(Un)Focused Definition Ep. 42: The Answer (To What I’ve Been Listening To This Week)

I’m a nerd who listens to prog…of COURSE I also love Douglas Adams. So when episode 42 reared its head I needed to add some kind of acknowledgement. It’s been a rough week, and I’m still dealing with some sizable mental and emotional duress, so I did what I usually do in those circumstances: ignore the problem and buy a lot of music. I kid (kind of); I did buy way too much music this week but I’m also looking at more healthy options and outlets to work through it, like these shambling, error-filled review I’ll try and clean up (I did fix the Steven Wilson title, thanks, Jon). I’m also going to my first concert of 2025 tonight: the final – and hometown return – of Dream Theater’s 40th anniversary tour with Mike Portnoy at Radio City Music Hall. Yeah, more nerd stuff so let’s just get to the playlist, huh?

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steven wilson - the overhead

Steven Wilson: The Overview (2025)

Maybe a part of it is because I’m reading his memoir Limited Edition Of One at the same time. Maybe I’ve just put asides expectations and refused to engaged in speculation based on marketing, promotion, and that heavily burdened world “prog”. Maybe it’s just this time, this state of being that is so fraying that hearing The Overview, the latest album from Steven Wilson gives me what I need: a floating, exploratory record that both soothes and reflects in its electronic excursions some of that static that sits within. or maybe I’m just old, and I dig what he’s puttin’ out, you know?

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bob mould - here we go crazy

Bob Mould: Here We Go Crazy (2025)

Bob Mould unlocks something in me, a rotted chest that tries to secure all my anxieties in tight. It fails, venting resentment and anger and pain at inopportune moments, like it has for most of this week. That’s how it was yesterday, and after hours of being on edge, trembling and trying (and failing) to hide a stem where my hand makes these weird repetitive motions like I’m casting spell to wish it all away, I drove home, putting on Here We Go Crazy, Mould’s latest solo album. I was driving 20 mph, cars all around me frustrated and gunning to get past the school zone, and the chorus to the title track came up and the chest unlocked, and if you looked though the windows you would have seen an old, bald man just lose it, sobbing as he vainly tried to sing along. And here’s the thing: that’s not the only Bob Mould song to do that to me.

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nite - cult of the serpent sun

Nite: Cult Of The Serpent Sun (2025)

Only three months into the new year and traditional heavy metal is having one hell of a banner year. First there was Century in January bringing us their debut Sign of the Storm; in February came the streetwise and ripping Mean Mistreater with their second album Do Or Die. And now in March we have the big one: the furious blackened rock and roll heavy metal swagger of San Francisco’s Nite returning with album #3. Cult of the Serpent Sun embraces the spirit of denim and leather, of the NWOBHM and makes sure to inject some lethal dark majesty in its riffs and lyrics, taking the “heavy” part of heavy metal to its zenith. Goddamn do I love this album…

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karmakanic - transmutation

Karmakanic: Transmutation (2025)

Expectation’s a funny thing. So are solo projects, and the two intertwine when someone who’s not the leader of a band goes out and does their own thing. Jonas Reingold has been the king of prog rock bass for decades now, whether it was supporting The Tangent or The Flower Kings or – in his most current guise – as the main support for Steve Hackett. But on his own he’s the brain behind Karmakanic, which since 2002 has been putting out their own spin on modern neo-prog. It’s been nine years since the last album, bringing a lot of expectation on what Transmutation should sound like. Surprise: with a massive rotating guest list it sounds a little like all those bands, but not quite like any of them.

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freckle - freckle

Freckle: Freckle (2025)

I’m still trying to figure out what it is that Ty Segall does that captures exactly what I’m looking for in a rock album. Despite his myriad incarnations and permutations, from the Sabbath stomp of bands like Fuzz to his Eno-esque limitations on albums like First Taste or his more out there collaborations with White Fence and Brian Chippendale 0f Lightning Bolt, there’s just something there that resonates in me. Nothing’s changed with Freckle, both the album and the new collaboration with Corey Madden of Color Green. Whether or not Freckle the band is a one-shot deal, I’m all in for its blend of psychedelic pop and guitar rock worship.

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