Author: Nathaniel FitzGerald

Record #561: Chastity – Death Lust (2018)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

For the last few years, it’s been suggested by a number of music snobs (or at least by me) that we’re currently in a post-genre landscape.

While the dividing lines between, say, dream pop and post-hardcore have generally been laid out pretty clear, these days there’s so much cross-pollination between influences that music taxonomy is an almost fruitless undertaking.

Case in point: Death Lust, the debut record from Canadian solo project Chastity. When I went to add the files to my iTunes, the cursor sat in the “genre” tab for several minutes, blinking mockingly at me as I tried to put a name to this (I copped out and settled on “alternative”). Continue reading →

Record #560: mewithoutYou – [Untitled] (2018)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

After the release of the doomgazy single “Julia” and the subdued [untitled] e.p.,  speculation was high as to what the forthcoming [Untitled] full-length would bring.

But the similarity of covers between the releases seemed to promise an explosion.

Across social media, that theory seemed to be confirmed. When drummer Rickie Mazzotta was asked if the full-length would be as quiet as the e.p., he said, “that’s porch-sittin’ music. The album is cliff-diving music.”

Continue reading →

Record #530: Mae – Destination: Beautiful (2003)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

My sophomore year of high school, I found a great indie/emo band called Sky’s the Limit on Interpunk.com (oh, Interpunk…their website has never been updated, btw). I bought their only release, which was only released on a burned CD-R, and I was spellbound by the intricate guitar work, catchy rhythms, and soaring melodies.

So when I discovered Mae on an old Tooth & Nail compilation, I was attracted to them for many of the same reasons. I bought this album, and was amazed to find a Sky’s the Limit song on it. It was only then that I realized that Dave Elkins was the lead singer and principal songwriter for both of them.

Continue reading →

Record #514: Beach House – 7 (2018)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

Throughout their career, Beach House has consistently written textbook-perfect dream pop. Teen Dream is a bonafide masterpiece. It topped nearly every 2010 year-end list, and with good reason. Bloom was similarly brilliant.

When Depression Cherry dropped in 2015, it hit all of the same notes. But I started wondering if the world needed another Beach House record. Two months later, they released Thank Your Lucky Stars, and the question got louder.

Now that they’ve released their seventh LP, the music world is left pondering this quandary once again.

Continue reading →

There Has Been a Delay

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

I can hear you now. “Hey, I thought this blog got updated daily. What gives?”

Or, “hello,” as people used to say. But yes. It’s been a while since my last post. My wife and I were taking a shirt vacaion last weekend to visit family, but during that trip I got an email from my boss in Florida offering to fly me down to meet Ric Flair, who is a client of ours.

I didn’t hesitate. But, that weekend away turned into a whole week away pretty quickly, and when you’re dealing with a blog chronicling a vinyl collection, it gets hard to take the show on the road.

So the blog’s been quiet, but my life has not been. And neither have my headphones. I used all of my travel time as an opportunity to dive into a bunch of different bands that I had previously overlooked. And, there’s a great record store in St. Pete’s where I acquired a bt of a backlog that I need to go through now.

In the meantime, here’s me and Ric Flair.

Also, I’ve been thinking for a while about starting a podcast to talk about my favorite records with friends, and the more I talk about, the more serious I get about it. Now, I’m brainstorming show formats, researching licensing laws, and putting together a list of records and guests, so I guess you could say things are getting pretty serious  (yes, that was a Napoleon Dynamite quote).

But now, I’m back home, and ready to spin some records. Regular posts will resume shortly.