Now the Spaceman is gone. 2025 is being mean. Thanks for the music

I stopped regularly posting music I’ve been listening to a little while back. In the last ~15 years I’ve only missed a couple days no matter the platform.. but lately, I find I could really not give a fuck about social media at all. Maybe this experiment is done for me.

Samantha Fish “Paper Doll” A smooth blues rock album, her guitar work trends towards rock here, but it never lets go of the blues undertone. Listening to her play is a fantastic experience. (2025, Rounder)

Pet Shop Boys “Very” Into the 90s they go, dragging some of their new wave charm along, but more so fully sinking their teeth into 90s era techno and synth pop. It’s a good album, nice and bouncy. (1993, Parlophone)

Pet Shop Boys “Introspective” The third album starts to see some wild experimentation. There’s still the roots of the new wave sound, but creeping in is a newer style of electronic music. The songs get a little less formulaic, almost a proto-techno/rave style. Avery cool album. (1988, EMI)

Pet Shop Boys “Actually” Their second album, very much like their first, super 80s new wave music. Not as many stand outs for me here, but it still rocks and is a super cool listen. (1987, EMI)

Pet Shop Boys “Please” Getting back into posting my latest acquisitions, we start down the road of Pet Shop Boys discography. What a debut album, just comes out of the gate at a sprint. This is prime 80s new wave, absolute banger. (1986, EMI)

Obtiuary “Dying Of Everything” The latest album from this banner carrying band is them giving you all things you love about death metal & Obituary in spades. Big and heavy and fast. Absolutely bangin. (2023, Relapse)

Obituary “Obituary” The band’s tenth album, and thirty years in is a scorching testament to their thrash roots and ground breaking death growl. It is a truly badass album, rightly heavy and loud. (2017, Reprise)

The Swing Years - From my grandparent’s collection. August’s box set is a six record collection of the biggest swing hits from 1939 to 1946. Seventy two tracks that look back into when swing was dominant. Absolutely fantastic box. (1965, Reader’s Digest)

The Body & Dis Fig “Orchards Of A Futile Heaven” Two piece The Body create this intense, claustrophobic, wall of sound. Dis Fig applies her vocals over that with sometimes light trip hop singing, and sometimes raw power. And it is pure sonic amazement. (February 2025, Thrill Jockey)

Obituary “Inked In Blood” It took five years to make a new album - and it was worth that wait. This album goes hard, it is the best of old school and modern death metal. If all you want is a continuous onslaught of heavy riffs, this scratches that itch. (2014, Relapse)

Erroll Garner “Encores In Hi Fi” From my grandparents collection, there’s several albums from him. And just.. holy shit this is some good piano jazz. It is absolutely perfect for sitting down and relaxing to. Late night coffee and cake, chilling out. Yeah. (1958, Columbia)

Lijadu Sisters “Danger” A reissue of their 1976 album, bringing this amazing style back into view of modern audiences. Afrobeat infused with reggae, funk, and soul. Absolutely brilliant, the modern release is a crystal clear sound that keeps the original production. (July 2025, Numero Group)

Obituary “Darkest Day” Circling all the way back to the late 80s with this one, thundering blast beats, that thrashy early death metal sound, almost kind of understandable growl. Easily one of their best albums, it hits just perfectly with the super heavy notes. (2009, Candlelight)

Implant “Chaos Machine Part 3: Judging Sinners” It’s late and I was chilling with the latest installment of this. It’s a little bit dark, a little bit club, and a little bit slowed down EBM. It’s a pretty cool album for a late night spin. (February 2025, Alfa Matrix)

Glass of Whiskey, Peter Fountain on the turn table, on a summer evening. The room is cool & relaxing, the week has been long but there’s wax to spin…

Al Blk Era “Rave Immortal” Sisters taking a wide swath of genres and creating a very cool mix of metal, rave, pop, and electro. It swirls all together in a solidly cool way. (January 2025, Earache)

