allherealltogether

Been listening to OM a bit while visiting my family in Alabama. I can’t pretend like I’m super eloquent these days, and certainly talking about spirituality can be polarizing for people. Personally, I’m not really sold on any dogma or spiritual doctrine. I think Zen makes the most sense to me. OM kind of hits this niche of feeling grounding and meditative. OM is one of those all paths lead to heaven musical projects.  Gethsemane off of Advaitic Songs  has been stuck in my head a lot. The lyrics are so heady. Ezekiel saw the wheel The lyrics draw from different traditions, and specifically instances where an individual was faced with the power of the “divine”. The story of Ezekiel seeing “the wheel” that was surrounded by Cheribum is really intriguing. The song takes its name from the story of Jesus at Gethsemane looking for guidance of God before being betrayed by Judas. There, he was reminded of his own powerlessness and accepts his fate. I’m not a Christian, I do like a lot ...

Home for the holidays in Alabama. I’m one of those people that loves Christmas, the merriment, the cheer, seeing olds friends, spending time with family you don’t see; it’s pretty nice. Christmas music goes hard I’m a truther, okay? One of the staples in my family’s Christmas soundtrack is the “Christmas Album” by Jim Nabors. Jim (who grew up in Sylacauga, Alabama) was Gomer Pyle in The Andy Griffith Show. That show is my mom’s favorite, and the way that Jim Nabors’ “Christmas Album” holds a grip on my mom is wild. I HATED this album growing up, Jim Nabors has this huge voice, almost opera like? It’s honestly super impressive but as a kid I thought it was horrible. And the music has that cheap KPM records orchestral sound that is so good. Really creeping into elevator music territory here and I love it. Perhaps now im more sentimental, or my music taste is worse(not a lot offends me sonically anymore) but i love this album. It’s funny, it’s euphoric, it’s hard to listen to it and not g...

Went to the DMV today and wanted to incinerate the whole building. I may be nice but whenever I go to the DMV I turn into the crankiest version of myself, it’s like trying not to road rage inside a building. Anyway, I came home and blasted this to feel better.  My favorite era of hardcore has gotta be the early 2000s punk hardcore era. Tear it up, bones brigade, even the lockin out stuff, but for me the greatest album of this ilk has got to be Cut the Shit’s “Harmed and Dangerous”. Anthemic and juvenile and high speed. Outrageous spit at your hater lyrics. Bluesy guitar solos and the best energy. Best three opening songs of really any album.  I love punk played by dickhead hardcore kids  Im still harmed and fucking dangerous  

Not much to say, one of the most important albums ever. Sounds like a bubbling pool of saxophones that shoots up geysers of screaming solos. I used to throw this on when I would open the coffee shop because I know my manager was sleeping upstairs and it was time to wake up! Ascension

 Maru Bihag is a raga used in Indian Classical music. I’ve been trying to find ways to incorporate it into my guitar playing. The first time I heard a piece using that raga was on Ravi Shankar’s “the sounds of India”. Ragas are wild because(and this is my really uneducated perspective) they are rules to follow for improvisation and less about how the scale is connected in theory? I realize there’s a lot of theory going on too.  Anyway here’s a really cool live video of Pravin Godkhindi playing a piece in Maru Bihag Maru Bihag

 It’s nasty in St. Louis right now, wishing for warmer  days. Thankfully this sultry as hell album exists. Chris Isaak(also known as the guy who croons “wicked games”) has a beautiful round voice that has range and is so smooth while rocking the faintest of twangs. Not like through the nose, just from the gut. His first album “silvertone” is front to back jam packed with moody Americana 80s flair. Keeps me feeling warm. Chris Isaak’s music makes me want to spend a week in LA.  Really into the upbeat “livin for your lover” and the brooding “lonely ones”. Is this adult contemporary? Adult alternative? Definitely feels like it’d have the descriptor.  The Lonely Ones

