Dicks and getting deep. This post is not what you think it's about...welll sort of.

Today I finished up watching the new Netflix Serial/Comedy American Vandal. I remember seeing the trailer preview for the show a while back and while I thought it was funny (Yeah, yeah, yeah! I know call me immature.) I also sort of wrote it off as being not worth my time. It seemed like it wouldn't have much depth and looked t be just a long drawn out dick joke. Well, I am writing this to tell you that I wasn't far off in my thoughts. However, I was way off on the depth of the show (no pun intended.) and that it was totally worthy of my time. I won't do a full on review of the show as that is not what this blog is for but I feel a short description of the show is in order if I go further. The show is basically about a high school prankster who gets blamed for Spray painting penises on 27 cars in the staff parking lot. The show is filmed in a documentary style and narrated with a journalistic voice that brought to mind Ira Glass from the radio show This American Life. At first the show comes off as overly immature and comedic, but by the third episode it really begins to show it's true from of being a engrossing whodunnit serial crime drama. The acting is amazing especially by the two lead characters Jimmy Tatro (Dylan Maxwell) and Tyler Alverez (Peter Maldonado). The characters are well developed and easy to feel for or feel about. They nail the high school tropes smack dab on the mark without overdoing it. The part I love best about the show it how well it mixes drama, suspense and humor. The show it's self is shot really really well and feels very real in it's cinematic structure. I will admit that half way through the show I actually did a google search to make sure that this was not a real story. I will honestly say that it is my favorite Netflix show since Stranger Things. It may be hard for some to get through the first episode, and it's not a long watch with only 8 episodes, but if you go at it long enough it does get deep and comes with a satisfying finish that leave you wanting more. And yes, that pun was intended.

PJ Harvey - Long Snake Moan



It saddens me that feeling has fallen to the way side in music. I am not saying that it is gone completely, I see it in artists like Adel or Rhianna's slower songs. The truth is that real feeling in music today has just been homogenized enough to be safe. We are afraid to say what we feel. We ride that fence, tip toeing, hoping that what we say doesn't offend, because we know that someone around the corner is waiting with baited breath to jump out of the darkness and point fingers. Maybe I am just old but people today are too thin skinned. We have lost the ability to deal with emotion, and we are so quick to bring out our pitchforks at even the slightest poke at our ego. I miss feeling in music. In the 90's we had angst, fun, and coolness. It was exciting. In the 80's it was political, experimental, and technological. The 70's were all about having a good time, and rebellion. The 60's were filled with freedom and uniqueness. The last 17 years however have just been bland as far as mainstream music goes. Nothing major, unless you consider dubstep major. Sorry, kids I don't. I miss that feeling, I miss soul in music. The kind of music that makes your insides shout "FUCK YES!!" because you actually feel, and I mean really feel, the music. It's not a vapid nothingness. Again, don't get me wrong here, there are artists that make me feel, it's just that they aren't well known to the masses. It seems that Soul and R&B that once dominated the airwaves in the 60's and 70's is now almost a bygone sound. Sure there is soul and R&B out there but it's severely lacking true feeling, true soul. Let's take recently departed Charles Bradley for instance. His is not a well known name to many people, but I can almost bet that if you listen to the song "The World (Is Going Up In Flames)" you will know exactly what I am trying to say. It's real, it's emotion, it's feeling. We need more of that in this world. We need to make feeling come back. Unfortunately for us, due to Mr. Bradley's passing, we can only revel in what he left behind. The good news is that we can learn a lesson from him, that it's okay to be vulnerable, but in order to be vulnerable you have to be tough. Something which I think is really lost currently. R.I.P Charles.

