Vol 74 - You Had To Be There

There’s this idea that we have everything at our fingertips these days. If, as I was discussing with some of my best friends from high school yesterday, we had to search out things and didn’t really have the tools to find them (think of a record or a book you really wanted! Think of the work that took!), today young folks need a different sort of skill. And the rest of us as well. We need to be able to discriminate between the deluge. Continuing on the signal to noise idea I was on a bit ago, there’s just a lot to pay attention to and so many places to look that it can be hard to find what you want.

But there’s another element, one a bit more insidious, about everything seeming to be there. It’s not. We’ve been in this position for a while, books, shows, records, movies, they aren’t necessarily all there even if it feels that way a lot because what is there is overwhelming. So when I want to find a “never got the rights to clear it but it’s a banger” rework of some Cocteau Twins by Star Slinger, it’s not on Apple Music. Still hanging out on YouTube (though I’m not sure how), and of course I downloaded it from Soundcloud back in the day, but there are not a lot of paths to discovery here. And other songs that simply are not there if you do not physically own it.

This is why I like to download stuff and make sure it’s on a computer, somewhere. It’s why I like to buy records and tapes and even on very special occasions still, CDs. If I really like something, I want to be able to access it, and I want my only barrier to be whether or not I have working technology to play it. It’s a nice by-product that I support the artists I care about, the shops that purvey this items non-digitally, or in the case of a stray free mp3, how we preserve something in this onslaught that is an overwhelming amount. Maybe many of these items should be forgotten, should be left to the sands of time. If for millennia the problem was we could not keep nearly enough of what we learned and the art we produced, we are quite on the opposite end now, and yet it still feels like we only capture a fraction of the magic. And I can recreate it for myself, but I cannot recreate it for you. Seriously, several songs just won’t show up on a shareable version of this playlist, sorry! Apparently a lot of what I loved in 2010 is lost to the ether, without formal releases or rights clearance or any of that jazz. But for real, the shareable version of this 50 song playlist only has 35 songs!

Perhaps that’s what makes it special. To be in a time and place where something may not exist again, or may end up long forgotten…but not by you

This is a shareable calendar. You should be able to add it to your calendar here if you use Google calendar

Not ready for that kind of commitment? Just take a peek here. I do not think you can see the colors this way though

✅ means I have tickets to a show

❌ means I can’t make it but I thought it was worth putting on there at some point, I’ve already purchased tickets to another show that night, whatever. You can still benefit!

💸 means it’s sold out (which we all know is a construct)

Twisted Teens - 9/3 at Make-Out Room

Orville Peck - 9/13 (sold out) and 9/14 at the Castro (spiritually the most appropriate place to see him)

Of Montreal - 10/1 at Bottom of the Hill (damn I missed this announcement and it sold QUICK) 

Octo Octa - 10/4 at the Castro

Dummy - 10/14 at the Chapel

Pixel Grip / Dark Chisme - 10/28 at Great American Music Hall (sure, the 28th needed one more killer show)

Blondshell - 3/3/2027 at the Castro (rescheduled from 10/17)

Iceage - 4/5/2027 at the Independent

I missed this at the Chapel when she rolled through…last year? Given she’s got pipes for days, it’s always great to see her, and I’m really curious what the stripped down performance will be like. I have not kept up with a ton of her recent stuff, but I love those early records and EPs and have seen her play some fun shows, including one at Bimbo’s one time with a lot of brass accompaniment. I’m really curious what just a vox/piano vibe would be like! Plus it’s a good excuse to pop over to the Freight

I’ll put together my favorite songs at the midpoint some other time, but those two playlists are a beautiful view into a formative year on my music listening and live show-going. If it feels like a touchstone I keep returning to, it’s because I wish more times felt like that!

Since many of the songs don’t even appear on the playlist, if you are feeling really enterprising, you can see the full list here. Go down the rabbit hole with me!

I’ll admit I was not particularly impressed with Catherine Moan live when I saw her a while back. She opened for Hannah Lew’s album release and the energy was…strange. Very frenetic, lots of talking, mostly her performing over backing tracks and what have you. Which I don’t always mind but I was not connecting with at the time.

However, the recorded output on her new record really comes through in a different light. KEXP has been playing the hell out of this record and for good reason, it’s smart electro-pop that speaks to our current moment. “No Magic” in particular hits like a ton of bricks in a tough time for a lot of folks out there. Perhaps I was unfair to the live show. Or I just didn’t catch a great one! It happens. Maybe I wasn’t ready for it. But I am ready for this record.

Alright, that’s enough for this week! See you at a show soon