alt rock – michael jarmer

#809: M is for Mother Mother

I find almost nothing more exciting than hearing a great new band for the first time. In this case, not a “new” band, but new to me, and my discovery was a completely random internet find of a live studio performance of Mother Mother on a YouTube channel from Musora. The band played a songContinue reading “#809: M is for Mother Mother”

#805: M is for MGMT

The album begins with part 2 of the title song for MGMT’s Loss of Life, and overlays one of the most beautiful instrumental melodies I’ve ever heard with a spoken word sample of John Stewart Parker (a guy who is entirely absentfrom my google search results), and his old-poet-guy-style reading of a poem called “IContinue reading “#805: M is for MGMT”

#799: M is for Menomena

Alt rock stars from my home townof Portland, Oregon, I must have reallyliked these guys. I have three of theiralbums on CD and the last studio albumthey recorded in 2012 on vinyl. Oddly, like many things that I love for a timeand then shelve indefinitely, I can’t forthe life of me remember a single songorContinue reading “#799: M is for Menomena”

#736: I is for Illuminati Hotties

“Pool Hopping” has to be one of the mostcrushing power pop punk rock songs in recentmemory. Followed immediately on the albumLet Me Do One More by the equally sassy andwildly exuberant “MMMOOOAAAAAYAYA.” One would be hard pressed to find two more powerful opening tracks in the wholeof the year of our pandemic, 2020-21.The project ofContinue reading “#736: I is for Illuminati Hotties”

#664: D is for Death Cab For Cutie

I must confess right away my affinity for singers who soundlike Kermit the Frog. It’s a soft, comforting tenor with just a little bit of nose-forward. It’s not an exact match, but if you listen to Benjamin Gibbard, close youreyes, and imagine Kermit, you’ll see what I mean. Codes and Keys was one of thefirstContinue reading “#664: D is for Death Cab For Cutie”

We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Program to Talk About Geese

I just don’t want to like them. Everybody loves Geese. Everybody loves their new album, Getting Killed. Everybody seems to be falling down stupid-in-love with their singer and principal songwriter, Cameron Winter. Even people whose opinions I trust and whose art I respect or love, St. Vincent and Marc Maron, as examples, are falling overContinue reading “We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Program to Talk About Geese”