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