Our fifth stop was Milwaukee. I slept a large portion of the drive because I stayed up so late. We got to Milwaukee at about 7. Dropped our stuff off at the venue, and walked to get samosas. the show was very sweet. Our friend Caley Conway(who released an amazing album somewhat recently) set us up with the venue. It was an old funeral home that was HUGE that had been turned into a house. It felt like a Masonic hall. The ages of everyone there was pretty spread out, a few old head types and some teenagers. everyone at the show was super hospitable and had really kind things to say, that night we slept in a nice house and I got my own room(again!). the next morning the dog at the house scared me so much. She was baring her teeth and for a minute I thought welp tour is over I’m gonna lose my hand, but mere was able to calm the dog down. we drove to Chicago kind of early and spent the day bopping around. First we went to El Faro in little village, one of the best places ever. My friend Sam...

our fourth stop was Minneapolis. Also our longest drive, by ours I mean Mere’s drive because I did not have my license and couldn’t drive legally whoops. To split up the drive we stopped in Des Moines and hung out with a few of Mere’s friend from living up there. Everyone I met through them was so sweet! The consensus from all of them was that they hate living in Iowa. Supposedly Iowa has higher rates of cancer in millennials and zoomers? Woof after Des Moines, we filled the time by playing a game where we gave each other a prompt about songs we like and took turns showing each other tunes. Minneapolis was a perfect show, I was really excited to play there. I love visiting Minneapolis. It’s a wonderful city with so much cool music but still feels down to earth. we played at a house called silver plus. The basement was decked out in silver everywhere. A lot of people came out which was cool(also the stage fright was totally gone), but one of the best parts was seeing Spiritual Frenzy an...

After dancing rabbit, our third stop was in Fairfield, Iowa, home of the Maharishi International University. Neither of us had been to Fairfield before, so we didn’t quite know what to expect. When we got there, we were surprised at how small of a town it really was. It was a weird mixture culturally of every kind of political ideology. You had pretty far out and hipster types at a coffee shop on the corner, juxtaposed to American flags surrounding the town square and the most super trooper looking state troopers I’ve see with my own eyes. i kept breaking g strings on this tour, so we made it a mission to find a string. Incidentally, there’s no music stores in Fairfield. We walked to an a/v shop and asked about music stores. The owner was a pretty talkative and kind guy who offered to call his friends asking if they had any extra strings. Between calls, we would fill us in about the town and the University. He told us to visit the “Raj” a “spa” for practitioners of transcendental medit...

In early November, Mere(Mold Gold) and I went on a tour through the upper Midwest. our first show was in Columbia, Missouri. The first time I went there was to record some demos by myself in a tiny home as a “retreat”. The second time I went was for True/False, a documentary film festival that has musicians open for films. That time I was overwhelmed by being around so many people and playing in front of large groups. this time in Columbia we played at Hitt records. The amazing Ripped Genes played, just crushing acoustic slowcore. Mold Gold played as a full band and crushed it. When I played, I had stage fright like I haven’t had in so long. I was shaking, I couldn’t explain it either. But I played well and tried not to be too disappointed. we slept at Jimmy from Ripped Genes’ house(they’re also in Telepathy Club). The next morning we got Goldie’s bagels and it hit so hard. the next day we drove to Kirksville to see Mere’s Alma Mater Truman State before heading to Dancing Rabbit Eco Vi...

Currently I’m writing a lot of new music. I’ve been feeling a lot more inspired listening to music with my room mate. I came down stairs and he was listening to fairport convention, I love folk rock and I love when other people put it on. He’s also been putting me onto Wilco in a way I really hadn’t perceived before. Pointing out the intricacies of their recordings.  I’ve been trying to learn some classical and jazz pieces. Specifically, “polka dots and moon beams” in the style of Chet Atkins(but I wish I could play it like Wes Montgomery), Tchaikovsky’s “swan lake”, and the Piedmont Blues style take on “Cincinnati Flow Rag”. I’m always learning new songs these days. I’ve been teaching for a few months now, it’s been really tight. I’ve been pretty inspired by the people who take from me. Keeps me sharp and humble. There’s always so much to learn. And it’s made me more intentional with playing and practicing. I’ve had students bring some hard pieces that made me even feel like I was...