Last weekend I did something a bit taboo. No, nothing that bad. What I did was this: I took my email inbox, and I cleared it. I archived everything — over 15,000 unread messages. It had just gotten a bit too out of control. Then, this week, I checked ALL my emails, filtered out what I wanted to cover, and pulled some select ones to add to my radio show.
Read More »Fense’s Radio Show: May 25, 2012
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’ve started, but may take a while to publish) is dubbed, paraphrase: the best albums I didn’t check out in 2011 for some reason or another.
Read More »FensePost Top 33 and 1/3: The Best Albums of 2010 
Creating a music video, in my opinion, should be about creating art. There are so many intricate elements that should go into a video that are so often left forgotten or, at least, unattended. First and foremost is the song itself — a video must compliment the art to which it is expanding from audio to video. Connecting the two is extremely important. Second is theme. The best videos have some storyline, vague or distinct. Or at least something visually interesting. Read More »25 Great Bands, 30 Great Music Videos
Let me tell you a story. In 2007 some notable things happened. I attended the annual music festival SXSW (the image above is of myself and The Lovely Sparrows’ Shawn Jones, taken by Abandoned Love Records/Virgin Of The Birds’ Jon Rooney), I grew a mustache, and I met a beautiful girl named Andi at the Capitol Hill Block Party. We hit it off and ditched the after-party to get a sprite (her) and coffee (me) at Denny’s in Ballard (sadly no longer there) at 1:30am. I still have the mustache and I’m still dating Andi. A lot of pretty notable things happened that year, and a lot of great releases came out…
Read More »A Retrospective Top 33 and 1/3: Best Albums of 2007 
I enjoy cooking; like most creatives, however, I hate to stick by the recipe. There’s a chemistry to piecing together a recipe that is very much like crafting a new song. The cook must take into account various elements, such as location. Water boils at different paces whether your in the rainy town of Seattle or the mile high city of Denver. Similarly, northwesterners have a different palate than, say, those in the southwest. All these elements must be taken into account when approaching a new recipe, which is merely a base of what the dish should include. Read More »Yeasayer: All Hour Cymbals [Album Review]
