It’s been a while since I had any real time off from work.  I’m hoping to sneak in a week out of the office in early February, and am already planning both a cut list and a playlist.  Today, I will discuss the latter, just over two years since the last entry.

An obligatory woodworking photo for the post.

I’ve gotten heavily into a few bands of late.  Florence and the Machine is fantastic, and I can listen to “Ceremonials” on repeat for the entire day.  My appreciation for Mumford & Sons has always been very targeted: “Wilder Mind” is a superb album (especially the song “Ditmas”, which is a good approximation of how I feel most of the time), but some of the New Basement Tapes songs (“Kansas City”, for example) are excellent.  I’ve also rediscovered the Blink-182 discography (did I ever lose it?), including their newer stuff with that guy from Alkaline Trio replacing Tom (who I understand is busy proving aliens exist, as well as making awesome music with Angels & Airwaves).  Ben Rector is a fun change of pace (I love the album “Brand New”, which confuses the hell out of Alexa when I ask her to play it).

Although I was always a fan, my emotional state of late has gravitated me back toward AFI, particularly the albums “Crash Love” and “December Underground”.  If I’m feeling the existential emptiness acutely enough, I add in “Sing the Sorrow” (in that order).  AFI is an all purpose woodworking score, working equally for rhythmic tasks like rip sawing or planing, or the finer detail of actual joinery.  Or I might just listen to “Do You Feel It” by Chaos Chaos on repeat for 11 hours straight.

On days where I can actually see the point of things, it’s usually a mix of a few old standbys.  “Me First and the Gimme Gimmes”, the preeminent punk rock super group cover band is great, including their most recent album “Are We Men?  We are Diva!” and one of their middle albums “Have Another Ball”.  Ghoti Hook has a cover album that is pretty good too.  I have a well-curated “Of Monsters and Men” station on Pandora that is an upbeat mix of modern neo-synth pop and OMAM-style folk pop.  And The Refreshments (of “Banditos” fame) will always have a special place in my heart.

My musical tastes continue to evolve as I get older, which I hear is somewhat out of the ordinary.  Feel free to discuss in the comments, but please know that musical snobbery is not welcome and will lead to a ban.

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