It has been a rough few weeks in podcast-land. Sorry that I've been MIA (again). Last week I was working on a musical project that took priority and then this week I got sick again with roughly the same thing I had last time, only it's taking longer to go away. Started feeling kinda bad on Friday night and felt terrible on Saturday...then better on Sunday, and then the past three days have been miserable, but I think I'll be okay tomorrow. But nevertheless, that means there's not an episode this week. Even if I were to record one right now, it would sound like I was trying to do an impression of Heath Ledger's Joker and nobody wants to listen to that for 30-60 minutes...so I'm writing a post instead.
I'm also going to use this opportunity to make an announcement. With things like the above going on pretty regularly and thinking about my stress level and whatnot, I'm going to officially dial back a little bit and only post shows every **OTHER** week from here on out. It will allow me time to refresh between shows, allow you some extra time to listen if you get behind, and I think it will allow me to select my content a little more carefully. It should be the best thing for all of us. This, of course, will start with next week's episode, assuming I'm able to record it!
Now that that's said...let's do some reviews!
Music: (All album covers lovingly lifted from Amazon.)
- High on Fire - Electric Messiah
An album clearly inspired by Motorhead, only sounding gloomier. I've been wanting to be a High on Fire fan for years because they have one of my all-time favorite t-shirt designs... Check this out...
But unfortunately, I've just never *quite* been a fan. I heard they had a new one out and picked it up, hoping to turn the tide. And it ALMOST did the job, because there really is a strong Motorhead vibe to it, but once again I find myself not *quite* being fully on board. Don't get me wrong; it's good. But when I listen to it, I don't find myself banging my head, but rather just kinda spacing out. Although I like that kind of metal, it's not my go-to.
I mean...come on. (Image source)
I'll probably give this one another chance from time to time, but for now--it's good and if you're a High on Fire fan, it's probably exactly what you're looking for...but I'm just once again BARELY not into it. - Chris Cornell - Boxed Set
I'll cop to it. I'm one of those jerks who didn't have a ton of Chris Cornell's work in my collection before he died. I had some of the requisite Soundgarden stuff, but lacked much knowledge of his other projects and didn't have quite ALL of the Soundgarden that I should have had by that point. I've made a good dent in remedying that in the time since, and with the addition of this 4-CD boxed set to my collection, I feel like I'm all caught up.
This boxed set is career-spanning. There's also a single-CD version that serves as a good sampler of the greater work, if that's more your speed. There's the Soundgarden stuff, a good selection of Temple of the Dog, Audioslave, solo stuff, previously unreleased/live stuff. It's a good collection. Lots of stuff I didn't have. I'll be honest, I've never really liked Audioslave, but in this collection, they seem to have chosen the GOOD stuff.
Of course, there are songs I would've put on that aren't there. All I could think reading over the song list was, "Are you kidding me? Over four CDs, you don't have room for 'Fell on Black Days?'" But anything like this comes with some glaring omissions, and that should probably be an encouragement to dig deeper as much as anything else. All said and done, this set is worth picking up if you've always meant to have more of Cornell's work on file. It gives a good picture of a great career. - Kurt Vile - Bottle It In
I've got an on-again-off-again fandom with Kurt Vile. It's not anything he does differently from album to album. Every album of his I've heard has been good. It's just that I have to be in a certain mood or frame of mind to listen to Kurt's work. He writes in a way that makes one likely to drift off into dreamy wonderlands. To put on one of his albums is to let your imagination roam. And that's wonderful. But I also do 90% of my music listening while driving...so it's not always ideal.
"Bottle It In" is true to form. It's dreamy, bright, and sunny, but with some streets where you might expect to find Lou Reed passed out against a wall just barely off the main path. Gorgeous record. - Mumford & Sons - Delta
It's a lot like their last one. No, they didn't go back to the acoustic thing that first made them famous. A lot of you only needed to know that much. And I get it. But hear me out--I know it's not that anymore, but what it is is very good. I'd say it's sort of U2 driven in tone. And I like U2. So I'm good with that.
