Our local alt-weekly @the-bollard.bsky.social wrote the most perceptive, flat-out entertaining review of our band's latest record. Super grateful, mostly on behalf of my friend Joe, the songwriter. No one has matched Chris Busby's close reading 🤯

Thank you 💘 Reminds me another time someone "won the internet," linked below. Let's just pin this one globally at Google.com and we can all catch up with the cavemen in terms of graciousness today.

Watch out for this Cuban artist. Love this. Bought the track and planning to blast this several times on the way to the staff breakfast. www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-P1...

Friday night in a small city

New Chico States album is out today! Nothing quite like my friend Joe's meticulous surveys of this world through a country-western lens. anythingbagel.bandcamp.com/music

Yes, we premiered the album in Spain because the weather was more suitable to the sound. www.mindies.es/2025/10/estr...

New Chico States drops this Thursday! Release show in Portland with old friends and new, including several on tour. www.blueportlandmaine.org/events/chico...

Happy Indigenous Peoples' Day! Frey's stuff is perplexingly gorgeous. I loved his show at Portland Museum of Art last year. www.pressherald.com/2025/10/08/t...

Gah! Why didn't I know about this till seeing my email just now? I could've gone. If you live near Boston, FYI. I only know 'On A Moonlit Hill in Slovenia' but it's wonderful.

After giving it some time, this is absolutely my favorite song of the fall. It seizes me every time I hear it. I love it so much. Thank you @orindal.bsky.social Records. Also, read reviews by @jenpkelly.bsky.social, who did one for this album. "Driving slow / to a bridge / I kinda know / where."

The world was fragrant, dense, and multi-dimensional until what, like 2014?

This is a lovely, patient album that "makes sense" whether you play it in the trees or the dark fold of an idea-world. Calming and I love "A Vivid Imagination" for its images.

Awesome background on Portland, Maine's (so-far) successful effort to prevent a Live Nation venue. See @spacegallery.bsky.social, @umaw.bsky.social, and Maine Music Alliance #portlandme #music #arts jacobin.com/2025/10/live...

"In the latest case for East Coast Country music" Them Blundstones, they ain't cowboy boots / Me and you, we’re just blundering on through / A dozen beers ahead of most of the rest of the world Thanks Ugly Hug! uglyhug.com/2025/10/01/c...

Chico States has a new single out today through The Ugly Hug. I wrote the blurb for this album. Can't wait for you to hear the whole thing on Oct. 23. uglyhug.com/2025/10/01/c...

The joys of finding the quiet, lucid people in the world. "Ça c'est un album. C'est l'album." That's an album. That's the album. [Laughter] More wonder here in 5 tracks and 8 minutes than... aglaeetroxane.bandcamp.com/album/passio...

The clouds are a different shape today!

Recently read a lot of @jenpkelly.bsky.social's music writing, so I was excited to see her write about someone I know for Aquarium Drunkard! Greg is very singular and was gracious to our band several times. Kelly's portrayal of his rural realism has me excited. aquariumdrunkard.com/2025/09/22/g...

"And as Godfrey-Smith notes, the thought that we’re 'responding to only a small sliver of what is going on—and other animals will respond to a different sliver and process it differently—is not an easy idea to take on board.'” www.nybooks.com/articles/202...

Toronto (Friday Sept 26) @subvert.fm 🤝 @newfeelingcoop.bsky.social This event brings together Subvert and New Feeling for a conversation about the future of worker and artist ownership in music. Join us. RSVP: luma.com/subvert

Headed in. This is a great label. Do not miss Nick Dunston's Colla Voce in particular. He's with Mary Halvorson in Portland, ME tomorrow @spacegallery.bsky.social, along with many other OOYH artists!

tour dates for my band Portals comin' up.

