Song of the Day

Sometimes we hear the best music when we least expect it. Do you ever do that? Start searching for "new music" because your sick of all the stuff you've been listening to lately? I still find myself sometimes cruising through websites, videos, top album lists, etc. because I feel like I've worn out all of the music I've been frequenting. And it's funny. Because nine times out of ten...I don't normally come up with anything. At least anything that piques my interest enough to delve further into. About a month-or-two ago I was at Mill's Record Company; this killer record store in the midtown area of Kansas City, MO. I was perusing through the latest used records that had come in and was eventually going to pick up a Comets on Fire record. From the moment I walked in I couldn't help but dig what was being played throughout the store. So I did what any normal millennial with a smart phone would do...act like I was trying to remember certain rec...

There's a lot to unpack with Viet Cong. First off, they are no longer called Viet Cong; they are now called The Preoccupations, coined by long-time collaborator, producer, and solo-artist Chad VanGaalen . The name was changed due to heavy controversy surrounding the band's title, which refers to the group of South Vietnamese guerrilla insurgents who fought against the United States and allies. Shows of theirs began being cancelled and even protested by groups of students, regarding the band's name choice as racist and heartless. So after months of consideration and on going heat they changed it. The band also has a bit of interesting and dismal history. Viet Cong (Preoccupations) front man Matt Flegel used to be the bassist for the disheveled yet relished underground post-punk act, Women . Women broke up after an on-stage fight among the band members in 2010. Two years later the Women guitarist Christopher Reimer passed away in his sleep. Flegel eventually decided to ...

Happy birthday to the most sweetest, compassionate, and sincere woman in my life...my mom! The Mom-Bomb! As I've stated previously in the first post on this blog, my mom has been one of the biggest influences on me when it has come to music. Both her and my pops raised me around good music. They even (from what I'm told) intentionally made my initials C.C.R. as a head nod to Creedence Clearwater Revival.Which is pretty dope. While my parents have many similar interests in music, they also have rather distinct differences. My pops tends to enjoy more southern, country influenced rock. His favorite band is ZZ Top if that helps clear things up. Mombomb has a more psychedelic and free-spirited interest. Think of those hippy, groupie, flower clad girls you see in movies or old concert videos hyped and dancing to their favorite bands. Her absolute favorite band is Fleetwood Mac. Or, pretty much every constituent of Fleetwood Mac. I promised her for her birthday I would throw ...

I went back and forth on this one. I was set on the fact that it would be a Wand song. But so many choices. Wand knows how to get weird. And psychedelic...very psychedelic. Which is something I dig very much. Lead singer Cory Hanson is no stranger to the world of psyche rock. He's played with plenty of other weirdo rockers such as Ty Segall, Mikal Cronin, Meatbodies, and more.  Wand's music feels like you are in the middle of either a medieval dungeons-and-dragons escapade or a some sort of space fantasy trip. It's other worldly. It's an escape. And it's often fun. My first choice was their second track " Self Hypnosis in 3 Days " from their second full-length album "Golem". I was listening to it and thinking about what all I would write about; the loud fuzzy guitars, the strange space-station noises that interrupt each set of versus, and maybe the killer slowed tempo section that paces  along to this gnarly doom metal mountain of an endi...

Up until this point of the blog I have attempted to keep things a bit tame. My goal of this whole thing is to broaden tastes; to explore music that we may not ever have considered listening to. And to be completely honest, its also just a way for me to write and share music; two of my favorite things. So just as a heads up the songs that I choose to share with you will progressively get weirder and perhaps harder to wrap you head around. Music that takes a keen and focused attention to appreciate. I know how this sounds and it's what I am trying desperately not to present myself as; some snobby know-it-all with a "better taste in music than you". I love all sorts of music and have really endeavored to keep my mind open towards music. So I want this to be a journey together. There are individuals out there that have FAR more knowledge of music than I do. And that's what I appreciate. I want to meet these individuals; I want to share and connect with them. I want to...

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE! I hope all of you are full of turkey and stuffing and enjoying time with family. I know it goes without saying, and everyday should really be regarded as such, but today is a designated day of thankfulness. We all have different circumstances and things going on in our lives. But we have it pretty good. Especially if  you are reading this very blog on any sort of screen. Sometimes it's easy to get caught up in what we don't have or what we wish we had. But today let's be thankful for what we do have. I can't help but want to listen to happy music on days like this. Music that reminds me of how good life is. As I woke up this morning I immediately began pondering what song I should throw up today. It took me some time. But then it popped in my head. Good ole' Ty Segall. The prolific, psychedelic, weirdo rocker from Laguna Beach, California. Ty can do it all. Face-melters, solo-shredders, acoustic-crooners; the dude covers it all. ...

During these past four months a co-worker and I have had to drive around thirty minutes to Lawrence, KS and back. We meet up at our warehouse (which happens to be in a cave) and head out to Lawrence to install at Kansas University. The co-worker and I have made up a couple of rules. 1st rule - we alternate driving to and from site. 2nd rule - whoever drives gets to play the music. Now, both of us have quite different tastes in music. There are those one-offs that we both like; but for the most part we just don't carry similar tastes. One day as I was playing music just shootin' the shit with him, I asked, "You like Led Zeppelin?" He replied by saying something along the tentative lines, "Ya you know, they're alright. I mean. Show me one song that I haven't heard from Led." Challenge accepted. I started off kind of weak; just to test his knowledge. I started with " Misty Mountain Hop ". He looked at me with of sense of "Come on ...