GRIZZLY PEAR

written snapshots

Category: Commute Music

  • quill

    In January, I wrote a letter to a colleague who is rejoining to our team. Selfishly, I’m excited that she returned.

    This was my first tiny poem-calligraphies to leave the house. It was also one of the last ones that I wrote.

    It’s been a long 2024, and we haven’t even started the biennial budgeting season—that hits tomorrow.

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    Unfortunately, my publication schedule will continue to be sporadic. After we get our budget season assignments, it’s off to the races through June.

    Beyond the increasing workload, it has been a tumultuous time for our team. Hopefully things will settle down, but it’s not surprising that my Commute Music project has stalled on Black Sabbath and Blue Oyster Cult over the past month.

    I just started moving again with Blue Mitchell. Yes, I’m slightly out of alphabetical order. It was a necessary fudge.

    Hopefully I’ll get another post out in May, and then June, but frankly it’s been all about work for the past quarter. I’ve already told my supervisor that I’ll try to keep up the pace up through July 1st, but after that it stops.. (He’s the best boss I’ve had, but we’re all going through it together). Maybe I’ll breathe again.

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  • plumbing

    When buying the house we agreed to address a few minor plumbing issues. Easy enough to do during the negotiations, but the work still had to be done. We changed the innards for two of our toilets, switched faucet stems, and installed a new kitchen sink with our own RO filter.

    That sink took three days, five trips to Home Depot, and a couple angle stops.

    Yes, hiring a plumber would have been more sensible but I learned stuff and enjoyed the challenge (aside from multiple trips to the hardware store!)

    Shoutout to YouTube…there’s no way I would have started this project without all those tutorials. That site is the greatest DIY reference library ever assembled. It has so many videos for every task, with a myriad of angles and opinions.

    I hope more folks make use of this empowering free resource. Simple repairs are one of the easiest ways to earn a feeling of accomplishment on a weekend afternoon.

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    David Auerbach, Carols in the Caves

    • The sound engineers tried to capture the essence in being a massive cave, but the whole album sounded distant. Everything felt flat.
    • This might be a good holiday background album, but does not have presence as the central audio feature for a drive.
    • The album cover looks great.

    Babyland, You Suck Crap

    • Last week, I complained about noise. This one is all about noise, but I had fun.
    • Sampling a multitude of instruments (and implements) gave the audio palate an enjoyable richness. I suspect growing up with electronica and hip-hop makes me prefer variety when getting bashed over the head.
    • I wish I had detailed memories of attending that concert with my landscaper colleague. Sadly, I just don’t remember much from such events. A few visual flashes and a plastic disc is all I have from 20 years ago.

    Elevate, The Architect

    • While looking up this album last week, I learned about the genre “Math Rock“. I had to give it a second shot now that I know “It is characterized by complex, atypical rhythmic structures (including irregular stopping and starting), counterpoint, odd time signatures, and extended chords.”
    • Still very noisy. Most likely still not my thing, but the architectural cover makes a lot more sense with the music behind it.
    • Am I enjoying this album more because I’m now aware that it’s supposed to be sophisticated? Is the emperor clothed or nekkid?

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  • Music Notes

    The first week of the commute music project started well. I listened to Aceyalone twice before slogging through a lot of guitar noise.

    Aceyalone, A Book of Human Language

    • I don’t know enough about hiphop to judge the rapping.
    • Clearly catered to art school nerds who want deep subjects and big words over late 90’s gangsta bling.
    • Love the sonic landscape, especially the bass riff in “the Hunt” (sampled Coltrane’s Ole).

    Aerosmith, Classics Live!

    • Following the complexity of Aceyalone, this was a wall of noise.
    • Lots of electric guitars and distortion. Is this rock? I’m listening to too much jazz.
    • Thoughts of youth culture, what will my daughter think of the pop characters of her childhood when she’s in her mid-40’s?

    Al and the Transamericans, Analog

    • Plenty of electric guitar, but not as frenetic.
    • More melodic and borrows from old tunes and instruments. Very Americana, the banjo makes an appearance.
    • Slightly awkward, in a likable way.

    Elevate, The Architect
    When writing this post, I found I had swapped the band and the album title. Oops, but I like having it on the first page of the binder.

    • More noise. I’m not built for rock.
    • I do buy things for the cover. In this case, the cover and the title. I’d do it again, even though this will be my one and only listen through this album.
    • Google image search led me to the Santa Maria della Grazie in Milan. When it works, the internet is amazing. Fun fact, the Leonardo Da Vinci’s Last Supper took 21 years to restore (1978-1999).

    Bonus (?)
    Last February, I shared Ruthie Foster’s rendition of “War Pigs” to mark the first year of Russia’s latest invasion into Ukraine. October brought further horrors with Israel-Palestine. Let’s hope for better in 2024.