Sometimes I use words I don't understand.

delawareareyou:

selfdefensefamily:

It’s Not Good For The Man To Be Alone by Self Defense Family Available from Family Drugs.

jesus christ.

songjournal:

24. The Menzingers - The Obituaries

For every time one intensified or distracted version of myself has gripped a beer-scented handshake there have followed upsets and aftermaths to furrow my brow. At some point we learn about how routine is a condition of survival, and how ritual can right a scale that may tilt askew from rust or be weighed down by habit. For tension in the face of good news, for knowing better but still trying and certain as anything waking up with your face on the floor as a result here is an anthem.

Click for high-res image

This month is a reflection. Next month is Amanda. I take over again in August.

Things that make this song unfuckwithable:

The amount of noise that makes up the first ten seconds before it all dissipates into this slow, beautiful sleep; a swaying that ought to be be self-immolation.
Can you inspect mediocrity better than that opening line? If you can, my hat has been off to you for so long that I’d just as well not own it anymore.
In feeling all the fragments strip away, it becomes obvious how the mess of feedback that started this offers up a confusion motif more appropriately than this thing’s refrain (“We could be anybody”) which is almost too perfect for me to comment on.
Then let’s go ahead and bring the bass back around just long enough to remember that it was missing, and what that feels like.
That piano/synth hangs around like my Dad might expect something out of it, without all the jackoff-bullshit that my Dad might expect out of it.
AND, that same sound throughout the album lays the groundwork for some of the more unexplainable things that come next in Wood/Water’s procession. (I know, this is probably just me.)
“Satisfactions”/”Saddest Factions” right?
Don’t bother getting warmed up to this thing. It’s ungraspable. Tense as you are before a cigarette. Gone before you’ve hit the filter. Just rollin’ by.
This is a great illustration of how eventually we all need to get back to where we started. Now Breathe.
Noise. Noise. Noise.

The Dependent Clause: Whatever's Good For Your Head: The Therapeutic Qualities of Prog Rock, Sci-Fi, and Cult Radio

thedependentclause:

I’m listening to old live recordings of Yes as I type this, because duh, but also because it’s a Christmas tradition for me as real as any tree-trimming. Intellectually, I know that part of the reason Christmas makes many people so anxious and depressed is because it never quite measures up to the nostalgic and probably false memories they have of it from childhood, and that’s definitely true for me, but I feel like this is a relatively harmless way of evoking tradition and nostalgia. Even while I continue to seek out and enjoy new music, I am beginning to understand why middle-aged people have trouble keeping up with current musical trends: it all seems a bit one-dimensional and hollow compared to the rich, associative world embodied by the music we loved as teenagers. We look to the nostalgic, soothing power of that music to ease the anxiety it itself created by summoning nostalgic associations with which the past can’t possibly compete. It’s sinister and recursive, but relatively harmless. Nostalgia is a lie, time is a goon, and I certainly have no desire to be fifteen again. But perhaps music is the best compromise—the context, but not the content, of that bygone time. During the coldest, darkest time of the year, we can be forgiven for taking refuge in that context, conjured by our own arcane, inviting worlds, whatever they might sound like.

Hit after hit after hit. This has got it all.

Albums released this year that I found myself returning to with some frequency:

EMA - Past Life Martyred Saints: This goes to show that dismantled parts can be greater than their previous sum. After all the excitement and conversation that I’ve seen about this I have almost nothing to add to the discussion. If you haven’t heard this yet (unlikely, I know) don’t bother reading things about it, just dive in. You won’t be disappointed. (Souterrain Transmissions) [Mediafire.]

Summer People - Teamwork: I feel like this album is smarter than I am because I cannot imagine myself in the place where this music came from. [Bandcamp.]

Oak and Bone - Oak and Bone: If smoking pot is wrong, these dudes clearly do not want to be right. (Hex Records) [Mediafire.]

Clams Casino - Instrumental Mixtape: And neither does he. Someone referred to these songs as ‘space rap’ earlier this year. [Mediafire.]

Like Wolves - Self-Titled: The problem with feeling that something is ‘important’ or ‘relevant’ is that the feeling only ever seems to last as long as it takes for something really important to happen, and fades just in time for you to start doubting your previous perceptions about anything at all.

That said, this feels like one of the more important hardcore records to come out in the past year or two. (Hex Records) [Bandcamp.]

Polar Bear Club - Clash Battle Guilt Pride: ‘Stay What You Are’ with beards. I’m a sucker for these dudes. (Bridge Nine Records) [Mediafire.]

Fucked Up - David Comes to Life: Everybody’s got something to say about this one. My bottom line is: What does it look like? (Matador Records) [Mediafire.]

Shipyards - A Dream is A Town : Finally. Finally. Finally. (Said Sew Records) [Mediafire.]

Tycho - Dive : Past is Prologue does things that I still do not understand. I listen to it on loop for hours and while there are parts that I recognize immediately, it’s almost impossible for me to make my way logically through the rest of it without getting lost. Dive gifts the listener with the same sort of immersion, but manages to place a few more mile markers along the way. (Ghostly International) [Stream.]