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?

• Roine Stolt – “The Flower King”
• Soundgarden – “Spoonman”
• Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats – “Il sole sorge sempre”
• Beak> – “The Seal”

To know The Flower Kings is to know Roine Stolt, the multi-faceted musician who’s been a part of such bands as The Tangent, Kaipa, Transatlantic, and a lot more. But his biggest and primary band got their name and mission from Stolt’s 1994 solo album and title track, which is 10 minutes of pure prog bliss featuring one of the best choruses you’ll hear this side of the universe…I always thought I’d go to my grave swearing Badmotorfinger was the best thing Soundgarden ever did. But damn if Superunknown, their biggest hit album hasn’t been growing on me the past few years. Picking up the vinyl has only reinforced the oversight my aural blindness gave me back in my college days…If you’ve ever read my work over at Cinema Dual you know I’m a sucker for giallo, so the news that the latest Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats album was a soundtrack to an imaginary lost giallo was literally music to my ears. Very different from their usual psychedelic-soaked stoner riffing, but essential nonetheless…I liked the experimental krautorck pulse of Beak> the second I heard them back in 2018 – made sense considering it was the new outlet for former Portishead mastermind Geoff Barrow. The recently released Beak>>>> is anxious and calming in equal measure, and I can’t get enough of it.

• Uli Jon Roth/Electric Sun – “Burning Wheels Turning”
• Abdallah Oumbadougou – “Iwouksane”
• Lord Dying – “I Am Nothing I Am Everything”
• Darkthrone – “Black Dawn Affiliation”

A few years ago I started reviewing the early Scorpions albums, and I was delighted to get introduced to the Hendrix-inspired pyrotechnics of Uli Jon Roth. His Electric Sun project has a lot of that Hendrix vibe and pulse coursing through it, and “Burning Wheels Turning” is a fun rocker perfect for the start of summer…A different kind of heat permeates the work of Abdallah Oumbadougou, the widely-proclaimed “Godfather of Taureg music.” My friend Erik turned me onto these guys, just as he turned me on to all kinds of music coming out of Africa – from the soul/funk of the 70s to the more traditional and modern takes of the continent’s varied and gorgeous musical history…But into each life (or playlist) a little metal must fall, and so wedged here in the back are two tracks from two bands who are sure to make my Nine Circles Best of 2024 list come end of year. If you listen to our soon to return podcast over there you’ll hear me wax rhapsodic about the new album from Lord Dying, which may be my favorite metal thing so far in 2024, and that’s saying a lot, because my beloved Darkthrone also released a new record this year I quite like, so you get two very different sounds embodying the spirit of rock before we head to our inevitable conclusion.

• Frank Zappa/The Mothers of Invention – “King Kong Pt. 1”
• Frank Zappa/The Mothers of Invention – “King Kong Pt. 2”

It’s not that there was any doubt this thing would close out with some Frank Zappa. But in my defense I just received the latest legacy set, Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention: Whisky a Go Go, 1968. In the YouTube playlist you get a 14-minute video montage of the band’s legendary performance at that legendary club. On the Spotify playlist you get the band doing their 2-part musical beast “King Kong” which just so happens to total 14 minutes.

Be safe, and see you next week.