(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.

ChrisAugust 24, 2024August 23, 2024Leave a comment

Playlists

(Un)Focused Definition Ep. 7: Vacation Time

It has been a week, folks. No sleep, a complete freakout at 2am this morning because I realized at that moment that I mistook AM for PM when book my family’s vacation weeks ago, meaning instead of arriving at 11:59AM and meeting our friends for the day we weren’t arriving until midnight. Try booking a new flight and canceling your old one with a day’s notice when there’s a global Microsoft outage affecting the banks and airlines (thanks, Cyberstrike!). Anyway, I need this vacation more than even I realized, and this playlist reflects some of the kind of music I’ll be pushing through my earholes over the next 10 days.

Which means posting here is going to be pretty limited until I return in August. Anyway, let’s see what’s on deck.

ChrisJuly 20, 2024July 20, 20241 Comment

Vinyl

Ty Segall: Three Bells (2024)

Going to take a brief break from the grouping of albums by the same artist/band/label to focus on another theme: some of my favorite new records. It can’t all be about music from 40 and 50 years ago, not when some of my favorite current artists have released some of their strongest work to date. And there’s no better way to kick that off than with Ty Segall, who after some interesting experiments with limitations on previous records (no guitar, acoustic, film soundtracks) has returned to his progressive garage roots with the fantastic double album Three Bells. It’s Segall operating in my favorite sonic space, and sounds like a culmination of a lot of the experimentation he’s engaged in the past few years.

ChrisApril 28, 2024May 4, 20242 Comments

Vinyl

Ty Segall: Fried Shallots EP (2017)

If we’re moving a bit faster to get through all these new records coming it, it’s fitting to start with a short EP. Released a few months after his eponymous rocker I reviewed a few weeks ago, Fried Shallots is a brief but pleasant attic cleaning from Ty Segall. Six tracks recorded over the past few years, including two new versions of songs from previous albums. Does categorizing this as a diversion, an odds and ends assortment lessen the enjoyment I get out of it? Not really. If anything it gives a little more insight into the man’s process what works and what doesn’t when you’re working to sequence and build an album.

ChrisApril 19, 2022Leave a comment

Vinyl

Ty Segall: Ty Segall (2017)

This wasn’t the plan. The plan was to review one of the myriad of new albums coming through the door on an almost daily cadence. But here I am, late Monday night, sipping some scotch and digging through my Fanatic books by Henry Rollins building out playlists (said playlists are public and can be found here on Spotify and Apple Music for those inclined to check out some seriously great music) and the need – nay, the urge to listen to Ty Segall came over me. So here we are, with his 2017 eponymous album playing through the speakers, every gnarled guitar lead and garage soaked riff firing up my brain’s pleasure center like an fireworks display at Disney World. I’m shocked there isn’t already a Ty Segall entry on the site, but what better way to introduce the man than Ty Segall, right?

ChrisApril 6, 20221 Comment

Miscellany

Consuming in 2021: New Music

Sorry I’ve been away for a while. Due to holidays and some burnout I’ve been helping to hold down the fort at my other job over at Nine Circles, where I took over our weekly playlist and started my annual series of posts wrapping up my favorite metal albums of the year. And while my primary focus for 2021 has been digging deeper into the nooks and crannies of the music that made me a rock and roll addict for over 40 years, I still managed to find my way to a number of new releases that fired the synapses and gave way to the euphoric bliss of being able to turn away the ever-growing anxiety and depression. So before we jump back into the waters of yesteryear (Christmas yielded a bevy of vinyl treasures I can’t wait to talk about) let’s spend a little bit of time talking about some new music that kept my head, heart, and soul afloat this year.

ChrisDecember 31, 2021December 31, 20214 Comments

Consuming the Tangible

We are what we consume

Tag: ty segall

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

(Un)Focused Definition Ep. 7: Vacation Time

Ty Segall: Three Bells (2024)

Ty Segall: Fried Shallots EP (2017)

Ty Segall: Ty Segall (2017)

Consuming in 2021: New Music