Liner Notes (March 8th, 2025)

I am not prepared to “spring forward” this weekend, so I am trying to focus on the return of the sun instead. This week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.

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First Thing First

It’s the beginning of March, which means the weather is ever so slowly starting to turn here in Oregon. We saw some sunny days this week. Still cold. But sunny. It also means I’m a few weeks away from turning forty-two. Ohhh, boy, do I not enjoy seeing it written out like that. That’s a gnarly number. That’s making me feel things. That’s got me capital R reflecting.

But, I suppose it’s not a bad week to be in a reflecting mood.

I am going to write a bit about a sensitive topic, and I plan to only touch on this here for a few reasons. First, I don’t find it much fun to think about things that make me sad. As I said, I’m about to be forty-fucking-two. I’ve spent too much time in my life embroiled in thoughts or online conversations that bring me down. And realizing that I can just not was one of the more freeing realizations of the past decade or so. Second, as I’ve written about a lot over the past few years, I really, really, really, don’t want to take part in any of the online “discourse.” It’s why I’ve virtually stopped using social media. It’s a big part of why I wanted to walk away from what AbsolutePunk had become. Instead, I’ve tried to create a life that makes me happy, and the joy I get from writing on my little blog is a part of that. As I wrote about earlier this week, I do not want to be sucked into any of the dialog around Brand New. But as I also said, writing is how I think through problems and issues, and it is how I solidify and form my thoughts around various topics.

Let me start with this:

I do not think that the music, art, or entertainment you consume defines who you are as a person.
I think rational people can consume art, or entertainment, made by problematic or harmful people and still find value or enjoyment in what it means to them.
I don’t believe that trying to punish or hold someone who listens to music accountable is a proxy for the person who did the bad thing being held accountable. Let he, with the perfect Last.fm history, cast the first stone.
I have listened to music, watched movies and TV shows, and read books by people who have done, objectively, bad things in their lives.
The memories I have with that content can sometimes, but not always, sit in a different part of me. I can be transported back and feel some happiness thinking about car rides blasting “Shoulder to the Wheel,” and actually feel that warmth again when I hear the song. At other times, the anger, bitterness, and sadness I feel at what the author did to another human being consumes me, and I can’t hear a note of the music without feeling white-hot-blind rage. Both of these things live within me, and I experience them on a spectrum, and often in other ways I struggle to describe with words.
I do not think that everyone experiences these things the same way. I don’t think where I’ve landed is, or should be, universal. I think it is just as valid for someone to not want to listen to an artist ever again, write them off completely, and burn their records. And I believe everyone has autonomy and can choose their relationship and how they want to handle these things in the context of their own life and experience.

Where I am at with this band is that I don’t particularly want to cover them or write about them at this point in time. The main reason is that the band collectively sat on their hands while a subset of their fanbase harassed the women that came forward. In October of 2019, I received this text message:

Hey Jason- a friend of mine just sent this to me. I don’t know what to do anymore. Is there any person close to the band that you can reach out to get anyone to denounce harassing me? It happens every day.

This text came after they had exhausted other attempts to get anyone to help and had reached out to people close to the band. The screenshot was a small slice of the various harassment campaigns I have seen pop up over the past few years. I sent emails to the group of contacts I still had. I heard nothing back. This is what eats at me. There was an opportunity to do something, something small, to make someone’s life better. And, I’d ask, if you had been sent this text message and had talked with someone who had gone through this, how would you feel about everything? When I wrote earlier about the part of me that can, sometimes, partition my brain for a moment and enjoy a sensory memory from music? This is the kind of thing that puts cracks right through it.

The other thing I think about is this quote:

My biggest fear now is that Brand New will tour again in 2018. Quite frankly, in any other job, in any other industry — Jesse would have been fired and blacklisted. But this is the music industry and Brand New clearly doesn’t have a fucking HR department.

That’s a direct ask from someone who spoke out.

Far better writers than me have written about this already, and I think Hanif’s insights are spot on. So, when people make snide comments about how I must not believe in forgiveness, I come back to the two facts above and the reality that my forgiveness means inherently nothing. It would be selfish to think my forgiveness matters at all. As previously stated, I don’t think anyone is a bad person for listening to Brand New, but it should come from a place of honesty. Be honest with what happened and what continued to happen, and don’t try to hide from those uncomfortable facts. To me, it’s the smug and gleeful thumb-in-the-eye approach that I have the most issue with, and maybe that’s tied to it feeling very MAGA-adjacent with how it’s played out online. When I posted about the solo show on the main page, I did this as sort of a trial balloon to see how things would go. The 400+ comment thread was my answer. It brought me back to the very thing I don’t want to participate in, have to moderate, or deal with anymore. It put me in the exact mental place I’ve been trying to work my way out of for over a decade. And that is the reason, for now, I am choosing not to cover news of the band on my website. And I wish it didn’t have to be that way because I wish I had more of an outlet to work through my feelings about this. About how when the news finally came out my first thought was how it felt like a pantomime of the excitement we used to feel. And how it had me asking myself: Do you miss Brand New, or do you miss being 18? Do you miss what it felt like when they were going to announce something new and you had no real responsibilities, and the world hadn’t worn you down? Instead my only outlet for that is a few pockets of our little community or newsletter-therapy and me fumbling through these words now.

