Share a song that captures the feeling of being proud.

I shall proceed and continue to rock the mic.

What's a song you'd want to hear while stargazing?

Saw Mogwai in Seattle in 2001 on their Rock Action tour and it was amazing. Seems like the kind of music that would be awesome as background music while stargazing.

College visit road trip soundtrack... saw them so many times in Seattle. Always so fun!

What's your favorite song about hope?

Andy Hull is one of the best lyricists in rock music, no doubt:

It's like everything that I ever have imagined Is coming true today

There is a cost my friend, for living out some other dream To bind a consequence It comes and goes in seasons around here, I thawed again There's nothing left around to yield a sorry ignorance

If I do let go, I hope you never see There is no one there that's waiting after me And I hope if there is one thing I let go It is the way that we cope

And I hope if there is one thing that we know From the way that you and I will wander off And we won’t become a lifeless load That wanders around and hopes for sorrow I know... I know

Share a song that perfectly captures longing.

Enjoyed the new Dry Cleaning record this AM, so going with this song since it fits the prompt.

The new Sault record is pretty good as well, so expect to see both in the next Crucial Releases post!

New Bitter Branches coming out in March!

As usual, the lyrics are exquisite commentary on the current state of this country.

Is that my god or one of yours? I'm guilty before I've said a word. Maybe I'm saying nothing. Maybe I'm saying too much. A man born in a cave doesn't know he can't see.

Can you identify me?

Is that my flag? Or is it yours? I'd rather be dirty than pure. Bad thoughts just swim inside my head. Inside my head. They've sealed my fate. I'm trying hard not to turn love into hate.

Is this my country or is it yours? Are these my thoughts? Or just my failures? Am I a man? Or am I just another, an other?

Can you identify me?

Am I just poison? Am I just fodder? Can you leave me alone? Can you leave us alone?

I'm no better than you. But you're worse than most.

What song makes you want to write poetry?

This has to be Big Thief, right?

You have a mythological beauty You have the eye of someone I have seen Outside of ordinary situations Even outside of dreams You lie in bed at night and watch the lines Of headlights through your screen There is a child inside you Who's trying to raise a child in me

Been testing an "owned music" setup with Navidrome and Plex the last few weeks and it's been fun to focus on a smaller selection of music, including bands I don't necessarily listen to often, but really like... like CYHSY.

Juno was absolutely one of my favorite bands of the late 90s/early 2000s. I picked up their two-song 7 inch on Sub Pop in like 1997, mainly for "Magnified and Reduced by Inches" (listen to that one too!)... a couple years later I put on a show for them in my friends basement in Buffalo... and surprised them with a request for that song at the end of their set. They obliged because they are fucking awesome people.

The three guitar assault was INSANE in a small crowded basement. They blew us away. One of my favorite moments of college... that and putting on a show for The Dismemberment Plan in the same basement a few weeks later. THAT was absolutely insane too, as you'd expect.

My (future) wife and a few friends moved to Seattle probably 4 months after those shows... and I got to see Juno in their hometown a handful of times over the next couple years before they broke up... in fact one of my friends tried out on bass before they went with Death Cab's Nick Harmer, after their original bass player left the band.

Anyway, a seriously underrated band that isn't on streaming... so definitely check them out where you can!

you said everything like it was an afterthought. you should have used it more wisely, that soul you bought. and now your mouth's running on, telling us all the ways she went wrong. but nobody's listening and so soon we'll all be gone. wrong, so you didn't get it right. no one ever gets it right.

what's it like at AM 5 o'clock when all the love's asleep on your block. post memorial drive, you'll be the last to leave, to say your goodbyes to ghosts eternally lost inside. your son's hands stayed warm long after he died.

it's all a matter of reaching. it's all a matter of covering. believe me it's nothing. believe me it's everything you never wanted it to be. it's all a matter of reaching. it's all a matter of struggling. believe me it's nothing. believe me it's everything you ever needed it to be. this can't be an afterthought. this right here is all i want. you are the beautiful you are the beautiful you are the beautiful you.

Those last three lines are fucking devastating.

Back home from the hockey trip!

Love the drive to Pittsburgh when it's not snowy (was last year!)... but loving being back in Buffalo too.