This is the second installment of the Convocations series. As the name implies, this one is a bit more sad than the previous one, though not a lot sadder. Sometimes it is eerie, like in the track number VI. Mostly, it is more repetitive and less fulfilling than the Meditations volume. I've listened to it 3 full times now and only a couple tracks…
This is the first volume of a five volume series called Convocations. Each album will be released weekly starting today. Is it Christmas or something? This is in the same style as the Aporia album he released last year. It's very ambient and moody. At times, it reminds me of Hans Zimmer film scores or Brian Eno. It has a calming effect, almost hypnotic…
For those who don't know, Godspeed! You Black Emperor is a Canadian post rock band that gained notoriety back in the late 1990s/early 2000s. In a lot of ways, it is less a band and more an orchestra as there are about 10 people in the group with a wide variety of instruments. I like to describe the music as 'art rock for the…
Our first camping trip with kids was a success. Mostly. They, of course, wanted a TV or tablet instead of beautiful scenery and fresh air. Kids these days. On the way in, we saw wild turkeys and deer. On the first night, we were visited at the cabin window by a coatimundi peering in the window. Then there were blue jays and other birds…
I have fond memories of this tropical drink at family holiday gatherings. I think my mom found the recipe and since she was obsessed with Hawaii at the time, it became a staple of Thanksgiving and Christmas. It was made with Ocean Spray Mauna La'i guava juice blend. It's a simple enough recipe. For party size, you need: 1 - 12 oz can frozen…
While De-Loused in the Comatorium was a great first album, The Mars Volta decided to discard any sort of formula and re-invent their own wheel by asking the question: "What if we make a 5-song concept album about a drug addict in search of his biological parents?" Turns out they wanted it to be 6 songs, but CDs couldn't hold all of it, so…
I wasn't ready for this. I knew Death From Above 1979 had a new album coming soon, but I didn't know it was today. Holy hell was this a welcome surprise. I've been listening to these guys since the early 2000s when their sound was a welcome change. The best way I can describe it is fast fuzzy dirt. They bring a special kind…
The Antlers have been around for awhile and I really like some of their music, like their 2009 album Hospice. This album is a bit of a departure for them and they haven't released anything since 2014, so I'd imagine the songwriting was in a bit of a different place. If I had to describe the music, I'd say it is fairly light and…
Thanks to the stimulus moneys, I decided to stimulate the economy with a new computer purchase. My current desktop is about 9 years old, which is a dinosaur in computer terms. I found a nice pre-build on NewEgg with one of those fancy RTX 3070 graphics cards that you can't get anywhere. Yesterday, it was supposed to arrive by UPS. Since it's expensive, I…
A long time ago, I heard about this Sirius XM satellite radio station that was focused on indie rock, both new and old. It's called Sirius XMU and it is probably the closest thing I've found that aligns with my own music tastes. While I don't subscribe to satellite radio, I do check in periodically to the play history as an indie music barometer…