I’ll end with this: I think people should do what makes them happiest in the little time we have on this spinning rock. But do it with honesty. Don’t lie to yourself. Understand the toll and reality of those decisions. If what you’re trying to recapture is a part of your youth, walk in with clear eyes about what that also means. And as someone who’s written as much as anyone about music’s role and impact on your life, believe me when I say there’s still gold to be found in the memories formed with new music as well. And, finally, as we sit here in 2025 going through an obvious culture vibe shift where the worst people in the world are in charge, feel emboldened, and see zero consequences for their actions, it’s easy to be cynical. And cynicism can lead to darkness. And that was my gut reaction when I heard the news a few months ago: “Oh, of course right now, perfect timing.” But as part of a running theme in the newsletter this year, I’m trying to pull myself back from that edge. I want to take control of the things I can control and take the reins on how I perceive and react to events. What I can do is set my own boundaries, make my own choices, and focus on what brings me fulfillment. There’s too much out there, too much music, too much life, and I sure ain’t getting any younger.

If you read this and have the urge to copy and paste it elsewhere or link to it with the sole purpose of having people say mean things about me online, please take a moment to pause and think about how there’s a person here typing these words. If you’d like to talk about anything I’ve written, my email address is public, and the forum is always open. Thank you.

A Few Things

I wrote a new blog post highlighting my current iOS 18 home screen. I like to do these every few years as a bit of an archive for how it’s evolved over time. I also made updates to my miscellaneous recommendations post, favorite software post, and audio equipment post.
I’ve been making quite a few changes/updates to the website over the first few months of the year. It’s been one way I’ve kept myself from doomscrolling at night and it’s been a nice distraction. The blog updates, the speed and page loading improvements, and pulling tracking off the website, have been my favorite of the bunch so far. I recently made the 50th update of the year when I improved search results on the main page. And, I started working on some forum updates last night and (I think) fixed an annoying photo upload bug. I have some other forum feature updates planned next.

Music Thoughts

Last week saw the release of the new Oversize album. I’d describe it as a little shoegaze/grunge but with a nice balance of melody and heavier moments. It’s been one of my favorite releases of the year so far.
The new tracks on the deluxe issue of Kelsea Ballerini’s album are all great little additions to an already excellent album.
Spitalfield invented a time machine. That’s the only way I can describe how they have been able to perfectly bottle 2003. If you had told me these new songs were long-lost songs re-discovered, I’d believe you. I can’t get enough and can’t wait for the upcoming EP. The opposite of that feeling is whatever the new Anberlin re-record is. I can’t get past the over-processed metallic-sounding vocals. I do not think this era, this singer, will be for me.
Lady Gaga’s new album has some great pop songs on it. A few don’t quite do it for me, but the hit-to-miss ratio is high. I see this sitting in rotation as the weather continues to warm up. When Gaga is on, there are very few who do this better. And the production here is immaculate. There’s this power and warmth that elevate the best of the bunch.
Listen one of the new Spiritbox album had me thinking, “Ok, that rules, but it’s not quite as immediate or striking as Eternal Blue.” Listen two of the new Spiritbox album had me wanting to run through a brick wall. Heavy. Outrageous vocals. And I love that the band lost none of their aggression and metal influences. This is easily one of the most exciting bands in this genre and easily one of the best albums I’ve heard this year.
The new Nightly album is, in my opinion, a big step up from their last. I liked the debut but found the follow-up to be … lacking. The songs just never got there for me. This one’s not doing anything new for the band, but the songs are better.

The Stats: Over the past week, I listened to 41 different artists, 58 different albums, and 478 different tracks (578 scrobbles). Here is my Top 9 from last week, and you can follow me on Apple Music and/or Last.fm.

Entertainment Thoughts

I have this silly theory when watching a movie that if I’m like 15 to 20 minutes in and I think, “you know, this movie’s better if they started it right here,” there’s basically no chance the movie’s going to be good. The Gorge was one of those movies. Two actors I like. A premise that should have worked. But instead of being fun it was just a mess. For as good as Apple’s TV shows have been, their movies have been rough.
Movies like Spotlight and All The Presidents Men are a genre that will almost always work on me. September 5 is not as good as those two films, but still tense and well done.
The Day of the Jackal has been super enjoyable. Two episodes left.

Random and Personal Stuff

Hannah and I are going to head out to a local garden and enjoy the Saturday weather and then find a pub for a beer and some food. I hope everyone has a great weekend.

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.

Oversize – Are You With Me?
Lady Gaga – How Bad Do U Want Me
Spiritbox – A Haven With Two Faces
Kelsea Ballerini – Hindsight is Happiness
The Speakeasy – Troubled Waters
Spitalfield – I Can’t Stop
Nightly – Mess
Great Good Fine Ok – Forget You
Millington – Forget You
The Young Hearts – Hell or High Water

This playlist is available on Spotify and Apple Music.

Community Watch

The trending and popular threads in our community this week include:

The most liked post in our forums last week was this one by Drew Beringer in the “Accountability in Music” thread.

Previous editions of Liner Notes can be found here.

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