Tag Archives: music

Somnolescent Radio: Winter 2020

We listen to a lot of music at Somnolescent, and we’ve been gradually sharing more and more of it with one another. It’s entertainment, inspiration, and something to pour over fansites and music sites hunting down. Indie rock, dad rock, things that aren’t rock, the lot.

Sometime towards the end of 2019, I got the idea to solicit a song from everyone in the group and compile them into something of a playlist for you to pick through. I asked each Somnolian to write a little bit about the song they picked to go along with their choice. With any luck, we’ll be making this a seasonal thing. Let’s get to the picks. Continue reading

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The mtlx Chronicle

“Is it even real?”

As real as you want it to be. Continue reading

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A Year Under the Bulb: 2019 in Review

And so, 1998+1 has come and gone. The first official year of Somnolescent. The first year out on our own, our own hosting, in our own group. People came, people left, projects were started, and love blossomed.

2019 was a year of change, of growth, and of optimistic unease. It was the start of us as Somnolians realizing what we had and what we didn’t need. It was the year of itemizing fears and coming to terms with realities. (You might say it sounds dramatic and pretentious, but so is life.)

Don’t worry, though. We got a lot done that people outside the group can enjoy too. If you missed anything, it’s more than likely here. Continue reading

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End it Someday: Looking Back on With the Lights Out

It’s been 25 years, 7 months, and 19 days since the death of Kurt Cobain. You might remember him as the singer and guitarist for Nirvana, who later ended up trying pellet-flavored Pez in his greenhouse. He’s pretty much been canonized as the last great rockstar, and eh—I don’t care. I love Nirvana, but I don’t care.

It’s also been 15 years since a little three-CD-one-DVD Nirvana treasure trove of B-sides, live tapes, and rehearsals came into the world. With the Lights Out was the first official look into the home demos and leftovers that went into producing Nirvana’s three proper records. It’s a fascinating little document with a lot of history—and a lot of flaws.

Join me as I ramble about my history with the boxset, its highs, its lows, and where I think it sits in the Greater Nirvana Canon as a Sacred Text or something. Continue reading

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How the Goldfish Man Changed My Life

My stepmom had a bookshelf CD collection when I was little. Young spergs have active imaginations, and I was no exception; album art was everything to me at 5. I probably spent more time staring at the cracked out, surrealist album covers and being confused, fascinated, and terrified than I did listening to anything at that age. (Redman’s Malpractice, whose blobbily-proportioned cover guy is still unsettling to look at, is a prime example of the weirdness I found in there.)

Of course, I knew just enough about CDs to know what they were for, and just enough about our family’s Athlon-based Windows XP machine to be able to listen to the odd album or two. Somewhere down the line, Counting Crows’ This Desert Life fell into my lap. It was bound to catch my attention; it had a man with a fishbowl for a head on the cover, how could it not? What wasn’t bound to happen was how important the album would become to me; in fact, it’s the first album I ever truly loved.

That album turns 20 today, and I’m feeling sentimental. No one else is looking back on it, so I’m going to. Continue reading

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9/9 – Blueberry Milk

Two new sites, bios and refs, stories, a little raccoon out on a giant adventure, and I’ve started playing Cookie Clicker again. This one’s gonna be so massive, I’ve had to split it into sections, so get cozy in the nearest armchair. It’s time for a recap. Continue reading

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4/27 – Blogging Still Isn’t Cool

A new look, an old CMS, some badgers, some slapcore—it’s time for a recap. Continue reading

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