Month: October 2025

My Life In 35 Songs, Track 31: “Passing Afternoon” by Iron & Wine

My Life in 35 Songs
Craig Manning

There are things that drift away, like our endless numbered days

“What song would you want to have played at your own funeral?”

Back in 2011, a friend and I decided to work through a 30-day song challenge on Facebook together, each of us posting one song per day in response to the same prompts. I have to chuckle in retrospect, realizing that the challenge bore more than a little resemblance to this series that I have spent the past seven months making my raison d’etre. That exercise was colder and more simplistic in its approach, though. Most days were less about deep emotional exorcism and more about the most rudimentary questions you could ask about someone’s music taste. “A song that reminds you of someone” was one prompt. “A song that you listen to when you’re sad” was another. But the overall idea of the project – essentially, selecting songs that for one reason or another were part of your life soundtrack – was the same as the driving force behind “My Life In 35 Songs.” And it stands to reason, when you’re making a soundtrack for your life, that you might flash-forward and try to imagine the song that would roll over your end credits, whenever they happen to arrive.

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Review: Yungblud – Idols

Yungblud - Idols
Adam Grundy

While I have been aware of the artist known as Yungblud for awhile, I honestly never took the time to dive deeper into his discography until now. What I found, when I dove into his latest work, is an artist willing to take big risks in favor of achieving the ultimate reward. Yungblud self-described his fourth studio album of Idols as “a project with no limitations.” It’s easy to see where this pays off on this LP that is brimming with rockstar swagger and great songwriting. Produced alongside longtime Yungblud collaborator/writer, Matt Schwartz, and coming off marquee moments in his career such as an Ozzy Osbourne tribute and a newly announced EP with members of Aerosmith, Idols proves that this young artist has truly arrived and is ready for his moment.

The ambitious record opens with a sprawling nine-minute single of “Hello Heaven, Hello” that takes the listener on a picturesque journey through rock n’ roll lore, and sets the tone for the rest of the great material that follows. The opening lyrics of, “Hello, are you out there? / Are you trying? Are you patient? / Are you blind? / Are you with me? Against me? / Don’t know me at all,” finds Yungblud asking his audience if they’re ready to take this journey with him that plays out like a love letter to classic rock records such as Pink Floyd’s The Wall. Comparisons aside, the opus of an opening statement comes across really well, and it’s a brash way of starting a record that doesn’t conform to industry norms or “rules.”

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New Thrice Vinyl Pressings

Thrice
Jason Tate

Thrice’s Identity Crisis and both editions of The Alchemy Index are getting new vinyl pressings.

For the first time ever, Thrice release a standalone vinyl version of the album The Alchemy Index, Vols. 1 and 2: Fire and Water. This unique pressing includes the Fire half of the album on translucent orange crush 12” vinyl, and the Water portion on translucent sea blue vinyl. This release will be included in the inaugural band event featuring special catalog releases, dubbed “Thrice-giving,” this holiday season

Review: All Time Low – Everyone’s Talking!

Adam Grundy

Many people don’t know how just how close All Time Low were from walking away from the music scene. After a dark cloud surrounded the band shortly after the release of Wake Up, Sunshine regarding allegations of misconduct, there was a bit of uncertainty of how or if All Time Low could move forward. After the allegations were deemed to be fabricated, the band decided to move forward with the release of their ninth studio album, Tell Me I’m Alive and a re-recording of their earlier material called Forever Sessions Volume 1 in hopes of rekindling their love for making music together. In an interview with Rolling Stone, the band shared that this period, “…was at a time when I think we weren’t sure if we wanted to make another album. I think maybe you do this long enough and you’re like, ‘Maybe we’ve told the story. Maybe we’ve said all that needed to be said, and maybe there’s not much left for us to say.’ But we’ve had this newfound sense of belonging to the band and this love for it that was rekindled, and we said, ‘I think there’s another one in the tank.’ It’s a good thing that All Time Low decided to regroup, as Everyone’s Talking! ends up being some of the band’s best material to date.

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Rolling Stone Merges With Vibe

Rolling Stone
Jason Tate

Rolling Stone has merged with Vibe:

Vibe, the long-running music magazine centring on rap and R&B coverage, will merge with Rolling Stone in a deal announced last week. Vibe staffers Mya Abraham and DeMicia Inman announced as the news broke that their positions had been eliminated. Rolling Stone CEO Julian Holguin said that, as part of the move, Rolling Stone would “level up [its] hip-hop and R&B coverage,” as well as investing in Vibe “across video, podcasts, long-form journalism, social media, and experiential opportunities.”