This Track Is Fire!

I've been listening to Nina Nastasia for the better part of 20 years now, having discovered this album via its reissue that was highlighted on whatever episode of what show I was listening to on NPR. I remember distinctly driving on the expressway from work back home as I listened to "All Your Life." Though the song is not about this, the repeated line "she's never coming back..." struck me, despite me being in my early 30s, it reminded me of my first real relationship, by first love from my college days. It was like Nina was singing from the future, a siren song to my former self, hearing the words that I knew I had to accept when I was in my early 20s. It's strange, because at the time I was dating the woman I was going to eventually marry (and later still, divorce), and had been in a few different relationships between that relationship and my current one, but the words were still what my heart needed to hear at 21-22. It had been an old wound that ne...

"What's this, Michael is posting yet another old song to his music blog?" Yes, I am.  I actually owned this album on CD, purchased during a work trip to Vero Beach, Florida. I was there to help move IT equipment from one office that was closing to another nearby office, arriving on a Thursday, working all day Friday and Saturday, but had nothing but down time that Sunday. I stopped by the office to give it a triple check, then went to see Knocked Up and kill some time at Best Buy, where I bought the aforementioned CD. I listened to it in my rental car over the next two days and then left the CD in the player when I dropped my car off at the airport. When I noticed that the vinyl went on sale this past week I scooped it up and listening to it late this morning I was disappointed in myself for forgetting how great "Violent Pornography" is, though you have to remember to place your tongue firmly in cheek (just like with early Misfits tracks). So yeah, this song is...

Yesterday, May 26, was the fourth anniversary of the passing of Andrew Fletcher, co-founder of Depeche Mode. I think it is pretty clear the effect that Depeche Mode has had on me and my life , so in remembrance of Fletch's passing, I played Violator  in its entirety, because though he was a part of all of their albums (except for Memento Mori  for obvious reasons), it is well-documented that the lead track from Violator , "World In My Eyes," was his favorite Depeche Mode song. We miss you, Fletch! (I mean, how can you not love that opening synth line?) Happy Wednesday!

As far as I can remember we had cable. We weren't necessarily rich, but my dad worked at GM as a supervisor from the 70s-90s, and my pops loved TV. I am not sure when we go cable exactly, but I do remember that HBO wouldn't come on until sometime in the evening, show a few movies, and then go off the air. Eventually they started showing movies 24/7, so me being not unlike my father I also enjoyed TV. Being a kid in the 80s with HBO mean that I watched just about anything that came on, including obscure movies like Electric Dreams . Is it a great movie? Not particularly, but I was a kid with no real taste yet, so watching what I later learned to be a "modern" take on Cyrando de Bergerac featuring a computer that was linked in ways that are commonplace now (hello, smart speakers and smart homes!) wooing a young woman for an awkward nerd was just another movie that I watched several times (or more likely had on while I was playing with Legos or action figures). I don...

Sometimes you climb into your car and tell your music app to play music that you like while you're driving and it plays some song that makes you go, "that was fucking good, who was that?" In this case it was Zimbabwean-Australian singer-songwriter and hip-hop artist Tkay Maidza singing and rapping through "Must Be" and before you know it you've gone back, repeated the song four times in a row. I've already shared with my daughter, and my friends Adam and Pete because in just a couple of hours I have become obessed. Enjoy!

I love brutal songs.  Songs that if I share them people wonder if I am sad or depressed. The answer is almost always, "no," I just love miserable music, as so well-quoted in High Fidelity . This song tricks you a bit as it comes across as a ballad via duo, but in reality it's a song about two people unable to make a relationship work. I got a bad heart, got a mean streak A good way of leaving you weak Got time to kill But time don't equal love It just reminds you of The water (the water) We can't get above It's tragic and I love it. Maybe this isn't the best song to post on a Monday when my partner is traveling to another country for work, but I assure you there's no subtext, I just really love this song. Maybe you will too. Enjoy!