My new album will be available tomorrow on streaming services, the same day as Amy Grant's and Unwed Sailor's new albums. Which got me thinking, what if I made an album with Amy Grant and Unwed Sailor? Okay, probably time to go to bed.

Watching Unwed Sailor at Minibar last night blurred the line between remembering and nostalgia. I don't want to be the person I was 27 years ago when I first heard their music, but their performance and our talk afterward made me tearfully reflect on my connection to their music over the years.

My new album, A Slow Unlearning, is available on Bandcamp today, a week ahead of other streaming services. Thanks to Poptek Records for their support in releasing it. I hope you enjoy listening to it.

I love our community radio and NPR stations in Kansas City. I especially look forward to bookending every Wednesday with programming on KKFI: Let the Day Begin (rock, post-punk, alternative) on my way to work, and then Jazz Afternoons on my way home.

I’m not into making ranked year-end top album lists anymore, but 2025 gave me great music experiences I want to reflect on. Looking back is fun, though my busy schedule might limit how much I can do with this thread over the next couple of weeks.

I'm excited about this Kickstarter, which offers the first-time release of two Steve Scott albums from 50 years ago. I believe Scott is a contemplative, religious (perhaps even mystical?) poet whose work encouraged me as I grew up in church and sought more from art than just religious signaling.

Thanks for the review @opus.ing Music sure is special to me, and I appreciate it when people choose to spend time with mine.

I tell people to check out every Guided By Voices album, as there are always a few great songs, and this new one is full of them! It almost feels like a greatest hits collection, and I love that Pollard is still doing his Wire meets The Who thing. It never gets old for me.

I enjoy Beach House's Depression Cherry and Thank Your Lucky Stars quite a bit, but I reach for the former more often than the latter. It makes me wonder if that would have been the other way around if they had flipped the release order and I had heard Thank Your Lucky Stars first. 🤔

Shout out to my Iris driver this morning, who asked me, "Do you like Marvin Gaye?" He didn't wait for an answer and put on Marvin's Live! album, and said, "This is what I'm listening to anyway."

My new album was released last week. I struggle to describe my music, but my teenager said it sounds like ambient Aphex Twin, which I’ll gladly take as a compliment.

This weekend, I talked with a friend about how some of our favorite bands make albums ideal for the cooler autumn weather. Bands like Yo La Tengo and The Clientele.

I suppose discussing influences and pioneers has a place in music writing, but it often seems to create unnecessary intellectual barriers to the music. What would happen if listeners were trusted to understand and welcome music in their own space without needing a history lesson first?

Before algorithms and SoundHound, music found me differently. I remember being in a Brooklyn coffeeshop years ago, captivated by an album and learning it was by Faraquet. That impression was all I had for a while, as it took months to find their album after I returned to Kansas City.

It's been a while since I listened to Heaven or Las Vegas, but today I revisited it and listened to it in its entirety. I'm drawn back by its mysterious sound, reverberating guitar lines, and angelic vocals.

Surprisingly, even some progressive people react with shock when I mention I take the bus, often saying things like "you see all kinds of people on the bus" or "there are some crazy people who ride the bus!" It's as if my choice to take the bus bothers them, but I kinda enjoy not buying gas.

In 2008, Suzannah Johannes released an EP that was special to me, but she didn't release anything else until last week. I really enjoy her new album, and here is a photo from the release show on Thursday at The Ship.

I love music and enjoy reading about it, although older writings often exhaust me with tired phrases like "veritable tour de force" or "so-and-so hails from."

This week, I received new albums in the mail from The Innocence Mission, Karen Peris, and Robert Deeble, artists I have followed for a long time. The world is chaotic, but these albums feel like visits from old friends.

I wouldn’t necessarily say I’m getting old, but lately, I've noticed my text conversations with friends mostly focus on how old our kids are getting to be or the anniversaries of favorite records.

Delicate Fade by Common Children arrived at a good time for me 28 years ago. It was both angry and beautiful, and helped me through a very frustrating time.

This interview took an awkward turn when Nick Lowe was asked about his father-in-law, Johnny Cash, since he hasn't been married to Carlene Carter since 1990. The tension was brief, and Lowe didn't let it ruin things but instead shared some valuable advice about staying true to yourself.

Yesterday, a first-grade student asked me, "Do they make tomatoes with ketchup?"

Our final video Premiere “The First Lady of Peru.” Pre-order the album on Vinyl, Cd or Download: www.kickstarter.com/projects/505... ** Sharing strongly encouraged ** I hope you enjoyed the video series! I want to thank Todd A. Zeller. It was our hope to make this campaign meaningful to everyone.

It's probably fair to say that most bands spend less time with their Joy Division albums than Remnant Three did.

There's a Trashcan Sinatras lyric, "It's getting to the stage where I'm old. Not wise, just worried." I've been thinking about that a lot lately.

