Today's Bandcamp Friday: The Dandy Warhols- Pin Ups The Third Mind- Right Now! Kevin Martin- Sub Zero Sun Ra- Solo Piano, Minnesota 1978 Lull- Tide Mick Harris- Culvert Dubs Session 8 There is always room for more Sun Ra solo piano and ambient dub.

Here's our vicious guard dog Al fashioning his nylabone into a shiv.

For what is becoming an annual event, while my wife was away in the Guatemalan highlands on a weaving trip, I spent a week listening to an exorbitant amount of the Legendary Pink Dots. The breadth of their canon is stunning, from their early 80s experiments, to their most recent albums. Exceptional.

When it comes to music, I used to be a completist. Then I ran into the Legendary Pink Dots. Their early years are a giant mishmash of different versions, compilation tracks, retrospectives, and same songs with different titles. I learned to accept the chaos. Only Muslimgauze is worse.

Currently on day 11 of testing out this season's flu offering. Features include fever, concrete-like congestion, incessant coughing, body aches, fatigue, and a preference for only listening to mid-80's Swans live concert recordings. Zero stars. Do not recommend.

In remembrance of Rob Reiner, I am putting on: sock-shoe-sock-shoe. www.youtube.com/watch?v=keX9...

Minor Bandcamp Friday as I was overwhelmed with indecision & just went with what I know. Latest Merzbow & Muslimgauze plus the Joyful Noise Players Live at Big Ears. Not only are all the performers top notch but my friend @flakesky.bsky.social wrote the liner notes.

PM Press is having a 50% off sale. Perfect time to pick up some left wing books for your MAGA relatives, or some excellent punk rock books, including one about NoMeansNo. @pmpress.bsky.social

Sitting outside and listening to the intro of "Welcome to the Pleasure Dome" and not being able to tell if the sound effects are coming from the recording or the local parrots, toucans, and aracaris. Well done Mr. Horn.

A rainbow, a beer, and the new Hüsker Dü live album 1985: The Miracle Year playing in my headphones.

On this day of Dick Cheney's passing, I am reminded of this photo. These children had asked me to take their picture when I was traveling in Chibayish, Iraq in April, 1989. Between the US wars, sanctions, and repression by Saddam Hussein, I wonder how many of these kids made it to adulthood.

Today I finally got Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska. On paper it's something I always should've loved. But for whatever reason, it never clicked. I just listened to the outtakes from the new expanded edition and now it all makes sense. "Losin' Kind" and "Child Bride" are wonderfully devastating.

Thinking back over all the live music I've experienced, the most transcendental was probably the Cincinnati Symphony performing Mahler's 9th.

Having a cat that is completely chill about having his nails trimmed is a huge game changer.

Listening to the Santana live album Lotus, and towards the end of "Samba Pa Ti" he quotes "Never Can Say Goodbye." Although Santana was referencing the Jackson 5 version, I can easily imagine Jimmy Somerville (Communards) adding his falsetto to Santana's shredding.

Despite two years of French in junior high school, the entirety of my French vocabulary are the lyrics to the Police song "J'aurais Toujours Faim de Toi." I have since learned that this is not very useful when trying to order at a Tim Hortons in rural Quebec.

Today’s Bandcamp Friday haul: A Guide to the Birdsong of Migration- 4th volume in series of music created from birdsongs. Silberland Vol 3: The Ambient Side of Kosmische Musik- Bureau B series on experimental German music. Mick Harris: Culvert Dubs Session Six- Latest heavy dub from Mr. Harris.

My essay on the variations of the Talking Heads album Stop Making Sense has been published by the wonderful I Have That On Vinyl website.

Nothing like messaging a nearby farmer to get a resupply of locally grown.... Coffee!

Some days are meant for The Rolling Stones album Exile on Main St. And then there are those days that are meant for the Pussy Galore version of Exile on Main St. Today is the latter.

Bandcamp Friday Haul! Anna von Hausswolff album New Hüsker Dü live album Two Femme Cell albums Powerhouse Vol 1 compilation New Muslimgauze single New JG Thirwell Venture Bros Vol 3 sndtrck New Mick Harris dubs New Yara Asmar album New Saafi Brothers album New Legendary Pink Dots live album

I developed my love for Art Blakey thanks to my uncle at family picnics. He would sit apart from everyone else and play his Art Blakey tapes. Whenever a young child approached him, he would reach over and turn the music up louder and proceed to ignore the child.

I love Sunny Day Real Estate’s second album. This is a fascinating read on its back story.