Charles Bradley - Changes (Black Sabbath Cover)



Real talk time, as if that last blurb wasn't heavy enough. I have been away from doing this blog for a long time. There have been realizations that I came upon recently about my life that I truly feel have kept me from achieving what I want out of life. I'm not saying I have a bad life, because I don't. I have a good group of friends who I love, and love me. Same with my family, they are loving and supportive. I am able to put food on the table and have made it on my own for the past 15ish years. I will say that there have been some rough times and I didn't get dealt the best hand at times, but that is life and I made it this far. So that is the good part. The no so good part is this, I have been hiding behind a mask when it comes to how I really feel. I've never been one to easily convey how I feel, how I truly feel. I like to seem cool calm and collected, and usually I can. When it comes to the the problems I can't be calm about, I do the ol' stuff it down and try to forget trick. Well, as we all know ignoring a problem doesn't make it go away. You can try to escape from them, and I got really good at doing that, but it's going to catch you. It also creates a lot of feelings of inadequacy, anxiety, depression etc. I did a lot of things to try to escape those feelings, and to be honest some of them worked so well that I relied on them, and they became habits. Not good ones. The crutches were things I mentioned above, stuffing feelings down, overthinking and irrational thinking, substance abuse, and self isolating. They held me back from who I really was, what I really felt, and who I wanted to be. I don't say this out of pitty, because I think a lot of it is self chosen, albeit on a very subconscious level. Again I feel I need to reiterate that all of this has been going on for a very long time. In the last three years it has really reared it's ugly head, and I feel that I am finally ready to deal with it. For the last few months I have been talking steps to work on the things that are holding me back. I quit indulging in substances that allow me to escape from my problems, I am seeing a professional councilor, I am throwing myself back into the things I once loved, and I am becoming more open and honest with myself and those around me. While this is more than good, I am still at a point where I have a lot of fear, a lot of feeling directionless, and impatience. I worry about losing friends, I worry about failure, I get easily frustrated when I don't see results. I can say that each day I feel I am becoming more at peace with myself, more accepting of the situation, and in turn I am seeing positive results. I am working on this music blog again, which has always been fun and a passion of mine. I am feeling more creative, more motivated, more courage to put myself out there and not be behind that mask. It's been exhausting and a painfully slow process (like molasses slow) but, it's also really cool to see myself unfolding and becoming something different, something better. Do I miss some of the things I did prior to deciding to make this change? Hell yes I do! I've had to keep myself away from places and people I absolutely love to ensure I don't falter. I hope someday soon I can be strong enough to re-visit those places and people, and I hope they understand. Until I feel I am ready though, I have to do me. With that said, lets bring it back to the music. There is a playlist I created almost a year ago that I created to listen to when I get all of those negative feelings. It's filled with songs that understand, and rebuild. Songs that say "Fuck you, I'm not going out like this!" I call it Feel Better Music, and I share this in hopes that it helps someone else.

Don't judge an elf by it's cover or a band by it's name.

Car Seat Headrest may have a name that at first thought might cause one to cast them in the pile of pass over bands, but make no mistake that they are more than their name. The name comes from Singer/song writer Will Toledo's penchant to record in the back of his car for privacy. His lyrics will bring you back to mid 20's confusion and crisis induced existentialism all wrapped in a warm blanket of lo-fi psychedelic rock. The music reminds me of the Beach Boys more trippy melodies, Pavement's grungy art weirdness, and the catchy rock of early Strokes records. There is defiantly a darkness in Will's lyrics, a boredom that comes form being lost in this madly spinning world. He is a pro at creating raw self introspective lyrics that aren't afraid to give you a peak at the man behind the curtain. With a catalog of albums going back to 2010 there is plenty to listen to. I would highly suggest checking out his album Teens Of Style and Teens of Denial available on Spoitify/iTunes/Amazon...pretty much everywhere. This is a fan made video for a song off of Teens Of Denial and it's brilliantly done.
Car Seat Headrest - (Joe Gets Kicked Out of School for Using) Drugs With Friends (But Says This Isn't a Problem)

