Asides

This is a pretty amazing collection, curated by John Davis who played drums in Q and Not U.

🎶 Crucial Track for today: "Publish My Love" by Rogue Wave →

Share a song that makes time feel like it's standing still.

One of my favorite music memories is seeing Rogue Wave play an amazing set, then having the singer finish with an acoustic version of this song, in the middle of a full crowd sing-a-long. Was amazing.

🎶 Crucial Track for today: "Shine" by Doughboys →

What song would you dedicate to your younger self?

Spent a good chunk of yesterday trying to remember this band, which I've had a lot of conversations about the last couple years, but for whatever reason it was slipping my mind... anyway, it's a great song and some great lyrics for a teenage kid who's unsure of themself:

Not alone I'm not alone Feel like I'm buried and obscured beneath This non-impressionable I'm not alone I'm not alone I'm like I'm one out of a million faces Bound to your front door And then you call And then you call

Make me feel so bright Make me feel brilliant and so white It's like I shine It's like I shine

🎶 Crucial Track for today: "Kashmir" by Led Zeppelin →

What's a song that feels like magic every time you hear it?

I wrote about this album and this song five years ago during the pandemic start of this site:

My favorite Zeppelin song. Absolutely epic in every way. Apparently it was written after a long trip down a straight, seemingly never ending road in the desert of Morocco. We played this song many times on our two cross-country road trips, so it makes total sense. A perfect song for driving. A perfect song.

The entire Physical Graffiti album is magical, but this song is the centerpiece.

🎶 Crucial Track for today: "Take It In" by Sloan →

Share a song that makes you want to call an old friend.

Smeared was a crucial part of high school so yeah this song would do it.

🎶 Crucial Track for today: "Blood" by mary in the junkyard →

Been looking forward to this album for months and it was worth the wait. Review soon on the blog.

🎶 Crucial Track for today: "Fugitive Motel" by Elbow →

Share a song that feels like it was written specifically for you.

I used to love Elbow back in the early 2000s. Not sure what happened. Maybe it was a string of albums that I wasn't too psyched about? Anyway, it got so bad, that I even skipped seeing them when they played Buffalo. BUFFALO. The kind of band that never comes here... and I skipped.

Anyway, Navidrome picked Cast of Thousands as the top random album today so I put it on... wow. Back in love... this album is SO good.

For this song in particular... as a parent of three, two of which just graduated high school and one just finished their first year of college... I gotta say these lyrics hit:

I'm tired, I said You always look tired, she said I'm admired, I said You always look tired, she said

Tired, but worth it. So proud.

🎶 Crucial Track for today: "Song for the Messenger" by Chanel Beads

One of the singles off the new Chanel Beads album, which was a featured album on the blog last week.

Been enjoying the chill vibe this week during the heat wave.

• via Crucial Tracks

🎶 Crucial Track for today: "Place Position" by Fugazi

What's a favorite opening line from any song?

A masterful Fugazi song on xenophobia and "illegal" immigration.

Some of their best guitar work... and this opening verse:

All origins are Accidental You've got no papers and no roads lead home Anymore

Appropriate for today, considering we were allowed to keep the 14th Amendment. 🙄

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Farmer’s market breakfast, sushi for dinner, then Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu. Good day with the fam!

One of my favorite shows and this video runs down a bunch of connections and easter eggs from the first 9 episodes. So glad there will be a season 2!

Last high school award ceremony in the books! Z received three awards and finished 3rd in her class for total “points” earned through varsity athletics: ice hockey, field hockey, and lacrosse. Next year, D3 in the last two at Keuka College. Proud!

Everything has grown worse in Fugazi’s absence.

So true. And a nice look back at Fugazi’s legacy.

Found this band in Rosy Overdrive's "Best of 2026 (so far) part 1" post and thankfully clicked on the song preview... so good.

As AI companies get ready to go public and we get a deeper look at their inner workings, it’s only natural to have questions about their finances, like “Do they make money?” and “How?” Here are a few examples to help the average layperson understand the business side of AI.

Kind of brilliant, absurd examples of the insanity that is the AI bubble.

Thank you Dave. 🕊️

A great read from Dan Sinker:

You can trace a very clear line from that summer of being scared and sad and loney and watching The Goonies over and over to punk. The underground that I discovered a few years later—probably four or five in actual years but it feels like far more separation than that—was exactly that: a place where you could exist separate from the conformity of the mainstream, where you could chart your own existence, where you could build possibilities that felt impossible and possible simultaneously, and where you could do it alongside others who had found themselves—their true selves—in the liner notes of 7"s and smudgy printing of zines and sticky floors of a Sunday afternoon show in a rock club that smelled of old beer and sweat. Down there, it was our time.

Underground and decentralized, always.

Lead track on his new album, The Mirror. So good.

It's been over 20 years since I last saw Stereolab (Seattle, 2004, with Tortoise)... so wasn't sure what to expect with Stereolab in Buffalo of all places. I was blown away, though, both by the band and the crowd. Buffalo LOVES Stereolab, apparently. Sold out crowd and good vibes that almost took Lætitia Sadier to tears. I absolutely love when bands experience the Buffalo that I love and see the city as a place worthy of attention.

There are a lot of quotable parts of this video, but this one sums it all up:

The extent to which these very powerful people feel no sense of responsibility to anything makes me feel like maybe they shouldn't have this much power. They shouldn't be in charge of the kind of thing that could literally, by their own admission, destroy humanity.

NewDad playing some songs off their new album, which was featured on a recent issue of Crucial Tracks. So good.

An amazing documentary about one of the most enigmatic and powerful band leaders... hardcore, punk, or otherwise. The Bad Brains impact on music is legendary.

So unexpected. So good.

Also test driving some new stuff out in the wild. #crucialtracks

Crucial Tracks merch launch!

I’ve got shirts, hoodies, hats, sealed vinyl, and more available to purchase on our new merch site. All proceeds from this sale will go to help pay for site costs.

Since it’s Pride, 25% of those proceeds will go to The Trevor Project this month. And I will match the first $50 of that… 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️❤️

https://merch.crucialtracks.org

It happens every few generations. It’s what drove the fascist oligarchs of the Confederacy to reach out and try to conquer the entire United States in the 1860s. It caused the robber barons to murder union organizers and ultimately crash America into the Republican Great Depression in the early decades of the twentieth century. And it’s why wages have been stagnant while billionaires’ wealth has exploded in the years since the Reagan revolution.

Yup.