Today's Bandcamp Friday haul: Latest Muslimgauze single, New Sun Ra solo piano album, Tear Garden new album. Mick Harris's latest dub techno foray, 8 hours of Merzbow. Plus, I also signed up for Peter Gabriel's Bandcamp subscription, so now I have another 12 GB of music to download.

Listening to the Sugar EP Beaster is always a visceral experience. No matter how I am feeling at the start, by the time the album ends, I am feeling anger, hurt, and exhaustion. This is one of life's most glorious experiences. All in thirty minutes.

Incredibly honored to have been a part of this incredible book.

If Canadian band NoMeansNo was from New York City, and they hadn't retired, they could repurpose their song "Oh No, Bruno" to "Oh No, Cuomo." Of course their song "Big Dick" still works without modification. youtu.be/lDQ5b2cWub4

"What do you think of the new Jam album?" "Not as good as the last one." Dialog caught at the beginning of the audience recording of Ultravox at the Whisky A Go Go on 1979-12-30 as the band starts playing "Astradyne." The Jam album in question would have been Setting Sons.

Nomeansno featured at the Royal BC Museum, Victoria. (@jahduran.bsky.social might be impressed?)

Don't know what these are, but they must've just hatched. Fortunately they are on the outside of the door frame.

New book coming out about the music of the band Xiu Xiu! I did the editing.

The complete Bandcamp discography of Neil Michael Hagerty & The Howling Hex is available for $47.25 (nine albums). There isn't a better value in music. thehowlinghex.bandcamp.com

"Love, peace and harmony? Very nice, very nice, very nice Maybe in the next world"

Originally, we had one basket for onions and one for potatoes. Fred decided that was a waste of space.

Being able to buy blackstrap molasses for $3 per gallon means that I am ethically required to add a tablespoon into the coffee pot every day.

One year ago today at Punk Rock Bowling I saw Dead Bob whilst standing next to Greg Norton. Seeing all the posts from this year's PRB is giving me serious FOMO, until I remember how garish Las Vegas is. Despite its location, PRB is an incredibly well run festival and full of good people.

Wahoo! Painting of our house is done.

Thanks to this wonderful substance called "beer," I just realized that I was probably born in the same hospital as Magic Dick. Time for another beer and to listen to Full House.

In honor of the new Pope, I am listening to an old Violent Femmes bootleg album Les Enfants du Rock n Roll recorded in Rome in 1985. At the end there is a brief interview segment where Brian Ritchie (?) says, "The Pope smokes dope, I can assure you."

To achieve the correct volume for the Brian Jamestown Massacre: 1) Slowly turn up the volume until it becomes too loud. 2) Back off a little. 3) Groove out. Optional to add an alcoholic beverage or some other substance to heighten the experience.

Today's Bandcamp Friday haul: -Two from Blurred Hologram of Peruvian ambient dub. -New Mary Halvorson album. -Latest Muslimgauze archive release. -Mat Ball of Big | Brave channeling Tony Conrad. -New Alan Lamb remasters on the Room40 label.

On this occasion of the Liberal victory in Canada, I am reminded of one visit to Montreal where I discovered: 1) Big | Brave that was being played in a Montreal record store, and 2) ice wine mixed with maple syrup that a street vendor was selling. Viva Canada!

I have vague memories of seeing Pere Ubu in concert in the 90s at Granny Killams in Portland, Maine. With a little online research, it looks like it's true. This would have been while I was preparing to defend my PhD dissertation, which probably explains why my memory is so foggy.

Alan Lamb's Night Passage is an essential ambient/field recording album. The remaster by Room40 makes this even better. This article provides some interesting background to this recording: www.cyclicdefrost.com/2024/10/alan...

An essay I wrote about my younger days of collecting Led Zeppelin bootlegs is up on the excellent I Have That On Vinyl website.

Today's beer is the Hobbs Brewing 10.5% Belgium Tripel. Pairs well with a 1975 Zeppelin live recording. When I collected bootleg vinyls in the 80s there were no good recordings from their 1975 tour. Now there are 20 soundboards in circulation. How did people hoard those recordings for so long?

Big Ears Festival Day 3 In another day full of wonderful performances, the standout show for me was from vocalist/composer Peni Candra Rini. She performed with a small backing ensemble that included Shahzad Ismaily and shadow puppetry.

Big Ears Festival Day 2 Just saw the Eno film for the second time. Multiple viewings are rewarded since the film has different content for each screening. Now it’s on to some Cowboy Sadness as part of the ambient country programming at the festival this year.

Just saw the Brian Eno documentary. Wow. What an achievement. Highly recommended. Planning on seeing it again in a couple days.

If you are like me and a fan of both Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music, and William S Burroughs, then I can fully recommend this fascinating article on the possible connections between the two. realitystudio.org/criticism/th...