(Un)Focused Definition Ep. 83: The Future By Way of the Past

It’s single digits upstate. I’m here with my son in the freezing cold so he can visit his girlfriend for the day. I have coffee, I have an old tattered hoodie and enough battery power to see if I can get through one book, one movie, and one music review today while they gallivant and find pockets of solitude to do their thing. Happy 2026, let’s hope it’s better than last year. This playlist is what I’m thinking about queuing up as I sit here in my room while the kids have the run of the house. It’s largely older music, a palate cleanser from the month of new music.

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memorial vinyl haul 2025 sm

Memorial Weekend Vinyl Haul, 2025 Edition

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.

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