(Un)Focused Definition Ep. 48: It All Sounds So Good…

It took almost two weeks for this nasty respiratory infection to go away, and today is the first morning I can actually walk around without wheezing, coughing, and otherwise sound like I’m dying. So we’re having a virtual celebration with a bunch of songs I’ve been enjoying that either came in recently or have just been hitting the spot when listening to radio shows or my own playlists. I upgraded my theater system in the basement with a new setup that supports Dolby Atmos, so it’s been a blast listening to a lot of discs I’ve collected over time I can now hear for the first time. I’m not an Atmos convert, but I’ll be honest: left to my own devices this playlist and this weekend would be almost nothing but the new incredible remix for Pink Floyd’s Live at Pompeii, so if you want an alternative to this week’s playlist you can just spin that over and over and over…

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(Un)Focused Definition Ep. 23: Cold Comfort

Find the light where you can. Lead with compassion, with empathy.

That’s what I’ve been having to tell people all week; not just because of the US election, but it was also the week of massive and hurtful layoffs where I work. I’m still here, a lot of people aren’t. And for some of them, I had to be the one in the room, on the phone, or on the video conference. Never did that before. Didn’t have much choice. I console myself by saying not matter how much I’m hurting, others are hurting much, much worse. So I try, I try to remember that, and to push back hate and anger because at the moment righteous fury feels like a lie.

The music helps, a little.

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#mayvinylchallenge Day 21: Dischord

Day 21 of the #mayvinylchallenge asks to feature an independent music label. As I’m still trying to catch up I decided to return to an old favorite – one I’ve been covering here at the site for a while. So rather than write up another album from the fierce and impeccable Dischord label, I’m going to link to a few I’ve already written for the site. Because sometimes you’re exhausted and it’s 90 degrees and you just need a good lie down, you know?

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fugazi - repeater

Fugazi: Repeater (1990)

We’re back in Fugazi territory, and with every release I regret more and more not having this band in my life during my childhood. I was 17 when the band’s debut full length Repeater came out, and listening to it now 32 years later I can hear how the intensity, the immediacy of the songs would have taken a hold of me. True, I was listening to Minor Threat and getting my McKaye fix that way, but the space and use of sound as a punctuation rather than a melodic component is so addicting now…I assume I would have mainlined this like a fiend back in the day.

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fugazi - 7 songs

Fugazi: Fugazi/7 Songs (1988)

Confession time. Up until a few weeks ago I never owned any Fugazi on vinyl. Plenty of Ian McKaye – Minor Threat, Embrace, Teen Idles…even his latest band Coriky. Like everyone else my age I certainly had heard the band – I even had for the longest time 13 Songs and Repeater +3 Songs taped on a blank cassette thanks to friends in college who made sure I was aware. But as I got older I branched into other things, and Fugazi was always readily available…a download away. Once Dischord moved to Bandcamp I quickly snatched up digital copies of the albums, but vinyl still eluded me. But it’s never too late (except for certain albums that are INSANELY overpriced and currently out of print) so over the last few weeks I hunted down what I could and we’re starting at the very beginning, with the self-titled debut EP, or as it’s known in some parts 7 Songs.

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