From earlier in the week (was it really just yesterday?), the latest Crucial Tracks interview. Lucky #7 featuring Kevin Humdrum, purveyor of...

From earlier in the week (was it really just yesterday?), the latest Crucial Tracks interview. Lucky #7 featuring Kevin Humdrum, purveyor of the webzine foofaraw. Check it out! www.crucialtracks.org/crucial-t…

Congrats to the Cazenovia Chiefs for winning the OWHA U18B Southern division championship. On to the sectionals!

Congrats to the Cazenovia Chiefs for winning the OWHA U18B Southern division championship. On to the sectionals!

I wrote up a post on how I find new music and manage the albums for Crucial Tracks: www.crucialtracks.org/finding-n… Hope it’s...

I wrote up a post on how I find new music and manage the albums for Crucial Tracks: www.crucialtracks.org/finding-n…

Hope it’s useful to someone!

Saw a Craft web clipper going around for Chrome. Don’t use that browser so I built a decent one in Shortcuts. Grabs meta data, selected...

Saw a Craft web clipper going around for Chrome. Don’t use that browser so I built a decent one in Shortcuts. Grabs meta data, selected text, and the web page/article and creates a new Craft doc. Liking it, so figured I’d share: www.icloud.com/shortcuts…

In other Buffalo area music news, we got tickets to the local late summer festival to see Vampire Weekend, Band of Horses, and others today....

In other Buffalo area music news, we got tickets to the local late summer festival to see Vampire Weekend, Band of Horses, and others today. And Stereolab is coming this fall too! 🤘

(Too) Comfortable

It’s time to get uncomfortable, folks. Doing the same things we have always done because they are the path of least resistance is not going to cut it anymore. The times of ignoring the bad for the little comfort benefits are over.

→ Source: Comfortable

We are in… my family are taking part in the boycott tomorrow. We’re cutting off Amazon as best we can going forward. We’ll hopefully prioritize local businesses, but at the very least I’d imagine shopping direct from businesses online, with a priority to businesses that support our causes.

Personally, I’ve been off Instagram and Threads for all of February… and TikTok since January 1… and it’s been a really nice change. Facebook has been read only since February 1, as I run a youth hockey site and need information off that in the short term. Come April, that will go dark as well.

As the other Jason said in the article linked above… Fuck them.

🎵 Blog challenge - Music Edition

I was tagged for this challenge and you know I like to write about music, so here we go:

What are five of your favorite albums?

I currently have over 4,600 albums saved to my library, so this is going to be hard. There are too many favorites to ever limit to five, without leaving something really good off the list… but here are the five I think shows both who I am and albums everyone should listen to:

• Fugazi - In on the Kill Taker (1993) - Listen
• Sharon Van Etten - Are We There (2014) - Listen
• Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People (2002) - Listen
• Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight (2008) - Listen
• A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory (1991) - Listen

What are five of your favorite songs?

I’m going to go with the five most influential songs in my life - elementary school through college (see Crucial Tracks 001 for more)

• “It’s Tricky” by Run-DMC — off Raising Hell (1986)
• “Cult of Personality” by Living Colour — off Vivid (1988)
• “Smells Like Teen Spirit“ by Nirvana — off Nevermind (1991)
• “Omission” by Quicksand — off Slip (1993)
• “Truckers Atlas” by Modest Mouse — off The Lonesome Crowded West (1997)

Favorite instrument(s)?

• Guitar
• Bass
• Drums

These three can make up everything I like, from rock to hip hop…folk and jazz and everything in between.

What song or album are you currently listening to?

My current obsession (for this week) is Bambi by Anxious. (Listen)

From one of my latest Crucial Tracks posts:

It’s everything I like about the (emo) genre, combining the best parts of bands like Fiddlehead, Samiam, Jimmy Eat World, and many other late 90s/early 2000s emo bands. There are a bunch of bands that have tried and are trying to replicate that era and Anxious just does it better than all of them. And to top it off, they are a great live band.

Do you listen to the radio? If so, how often?

Not really, only occasionally in the car driving kids around… usually when they have friends in the car. Sometimes sports talk radio too. (Go Bills!) Usually Apple Music, though.

How often do you listen to music?

Daily! I work from home so there’s a good chance music is playing during the day.

How often do you discover music? And how do you discover music?

Weekly for Crucial Tracks. Each week I seem to find a group or individual that is new to me. I think 1/5 of the releases in my Best of 2024 list on Album Whale were new in that sense last year.

As far as how, I’m working on a post for Crucial Tracks that details all that, since I know I’m far from normal. 😄 I will be sure to share, once that’s done.

What’s a song or album that you enjoy that you wish had more recognition?

I think about underrated bands all the time…and how a lot of them would be huge, if they were new to the world today.

I’m not sure this band would be huge, but I think their second album is severely underrated: Knocking the Skill Level by Garden Variety

It has disappeared from streaming, so I’m hoping that means there is a re-issue coming soon. For now you can hear it on YouTube:

What’s your favorite song of all time?

