LWA Blog — life without algorithms

I just discovered Kate Clover kinda around the end of last year. Right off the bat, her voice reminded me of early Siouxsie. I love the pop/punk sound, she and her band pretty much nail it. I had 2022's Bleed Your Heart Out on constant rotation. Vinyl was sold out, I kept checking the site and soon enough there was a second pressing available, so I grabbed that. And then, she announced a new album, The Apocalypse Dream, which is out now (and is another banger). I also got to catch her playing at the Kilowatt in SF. So good....

Sometime in 2002, I think it was, maybe 2003; I was living in an apartment on Potrero, across from the hospital. It was a terrible location. The sirens from the hospital were all day and night. Potrero led to freeway a few miles south and people drove that street like they were already on the freeway. Super noisy and dangerous. In any case, a friend came over to hang out one day. It had been some time, at least two or three years, but we fell into it easily, just chatting and catching up like we always did. We had some lunch...

It's been a minute since I posted here, mainly because...2023 was, well, it's been something. I went back and forth a couple times on whether I wanted to do this or not. The old habit won out in the end and here we are. As usual, the download version is the one I prefer because, well, reasons. But here's a Spotify link if that's your thing, no judgement. The download version has a couple tracks and a couple nifty things that aren't available from the corporate machine.  Details details details. This is just stuff I like and what I was able to...

I feel like lately there's been a lot of R.E.M. discourse happening, maybe thanks in part to The Bear, the excellent Hulu drama (seriously, watch it, I didn't think I'd like it but guess what), which features a couple R.E.M. songs. Strange Currencies, Half a World Away and Oh My Heart. I had to look up that last one, late-period R.E.M. kinda escapes me. I'm not one of those "Oh I only listen to the I.R.S. stuff" assholes, but I did kinda fall off after Up. It just didn't feel the same at the time, I was more on the...

These are the songs of the summer as far as I'm concerned. I'm listing these in the order they were released, it's not an indication of preference. I think they're both equally fucking great. 1. CRJ's Psychedelic Switch, from The Loveliest Time. She basically made a Daft Punk song and it's glorious. Hits all the right vibes for me.  2. Hailey Whitters' I'm in Love. This is just a boppy little gem (I think it's a cover?), from her EP of the same name. Short, sweet and totally singable. Check it out.