and, just to make a point: i only have two ears, and i only have one brain, and i only have a finite amount of time to process music through those ears and into that brain.

i try to listen, widely.

but, i can only get to whatever i get to when i actually get to it.

i've listened to their last two records a bunch of times now, and i actually kind of like this; it's maybe a more healthy rejection of christianity (or religion, generally) than some of the other things i've been bumping into recently from women of roughly the same age and from roughly the same place. and it's raw, i have to give it that. but..

...see i don't want to call it cringey, in context, because that's usually meant as a disincentive, and usually is, even when it's roughly in the same genre. if you're going to get cringey, you want to do it in a way that evokes some kind of pathos in the listener (and if you're doing this right, you know what i mean when i use fancy greek words like pathos), and the way it's usually done is to produce pity or scorn or even self-deprecating comedy (intentionally or not), so invoking the term "cringey" projects something that takes this down to a point that i'm actually trying to elevate it above. so, i might want to say something like that the records produce a level of discomfort, which is by definition uncomfortable, rather than suggest it's cringey, even if what i mean to say is that it's going to make you cringe. i hope i've got my point across with that.

i'm consequently a little apprehensive about actually showing up. i mean, what kind of debauchery is this, really?

i like it, though. even if i'd rather enjoy it from a healthy distance - both physically and intellectually.

https://bethlehemsteel.bandcamp.com

the new trumbullplex makes sure the shows run on time.

this is more my kind of thing, although it would be better if it was a little less glossy and a bit edgier. decent local support, too. this is the show i'd be at tonight, if i didn't prefer a warm blanket over a fall jacket.

also: strict half hour sets at the new authoritarian-left trumbullplex, tonight. know what you're walking into.

https://alienboys.bandcamp.com/album/night-danger

this is tonight in windsor, and i tried to give it a good listen because i don't want that cafe down the street to fail. but, i didn't get past the first few tracks.

this is something i've been struggling with for years, actually. everything else aside, i just can't handle this vocal style; i get this almost violent knee-jerk reaction to it. i'm just fundamentally a gen x kid that really hates what you could call "millennial rock", in pretty much all of it's various incarnations. this is a vocal style that started appearing in the late 90s or early 00s, and i've simply never been able to deal with.

i'm not going to comment on what appears to be a neo-luddite concept, underlying it. i'm not one of those, either - i'm actually very pro-technology.

if it demonstrated a little more musical abstraction upfront, maybe i could try and break it apart a little more, although i suspect it would just lead to deeper criticism. but, it's kind of tame on that level, as well.

ironically, my dad had a soft-spot for this kind of stuff that i didn't. they're playing a college bar, but this is really dad-rock - both in the sense of it appealing to new dads in their 30s, and older ones in their 60s.

https://atlasempire.bandcamp.com