(Un)Focused Definition Ep. 26: Six Months of This?!

Yup. Every week for the last six months I’ve put out a playlist. I don’t know how many people actually read or listen to them, but I’m glad I kept the consistency up. The other thing I’ve kept up is buying more and more records and CDs; there will never be enough time to listen to them all. Maybe I’m hoarding for that time when I’m bed-ridden and this is all that will be left to me. maybe this morning for some reason I’m just more morose than usual; I’ve got a head cold and eating way more than I should. A morning walk with these tunes, recent purchases that need digging into might put a foothold or two in the pit.

ChrisNovember 30, 2024November 30, 2024Leave a comment

Vinyl

Def Leppard: On Through The Night (1980)

We were driving home from Syracuse, a college visit trip that extended into our wedding anniversary. It was a beautiful late autumn drive, seeing the huge windmills scattered across as we drove over and through there Catskill mountains. The playlist was banging out tunes, and when “Wasted” came on my wife had no idea it was Def Leppard. There’s something about On Through The Night, that first album that sounds like a 70s album even though it came out in 1980. It’s just raw and rough and fun in a way the ultra-polish of the Robert “Mutt” Lang years would lose, despite the many accolades and dollars his production would bring to the band. That song led to a rabbit hole of early 80s hard rock that I still haven’t relinquished almost two weeks later, so why not dig in and understand what about this debut I like so much?

ChrisNovember 27, 2024Leave a comment

Playlists

(Un)Focused Definition Ep. 25: That’s What Friends Are For

I feel like I didn’t get a lot accomplished this week because I only got the one review in here for Lift. But we’re always hard on ourselves when it comes to unrealistic goals: that dismay refuses to take into consideration the fact that I also worked a 50 hour work week, produced, edited, and uploaded a podcast, took care of my family, and had about an hour where I got to really groove on and share music with two of my friends.

That last part’s important, because one thing I’ve always be sure to acknowledge is how vital it is to have those people who point the way to new and exciting avenues of music. This time it was (surprise no surprise) Erik who introduced me and our mutual bud Baxter to the joys of bndcmpr.co which allows you to create playlists out of anything that’s on Bandcamp. So we created accounts and shared some of our favorite new music. In that spirit, this week’s edition of (Un)Focused Definition sets its sights on those albums I discovered thanks to two dear friends, lights in a dark time that always know how to use the gift of music to not only keep us together, but keep our heads afloat in the deep, dark water.

ChrisNovember 23, 2024November 23, 2024Leave a comment

Vinyl

Lift: Caverns Of Your Brain (1977)

Pick a genre, any genre and you’ll find an ocean of bands who popped on the scene only to sink just as quickly. The question of “why” a band makes it or not oftentimes has nothing to do with the quality of music; life and its myriad circumstances inevitably wend their way through any group in unfathomable ways. All of which is to say I’m glad for the work of Disques plusqueréel or PQR, who have steadily been unearthing and releasing fantastic psychedelic and progressive rock that would otherwise be forgotten or lost. We previously covered Mirthrandir here, and now comes Lift, a progressive rock outfit out of New Orleans whose sole album, Caverns Of Your Brain, espouses everything that was great about the US prog scene in the 70s. It’s a great addition to any prog nerd’s collection, even if I do have a few qualms to pick with the label and the way they package their albums.

ChrisNovember 18, 20241 Comment

Playlists

(Un)Focused Definition Ep. 24: Anniversary

As in “my” anniversary. Like, wedding anniversary. I debated just cancelling the playlist this week, but I had a few minutes this morning so in the interest of consistency here’s a slightly random playlist that – if there’s a theme at all – contains music my wife enjoys. She doesn’t really consume music, though there are rare instances where she will ask if we have a specific album, which is my cue to go buy it if we don’t. Really she just puts up with what I like, occasionally pushing back with a gentle” this sucks” which is my cue again to change it up.

No commentary again this week, we’ll be back to regular programming next week assuming this anniversary goes okay.

ChrisNovember 16, 2024November 15, 2024Leave a comment

Vinyl

Hail Spirit Noir: Mayhem In Blue (2016)

The scientific community wants you to believe evolution comes over long periods of time. Millions of years from the sea to the land, millions more from ape to man. Thankfully we don’t have to wait so long in music, and Hail Spirit Noir bare that fact out. Over the course of just over a decade the Greek progressive black metal outfit have gone from traditional (if slightly experimental) atmospheric black metal to Enslaved-style progressive metal to straight up synth soundtrack mavens and the new organic blend of sound that embody their latest album Fossil Gardens. I hit the Randomizer on my Discogs account and came back with Mayhem in Blue, the band’s third full length and breakout album. Listening back to it now I’m finding all the things I love about the genre, its permeability (despite certain bands insistence black metal remain “pure” whatever that means), and willingness to find drama and grace in the weirdest of places. It’s been too long since I heard this album, so I’m happy to set it down here.

ChrisNovember 13, 2024Leave a comment

Consuming the Tangible

We are what we consume

Month: November 2024

(Un)Focused Definition Ep. 26: Six Months of This?!

Def Leppard: On Through The Night (1980)

(Un)Focused Definition Ep. 25: That’s What Friends Are For

Lift: Caverns Of Your Brain (1977)

(Un)Focused Definition Ep. 24: Anniversary

Hail Spirit Noir: Mayhem In Blue (2016)