Car Seat Headrest - Something Soon


As of tomorrow I go back to normal hours at my job. In the summer we are open one hour later than normal. This may seem like no big deal to most but, it honestly throws things off big time. especially on those days when you are, what I like to call "The Clopen", the person who closes and then opens the next day.
Sleater-Kinny - One More Hour


I recently went through the painstaking process of inventorying my physical music collection. I say painstaking because I have amassed a large collection of CD's and vinyl, all thanks to my many years working for a thrift store. When I moved recently, I really realized just how much I had and decided that I needed to pair it down some. Records are heavy as shit! My boss gave me the idea of getting a USB bar code scanner to make the process super easy. I ordered one on Amazon but, the order turned out to be a scam and never received it. Amazon was awesome about refunding me without issues. It just sucked that I waited 2 months for something. So I ended up using a site called Discogs to catalog my music. they have an insanely expansive database and make it really easy to catalog your collection. Since the scanner thing didn't pan out I had to enter in the albums by hand. This is actually a lot easier than it seems. Most albums have what is called a label identification code. This is a code is given to the album by the actual label. Usually it's a few letters pertaining to the label name and then a number. There is also the bar code that is used when you go to the store to purchase the album. That number is much longer and only numbers. The nice part about Discogs is that you can look up the album by many different identifiers (ex. Title, bar code, label code, artist, year, etc.)Once you look up the item it has all the track titles, year, and song times already included, all you have to do is add it to your collection. It also allows you to include things like condition of the disc/record, condition of liner notes/covers, and add additional notes. It also will give you a Min/Med/Max value for your collection which is really handy to have. It's a pretty amazing site. So, you might be asking how big is your collection, Brad? I have over 650 CD's and almost 350 vinyl records. This is not including the last 6 months worth of music that I have yet to inventory. My iTunes collection....that is another story. I'm not going to even touch that subject. How does that saying go? If you love it then it's not really work?
The Isley Brothers - Take Inventory


For the last year or so I have been obsessed with Dungeons And Dragons. I came across the Harmontown podcast, which is a live show hosted by Dan Harmon Community creator and half of the duo behind Rick and Morty. Harmon and crew do a hilarious 45 minutes to an hour long show where they talk about current issues, and have celebrity guests and then they close out the show by playing a very loose version of Dungeons and Dragons. After listening to a few shows I became obsessed with wanting to play D&D, and as I typically do, researched the hell out of it. I found another podcast/show called Critical Role which is a group of voice actors playing D&D and it's intense and very very well done. the DM (dungeon master) Matt Mercer is a story telling genius, and makes the show well worth listening too. I actually played my first game of D&D just a few weeks ago, despite yearning to play for a year, and it was a blast! I won't go into detail in this post about my experience (saving that for a later post), but I would recommend anyone wondering what D&D is to check out the two podcasts I mentioned. Some might find it nerdy, or evil, but it's really not. It can be done in any setting you can imagine. It is great for enhancing team work, problem solving, math skills, creative storytelling, and can be a whole lot of fun, especially for creative types. Not sure if I posted this song before, but I love it so much! It's by the adorkable band the Double Clicks. they just released a new album called Love Problems (available on iTunes/Amazon), go and give them some love.
The Double Clicks - This Fantasy World/D&D



Let's end this with an awesome cover, shall we? I think Ian Curtis would approve of this cover. Thanks to the good, but very messed up, Netflix series 13 Reasons Why for leading me to this song. Also...listen to Joy Division people. So good!
Codine - Atmosphere (Joy Division Cover)

The Letter R

 Kicking it off with a little fun number by Aussie band The Riptides!
The Riptides - 77 Sunset Strip

This tune by french band Revolver, reminds me of a 1940's crime setting. A time when bad guys had curled bushy mustaches, wore bowler hats (and actually looked cool, unlike today), and donned classy long overcoats that hid their flint lock pistols. If you read the lyrics it seems as if there is a group of bad guy who have no been so cautious in their crime sprees, and are gaining some notoriety with the local law enforcement.  They are now on the hunt for a patsy, someone they can pin the blame on. They figure if they can maintain their level of stardom, that the patsy will have a cushy time in prison.
Revolver - Get Around Town

