This week’s newsletter has early impressions of the new Japanese House album, thoughts on a really good week of new pop-punk and pop-punk adjacent music, and a love letter to summer. There’s also a playlist of ten songs worth your time, and this week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.
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Read More “Liner Notes (May 13th, 2023)”
This week’s newsletter has thoughts on some music I’ve been revisiting, discovering, and enjoying. Plus some other random things and a playlist of ten songs I think are worth your time. This week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.
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Read More “Liner Notes (May 6th, 2023)”
A quick little newsletter this week as I check in on a few things I’ve been listening to and enjoying. There’s also a playlist of ten songs worth your time, and this week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.
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Read More “Liner Notes (April 23rd, 2023)”
This week’s newsletter has thoughts on last night’s Blink-182 performance at Coachella as well as some other random comments on music and entertainment I consumed over the past week. As always, there’s also a playlist of ten songs worth your time, and this week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.
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Read More “Liner Notes (April 15th, 2023)”
This week reflects a little on the last seven years of Chorus, some of the music out this week, and some random other thoughts. There’s also a playlist of ten songs worth your time, and this week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.
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Read More “Liner Notes (April 8th, 2023)”I remember turning 20. I was a sophomore in college building the website that would, in many ways, define the next two decades of my life. It was 2003. And while countless albums from those years left a mark on me, it’s often Fall Out Boy’s blue painted ‘Take This To Your Grave’ I think about the most. They blow up. My website blows up. And so begins a two-decade ride of following this band’s career. And it’s over these years that I find myself intertwined with the songs. Each album holds a special place in my memory for where I was when I first heard it, who I was with, and the person I was, even if that wasn’t the person I wanted to be. Those early albums became the soundtrack to my stumbling twenties. And when I turned 30 in 2013 I wrote about the band’s rebirth in a way that looking back was not so subtly partially autobiographical. So, it’s only fitting that I turn 40 a week before the band releases another album. In many ways, the perfect cosmic bow tie of coincidence. In others, the exact music I need to hear as I’m evaluating the person I am now, the life I lead, and the future ahead of me. Ever since I first listened to those early demos, there’s been something about how Patrick thinks about music that aligns almost identically with what my brain craves. The way he crafts melodies, uses syncopation, starts, stops, speeds up, and builds songs has been soul candy since the beginning. And it’s why from the moment I first hit play on their new one a few weeks ago I’ve had a massive smile on my face just thinking about the songs and what they created. It’s an album that wears obvious influence from each era of the band. And it culminates in arguably the band’s most cohesive and ambitious album since ‘Folie.’ I grew up listening to Fall Out Boy. If there’s a band that can define where I came from to where I am today it’s hard not to think of this one. And at the precipice of middle age, of no longer being able even half to pretend I’m not an adult, I find comfort in turning to this old friend once again. A boy on a couch with headphones, typing away about the music that moves him. I am, as I ever was, me. God damn, what a band. God damn, what an album.
This week I write about turning forty and the new Fall Out Boy album. There are some other thoughts on new music I checked out this week as well, but it’s mostly about growing up with a band and how their music has punctuated some of the most important moments in my life. Yep, I like Fall Out Boy. Surprise. This week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.
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Read More “Liner Notes (March 25th, 2023)”Nobody likes you when you’re … 40?
Yeah, I’m still not sure how I feel about that number. But what I have discovered is that moving into my forties has a much different feeling than any previous birthday. A decade ago was a time of massive change, I was moving down to the city and feeling burnt out with the website I’d been running since I was a teenager. Today I’m feeling more grounded and at home than I ever have before, while my passion for music has seen its spark renewed.
I’m happily married to someone that can make this incredible @blink182 cake and surrounded by the best friends and family I could ever hope to have. And most days the two cats keep me company while I’ve turned a once stressful “job” into a place to write and talk about music with people that share the same love of music and community.
Life continues to have ups and downs, but the last ten years have given me a new appreciation for what can be endured and how a stoic mind can give a calming presence to any stormy sea.
Anyway, I’m 40. I’m on the other side of the proverbial hill. Um, yeah, I guess this is growing up.
This week’s newsletter has thoughts on music out this week, first impressions of the new album from Hot Mulligan, and some other music finds from the week. Plus, a playlist of ten songs I enjoyed and this week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.
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Read More “Liner Notes (March 11th, 2023)”
This week’s newsletter has first impressions of the new albums from Dave Hause and Story of the Year as well as other random thoughts on music I enjoyed over the past week. There’s also a playlist of ten songs worth your time, and this week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.
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Read More “Liner Notes (March 5th, 2023)”
This week’s newsletter has thoughts on new music from Andrew McMahon, Ruston Kelly, City and Colour, Real Friends, and a bunch of other things I checked out and enjoyed this week. There’s also a playlist of ten songs worth your time and this week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.
If you’d like this newsletter delivered to your inbox each week (it’s free and available to everyone), you can sign up here.
Read More “Liner Notes (February 25th, 2023)”Sunday evening, a brief moment before the wheel of the week begins again. It’s here where we lean our shoulder against the hour hand, hoping to prolong a weekend bliss, holding onto the seconds before the inevitable churn of the week ahead swallows us in her seas.
And it’s here that I often find myself reaching for the albums that make me feel motivated, the ones that can pull back the weekend haze and prepare me for the job ahead. Lately, that’s included coming back to Anberlin’s ‘Cities,’ an album that still has the same propulsive drive and polish to sound as fresh and modern as the day it was released. I’ve found myself starting the week with this at the top of my playlist, and my Monday’s not seeming so daunting.
“They lied when they said the good die young…”
#anberlin #vinyl
This week’s newsletter discovers some fun acoustic emo covers, looks at other music I enjoyed this week, and teaches me lessons I, apparently, need to keep learning about movie selection. As always, there’s a playlist of ten songs I enjoyed, and this week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.
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Read More “Liner Notes (February 19th, 2023)”
This week’s newsletter has thoughts on the new Paramore album and my weird music tastes this week (country and hardcore?). There’s also a playlist of ten songs I enjoyed this week and this week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.
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Read More “Liner Notes (February 11th, 2023)”
This week’s newsletter has thoughts on the “new” Thrice album and other music I enjoyed this week. There’s also a playlist of ten songs I liked, and this week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.
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Read More “Liner Notes (February 4th, 2023)”