As I listen to the tape I made of the new (and very good) Fine China LP that arrived the other day, I wonder if I'm the only person in 2025 who still dubs copies of LPs.

Recently, the Republican administration has tried to claim peace as one of its goals. It makes me wonder if our definition of violence is often too narrow.

At this point, Robert Deeble’s music feels like a reliable old friend who has stood by me through thick and thin, and I’m happy to support his new album.

I’m not sure how much coffee I reeeeally need in a given day 😜 but I’m excited about the prospect of having even more coffee shops on Troost within walking distance.

I don't know much about Manic Street Preachers, Fine Young Cannibals, or Jesus Jones, but I see their name here and there. Where should I start?

"You're on your own, kid, once you're born!" Paul Conrad, LA Times, 2/3/1984. #RonaldReagan #GOP

This interview with historian and local rock legend @randalljstephens.bsky.social may be of interest.

I was trained to believe in the idea of "perfect" albums, but I've come to appreciate the worth of struggling through imperfect ones. The first Aunt Bettys album is a good example for me, so I'm excited it's getting reissued by Lost in Ohio, who always does an excellent job with their reissues.

I've never hired a publicist. So although I dislike self-promotion, that leaves me to promote my music. 😉 My last album is available on Bandcamp, and I'm currently working on three new albums. I'll keep you updated as they are completed.

Unlike many reissues, I feel like the bonus material here is truly a bonus. The slow demo of "Living in Oblivion" here is sad, gorgeous, and fitting for how I've felt this week.

I've been on a big Sneaky Feelings kick lately, and this song reminds me so much of Orange Juice, another favorite band. If I'd had YouTube in college, I swear I wouldn't have graduated because I would’ve stayed up late every night watching Flying Nun videos. Not on Spotify!

I enjoy this new Starflyer 59 record, Dejame Dormir. The label wants it to be seen as a collection of lullaby versions of songs from the band's catalog, but the gentle and reflective arrangements pull me in—it's not sleepytime music for me at all!

We got a lot of snow yesterday, and it's the perfect mood for some loveliescrushing albums. I've listened to glissceule twice today.

Nuestras Manos Son Incendios by Adiós Cometa is another new album I enjoyed quite a bit in 2024. The album encourages repeated listens to become familiar with all of its twists and turns, from dreampop to emo to shoegaze to ambient. This sounds silly, but it feels like an album made just for me. 😉

New music can be exciting, but like most years, 2024 featured many unreleased recordings and reissues. I enjoyed collections from Boys Life, Birdie, Love Spirals Downward, Ron Miles, Echo and the Bunnymen, and McCoy Tyner & Joe Henderson.

I'm thankful for the opportunity to attend some terrific concerts in 2024, enjoying performances by Flooding, Slowdive, The Baseball Project, Makaya McCraven, The Chameleons, Mint Field, Boys Life, Sweeping Promises, and Godspeed You! Black Emperor.

Yes, I’m a middle-aged white dad who enjoys some Pink Floyd albums, and I played Luck and Strange a lot this year. I love how many songs, particularly in the album's latter half, feel so spacious, even for David Gilmour—a guitarist known for allowing songs to breathe (pun intended).

I dislike ranking albums and try to resist the urge to call any album “the best since so-and-so’s last classic album.” I only know that I really enjoy this new Pernice Brothers album, Who Will You Believe, and “December in Her Eyes” is another classic in Pernice's impressive songbook.

Perseids is a new album I enjoyed in 2024. Describing what makes a good psychedelic or dreampop album can be challenging, and I guess I just kinda know if an album is for me. Perseids feels unhurried and fitting for some of my hazy, early mornings.

Maybe it's due to their methodical pace of album releases, but each new album by The Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus is an event for me. While the last couple of albums felt more direct, this new one feels a little hazy and oblique, inviting repeated plays.

gratitude by Cassie Kinoshi's seed. is another album from 2024 that continues to amaze me. The song suite owes a lot to big band arrangers like Oliver Nelson and Francy Boland, combined with strings and a DJ, creating an album that feels both old and futuristic.

Twenty-five years ago, a friend’s father introduced me to The Cure, but now my friend’s dad is unwell. Supporting aging parents and friends facing loss is tough—a recurring theme for me in 2024. The themes in Songs of a Lost World resonate with me, with Smith’s lyrics echoing many of my feelings.

Another new album I enjoyed in 2024 was Lust for Gold by Starflyer 59. The band returns to the loud, noisy sounds of Gold and Americana that drew me to the band decades ago. The string arrangements add a nice flourish, too!

Even as a big Pet Shop Boys fan who doesn't yet consider them a dinosaur act, I was still surprised by how good Nonetheless was. And as always, Neil writes memorable lyrics like "I don't have all the answers, but I'm trying to learn."