A simple premise. This is the fifty second playlist for Consuming the Tangible. In four days I turn 52 years old. Why not make a playlist of tracks that came out 52 years ago? That’s it. That’s the theme of the playlist.
Continue reading “(Un)Focused Definition Ep. 52: A Very Good Year”
Sometimes listening to nothing but new music – or music unfamiliar to my ears – can be a drain. I’m constantly trying to create context on the fly, thinking about what works, what doesn’t and where a particular song, album, or artist/band fits within my musical worldview, if at all. What I’m saying is sometimes I want to listen to music for comfort, where there is no greater picture to see, and just wrap myself in a warm blanket of music that simply exists to provide a good time. Enter once again Deep Purple, whose 2020 album Whoosh! took a while to get used it, but now can wash over me like a warm bath, leaving me clean and ready to tackle the next thing. Does it really need to be more than that?
Continue reading “Deep Purple: Whoosh! (2020)”
Every Memorial Day weekend we travel upstate to a remote section of the Catskills to be with family, eat lots of barbecue (and pasta, you can’t escape Italian tradition when you’re outnumbered 20 to 1 up there) and celebrate my son’s birthday. The one other thing I do is make my annual trip to my favorite local record shops, Spike’s Record Rack and John Doe Records. Despite a wishlist on Discogs a mile long, I never go in with any set plan; I just browse around until things catch my eye. So this is the pickup, but be warned: two of the albums are actually “2 for 1” compilations that sound fantastic which means what looks like five is actually seven albums. If I did my math right. Which is debatable. Regardless, let’s get into it.
Continue reading “Memorial Weekend Vinyl Haul, 2025 Edition”
Super brief, but not exactly random. I’m upstate in the woods for a family get-together, and didn’t have time to properly get a playlist off. But there’s a small bit of method to the madness here: I’ve been listening to a lot of indie rock that is either comprised of women or feature women, and so the first half of this playlist is a showcase for some incredible music in that arena. The second half is all instrumental psych rock. Enjoy!
Continue reading “(Un)Focused Definition Ep. 51: A Random Riot”
On the last Bandcamp Friday Earache Records heavily discounted their vinyl stock, and the carrion call of Carcass was simply too alluring to ignore (as was the alliteration in that sentence). I’m a fan of every era of the band, but the pronounced slide into technical death metal on Necroticism – Descanting the Insalubrious has always been a personal favorite. With the addition of Michael Amott on second guitar the band retained their grimy, rough edges which elevating their riffs and songwriting to something that wouldn’t be out of place on a Death record. It’s the perfect bridge between their earlier, grind-heavy sound and the pristine shine that would come one album later.
Continue reading “Carcass: Necroticism – Descanting the Insalubrious (1991)”
The Norwegians have practically cornered the market when it comes to modern progressive rock, so why not desert/stoner rock as well? Kal-El has in just over a decade carved out a very nice discography of hard, anthemic rock that straddles stoner metal, doom, desert rock, and even some subtle shades of psychedelia. Full length number six Astral Voyager Vol. 1 wraps the band’s vibe in a grand science fiction concept as well as some killer album art, with Vol. 2 promised for later in the year. This is my second release from Blues Funeral Recording’s PostWax Unlimited series, and a welcome surprise that has me eager to dig deeper into the band.
Continue reading “Kal-El: Astral Voyager Vol. 1 (2025)”
Consuming the Tangible 