I quit twitter after the influx of transphobes & as a result lost what was a modest following. Nevertheless I would like more ppl who liked my shit then to know I’m back. If you might spare an RT, you will be rewarded with middling semi-academic posts from me. And maybe cute pics

I've only reached #95 on Pitchfork's 100 Best Indie Rock Albums Of All Time list, but, with all due respect, they put in the wrong American Music Club LP; gotta be Engine and it's gotta rank higher than 95. I feel very equanimous about this.

However, I'm in complete accordance with the Flaming Lips choice, In A Priest Driven Ambulance. By contrast, I'm aghast at the omission of Meat Puppets II. Plus, Slanted & Enchanted >>> Crooked Rain; Sister >>> Daydream Nation. Thus ends my report on this unimportant matter.

Reviewed the inaugural Baba Obscura music festival for The Stranger.

thestranger.com/music/surfeit-…

January's typically a barren month for interesting music shows, but in Seattle we have Tara Clerkin Trio (Sunset Tavern), Immersion (Sunset Tavern), and Linda May Han Oh Trio (Jazz Alley) on the ledger so far. I'll take it.

“Gem” by Bow And Arrow (Lea Bertucci and Michael Beharie) is the best song on their strong 2026 s/t album. Halfway in, it goes into deepest trance/chant mode and becomes one of THEE trax of the year. @NNATapes
youtube.com/watch?v=753Lgn…

Oh yeah, you can listen too.
youtube.com/watch?v=6rJiNR…

My kind of underground music.

"Towson Acid" is the best song on the very good s/t Croz Boyce album. Gets farther out as it goes, in a patient, sublime manner. @Dominorecordco

youtube.com/watch?v=18P_c0…

Other than Trump, THE person most responsible for the GOP debacle these midterms, was Stephen Miller. He moved the policy off "the worst of the worst" to "whomever," he gave the word to hire ICE agents haphazardly without auditing their skill sets, he set and prioritized heavy quotas of deportations, he had a zero tolerance for empathy or humanity, he made ICE believe they were above the law, and he himself publicly lied about the Good and Pretti murders - even though they were on camera. Because of Miller, we had Hispanics flip on the GOP by the millions, and we had the rallying efforts of Minnesota galvanizing the Left. Trump started the war and levied the tariffs. Miller did the rest.
Trump knows he was most to blame for the GOP debacle because of the war, tariffs, and more - and he also knows that Miller was second most to blame forthe reasons above.
Here's the punch line that you're going to find hard to believe: THE FACT THAT MILLER COST THE GOP MIGHTILY IS WHY HE PROMOTED HIM TO COS. Was he trying to lose? No. Not at all.
But now that he DID lose, it's the ultimate defiance of a malignant narcissist in decline, who is incurable, unable to pivot, is a black hole of malice, hates the GOP as much as Dems, and who - if he goes down, wants to make sure he's not going down alone.

Did not expect to hear Bruce Haack on the PA before the Black Angels show. (I'm on assignment.)

Electric to Me Turn by Bruce Haack shazam.com/track/52756667…

The Guardian's photo for the Richard Lloyd obit is of a Richard Lloyd-less Television. Stellar work.

I'm just 17 pages into Jon Hassell's Atmospherics and he's already alluded to dalliances with ~10 women. Your favorite avant-garde trumpeter was a playa, I tell you what.
jonhassell.com/atmospherics-t…

RIP, guitar master Richard Lloyd, Tom Verlaine's foil in Television. In 2015, for The Stranger's blog, I conducted a long interview with Lloyd; it was one of the most enjoyable and rewarding I've done. He was smart as hell and, boy, did he have grievances.
thestranger.com/music/ex-telev…

I am begging all news outlets, bloggers, and social media users NOT to run photos of St*ph*n Miller with your stories and posts. It's bad enough that we have to deal with his evil policies; you do not need to punish our eyes with his malignant-polyp head, as well.

.@FedExHelp I received packages that are not mine. Tried to redirect the packages through your chatbot and it was an abject failure. Whatever you paid for that, you got fleeced.

There's a percussion bit on track 4 of Dennis Young's Nova (yes, the Liquid Liquid Dennis Young) that sounds like the Slack notification, and it has me on edge, tbh. Great 2026 album, btw.
dennisyoungmusic.bandcamp.com/album/nova

Wrote previews of upcoming Seattle shows by Big Star Quintet, Jon Spencer, IROIRO, and Dabda for The Stranger.

thestranger.com/things-to-do/t…

Respect to The Wire magazine for this stance: "Please note: We do not accept pitches or submissions that have been generated, part-generated, or polished by AI."

If you think MAGA's melting down over the midterm results, take a look at the Russian media. One TV host blamed Zelenskyy for the blue wave, haha.

thedailybeast.com/putins-pals-fr…