Not Not Fun is an imprint that doesn’t necessarily concern itself with a single genre of music. Instead, the Los Angeles based imprint seeks to issue any music even tangentially related to psychedelia. And at this late date in music history, that could mean just about anything. Still, the kind of tripped out sounds one locates on NNF releases possesses a modicum of connectivity. It’s an sleepy eyed, kind of mess, but one, apparently, with a point. Pocahaunted doesn’t sound like Sun Araw. And Sun Araw doesn’t sound like High Wolf. But that’s the point.

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Hearing folks like Sam Cooke and Bob Dylan spit out couplets as well composed as they are well performed has informed that last fifty years worth of musicians and writers. Getting to the middle of any matter was somehow reduced to a pair of lines, sometimes flowery in nature, but sometimes simple and cinematic. Looking out a back to onto a vast sprawl of emptiness hasn’t ever sounded good unless sung by one of these two folks.

So, over the last half century, the fact that people (imitators or not) have approximated the sound of each one of these folks isn’t a tremendous surprise. And certainly, a good portion of the time, recreating either Cooke or Dylan’s sound wasn’t on purpose. These two men have simply changed American music.

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Joe Meek remains one of the most unique producers of any age. His interest in space, vampires and Dracula all allowed for the groups he worked with the seem beyond normalcy. And the fact that this music was being issued pre-Beatles is all the more impressive. Sixties' space gear is awesome.

Can you remember a time when you needed a White LED light, Laser Beam, and a Blue LED light - all at the same time? You are in luck because the fine people at Meritline have got your back! I assume once you have it that this little dingy-doo here will solve all of your future laser and LED needs! If you use coupon code MLCK600403083051NL1 (limit of 1000 uses for coupon; normal price $2.69) you can get this little keychain for only $0.99 (in a randomly selected color - either red, black, or blue).

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Do you have a big interview, or perhaps a social event that requires being well dressed (wedding, funeral, court appearance)? Well you are in luck because you can get the Executive 2 Button Sportcoat- Light Olive Tic Check for only $39.50 at JoS. A. BANK. This clearance Sportcoat features a smart 2-Button appearance, is fully lined, with soft shoulders and center vent and is 100% Wool. This is a "fancy" Dry Clean only item (that you should not wash) and it was imported (from where I don't know). As of this posting there are sizes 40 - 48 (long and regular) available. The original cost for this Sportcoat was $395 - so this clearance item is a real bargain - it is like 90% off! I have ties that are more expensive!

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"We make music, I know that," says Bob Mould. And that's an awesome quote. Surely, it was weird for the band to hear obtuse descriptions of its music. Too bad the same tact is still taken by writers. I'm guilty. Either way, this video is a bit of a scene report, but focuses just on

Combining two albums by any one band years after the initial release dates works on occasion. But when it doesn’t, the results are so blatantly off kilter as to detract from the grandiosity of either effort. And that’s the main problem with pairing Rain Parade’s album Emergency Third Rail Power Trip, from 1983, and the group’s 1984 EP Explosions In the Glass Palace.

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Art as music or music as art always presents some sort of problem. Either the art critics don’t get the music or the music critics don’t get the art of it all. Or both. Even beyond that, when attempting to work up something completely new – and actually arriving at something that appears to be so – there’s nowhere for this new thing to fit.

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In recently mentioning Indiana’s Dow Jones and the Industrials while describing the odd Midwestern aesthetic combining hard rock, nascent punk stuff and weirdo synth experiments, it seemed as if it sprung from that area specifically. And it may have. But that’s just another one of those proclamations like “So and so were the first punk band.” With that in mind, a band kicking around Houston towards the end of the seventies didn’t sound too detached from whatever was going on in the breadbasket.

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The Midwest and its expansive, if not cloistered, music scene during the seventies offered up an satisfying mélange of bizarre acts. And with so much out-music getting worked up at the time, it shouldn’t be surprising that after the first wave of whatever preceded punk, there were a new handful of bands mining just about the same territory.

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