Shooflypie

It's just under 2 months since the last Heavy Rotation, which might be the shortest gap between them ever. I also have a few others albums I played a handful of times, such as Violent Femmes' self-titled, but not quite enough to include here. A fact worth noting is that half of these I have been listening to via CD; in fact, I've picked up more CDs in the past few months than I have in years. Anyway, here are some words about what I've been spinning (physically or digitally) of late... Buffalo Tom/Quiet and Peace - Last time out I wrote about their album Skins and talked a little about the band and my history with them. Quiet and Peace is their brand-new one and the third since their almost decade long hiatus; as much I like Skins , this one is even better. The opener is "All Be Gone" and it was the first song to be released from the album. I liked it from the start - a charging beat, a soaring melody in the chorus, a tasty guitar solo. It took me a whi...

Last year I only managed two Heavy Rotation posts; it was the same in 2016. This year I hope to get back to 2015 levels, where I put up four. Posting one in early February gets me off to a promising start, at least. The albums I'm writing about here have been keeping me company throughout January (and even late December in many cases)... The Breeders/Title TK - I'll admit it. I really slept on The Breeders. Sure, I loved "Cannonball" just as much as everyone else back in '93, but I didn't investigate any further. Thanks to streaming, however, I've become quite familiar with Last Splash and love it. Still, however, I hadn't ventured much beyond that album. It wasn't until the band announced it was coming back earlier this month that I gave this album I try. All I can say is...man, I really slept on The Breeders. Title TK is actually their follow-up to Last Splash , coming 9 years later. It's also produced by Steve Albini, which is a fact ...

Hey, I managed to do 5 of these in June. I will be away from my computer next Sunday, however, so I'll wish you a great 4th of July weekend right now. I'm hoping to do a couple first half of 2017 posts this week, but we'll see. I did finish my Happy Endings slow binge and I have 4 episodes to go in Game of Thrones Season 2, but that's about it. I have been reading more, which could be one of those posts I mentioned. That's all the potential future, though. For now, let's get to today's ten... 1. Flawless/Superchunk (34) - last played on 5/1/17 2. Constructive Summer/The Hold Steady (9) - last played on 11/24/15 3. Wine, Women, and Song/Harvey Danger (11) - last played on 6/4/15 4. Velvet Roof/Buffalo Tom (19) - last played on 5/13/17 5. No Key, No Plan/Okkervil River (8) - last played on 8/21/16 6. (Straight Down To The) Bitter End/Yo La Tengo (5) - last played on 6/7/15 7. Lot 105/Blur (6) - last played on 4/29/15 8. My Revenge/Julie Ocean (11) ...

I had a great time at the Sloan show Friday night. They played all of One Chord To Another , took a break, and then came back to play songs from all over the catalog. Chris Murphy has a ton of charisma and led us in clapping and singing along, usually abetted by Patrick Pentland. Patrick had some guitar issues at the start of both sets, but once they were sorted out he ripped off some nifty guitar solos. Jay Ferguson charmingly forgot the lyrics to one of his songs and Andrew Scott was fantastic behind the drum kit. When it was Andrew's turn to sing, he would come up front and put on a guitar, Jay would switch from guitar to bass, and Chris would go from bass to drums. Gregory Macdonald played all the keys and contributed harmonies. The harmonies were stellar throughout and the band sounded great. I've already started listening through their catalog again and seriously thought about doing another Sunday Sloan...but that would be overkill. So, here are today's ten from my ...

Had my best run of the year this morning - 3 miles in 24:18, an 8:06 pace. So, with that blazing speed (ha ha) in mind, let's get right to today's ten... 1. From Ghost Town/Robert Forster (10) - last played on 2/7/16 2. Bedouin Dress/Fleet Foxes (15) - last played on 2/20/16 3. Teenage Kicks/Portastatic (5) - last played on 3/24/13 4. Mornington Crescent/Belle and Sebastian (9) - last played on 1/11/15 5. Choose to Play/Redd Kross (6) - last played on 2/28/16 6. Getting Ready to Get Down/Josh Ritter (10) - last played on 12/29/15 7. Porchlight/Buffalo Tom (16) - last played on 3/9/15 8. Talking Backwards/Real Estate (6) - last played on 3/27/16 9. Eden Was A Garden/Roman Candle (4) - last played on 8/16/15 10. Burn Through Love/Matthew Sweet (5) - last played on 4/17/16

