As promised/threatened, I’m revisiting Timely Persuasion 12 years after releasing it / 17 years after writing it / 6000+ days since I jokingly told Jon Mack “maybe I’ll write a book…” with a new round of fresh eyed commentary. Here we go… Prologue For a few years now I’ve had a love/hate relationship with the…
Three Leap Years Later
Hello, friends. Remember me? It’s been awhile. Aside from the annual year-end (and occasional event based) music lists this blog hasn’t seen much action. Not to overpromise, but I’m hoping that will change a little this year. Timely Persuasion was released on 2/29/08, making today the book’s third or twelfth birthday depending on how you…
Of The Year — 2019
Albums Between the Country — Ian Noe Discovered this album via NPR First Listen on a whim (ala 2016’s top album) and never looked back. A perfect mix of folky songs spanning a number of emotions and influences while still holding together as part of their own refreshingly new voice. On the Line — Jenny…
Of The Year – 2018
Albums 1.Glorietta — GloriettaOh my! Another year, another supergroup on the top list. This one’s a little different with it being a supergroup where I wasn’t very familiar with any of the members beforehand outside of Wild Child — but their end results absolutely blew my mind. 2. Loner — Caroline RoseGreat record, great live show….
Of the Year – 2017
Commentary coming sooner or later… ALBUMS Resistance Radio: The Man in the High Castle Album — Various Life Will See You Now — Jens Lekman Colors — Beck Like a Drunk in a Midnight Choir: RSD Celebrates the Music of Leonard Cohen — Various St. Mojo — Sweet Spirit Salutations* — Conor Oberst SONGS Pamela…
Of the Year – 2016
ALBUMS 1. I Had a Dream That You Were Mine — Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam I love when my favorite album of the year comes out of nowhere. I listened to this on NPR first listen because I liked the title and Hamilton’s last name. And I pretty much haven’t stopped listening to it since….
SXSW 2016
3 Days + 1 Night. 19 Shows. 33 sets. 25 bands. So much fun. So glad it’s over until next year… Playlist below. One song per set in the order we saw the shows. (Multiple songs by the same band means I saw them multiple times. Smooth Hound Smith wins with 4 incredible sets — including…
Of The Year – 2015
My annual best of music list — which this year will hopefully not be among my only posts of the year. Albums 1. Sound & Color — Alabama Shakes No sophomore slump here. 2. Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit — Courtney Barnett Most anticipated album of the year (thanks, Bob…
Read This If You Loved…
A review of The Carnival at Bray by Jessie Ann Foley over at Unleashing Readers ended with this: I’m flattered by the shout-out. And I’ll probably check out The Carnival at Bray too.
Of The Year – 2014
For once I’m writing this at a not too unreasonable point after the end of the year in question, so no need for a backdated post inserted via time travel… 1. LILILIL — Benji Hughes I can’t think of another album in the last decade — if not ever — that leaves me with such a big…