"I am on the mend. At least now I can say that I am trying. And I hope you will forget things I still lack. Is it in you now, To bear to hear the truth that you have spoken Twisted up by knaves, To make a trap for fools? Is it in you now, To watch the things you gave your life to broken? And stoop then build them up with worn out tools? Nothing gets so bad, A whisper from your father couldn't fix it. He whispers like a bridge, it's a river spanned. Take all that you have, And turn it into something you would miss if Somebody threw that brick, shattered all your plans." From Sowing Season (2006) by Brand New "If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too: If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or being hated don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too...

Bradford Cox’s work, whether through his band Deerhunter or his solo work as Atlas Sound, has always struck me as haunting. I like it, but my attraction to it almost feels creepy, not in a bad way, but in an otherworldly sense. Consequently I approached Halcyon Digest , the new album from Deerhunter that released today, with a little trepidation, lightly listening with as much objectivity as my anticipation would allow. Yet, it only took one listen of the album for it to sink into the synapses of my mind. Now a week later, I can’t stop listening to it and I’m still trying to process it. Halcyon Digest clearly marks a new musical development for Deerhunter. Once again they’ve matured as musicians, presenting songs with greater complexity and emotional breadth than ever before. Cox’s vocals remain as processed and ethereal as always, but his usual honestly autobiographical subject matter has been rounded out, addressing universal themes such as growing up with sagely perspective. New a...

I didn't really plan to go to Canyonlands National Park , or know anything about it before I got there. I was on my way to Arches National Park when I saw a sign for the turn off to Canyonlands. Ever on my epic quest to visit all the national parks, I decided to take a detour. The area of the park I visited is know as the Island In The Sky, a massive plateau rising thousands of feet above canyons carved by the Green River and Colorado River. The panoramic views were unparalleled. I got up to the top in time to see the sunset, slept in my car on the side of the road, and woke to witness the land illuminated once again at dawn. Here are some attempts to capture that vast experiance in one framed moment. Read more about my Utah adventures in the On The Road journal entry, Day 9: Colorado River and Canyonlands .

"If you're lonely when you're alone, you're in bad company." - Jean-Paul Sartre

I was cruising my local record store, looking for something new to review on Tuesday Is For Tunes, when I saw the new album from The Acorn , No Ghost , in the listening station. I vaguely remembered checking The Acorn out when they announced the release, and liking what I heard. So, I slipped on the over-ear headphones, selected the disc, and pressed play. Rose tinted sunshine streamed in through the front windows, and the people passing by seemed to move to beat of the fascinatingly sounds that were being transmitted to my ears. I couldn’t help myself, I started tapping my feet, and soon I was dancing as far as cord would let me go. It was one of those quality LIFE IS GOOD moments. Much thanks to The Acorn. So of course I bought No Ghost , and kept the album on pretty much constant play since. Beautifully, it hasn’t lost any luster yet. It’s just too interesting. Even with the minimalist leanings of some of the slower songs, The Acorn are doing a lot of interesting aural things on No ...

Went to Utah for the first time this summer, and headed straight for the famed and beloved Arches National Park . It was the height of their busy season, so I made sure to hike out to some of the more popular attractions at dawn to beat the crowds. In the afternoon a thunder storm blew in, massive towers of clouds billowing up and moving on in mere minutes. The landscape was inspiring, and the lighting conditions were surreal. Here's my end results. Read more about my Utah adventures in the On The Road journal entry, Day 8: Arches National Park .

Is there such a thing as post-metal folk rock? Perhaps you like me, dear reader, have also secretly pondered such things. It’s a daring blend of influences, not for the faint of heart, and requiring much skillful musicianship to pull off without sounding like a bunch of tools desperately grasping for scraps of 1970s greatness. Whether it’s thanks to their talent or attitude or both, Black Mountain have successfully created a contemporary synthesis of several genres and sounds that made that decade great. Acoustic guitar and a pairing of Stephen McBean and Amber Webber’s vocals at time sound folky. Burning guitar riffs and dirty fuzz bass add a metal edge. And, everything effuses a postmodern psychedelic aura. Black Mountain came to my attention a few years ago through McBean’s other aural outlet, Pink Mountaintops. They released their self-titled debut in 2005, and their sophomore effort, In The Future , in 2008. This week they released their third full length, Wilderness Heart , and ...

Cleveland rockers, All Dinosaurs , recently came on down to Delaware to play a sweet, free house show complete with a vegan cookout, PBR, record sale, indoor water balloon fight, and bonfire. Here's some photos of their mighty fine performance.

Been working on getting my life more in balance recently, which seems to have in turn affected my playlists. In that spirit, here's some new music makers: one for my mind, one for my body, and one for my soul. Baths makes music for my mind. If you're into the micro labeling of genres, then you can call it chillwave. Baths certainly makes music that would appeal to fans of Four Tet, Washed Out, and Toro Y Moi. It's experimental, but reasonably palatable, electronic music made by one person armed with little more than a passion to make noise and a solid understanding of digital production. I've been listening to this kind of music a lot this year, and I suppose a passive listener might find it hard to distinguish between artists. However, I would argue that chillwave musicians that have garnered particular attention and praise, such as Baths, are as unique as a thumbprint. Digital production allows for infinite noise possibilities. The combination of creative decisions t...