I'm ready.

O.K., this picture is actually a few days old. Today has actually been mellow, and we're totally getting to the church on time, and I am in no way making any faces like that. But c'mon, funny photo!

Get me to the church on time, Kippy!

Now is not the time for deep thoughts.

That title is deliberately misleading; if ever there was a time in my life for deep thoughts this is it. It's just not a time to share those thoughts publicly. There is too just too much going on—no matter how prepared for a wedding you think you are there's always the last minute stuff and all other time gets eaten away because you want to share all those other moments with the ones you love. So, it's a cliché, but more later.

The beginning of a great adventure.

And we're off to Vegas!

What do cats do during the day?

This, apparently. Get to work you two!

Went to Wisconsin over the weekend.

I could live on Bobby Nelson's garlic summer sausage and Spotted Cow.

Brought a few things home with us.

Hotel lyfe.

The Holiday In we're staying at has a nightclub called Club Impulse. We've dubbed it: Club Impulse—where bad decisions are born. And honestly? It's a hotel bar that is more nightclub than bar and truly makes most hotel bars look like stodgy old men with walkers.

Long weekend.

Gearing up for a drive to Cleveland tonight! A good friend is getting married so we've decided to load up the car with Mich and a music writing friend to make the trek out east. Vroom vroom!

Your moment of zen.

Whenever you're feeling particularly frenzied, just bookmark this page and return as often as you need. Sasha will make everything all right.

What was I thinking?

The reaction I have to the above Timehop capture of a Facebook post that went up a little before noon on a Sunday morning two years ago is not "boy was I productive" but instead "why the hell was I writing a PowerPoint deck for work all by myself that early in the morning on a Sunday?"

This looks "super" promising.

I can't believe I'm saying this but this extended preview for the new Supergirl series looks really great! The tone is spot on and the casting is terrific.

And once you listen to And So I Watch You From Afar you're gonna want to sidle up close.

Photo by Ciara

When I heard this band's name was And So I Watch You From Afar I totally thought what a bunch of pretentious prats. Like jeez, what kind of name is that? Some sort of mall emo or some such bullshit?

And then I started listening to their new album Heirs and was like, these kids can name themselves whatever they want if they're making music like this! There are prog elements at work here, but it's prog undergoing a massive sugar rush. Group vocals so upbeat it seems impossible poke through and ride atop the insanely weaving multiple guitar leads.

Look, you'll have to hear for yourself. Dig in.

Work selfies.

Well played, LinkedIn. Well played.

Is it spring yet?

Judging by this weather, the answer to the title query is "apparently not."

I'm beginning to lose hope summer will either a) ever make it to Chicago or b) last longer than a day if it does make it to Chicago.

Mountain song (no, not that one).

Sam Cohen's pretty happy his album is finally out.

Sam Cohen's Cool It came out recently. I listened to it a while ago and then sort of filed it away. Parts of it are a little too dreamy for my personal taste—and by dreamy I mean sleepy—but the parts that do work for me work really well. When Cohen's on his game his songs are sharp and glammy and just the sort of thing I dig. "Let The Mountain Come to you falls firmly in that category of "works for me."

Cohen was also previously in Yellowbirds, which was basically a solo project anyway, so it's not surprising his debut carries a great number of sonic similarities as that band. So if you're a fan of Yellowbird, glam rock, or dreamy pop,  then there's most likely quite a few things for you to dig on Cool It.

Now, onto that track that tickles my own solar plexus.

Hey, Heyrocco!

I mean Christ, they're even posing against a Blue background!

Heyrocco come to the world straight outta Charleston and this band of early just-barely-20-somethings traffics in the noise from the '90s, particularly terrain previously mined by Weezer and their contingent. If you've been reading much of my music writing here and elsewhere over the past year it's become pretty obvious that decade is pretty much ruling the roost in the independent music scene. Well, that and the whole psychedelic rock thing. But hey, I like both music from the '90s and psychedelic rock so you'll hear no complaints from me!

Their debut, Teenage Movie Soundtrack, comes out in June but you can hear a bunch of the songs on their Soundcloud page since they've been trickling out for a couple months. I'd never heard of them until recently but they seem to have a pretty solid following and media machine—well, indie media machine—backing them, so once the album comes out you'll probably be hearing a lot of them.

They're planning on touring this summer so keep an eye out for them.

Oh, do I like the album? Fuck yeah, of course I do! Why else would I be writing this? There's just not a whole lot of deep critical digging to employ here. It's the sound of River's Cuomo's tears shorting out your amp and soaking your Super-fuzz Big Muff as stomp stomp stomp shake shake shake goes every single song. Delirious.

You'd never know Faith No More has been on hiatus for most of the last 18 years.

Photo by me.

Last night's show was tremendous. I'm so happy I finally got to see them. And, according to them, they'll be back in September!

Alternate universe Blur.

Been a lot of chatter about Blur in these parts recently, huh? Well, let's see what would happen on a different timeline.

Nai Harvest is currently blowing my mind.

Nai Harvest in action, photo by Daniel Read

File this one under "unexpected gems that make listening to thousand of unsolicited albums a year totally worth it."

Nai Harvest's entire debut album Hairball is a high octane, turbo-charged, guitar glorious sugar rush from start to finish. All of this sound from a two-piece!

The album came out last week, and here's a sample of what they sound like. Sadly they're from the UK and have zero U.S. tour dates yet, but I am really holding out hope they make it over here to promote this album because this is a show I've gotta see.

Get "Tender."

I know people hate on Jimmy Fallon, and I have no idea why. He seems to love his job with honest enthusiasm and zero cynicism, and his team are geniuses at creating content. And sometimes the two run into each other as is evidenced in the video below where his face genuinely says "I can't believe this is actually happening, this is awesome!"

Last minute travel.

I was in Texas yesterday for my uncle's funeral. It's so strange to think that this time last week I had no idea I'd be in a completely different state for a single day.

See, that's the sort of thing I reflect on in order to avoid grappling with the actual notion that a family member I loved is no longer with us. But as I've said elsewhere, the silver lining is that my dad and his brother are finally reunited.

I'm not even kidding that I teared up watching this.

I mean, how lame is that?

Get some "New Love."

I've already told what a refreshing blast Cafeine's new album is, but he just released a new video from it today so it seems like a good time to remind you he's out there. Go get the album, already. And Cafeine? Play Chicago already!