Wanted to do something different today. It’s my birthday, and I already built a playlist last week celebrating a bunch of great music that came out during the year of my birth. But the music of 1973 isn’t what made me into who I am now – that’s an ever-growing, ever-evolving store of musical moments and memories. And so I wanted to make another playlist, of the songs that inspired me, moved, me, marked significant moments of my life.
Continue reading “52 Reasons Why”
Finally. As of this morning you can listen to my buddy Dan and I wax rhapsodic about our favorite non-metal albums of 2024 wherever you get your podcasts, which means it’s time to finally get down to bees-niss and sum up the year in new music. I already recapped most of the metal selections in my various (Un)Focused Definition playlists, and of course you can hit the “best of 2024” tag to read the reviews for many of them regardless of genre. We’ll use a lot of same categories I used back in 2021, and add a few more to talk about the stuff that wasn’t completely reviewed here on the site. Let’s get to it below the jump.
Continue reading “Consuming in 2024: My Favorite Music”
So much for a fresh clean start to 2025. Fires are rampaging all across Los Angeles, devastating families and friends, so if you’re one of the few people who check out this blog (thanks, BTW!) affected by that, my heart goes out to you. I’m still getting over a linger case of pneumonia, about the only thing I’ve been able to focus on besides YouTube shorts is the plethora of new music that’s come in over the last month. It’s almost stupidly massive, exacerbated by the holidays, so I guess it’s time for yet another round of “What’s come into my house” for (Un)Focused Definition. Let’s get to it.
Continue reading “(Un)Focused Definition Ep. 32: Holiday Acquisitions”
I put off writing about Beyoncé forever; what could I possibly add to the global conversation about one of the biggest artists in the world? Nothing. Even if you’re not a fan, you know exactly who she is, whether it’s from her time in Destiny’s Child to her incredibly prolific solo career, both as a performer and a producer. Chances are you know she’s married to Jay-Z, another legend of the scene. You probably know the drama, and her musical response (and his) even if you never actually heard them. As well: who doesn’t wag some part of their body when “Single Ladies” comes on? Anyway, that’s all mindless preamble to the fact that Cowboy Carter, the second in a three-act series of albums focusing on different genres (previous album Act 1: Renaissance focused on the liberating club and dance scene) has since release sat at the top of my list of incredible records, an album that not only brings the very best production I’ve heard on any record since, well…her last album, but also helped me to re-think my entire relationship to music.
Continue reading “Beyoncé: Cowboy Carter (2024)”
I’m about halfway through the next Flower Kings review, and also have a bunch of catchup work, both paying and not, that’s kept me from regular posting this week. So we’re going to keep things brief for this week’s playlist, which is going to highlight tracks from my favorite albums of the year so far. Think of it as a mid-year report, except it’s coming about a month and half too late. And to make up for the lack of commentary, and because there’s so much to love about music in 2024, we’re expanding one time from 1 hours to 2 hours.
Lots of different styles and genres within, so let’s cut the chit-chat and get to it.
Continue reading “(Un)Focused Definition Ep. 12: 2024, A Slightly Past Mid-Year Review”
Consuming the Tangible 