Obituary “Xecutionaer’s Return” Combining all the best parts of two decades of death metal brings us here. Back are the double bass blast beats, alongside the slower groove sound. The vocals aren’t quite the pure death growl, but they aren’t clean. It’s just damn good metal. (2007, Candlelight)

Annahstasia “Tether” Her debut album is a smooth combination of light jazz, soul, and avantgarde. Her voice has this quiet silky property to it, though still forceful. Absolutely excellent debut, soft and power at once. I encourage checking her work out. (June 2025, Drunk Sum Wtr)

Obituary “Frozen In Time” The band broke up in 1998, and the story almost ended. This was supposed to be a one off reunion album, which spawned a renewed interest from everyone. A slower, crunchy, doom-laden, extra heavy death metal album. Absolutely awesome album. (2005, Roadrunner)

I don’t know who designed this new Outlook environment, but I want them to know they are a complete piece of shit human being, I wish nothing but harm & dishonor upon them & their family. The entire dev team should be removed from the industry. Especially the wastes who built the search function

Resurgence - the july box set took its time coming out. Plagued by manufacturing delays… here it is - 7 CDs of cold wave, darkwave, post-punk, & gothic rock of every flavor. Old & new bands, it focuses on no era, it gives you this amazing array from conception to modern club. (June 2025, Spleen+

Mozart, Busch conducting “The Marriage Of Figaro” From my grandparents collection. A well packaged box, two records and a program with the operas lyrics. It’s a nice recording too, they bring it to life nicely. Sadly, I don’t think this has been reissued in the last 60 years. (1956, RCA Victor)

Murder By Death “Live… And Underground” Alongside their final album is a live concert recording, recorded underground in the caverns at pelham. The unique space carries through the recording. It’s an exciting and open concert. An fantastic addition to their catalog and outro. (June 2025, Tentshow)

Obituary “Back From The Dead” Their fifth album is another groove/death album. Slow and grinding, almost a continuation of World Demise. Very much in the lead of the death metal genre. (1997, Roadrunner)

Obituary “World Demise” Their fourth album, & the only album I actually owned for decades, aside from bootlegs of their first. It’s a very different death metal album, as the mid 90s saw a lot of change. Slower, more groove sounding. It’s a heavy grinding album, still my favorite. (1994, Roadrunner)

Recording a small box set of 7” 45s, they squeezed 4 minutes a side onto each record and the fidelity is crap. The waveform in audacity is flat half the time… no way to enjoy music. I need to go back in time and slap someone

Murder By Death “Egg & Dart” This is their last album. I discovered the band by scrolling through kickstarter in 2011or12. Missed ever seeing them live. But what a wonderfully gorgeous album to go out on. It feels like the soundtrack to a western that doesn’t exist... (June 2025, Tentshow)

Franz Jackson & Thce Original Jass All-Stars “Jass, Jass, Jass” From my grandparents collection, and Franz Jackson’s first album as band leader. The word that comes to me as this plays a classic chicago jazz sound is Jaunty. It is jaunty as fuck. Pure jazzy goodness. (1962, Philips)

MRCY “Volume 2” A mix of soul, lounge, r&b, and maybe even a little funk, and a pinch of calypso. When you put it on it hangs in the air, creating a danceable atmosphere. Or a relaxing one. Listener’s choice. Yeah, this one’s a good one to have around. (May 2025, Dead Oceans)

Obituary “The End Complete” Their third album is a slower album, almost doom like.,a lot of the influencing thrash is gone, leaving a pure style of death metal, at the time. Extreme, Heavy, and Brutal. (1992, RC Records)

#nowspinning Faith No More - The Real Thing It is, in fact, Epic. Patton knocks it out of the park.

Eddie Brickell & New Bohemians “Shooting Rubberbands At The Stars” From the box time forgot, a late 80s gem of an album. Way ahead of its time, by the time the mid 90s rolled around it was almost a formula. A fun & innovate style. (1988, Geffen) #cassunday

Many years ago I can into a collection of 7” records, maybe 300 or 400. I haven’t counted. But I finally got around to incorporating them into my collection this year, it’s yielded some interesting stuff; like this Turkish split 45 from the late 1960s. Sort of psychedelic pop.

