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)