This week’s newsletter looks at some of the albums I’ve been listening to this week, but not that one, because I can’t talk about that one. And then there’s the usual commentary on entertainment l consumed and a playlist of ten songs I enjoyed this week. This week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.
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Three Things
- This week was the fifth anniversary of Chorus. My does time seem to continually fly by. I just wanted to say thank you to not only everyone that reads the website each week, but also to you, specifically, that read this newsletter every week. Having a place to get some thoughts out of my head and share with the world each week helps keep me grounded and feeling sane.
- I’ve been thinking a lot about this article about the old Tumblr blog, “Your Fave is Problematic.” I don’t have concrete thoughts about it, but it did get me thinking about a wide variety of things related to internet culture, growing up online, and the like.
- Baseball is back! This morning I woke up, had some breakfast, and then sat on the couch watching a baseball game and having no cares in the world. What a perfectly blissful and great way to spend a Saturday morning. I couldn’t have asked for anything better, honestly.
Sponsor
Learning Curve have released a video for their new song “Crack a Smile.”
The band are two folks from the Cleveland area that met because their day jobs were next to each other, and that led to them talking about music, and going to shows and writing some music together. This new song is about wrestling with and searching for hope in dark times. It comes from the upcoming debut EP, Centerpiece, due out this spring.
RIYL: Indie pop-rock, power-pop, with just a tinge of pop-punk.
(Editor’s Note: Also what a great little ET homage in the video.)
In Case You Missed It
- Review: Alkaline Trio – From Here to Infirmary
- Review: Wild Truth – Drift
- Pinkshift Release New EP
- Fickle Friends – “Not in the Mood”
- Photo Finish Records Turns 15, Announces Partnership with The Maine
- Is the Deluxe Album Trend Bad For Music?
- Will Yip Launches Another Raffle Grand Prize
- Bonnaroo 2021 Lineup Announces
- It’s Been Five Whole Years
- Albums in Stores – Apr. 2nd, 2021
Music Thoughts
- Timecop1983 released a new album this week. Very ’80’s synth-wave stuff. Pretty good on first listen, and it then got me back into a run of listening to the instrumental versions of Scandroid and Gunship this week while working.
- I enjoyed the first spin of the new Demi Lovato album. I’m not sure if it’ll be something I come back to a lot, but there’s some impressive vocal work.
- The latest from Citizen is one of those things that brings me back to the days of AbsolutePunk and the exact kind of band and sound, that would be the talk of the community for weeks on end. I’m glad to see music like that is still being made and appreciated.
- The new Manchester Orchestra album has a review embargo on it until after the release date. I always find this silly, but it is what it is, I guess.
- The new Belvedere album is an excellent little skate punk album with big Millencolin colin vibes.
- Big fan of that new Fickle Friends song. I’m ready for another full length.
- In utterly unrelated to anything news, I spent most of this week listening to a much slower than I expected but still very groovy album from an unnamed band. A real mood album worthy of many late-night, headphone on, kind of listens.
Entertainment Thoughts
- The Sound of Metal was quite good, with a very good lead performance.
- Godzilla vs. Kong is such a mess. The dialogue, the script, the acting, the over-the-top direction … just a big, giant, mess. It still had some entertaining moments and felt like a dish with three too many ingredients.
- Beartown was dark, and I’m not sure if I can say I enjoyed watching it. But it was good, it was well done, and it was the right length for a show like this. But, man, it really is a tough watch.
- We’re almost through Defending Jacob, which is a tad predictable but has solid performances from the three main leads. I could use something more uplifting to watch next. It’s a real bummer the new Mighty Ducks show is coming out weekly. I’d love to binge that.
Random and Personal Stuff
- Not much on my mind this week. I’m trying to figure out how to spend the rest of the day. Binge some Brockmire? Finish Dune? Take a nap? I know, lots of choices over here for a Saturday.
Ten Songs
Here are ten songs that I listened to and loved this week. Some may be new, some may be old, but they all found their way into my life during the past seven days.
- Citizen – Blue Sunday
- Sigrid – Focus (Demo)
- Fickle Friends – Not in the Mood
- Timecop1983 – Emotions
- Scandroid – Thriller (Pylot Remix)
- Kevin Devine – Go Haunt Someone Else
- Demi Lovato – The Kind of Lover I Am
- Olivia Rodrigo – Deja Vu
- Brockhamption – Count on Me
- Pinkshift – Mars
This playlist is available on Spotify and Apple Music.
Community Watch
The trending and popular threads in our community this week include:
- 1961 in film.
- 1960 in film.
- Obi-Wan Kenobi (Deborah Chow, Disney+)
- Director Spotlight: Favorite Tim Burton Film
- Actor Spotlight: Samuel L Jackson
- General Politics Discussion VIII
- Blink-182
- Nintendo
- Tour Prediction and Speculation Thread
- Pokemon GO (mobile)
The most liked post in our forums last week was this one by Victor Eremita in the “General Politics Discussion VIII” thread.
I hope everyone has a wonderful rest of their weekend. Thanks for reading.
Previous editions of Liner Notes can be found here.