This is an incredibly mature piece of art. I found it by happenstance and I'm very excited. There's been some music journalism about it (@spinal-bap.bsky.social, @callinamagician.bsky.social, @paddyclarke.bsky.social), but I think it merits more. wormery.bandcamp.com/album/pantilde

I'm "reissuing" this two-part collection of draft recordings as Exactly and However in 34 tracks. I put it out very quietly but it's really my favorite. Come chat, give impressions, hear why I made it. Pay $5 and get a physical copy when I print them. alexsilver.bandcamp.com/merch/exactl...

Who's responsible right now? Who's aware of the tangible world in North America? It's probably not powers-that-be and it doesn't seem to be the task of public artists anymore... Poor people? Indigenous people? Road crews?

Anyone else going for a quiet, peaceful life with your limited time on earth? The weather's so good where I live and I was just thinking, "What a shame."

If everyone is listing books that changed the patterns and movement of their physical bodies in 2025 so far:

I'm writing a new book for @haymarketbooks.org, and I'm writing it fast, so help is most welcome. More here: johnwashington.substack.com/p/how-to-clo...

Thank goodness, someone in my community makes things that are more perceivable as sound than Idea. #portlandmaine anniedodson.bandcamp.com/album/corn-a...

The only reason I'm older than you is I was born at a different time.

And here is my favorite photo-and-painting combo of geraniums. Anton Gojmir Kos. #flowersky #centraleuropeanartists

Vaxholm, Sweden on August 17. I talked about the geraniums in the windows so much they suggested I take this picture. alexsilvertown.com/2025/08/30/p...

I admired the young man, in perfect congress with his phone, while the total miracle of Earth pleaded for his attention.

Happy Labor Day—I honor labor organization and its place in the US. Always love reading UMaine historian @querythepast.bsky.social's blog about Franco-American history. Here he says: "The farther removed we are from tangible fields and applied sciences, the more we seem to arrogate expertise."

I keep an eye on Multilingual Matters titles because I so loved their Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism by Wright and Baker. Issues of language equity feel quiet around me in the US, even in communities who support immigrants. But clearly there is a deep well of effort out there.

Wow, "Ghost Lullaby," what a gorgeous, peace-inducing improvisation.

I feel more at ease when I think of myself as a plant or animal.

I'm starting to notice that people can't read my mind.

One of the best parts of growing older is realizing I’m a living creature and I belong here with everything else.

Well I'll be damned if my impassioned reading of @alvanoe.bsky.social and enactivist philosophy didn't finally intersect with my career as a middle school teacher. Thank you @lovephilosophy.substack.com for creating the safe, curious spaces that inspire such clear speech. pca.st/jan8cc3f

I'm on Bluesky for the hot takes on embodied perception.

The frequency with which we use the word “we.”

Playing bass for Chico States tomorrow at Blue in Portland. w/ Lolabelle and El Malo, great jazz venue and nice for a Friday. www.blueportlandmaine.org/events/chico...

How to actively listen on the Internet

Upcoming Chico States :) Band stoic, bassist squirrelly. 8/1 @ Blue w/ Lolabelle, El Malo—Portland, Maine 8/9 @ Prism Analog w/ Whip Appeal, Ruby Lou—Portland, Maine 9/26 @ Club Moss—Nobleboro, Maine 10/10 @ House Show w/ Lolabelle, Stephen—Bath, Maine 11/8 @ Hi-Fidelity w/ Vega—Portland, Maine

Sure, thank a teacher. But thank a journalist! Thanks @reubenschafir.bsky.social for the work you're doing on the tribal beat. www.pressherald.com/2025/07/21/p...

Yesterday I noticed there’s more information along a “nature trail” than I find on the internet. I’m only able to use my senses to get things from a screen, and I found the flow out there was a lot stronger.

Went to a diner this morning with an issue of @thewiremagazine.bsky.social and no internet. An observation: in terms of my mental movement, there seems to be more content in The Wire than I've ever noticed scrolling my phone. www.thewire.co.uk/in-writing/c...

Imagine people migrating freely and negotiating a niche in their new communities. This 34-min. podcast is an excellent summary of ideas from @jwashing.bsky.social’s humane book. 99percentinvisible.org/episode/633-...

The Internet early in its meditation practice.