My best of 2024 (so far) playlist is updated regularly and can be found here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDJeO4dNUaIn2mN9hFpBK1szGAA07d8pq&si=ZVqklnxTIwkgAQKq
#music

https://youtu.be/Kdp8rLOQ3EU
5. Our Girl – "Something About Me Being a Woman". London trio Our Girl with a quiet, then louder, indie-rock tale calling out misogyny. "Guess it was just bad timing." Yeah, it wasn't just bad timing, you bastard. #music

https://youtu.be/wGn8tsWt1A0
4. Primal Scream – "Circus of Life". Glasgow's Primal Scream are back with their first album in eight years, an intoxicating brew of groovy funk, baggy beats, art-rock collage, gospel backing, Stonesy swagger, etc., etc. #music

https://youtu.be/MLtfuFAkuzU
3. David Gilmour and the Roots – "Dark and Velvet Nights". The iconic voice and instantly recognizable guitar tone of Pink Floyd return for a victory lap in classic fashion, drawing us into their mysteries. #music

https://youtu.be/VRpkKLCWMvE
2. Mulatu Astatke and Hoodna Orchestra – "Tension". Thank the heavens for talented, willing collaborators like Tel Aviv's Hoodna keeping the godfather of Ethiopian jazz making music while we still have him. Astatke is still as vital musically as he was fifty years ago. #music

My Top 5 Songs of the Week (2024 Week 45):
https://youtu.be/1npjctLPZSU
1. Trust Fund – "Curtis". Sheffield's Trust Fund return with a quiet track that puts me in mind of Nick Drake: a tasteful arrangement centered around a fingerpicked guitar and a certain wistfulness. #music

Magnolia

Descent

Ivy

Leaf series #254

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Because I value human life, I am, in general, a pacifist, although I could be persuaded to support a war of genuine self-defense. It's that same love for people that leads me to support those who serve in the military, even if I oppose many of the activities the government sends them to do. And having served, it should go without saying (but too often does not) that they've earned whatever support they might need from that government. Today, I say thank you to our veterans

Updated (but still not final) vote total. Doesn't change the horrific topline, but this is slightly less shocking than the initial reported totals.

Late autumn Sunday afternoon in the northern climes

Three wishes

My best of 2024 (so far) playlist is updated regularly and can be found here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDJeO4dNUaIn2mN9hFpBK1szGAA07d8pq&si=ZVqklnxTIwkgAQKq
#music

https://youtu.be/msqM3QGU92A
5. Mogwai – "Lion Rumpus". A typically raucous and epic postrock workout from Glasgow veterans Mogwai. #music

https://youtu.be/mraMN1lILXY
4. Richard Dawson – "Polytunnel". Low-fi folk from English singer-songwriter about working in the garden. Deceptively simple, the tune meanders through several different sections and Dawson's entire vocal range. Fearless. #music

https://youtu.be/1_qdbyaRmuk
3. Mary Timony – "Curious Tides". Really two songs: an acoustic raga gives way after two minutes to a Heliumesque alternative rock raveup. #music

https://youtu.be/awGoM8hU8oE
2. Chastity Belt – "That Guy". Walla Walla's Chastity Belt carry on the tradition of rockin' all-woman jangle pop groups extending back to Salem 66 and Scrawl (to name two of my personal faves). #music