(Un)Focused Definition Ep. 4: This Is Why (Physical Media)

I have no idea what I did, but somehow I screwed up my Apple Music. I was uploading some stuff I bought from Bandcamp (a bunch of albums from the Italian prog band Celeste)and now iCloud won’t update my library and on my desktop all the music I loaded from streaming is gone. It’s still there on my iPhone and iPad, so I know it’s just a syncing issue, but it’s frustrating all the same because I had a different theme in mind for this week’s (Un)Focused Definition playlist.

But since that fell through the cracks, we’re going to do a playlist featuring tracks from some (more) recent vinyl acquisitions. What can I say? I have a problem, and it’s an addiction I have no desire to knock. So let’s get into it, starting with a preview of the next review and series, shall we?

ChrisJune 29, 2024June 29, 2024Leave a comment

Vinyl

Roine Stolt: The Flower King (1994)

“We believe in the light, we believe in love, every precious, little thing.

We believe you can still surrender; you can serve the Flower King.”

It’s there, in those two lines and the music that captures them that you can see the whole of The Flower Kings spring to life. But it’s not a Flower Kings album, it’s from the 1994 solo album from Roine Stolt titled The Flower King. There were certainly albums before this one: coming to prominence as a 17-year old guitar phenom with the Swedish progressive unit Kaipa in the mid 70s; a quick pair of albums as Fantasia (or Roine Stolt’s Fantasia); even two solo albums before the future congeals in this fantastic slab of progressive rock. So before jumping into the band proper, I thought it only fitting – especially since I was able to grab one of the limited edition first vinyl pressing of the album (it was only CD and digital before this year) – that we talk about the ür Flower Kings if I may borrow liberally from Harold Bloom. Whether you consider it part of the discography or not it’s a killer album, so let’s dig in.

ChrisJune 29, 2024June 29, 20242 Comments

Playlists

(Un)Focused Definition Ep. 3: Reconstructing the Past

I wish I could go back and change the past.

Not the big moments, not the world-changing events. But those smaller regrets, behaviors and actions that still sting when they rise unbidden in my head. I travel back in my mind, re-arranging conversations and finding that no matter what I do, the shame and guilt remain. I’m sure we all doing the same thing, but recent events have me falling back more, especially when it’s the middle of the night and all I want is escape through sleep. So for this edition of (Un)Focused Definition I went back to 1990-1991, recalling the treasured mix tapes my high school friends would make that colored so much of my life, both the incredible moments and some of the more sour. For better or for worse, let’s jump into a wide array of tunes that shaped 17-year old me.

ChrisJune 22, 2024June 22, 2024Leave a comment

Melvins/Boris: Twins of Evil (2024)

At some point I’m going to take a deep dive into the music of Boris, a band I have come to absolutely (amplifier?) worship over the years, starting from their later, more accessible moments and spiraling down to their early, fuzzed out droning earthquake sonics. Melvins are a more mysterious band for me, a collective I know in small pockets despite only only a few releases on digital. The history of these two monsters of noise is long and intertwined, continuing to this very moment with the release of Twins of Evil, a split commemorating the bands’ 2023 tour. Two tracks, each one about 20 minutes long and currently only available as a cheap but awesome $5 CD from Amphetamine Reptile. I couldn’t wait for the vinyl coming soon, so here we are, the CD arriving today and a virgin listening experience awaiting below.

ChrisJune 20, 2024Leave a comment

Celtic Frost: Danse Macabre (2022)

Oough! Is there another band more vital to so many different metal genres than Celtic Frost? So many (including my beloved Darkthrone) have been inspired by the band, yet no one sounds like them (Darkthrone by their own admission has moments of pure Celtic Frost worship, but never a full song). In typical fashion I came to the Swiss machine from a myriad of roundabouts: finding a cheap used compilation back in my early 30s, falling hard for Tom G. Warrior’s post efforts in Triptykon, and then going ALL the way back to the early Hellhammer releases. But it was only recently that I really started getting deeper into the band’s seminal releases, and when the Danse Macabre box set was announced I finally jumped at the chance to get better acquainted. TL;DR – it’s a great package, containing remastered versions of Morbid Tales, To Mega Therion, and Into the Pandemonium, the Emperor’s Return EP, and the Grave Hill Bunker Rehearsals from 1984. There’s also a great booklet going through the band’s history and patches and pin for your battle vest, but the real find are these albums. So, similar to my review of the recent Black Sabbath set, let’s get dirty, baby.

Are you morbid?

ChrisJune 17, 2024June 16, 2024Leave a comment

Playlists

(Un)Focused Definition Ep. 2: What’s Old Is New

Happy Saturday! We’re back with another round of (Un)Focused Definition, a weekly series where I put together a playlist of tunes around a theme of my choosing. This time around we’re checking out older bands that were recent discoveries. As much as I try to keep up with newer music, I find myself constantly being drawn to the past, to older, analog sounds that spread over a wide space of genres. There are some loose groupings below, so let’s cut the chatter, grab a cup of hot coffee, and get to it, shall we?

ChrisJune 15, 2024Leave a comment

Consuming the Tangible

We are what we consume

Month: June 2024