My feeling of general anxiety, displacement, and increasing agitation with the internet has me returning to an different headspace. Recentering myself by recreating my 90s/00s activities of coding web pages. If this continues I expect to spin up a usenet server at some point…

Chillhop Essentials Summer 2025 - the summer collection is just as warm, and bright, as you can expect chillwave to get. Some really nice jazz piano is sprinkled through the songs, as if the artists drifted to that genre, without becoming it, to evoke those summer nights. (June 2025, Chillhop)

Virgil Fox “Hark! The Herald Angels” From my grandparents collection. If you need an album with some amazing pipe organ, pick up a Virgil Fix record. He’s a master at the craft. Truly. (1960, Capitol)

Alien Weaponry “Te Rā” Their third album is a very crunchy thrash metal album. It’s got this nice big room filling sound, a great metal album that occupies your attention. Absolutely check it out. Most of it is in Māori, so I had no idea what they sang, but it vibes well (March 2025, Napalm Records)

A drink, jack & coke. A record, Alien Weaponry “Te Rā” A book, Japanoise by David Novak. Brain resetting, shoulders relaxing, anxiety receding.

Obituary “Cause Of Death” Their second album, as the genre of death metal emerged in late 80s metal culture, was a defining moment. One of those that cemented the sound, and set it apart from all other metal. A purely extreme expression of the genre at the time. Caustic & loud. (1990, roadrunner)

Today I made a pretty big mistake at work. I’ve certainly made more disastrous mistakes, and one’s that cost more money. But this one tops the “that was incredibly stupid…” cake.

Monday night I played a Shadowrun game. Wednesday night I played a Forged In The Dark homebrew. Friday night I will run an Old Gods Of Appalchia game. Saturday I will play in a Prowlers & Paragons street superhero game. Sunday I will run a D&D game. Maybe I’m gaming to much? … nah.

César Franck “Symphony In D Minor” From my grandparents collection. munch conducts the Boston Symphony Orchestra in a fantastic rendition of this work. It’s got a quality of lightness to it, it floats along in a way many works never achieve, solidly worth finding. (1957, RCA Victor)

James Galway “Plays Lowell Leiberman” From my grandparents collection. Galway always pairs up with someone when performing, and here Liebermann leads the symphony. It’s a really good album if you’re into the flute. Which, of course I like it. Galway always comes with his a game. (1998, RCA Victor)

Eli “Paperyboy” Reed “Sings Walkin’ And Talkin’ And Other Smash Hit” The 20th anniversary reissue has demo tracks and a radio station recording from 2005. It’s a great reissue of some amazing blues rock. Even if you own the original this is worth getting. (2004/June 2025, Yep Roc)

Obituary “Slowly We Rot” Let’s take a trip through the discography of one death metal’s defining bands. They helped create one of metals heaviest genres, thrashy fast guitars and deep growling lyrics. Their debut is a speed run of short, powerful, and brutal sounding master piece. (1989, Roadracer)

Every time I feel like reopening discord I go record some records in my collection document. Eventually I’ll run out of music to document & the book will be finished. Maybe the desire to discord will be gone by then. Also, i started diving through bandcamp, but that’s dangerous to my bank account.

Mile Eddy “Miles High” From the box of cassettes time forgot, a very 80s ‘new age’ experimental album that was, as far as I know, only given out to people who knew the guy (not me, my wife). All synths and space agey sounds. A weird little artifact of the past locked in plastic. (1989) #cassunday

I got pissed off at an entire ttrpg community last week & closed my discord in disgust & a recognized need to step away. I have yet to reopen it. I’m remembering what I did with my time before fully immersive internet. I’m reading again & spending a lot more time interacting with my music collection