Sunday, August 17, 2025
but you got her, and I got him/and I got morals that are peeking in
The Bel Air Lip Bombs - Hey You
but you got her, and I got him/and I got morals that are peeking in
I made the first tomato sandwich of summer with tomatoes that I grew in my little community garden plot.
I used to do a BLT every year with the first garden tomatoes and lettuce from the garden, bread I would bake, and bacon I'd cure. But it started getting so hot in the summer that I gave up on turning my oven on as hot as it goes for the bread part. The bacon part felt like a pain in the ass after awhile too. And, it's not like it was terribly difficult, but there was the whole timing fermenting dough and curing bacon and tomatoes ripening.
Last summer I was in a weird place and I just kinda forgot. If I'd remembered, I don't know if I would've been up for the whole ordeal anyways. My garden tomato plants sucked too, so there were less homegrown tomatoes to be had.
I mean, I'm sure I ate a sandwich with tomatoes in it last summer, but I didn't do it consciously and I didn't really think about that until this year, when I did.
It was early, but I went to water the garden last week and there was a lone, perfectly ripe tomato. A nice little surprise during a summer where I've been lucky to have a few nice little surprises.
The sandwich was just salted tomatoes and Hellmann's mayonnaise on milk bread that I bought.
It was simple, but it was perfect. I've been trying to let myself experience more things like that again.
So far, so good.
Album of the week
Pool Kids - Easier Said Than Done
I saw Pool Kids last March and couldn't tell you anything about their performance other than I wasn't particularly moved either way. They were sandwiched in between Militarie Gun and Spiritual Cramp--two bands that bring the same kind of sonic fury live--and Pool Kids sound nothing like either of those bands, so maybe that was part of it.
Apparently, their other records could be described as emo/math rock. "Tinted Windows" definitely has the drums and bass of the latter. And the lyrics fit the emo mould. But this one's pure pop.
"Leona Street" could've been a 90's radio hit and "Bad Bruise" sounds like it could fit somewhere in Pool Kids booster Hayley Williams' oeuvre. But even when they slow things down a bit, like on the brooding "Sorry Not Sorry," there's hooks to spare.
If you'd ask me last year if I'd ever see this band live again, I wouldn't have hesitated to say no, but I've been listening to this record so much that I'm thinking of checking them out in October at the Fox now.
Song of the week
Skullcrusher - March
"I saw the future in an afternoon/I saw it in you/And now I feel forever pressing into me/Beautiful and terrible."
There are times in my life when that would've destroyed me and I'm glad I didn't hear it during any of them. But also, what a beautiful way to be destroyed.
You can say this about a handful of Skullcrusher songs, but this is proof that you don't need to be loud to be heavy as hell.
"March" is the second single from And Your Song Is Like A Circle, out October 17th
Classic of the week
Ryan Adams - Oh My Sweet Carolina
Obviously there are way worse things that this guy has done, but the Spotify Release Radar served me up the "25th Anniversary Version" of this song the other day and I guess Ryan Adams decided to re-record this whole album.
No one's going to sing better at 50 than they did at 26 for starters. But also, there's probably no way he's working with Emmylou Harris anymore and she's very noticeably absent on the re-recording. The real crimes are the arrangement and production though. There's some schlocky sounding strings and too much reverb or something. It's like watching those Star Wars remasters where George Lucas added all the stuff he couldn't do the first time around--it really makes you question if either of these guys understand what made their art so good in the first place.
When he reviewed Heartbreaker's 2016 reissue for Pitchfork, Ian Cohen summed up the album's appeal: it’s actually enjoyable knowing you can hit bottom for 50 minutes and still appreciate the view.
This whole re-recording thing makes it sound like Ryan Adams is back down there, but he hasn't come up for air again.
More heat
Militarie Gun - B A D I D E A
There isn't anything notably different from most other Militarie Gun songs and frankly that fucking rocks. OOH OOH.
Neko Case - Winchester Mansion of Sound
I don't like this one as much as "Wreck," but I like that Titanic sized love song a lot. So this still feels like it's going to be my favourite Neko record in a long time.
Chief Keef and Mustard - Shake Dat
The quality of this song is inversely proportional to the quality of the band's name.
now playing: Songs: Ohia - Two Blue Lights
