Tag: playlist

Playlists

(Un)Focused Definition Ep. 12: 2024, A Slightly Past Mid-Year Review

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”
Unknown's avatarChrisLeave a comment
Playlists

(Un)Focused Definition Ep. 11: Back in the Acquisition Saddle Again

I’m back on vacation, this time disease-free and making the most of it on the sandy beaches of Jamaica, so album analysis and the final arc of Flower King records will wait until I’m home next week. I thought about another playlist of recent listening but, uh…it’s almost exclusively been the last few Deep Purple records. After initially being lukewarm on their new album =1, the first to feature Simon McBride on guitar, I fell hard for it and subsequently fell even harder for the last few with Steve Morse. You don’t want an hour of that, believe me (maybe you do).

Good thing I’ve been on a rampage lately with new music. Sure, it’s mainly progressive rock, jazz, fusion and – yeah – Deep Purple, but at least it’s not ALL Deep Purple, right? Right?

Continue reading “(Un)Focused Definition Ep. 11: Back in the Acquisition Saddle Again”
Unknown's avatarChrisLeave a comment
Playlists

(Un)Focused Definition Ep. 10: And It Stoned Me…

Call it whatever you want: stoner or desert rock, doesn’t matter to me. What does matter are thick, juicy riffs just dripping with fuzz, a bass that rumbles the crust of the earth, and a penchant for melody that can be carried across an array of clean or throaty vocals. Inject it with doom, with prog, with sludge and death…you can’t disguise the pulse of the cosmic harmonic that calls directly to my lizard brain when all pistons are firing, so this week as I once again get ready for vacation (this time hopefully without catching a myriad of viruses and infections) let’s dive into some stoner rock and metal that have been getting me through life over the past few years.

Continue reading “(Un)Focused Definition Ep. 10: And It Stoned Me…”
Unknown's avatarChrisLeave a comment
Playlists

(Un)Focused Definition Ep. 5: Big Bands, Deep Cuts

It started with watching Pete Pardo talk about Van Halen on his inaugural entry for Sea of Tranquility’s Favorite Albums to Listen to in Summertime. I’m already planning a “Summer Playlist” in two weeks when I leave for a lengthy (for me) vacation, but Van Halen lingered, and it was a simple matter to put together some kind of “deep cuts” playlist filled with what are – to me – some of the biggest bands I happen to love. So that’s where we’re going this week. Warning: some of these might not be traditionally “deep cuts” – they’re not all buried in the sequencing. Some are favorites from reviled or unpopular albums, at least one was a big hit for another band. And of course one is a Zappa cut. Enjoy the weekend and let’s dig in.

Continue reading “(Un)Focused Definition Ep. 5: Big Bands, Deep Cuts”
Unknown's avatarChrisLeave a comment
Playlists

(Un)Focused Definition Ep. 4: This Is Why (Physical Media)

I have no idea what I did, but somehow I screwed up my Apple Music. I was uploading some stuff I bought from Bandcamp (a bunch of albums from the Italian prog band Celeste)and now iCloud won’t update my library and on my desktop all the music I loaded from streaming is gone. It’s still there on my iPhone and iPad, so I know it’s just a syncing issue, but it’s frustrating all the same because I had a different theme in mind for this week’s (Un)Focused Definition playlist.

But since that fell through the cracks, we’re going to do a playlist featuring tracks from some (more) recent vinyl acquisitions. What can I say? I have a problem, and it’s an addiction I have no desire to knock. So let’s get into it, starting with a preview of the next review and series, shall we?

Continue reading “(Un)Focused Definition Ep. 4: This Is Why (Physical Media)”
Unknown's avatarChrisLeave a comment
Playlists

(Un)Focused Definition Ep. 3: Reconstructing the Past

I wish I could go back and change the past.

Not the big moments, not the world-changing events. But those smaller regrets, behaviors and actions that still sting when they rise unbidden in my head. I travel back in my mind, re-arranging conversations and finding that no matter what I do, the shame and guilt remain. I’m sure we all doing the same thing, but recent events have me falling back more, especially when it’s the middle of the night and all I want is escape through sleep. So for this edition of (Un)Focused Definition I went back to 1990-1991, recalling the treasured mix tapes my high school friends would make that colored so much of my life, both the incredible moments and some of the more sour. For better or for worse, let’s jump into a wide array of tunes that shaped 17-year old me.

Continue reading “(Un)Focused Definition Ep. 3: Reconstructing the Past”
Unknown's avatarChrisLeave a comment