It's finally here! This is the week that Star Wars: The Force Awakens comes out! We go on Thursday night and I can't wait. I know a lot of people have been rewatching the movies in anticipation, but I've decided to just go into in fresh; plus, I've seen the original trilogy so many times and it's not like I've forgotten anything about them. If I love the new movie (and I hope I do), I can see myself doing a rewatch before I see it again on the 23rd. My whole week can't just be focused on the movie, however. It's also the last week of school before Christmas break and the same for my college class. The good news is I'm finished in the pool, so I can get to my school work when I come home from school. Just a reminder that I have an ongoing Spotify playlist for the Sunday Shuffle that I change out every Sunday morning - I'll post the link via social media some time this evening. How about today's ten? 1. Fleeting One/First Aid Kit (5) -...

It's been well over a year since the last Heavy Rotation but I've been hitting these albums pretty hard over the past couple weeks, so it's time for a new installment... Ryan Adams & The Cardinals/Cold Roses - I think I've mentioned by big Ryan Adams listen last fall in the run-up to his great self-titled release. I'd been a fan in the early 2000s and then lost touch due to the sheer volume of music he put out. Out of all the albums that were new to me, Cold Roses made the biggest impression. It's a double album and while that can sometimes lead to bloat, I've always admired the ambition of doing one (and I don't think there's bloat in this case). "Magnolia Mountain," a perfect shambling rocker, opens the album and it's followed by the more melancholy "Sweet Illusions"; a great 1-2 punch. Later on the first disc, I love the repeated "I could never close/I could never get close enough/I could never get close enough....

The lawn-mowing merry-go-round has started back up but the older I've gotten, the less I mind doing that particular chore. The nice weather also means that we have our porch set up again and I got to spend some time reading on the futon, which is one of my favorite things to do. Only five weeks left of school and only two of those weeks have a full five days, of which this upcoming week is one. Summer is coming... 1. He's A Reptile/The Soft Boys (5) - last played on 3/3/13 2. Out The Door/Ben Kweller (21) - last played on 3/22/13 3. Seeing Other People/Belle & Sebastian (6) - last played on 3/15/13 4. Larry/Buffalo Tom (15) - last played on 4/14/13 5. She Walks/Eli "Paperboy" Reed And The True Loves (6) - last played on 12/26/10 6. Concerning the End of the World (Eterna Redux)/The Prayers & Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers (2) - last played on 6/13/11 7. Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Of/U2 (5) - last played on 1/27/13 8. In My Bed/The Orwells (11)...

My plan for today, the last day of spring break, is to watch the NCAA tournament, the first game of the baseball season, and the season premiere of Game of Thrones ; to read more of John Scalzi's The Ghost Brigades ; and to listen to as much music as I can. Also, Happy Easter! 1. Hymn And Her/Earlimart (4) - last played on 1/27/13 2. Early Roman Kings/Bob Dylan (3) - last played on 1/8/13 3. Josephine/Slobberbone (4) - last played on 2/24/13 4. One For The Cutters/The Hold Steady (7) - last played on 6/24/12 5. If All Else Fails/My Morning Jacket (8) - last played on 2/17/13 6. No Regrets/King Khan And The Shrines (4) - last played on 8/28/11 7. Modesto Is Not That Sweet/The Hold Steady (5) - last played on 8/18/12 8. We Made a Mountain/The Mynabirds (11) - last played on 10/23/11 9. Taillights Fade/Buffalo Tom (13) - last played on 2/3/13 10. Strings/A.C. Newman (11) - last played on 1/1/13

I haven't done one of these posts since the end of October back at the previous blog. This one covers the end of March and beginning of April only, or else it would be quite long (sorry, Built to Spill). Buffalo Tom/Let Me Come Over - I got this from eMusic quite a while back and only listened to it a few times. I decided to dig it up and give it a listen recently and promptly wondered what had taken me so long. This is the type of music I just eat up - melodic rock with lyrics you want to listen to. This album is from 1992, which also begs the question as to why I haven't been a fan for 20 years. Still, better late than never, right? Standout songs for me include "Taillights Fade," "Stymied," and "Frozen Lake." Drive-By Truckers/Go-Go Boots - I had a ticket to go see the DBTs in early March, which was the early stages of their tour behind this record. However, I'd been very ill the weekend before and was still having issues with my back and ...