Music, opinions, and portfolio of Mark Eagleton, musician and web developer in Northern CA.
This is where I tell you what I really think. This website doesn’t support comments by design, that is what your blog is for!
Viewing articles tagged with “americana.”
It’s not terribly common for a band to stick together for a whole decade, let alone two! This year, the Bottom Dwellers celebrate our 20th anniversary! We even threw a big ol’ block party. I figured this would be a good occasion to share a few stories.
Starved for live music during the pandemic, Kristyn and I stumbled upon Kassi Valazza one evening as we desperately scoured social media to find artists streaming online. We were instantly lost in the somber, delicate delivery of her songs, punctuated by the most tastefully haunting electric guitar. It would be three more years before we got the chance to catch her live.
A number of Tuesdays have passed since Julianna Riolino’s incredible first full-length solo record, All Blue dropped (and 188 Tuesdays have passed since I last shared new music with you!), but this record is just so good that I had to break the silence.
When we last left our hero, we had a broken neck joint and a splintered heel cap. I’m happy to report the surgery was successful and the patient has fully recovered. Ah, but friends, there is even more to this adventure.
Alright, now that the Grammy Awards have all been passed out, let’s have a little reprieve, shall we? Each of the 15 albums in this list made a deep impression on me this year. Why 15? Because there were 15 of them. Here they are in alphabetical order.
This data is taken from my last.fm account, and mostly reflects my private listening at work. This may more accurately reflect my personal preferences, though, as it is what I chose to listen to without being influenced by other people. My taste in metal seems to be getting more extreme.
Well, I recently got myself joined up with another bluegrass band. I’m not really one to go joining bands all willy nilly. I have a good track record of sticking around in bands for a long time, so it’s important to me that everyone is easy-going, but takes professionalism as seriously as I do. And of course they need to be, you know, good. The folks in Red Dog Ash check those boxes for me.
I know I’m a little late to the game with my album picks this year, but 2018 was just so rich with amazing new music that I couldn’t just poop this out all willy nilly. Unlike other folks with their best album lists, I believe in waiting a few weeks after the new year to let all the late releases settle in with me. And it’s a good thing I did, as a few late December releases made my list!
As with last year, this largely reflects my music listening at work. These lists tend to be more metal-heavy as this is where I do most of my headphone listening.
I don’t know if there is anyone Robbie Fulks doesn’t sound amazing with, but Linda Gail Lewis isn’t it either.
How about we break out of the new release holiday slump with a new Daniel Romano record! No? How about two!
As has been my tradition for the past few years, I’ve shared with you my most listened-to music. This year, however; I also wanted to share the music I was most excited about—the music that gets lost in the data when you don’t adjust for Misophonia, or listening to music with friends, or just life and music happening around you in general.
Misophonia is king as I discover the soothing powers of north-western grindcore, and new records by Daniel Romano and Thy Art Is Murder make an impression.
I’ve had a deep and powerful longing for more than two years, but the full-length Dylan Earl record is finally here!
It’s been a while, but damn, have you heard these guys!? I couldn’t let this one float past without calling it out.
Dick Curless, the “Baron of Country Music,” is a newly-discovered favorite singer of mine. I think he would be bummed that the track names on his release Welcome to My World are mixed up on all the digital music services.
Prompted by yet another Reddit hole of favorite album threads, I realized I need to catalog the albums that mean the most to me, or were a huge influence on me at some point in my life. Here they are in no particular order (with affiliate Apple Music/iTunes or Bandcamp links when possible).
As you may already know, I have been scrobbling all of my music plays to Last.fm for the past 10 years. This year, Last.fm has a new report called Last.year that does all my homework for me! I have still recorded the usual stats below for future proofing.
I have been on a quest for the perfect double bass preamp for years. There are a lot of options, but almost nothing properly suited for a slap player who wants a clicky but doesn’t want to strap a giant metal box to their tailpiece or their waist.
Excellent from songwriting to production. Two seconds after hitting play, not only did I instantly fall in love with the first track, “Sometimes,” I felt like it had been a favorite for years. That’s pretty much how this whole album plays.
About half of a year ago, Kristyn and I went to see Daniel Romano in San Francisco in support of his latest record, If I’ve Only One Time Askin’, of which he played only slightly more than zero tracks. Nearly everything he did was new material. Only one of those songs appears on Mosey, essentially making this his third volume of music since 2015.
What if Neko Case joined the Alabama Shakes? Well, you might end up with something a little like this.