Music Share

I’m not usually a big fan of the electronic side of things but this one has come in and out of my life since it came out in 2012 and I dig it. I don’t know much about Muse and I should probably take a deeper look into their catalog!

I started listening to Atmosphere in 2010 or so and have been a huge fan of the music Slug and Ant create in this band, especially their older stuff and they have lots! This is probably their most popular song and brings great vibes whenever it comes on. If you dig this I’d highly recommend any album up through Southsiders (2014) such as “When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold”, “To All My Friends”, and “You Can’t Imagine How Much Fun We’re Having”. Slug is in my opinion one of the best rappers of all time, he’s got his own style and can easily say the same about Ant who creates beautiful and one of a kind beats in his production.

It’s been almost exactly a year since I saw the band Phish at the Greek Theater in Berkeley in April 2023 and a lot has happened, I finished building my van, travelled, returned to Leavenworth, had many adventures in the mountains, left my job, and am now back on the road but it still feels like yesterday somehow. This show was especially special because my buddy Dan was there. I met him through Phish and I was doing the whole west coast and he was able to make it to one night and this was the one. I loaded up on Bahn Mis for the both of us at a Vietnamese place near campus and met up with him in line very early so we could get a good spot inside. It’s impossible to have a best night of Phish, they’re all unique but if I had to give an answer this one stands out. The energy was high from the get go, set 1 set things up and we were giddy heading into the 2nd half of the night. When they opened up with a great cover of “My Soul” by Clifton Chenier and everyone in the room could feel something was about to happen. The unmistakable opening notes of “ Tweezer” came as we all realized that we were in for a big one. A four song set is what we got with Simple and Velvet Underground’s “Rock and Roll” following. It was probably the most insane live music experience I’ve ever had. The Greek is an awesome venue, it’s always a fun time when you’re seeing friends you rarely see, and Phish is Phish, I should have known what I was in for.

Last year a good friend dragged me to a King Gizz show in Carnation Washington where they would be playing 3 nights. I knew about the band and my friend had sent me lots of his favorites to listen to but even after listening to a bunch of it wasn’t really my thing, it was often just a too heavy and too much noise for me but I could see they were immensely talented musicians creating unique sounds both in their tones, instruments, and in their use of microtones which isn’t common in western music. We ended up going to two of the three nights it was pissing rain the entire time and I was just completely blown away by what I was hearing and I recall a feeling of awe when they performed this song “The Dripping Tap” knowing I needed to figure out what this was and explore it more. In the year since I’ve listened to a lot of Gizz and am still exploring their large catalog that spans a very wide variety of genres. This whole album is fantastic front to back and I’d also recommend the albums Butterfly 3000 and Fishing for Fishing as a good starting point. If you’re into the heavier stuff then their most recent album “PetroDragonic Apocalypse” might fill your cup but for me personally I needed to ease into it at the beginning but now really enjoy their heavier works. I can’t wait to see them live again and would definitely recommend making it to a show!

A few months ago on our drive out to ski in Holden Village this popped up on Spotify’s radio. I’d never heard of Quicksilver Messenger Service and knew immediately this was a band worth exploring further. What drew me in more than anything was the creative composition shaped by the vocals and John Cipollina’s incredible work on the guitar. They have a solid collection of music from what I’ve listened to so far and I’d recommend checking out the album “Happy Trails” if you enjoyed this.

I can’t think of anything more fitting to share for the first song than something from the Grateful Dead. The lyrics on this one are some of my favorite from Grateful Dead songwriter Robert Hunter and the namesake holds true to Jerry’s guitar playing. I’ve tried learning the guitar part and the rhythm and melody is deceivingly hard, go figure. I’ll definitely be sharing more Grateful Dead songs, there are so many it’s too easy but I will be trying to diversify what I share here. “Life may be sweeter for this, I don’t know…” and I don’t know… If you liked this the whole show is on YouTube, check it out!