This show began like any other, but without the transition difficulties. All was smooth. The music, on the other hand, was not. After a long, satisfying week, I was in need of some loud, abrasive rock music. But it wasn’t all like that. Due to the cold weather, I mixed in some beach pop, fuzzy dream pop and good old garage rock and pop.

The problem with so-called best-of lists, is that they are really just a collection of items organized based on experience and time, in that there will be plenty of albums heard the following year and beyond that will hold just as much weight as these we dub as “Best.” So, as of right now, at this particular time in the tail end of 2010 and the first moments of 2011, these albums are the best. There’s no question about it; it will change. My next list (which …

I know, I’ve owed this one to you, my readers, for a few months now. The plan originally was to concoct a sort of mid-year recap of the first half, dictating a slew of wonderful albums that may or may not come to find a spot on the inevitable end-of-year list. A hint at what may come. But that didn’t happen. I added a few hobbies to my seemingly never ending list of things that eat away at my time (see above photo) and it fell …

It’s been a few months since I threw together a podcast, so I figured it was about time for another one. Besides, I’ve been working diligently on a mix-tape for a new local pal, Brett Sandström, whom I met after purchasing a Tullycraft single on eBay – he being the seller, both of us being astonished to find other Tullycraft fans in Skagit County. What began as a modern tribute to light garage pop ultimately changed direction to hint at songs that fit a sweltering, hot summer day.

The Blank Tapes‘ Matt Adams wrote his new album Home Away From Home, as he puts it, in a van in probably half of the states in America. For that, it is named appropriately. It, too, is packed with garage-worthy tinkering that extends from folk to pop to experimental psychedelic. It’s an array that bodes well for the San Francisco native, and it’s one that’s definitely worth a pair of ears. Namely — yours.