Another tough one. Right now, I will go with “I Love You But I’m Lost” by Sharon Van Etten. It’s beautiful and hit me at the right time in my life.

You read the answers by the shadows on the wall // We could be great // Drive myself crazy with mistakes // You know I’m better every day // Tell me there’s something I can change // Recall I know what a sanctuary is // Help me deserve you sing me praise // You love me, but you’ll change

Has your taste in music evolved over the years?

I’m definitely open to more, like I really got into alt folk (and even alt country) last year and enjoy that a ton now. I don’t think I will ever not like hip hop and hardcore adjacent groups, but as I get older and “force” myself to listen to more new music for Crucial Tracks, I think I am opening up to more styles and sounds that I definitely wouldn’t have liked when I was younger. What’s that quote? “When you are young, you know what you hate, and when you are old, you know what you love.”

Turns out, I really love music.

(And be sure to check out Crucial Tracks!)

Announcing the 2025 Crucial Tracks record giveaway (and readership poll)… all details can be found here. Subscribe and be entered to...

Announcing the 2025 Crucial Tracks record giveaway (and readership poll)… all details can be found here.

Subscribe and be entered to win!!

Lazy winter night.

Lazy winter night.

New Crucial Tracks interview is up! And it’s a good one… I present to you, the one and only Patrick Rhone:...

New Crucial Tracks interview is up! And it’s a good one… I present to you, the one and only Patrick Rhone: www.crucialtracks.org/crucial-t…

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did…

Crucial Releases for February 7th: Squid, Sharon Van Etten, Sleeper’s Bell, Michigander, and more…...

Crucial Releases for February 7th: Squid, Sharon Van Etten, Sleeper’s Bell, Michigander, and more… www.crucialtracks.org/crucial-r…

To prep for the coming Daredevil series, I did a re-watch of the 2015 Netflix series.

To prep for the coming Daredevil series, I did a re-watch of the 2015 Netflix series.

Kendrick’s performance last night was great. My favorite part was Humble, complete with an American flag made up of Black men, being torn...

Kendrick’s performance last night was great. My favorite part was Humble, complete with an American flag made up of Black men, being torn in two while the president was in attendance. Quite a statement.

Anything Goes opened up at West last night and was amazing. Milo starred as Moonface Martin and absolutely nailed it. The singing and...

Anything Goes opened up at West last night and was amazing. Milo starred as Moonface Martin and absolutely nailed it. The singing and comedic timing was impressive. What a hidden talent! Stella played bass in the pit and sounded great all night. The entire show was top notch. Hoping they win awards!

I’m gonna keep making shit and I hope you will too - annie’s blog → Concur!

I’m gonna keep making shit and I hope you will too - annie’s blog →

Concur!

The Strange World Of… Fugazi | The Quietus → Cannot wait for this documentary to be released. Looks like it’s been on the...

The Strange World Of… Fugazi | The Quietus →

Cannot wait for this documentary to be released. Looks like it’s been on the screening circuit for a couple years now.

What’s Happening & How You Can Take Action | Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez → Great video from AOC on what they are doing in DC and how we...

What’s Happening & How You Can Take Action | Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez →

Great video from AOC on what they are doing in DC and how we can take action. Also, someone on Bluesky transcribed the talk and put it into a handbook form here.

President Trump and the Power of the Purse → If you forgot your U.S. history lessons from school, Jamelle Bouie does an excellent job...

President Trump and the Power of the Purse →

If you forgot your U.S. history lessons from school, Jamelle Bouie does an excellent job describing the constitutional powers assigned to congress and the president. And why what’s happening is so dangerous.

foofaraw mail day! 🎉🔥

foofaraw mail day! 🎉🔥

🧐 looks like I just scored a Liquid Mike repress for the annual Crucial Tracks record giveaway. Announcement coming soon! 🤘

🧐 looks like I just scored a Liquid Mike repress for the annual Crucial Tracks record giveaway. Announcement coming soon! 🤘

Ok, February is going to be algorithm free. Deleted apps for Instagram, Threads, and logging out of Facebook. X and TikTok are loooong gone....

Ok, February is going to be algorithm free. Deleted apps for Instagram, Threads, and logging out of Facebook. X and TikTok are loooong gone. Hopefully a calmer mind come March 1st. 😄

Trying a new app for tracking my end of year list. Chart Your Music. Here’s my January top 10!

Trying a new app for tracking my end of year list. Chart Your Music. Here’s my January top 10!

Prepping for the new Bayou theme made me realize I really don’t write enough longer posts on my blog. Maybe that needs to change. 😄...

Prepping for the new Bayou theme made me realize I really don’t write enough longer posts on my blog. Maybe that needs to change. 😄

Wishy at 9th Ward in Buffalo, NY tonight.

Wishy at 9th Ward in Buffalo, NY tonight.

Next game (last night), Zoey got her first varsity goal! Her teammates were so excited.

Next game (last night), Zoey got her first varsity goal! Her teammates were so excited.