I've come to realize that most people seem to feel about Mumford & Sons how I feel about Arcade Fire. "I liked the early stuff, but they're not doing that anymore." So I really do get it when someone feels like Mumford isn't making music for them anymore. Although I would maintain that Arcade Fire wasn't hit with the same "it sounds just like the first one" criticism on the release of their second album that Mumford was on theirs. (And the same people who said "it sounds just like the first one" in criticizing "Babel" said "it doesn't sound anything like the first one" as a criticism for "Wilder Mind" so people don't know what the hell they want.)
I feel like Mumford & Sons could only go so far with their original gimmick before people started shrugging (cross-reference Lumineers, The). I understood and respected their decision to plug in and I liked that first electric album ("Wilder Mind") a lot and thought it was one of the best of its ilk. This album isn't quite as good, and maybe album #5 will provide a new chance to shake things up...but I do like it and I think it's worth listening to if you hung with the band after the transition. - Tenacious D - Post-ApocalyptoWhat is there to say? It's a dumb concept album about Tenacious D roaming the earth after the apocalypse. It's stupid, it's filthy, it's immature, and it's not necessarily their best work. Which is all fine by me. I like it. I accept it for what it is. It made me laugh in at least most of the places where they wanted me to, and it's dumb fun. No, it's not the first album. Nothing ever will be again--that thing was lightning from a blue sky. But it's The D. They're still going, they're still funny, they're still THOSE GUYS, and I'm happy about all of those things.
TV: (All of these images were stolen from the individual show's twitter feed.)
- Murphy Brown
It's gotten better. It really has. Especially as the show has tried to take a more serious turn and focus less on the jokes that never made it out of the 90s, the show has started to turn into something watchable. Not stellar. But watchable. It...it didn't start out even being watchable.
The highlight of the show is still the guy who plays Avery Brown (Murphy's son, actor Jake McDorman). But the cast in general seems more comfortable, although it still feels a little like Candice Bergen isn't playing Murphy but is just playing *a* newswoman--that might be in the script-writing, I'm not sure. Nevertheless, the stories have gotten stronger and I'm looking forward to the watch each week. Which probably means it won't get a season 2. - Doctor Who
I'll be honest. I've been slightly underwhelmed with this season. It's not because of the actors or the way they're playing the characters. It's certainly not because it's a woman in the titular role (and it's a shame that I have to clarify that). It's the writing. It's the monster-of-the-week formula and the fact that they haven't had The Doctor do anything genuinely badass all season. It feels like she's still not sure who she is and the finale is next week. And that's another thing...it's the finale next week, and it doesn't feel like the season has BUILT to anything.
That said, there have been some real bright-spots and I'm still a fan. I particularly enjoyed the episode with the witches in it a couple of weeks back... But with ratings sinking lower every week, I feel like I'm not the only one who was hoping for something bigger than what we're getting. The last season of Capaldi's run was the lowest rated since the return of the show and while this season started much higher, we're already seeing a return to those same numbers. I'm hoping next season, they can give us some BIG stories with the Doctor taking a front seat and really DOING SOMETHING. A season-long arc. Make the next episode must-see. We're no longer in an era where you can expect people to care much about a standalone episode in a drama. Something has to drive them to want to see the next episode...and whatever it is, it feels like it's been lacking from this season.
So, BBC if you're reading this (and you aren't), give us a cliffhanger next week and make us want to see the next season. Because right now you've got people falling away from the current one. And that's really a shame--there's SO much potential here. But then again, Capaldi's last season was epic as hell and actually LOST points for the finale, so who knows? People are idiots.
And I was going to talk about wrestling, but I feel like I've written enough. So "check us out next time," when I'll hopefully be talking instead of writing again.
Thanks for your support!
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