, like the gravity of a small planet. " The Age of Decay encapsulates everything we do on this record,” explains guitar player/singer Mario Quintero . “Musically, it has some of the heaviest moments as well as the most dynamic and melodic. It shows litt...