A long time ago, my mother went on vacation with some of my aunts to Alaska. Which left my father, my sister and I together for a week. We were pretty young at the time, maybe I might have been about middle school age. That whole week we binged on movies. My Dad rented a ton of older must see movies, these weren't our typical feel good family movies. He got movies like Jaws, Rambo, The Birds, and John Carpenter's film Christine, which is based on a Stephen King book. If you haven't had the time to see the movie or read the book, do yourself a favor and get on that. It's a story of an evil car! How can you not love that!? Trust me it's not super scary, my sister and I loved it. This is a song by a nerdy hip hop guy named Rappy McRapperson. He's hilarious! His humor may not be in everyone's wheelhouse, it's pretty wacky and can be a bit off color, but it's all in good fun. If you can take a joke then you should check it out. If not then stay away you knucklehead. If you are totally bored and want to be entertained, you should check out a podcast called The Phone Show. He makes many appearances doing prank phone calls.
Rappy McRapperson - Devils In My Car



I love listening to this at night. Especially if you are out star gazing. The band, named after poet Rainer Maria Rilke, split up back in 2006, but put in a good 10 year run in the budding indie/emo music scene. This track is off their album Look, Now look Again. If you come across this album it's definitely worth picking up. I'd also recommend songs like Rise, Atlantic and if you want to get real emotional Tinfoil.
Rainer Maria - Planetary


Raised Among Wolves is a seven-man orchestra from Copenhagen. They have create a nice blend of indie pop and indie folk, that is easy on the ears. I honestly haven't hear much by them but, I am cleaning up my iTunes library and Boys Will Be Kings came on and it caught my attention. I will definitely be checking them out further.
Raised Among Wolves - Boys Will Be Kings



Stan Rogers is the man! This is Canadian folk music at it's best!

Stan Rogers - White Collar Holler


Blake Robinson is an orchestrator who dabble primarily in all things media related, such as games, TV, and movies. I first heard of him by looking up the soundtrack to my favorite game Terraria. He did an AMAZING version of the title theme for that game. As I perused his collection I loved him more and more. I am a huge orchestra fan and he doesn't create on a small scale either. The sound is big bold and very professionally produced. If you are a geek you'll want to check out work. He has covered things from the Star Trek Voyager Theme, to numerous video game scores. Great stuff here folks. These are two of my favorites. The first is mainly here because I am a huge Adventure Time fan, and I love the two songs he covered from this episode (click to watch it). The next song is one I am sure most people will recognize, so no explination needed there. 
Blake Robinson - All Gummed Up (Adventure Time)

Blake Robinson - Super Mario Brothers 3 - Overworld 2

A bike riding, back cracking, fast moving sexy time.

 After a long hiatus I am back again for another postfull of stuff to jam your ear holes with.

 One of the reasons for my long departure was because I moved to a new apartment. It's essentially the same apartment only mirrored...and an upstairs apartment. As I have written about before, I lived downstairs above and elephant footed, party animal of a neighbor. Since day one of moving in he drove me nuts. I also had a pretty rough time in the past year and a half with a work/friendship situation in that apartment. Old ghosts like to stick to memories and places. I didn't move though because the apartment was really nice for the price. So you can imagine how excited I was when my landlord told me there was an upper unit available. The move wasn't too bad. Well, it was and it wasn't. It was a short distance (across the parking lot), but it was a pretty short notice type of move. I pretty much moved everything myself in the span of 5 days, excluding a handful of heavy furniture items that my fantastic boss helped me with. This saved me a lot of money, but it wasn't fun, which is par for the course when it comes to moving. The new place is actually, I feel, a bit more classy feeling. I had carpeting before, so nice looking hardwood flooring is an upgrade. I am super happy, sleeping more soundly and have less angry stress.   

Avett Brothers - Tear Down The House



 My family and I used to go camping seasonally when I was in my teens. It is one of my best childhood memories. I made friends with one of the owners kids, which meant I got all sorts of privileges others didn't. I also made friends with a girl who I would call my first true crush, Melody. She was a seasonal camper too. She had really nice eyes, a gorgeous smile, and long flowing light brown hair. I used to ride my bike around the campground a lot. I actually had a sort of track around the campground with all sorts of tree roots sticking out of the ground and my friends and I would use them as ramps. This was also a convenient way to to troll for the ladies. I might have thought I was a stunt BMX rider, and I might have thought I could impress all the girls with my sweet jumps. You know what though? It worked, on multiple occasions. That is how I met Melody. We never did become an item, let alone share a kiss. Her parents were ultra religious, like, can't watch "101 Dalmatians because Cruella Deville sounds like cruel devil" type of religious. I didn't care though, I was super into her anyway and I did everything I could to show her how cool I was. Over the years I tried to look her up on facebook, but could not find her. Maybe it's better that way. She's a good memory that still makes me smile to this day. Perhaps I should break out my bike this summer and find some sweet jumps and maybe meet some sweet girl. I didn't write much about this band, but do yourself a favor and click here for a fantastic cover of "This Land Is Your Land"

Chicano Batman - She Live On My Block



The last few days I have been stumbling into youtube music holes, hence why I am making a blog post. Most of it has been a lot of 60's and 70's soul/funk/R&B. I have also coincidentally been re-watching the TV show Community. When this song popped up as a suggestion it was in instant click. Donald Glover A.K.A Childish Gambino is a talent goldmine. Seriously, the dude is a legit hip-hop artist, and amazing actor, and an excellent writer. Everything I have seen or heard him in has been top notch. I have yet to see the show FX he created and acts in called Atlanta, but I have yet to really hear anything but praise for the show. In this video we see him once again show another side of himself, a great singer. This song is really really well done. The keyboardist is pulling out straight fire in this video. Fun fact: She was on the show P. Diddy's Making The Band Part 4. The original of this song is definitely worth checking out if you are craving that late 90's R&B vibe. This is one of those songs you put on a mixtape for a woman you like. Seriously! Guys are you listening? Put this on a mix and I can guarantee swwoning will occur. 

Childish Gambino - So Into You (Tamia Cover for Like A Version)



I went to the chiropractor for the first time the other day. I do a lot of heavy lifting at work...like all the time, and recently moving to an upstairs apartment didn't help a lot either. I found out that my right leg is 7mm shorter than my left leg. I have a little pad in my right shoe now that raises my leg up. Things like this remind me I am getting older, and thoughts like that make me shake my head and sigh heavily. I need some comedy relief

Who's Line Is It Anyway? - Songs Of The Chiropractor



What would happen if Mazzy Star had formed in the 60's instead of the 90's?

Little Peppy And The Bare Existence - Since You've Gone Away



Last but not least I want to make a podcast suggestion. The show is called Twisting The Wind With Johnny Pemberton. Johnny Pemberton is a stand-up comedian, who knows how to combine comedy and really interesting topics into one hour long podcast. The shows follow a theme for the most part. Shows range from talking to a blues legend about the hay day of blues , to biologists, to peak oil critics and to funny discussions about the effects of ulcerative colitis. Each show starts with a semi-prank phone call. However, these aren't your typical "Is your refrigerator running?" kind of prank calls. The calls are humorous yet pine for a deeper connection with the person on the other end. It's almost like a prank call to break up the monotony of the everyday work routine. Not only do you get all this but this man has GREAT taste in music. In fact here is the first episode where he talks with record collector/renowned Dublab DJ Danny Holloway. There are some awesome songs in this podcast folks don't pass this one up.



Well that about wraps up this one, folks! Join me next time for more point and click musical adventures!