Saturday, March 28, 2015

Who Nullifies the Nullifiers?

The Adventures of Alibi Jones continue - Alibi and his crew investigate a giant, ancient alien ghost ship. What will they risk to try to make contact? Host, writer and narrator Mike Luoma reads Chapter Nineteen of the science fiction audio adventure Alibi Jones and the Hornet's Nest - with a little story-so-far to get you up to speed – on this week's episode of Glow-in-the-Dark Radio!



Sign up for the mailing list to get cool things: Free stuff, updates, previews & more: http://eepurl.com/0_Z7z

New eBook This Week! King Richard III: Unearthing The King – Mike explains on the podcast why he had to write this short subject. At Amazon for Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/King-Richard-III-Unearthing-ebook/dp/B00V8L1AUE/

The VATICAN ASSASSIN Trilogy Omnibus came out in paperback! Get it now at Lulu.com: http://www.lulu.com/shop/mike-luoma/the-vatican-assassin-trilogy-omnibus/paperback/product-22087315.html  It's now at Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/The-Vatican-Assassin-Trilogy-Omnibus/dp/1312925353/ and Barnes and Noble soon.

Home(s): http://glowinthedarkradio.com   http://alibijones.com  http://mikeluoma.com https://www.facebook.com/glowinthedarkradio  https://www.facebook.com/mikeluoma

We're part of the Comic Related Podcasting Network – Find Us Each Week at http://comicrelated.com

Saturday, March 21, 2015

Double-Sized!

DOUBLE-SIZED EPISODE! Two full-length chapters of the Science Fiction audio adventure Alibi Jones and the Hornet's Nest on this week's episode of Glow-in-the-Dark Radio! Host, writer and narrator Mike Luoma felt so guilty about leaving you without an episode last week, he's giving you two chapters on this week's show. Listen as he reads chapter seventeen and eighteen – with a proper story-so-far introduction to get you up to speed.

Alibi Jones and his crew are investigating a ghost ship – one that supposedly killed the five people on the crew that investigated it the last time it showed up! This time around, ships that approach the giant, ancient wreck are reporting power drains... and more: a glowing, green spaceman ghost has been appearing on ships pleading, "Don't let me DIE – Again!"



Although I couldn't get a podcast episode out last week, I did share chapter seventeen with mailing list members last Sunday night. Part of why you get two chapters this week – didn't want to cheat them of new stuff! Please sign up for the mailing list to get cool things like that. Free stuff, updates, previews & more: http://eepurl.com/0_Z7z

New Book This Week! The VATICAN ASSASSIN Trilogy Omnibus came out in paperback! Get it now at Lulu.com: http://www.lulu.com/shop/mike-luoma/the-vatican-assassin-trilogy-omnibus/paperback/product-22087315.html  It will be available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble soon. Here's a video of me opening it: https://youtu.be/JF8yk2PqPL8.

Home(s): http://glowinthedarkradio.com   http://alibijones.com  http://mikeluoma.com https://www.facebook.com/glowinthedarkradio  https://www.facebook.com/mikeluoma

We're part of the Comic Related Podcasting Network – Find Us Each Week at http://comicrelated.com

Saturday, March 07, 2015

Get Into The Adventure!

Join in the Adventures of Alibi Jones – with Alibi and his covert ops team about to embark on a new mission, this week's episode of Glow-in-the-Dark Radio is perfect for first-time listeners and readers! Alibi Jones and the Hornet's Nest continues, as Alibi and crew leave the Nest on their new assignment – tracking down a supposedly haunted old alien ship!

Get more than just a "story-so-far" this week – With new and returning listeners in mind, author, reader and host Mike Luoma runs through the settings and backgrounds of Alibi Jones – including a quick summary of The Vatican Assassin Trilogy, the story of Alibi's father, BC – Bernard Campion. Mike quickly covers all of Alibi's appearances, too, in comic books, short stories and novels and audiobooks, to catch us up to where the story takes off from today – as The Adventures of Alibi Jones continue with Chapter Sixteen of the exclusive draft run-through of Alibi Jones and the Hornet's Nest – Free audio science fiction adventure every week on Glow-in-the-Dark Radio!



Links:

Join the email list! Free stuff, updates, previews & more: http://eepurl.com/0_Z7z

Home(s): http://glowinthedarkradio.com   http://alibijones.com  http://mikeluoma.com https://www.facebook.com/glowinthedarkradio  https://www.facebook.com/mikeluoma

We're part of the Comic Related Podcasting Network – Find Us Each Week at http://comicrelated.com

Wednesday, March 04, 2015

New Music 2 Love...

We're barely into the third month of 2015 and already two new albums are strong contenders for my Top Albums of the Year - they're that good! To be fair, one of them isn't even out yet - getting ahead of myself a bit, for sure. The way this music is hitting me right now, though? Gonna take some mind-blowing new stuff to nudge these from my players. Kind of glad to love two new albums - means less danger of burning out on 'em too quick from repeated listens. Do get a little obsessive falling in love with new music, sometimes...

First? Ryler Walker - Primrose Green (Dead Oceans) - Ryley Walker is from Chicago, and his second album in as many years comes out March 31st - Primrose Green. It's brilliant! Can't wait for the rest of the world to hear this album. For now, it's a personal pleasure, though I've played title track "Primrose Green" on the air a couple times. It opens the album and instantly charmed me first listen. The pastoral vibe here sets the tone much as the lush vegetation on the album cover does. Could talk about how it stirs parts of my musical soul not touched in a long time, and try to dance about architecture - but better yet, hear it yourself:


Walker is a talented finger-picking guitarist, able to elicit full, complex leads and rhythms. While "Primrose Green" has a fairly traditional approach, other tracks on the album play to the improvisational strengths of the jazz musicians Walker has gathered around him, giving a freewheeling feel to the material at times. And though he hails from the states, there's something that feels almost English about this album, as if it's kindred to albums from the late 60s, early 70s, when British bands would sequester themselves off in the countryside to experiment and create their masterpieces.

Vocally, Walker reminds me of folks I hesitate to name- like Van Morrison. I mean, that doesn't seem fair to Ryley. It's not that he sounds like Van. But as he loosens up on songs like "Same Minds", "All Kinds of You", "Sweet Satisfaction" and "Summer Dress", I'm reminded of Van's jazzier period. Again, perhaps better you judge for yourself - "Sweet Satisfaction" is out:


(Edit - "Summer Dress" is up, too!)


There are some nods to folk traditions here, too. "Griffiths Bucks Blues" is an instrumental exercise in furious finger-picking, "On the Banks of the Old Kishwaukee" feels timeless and earthy - and very American, actually. But "Hide in the Roses" or "The High Road" wouldn't be out of place in a set of English folk rock by Fairport Convention.

While we hear some echoes of earlier folk rock rock efforts, there's a unique, singular talent at work here, a hybrid vision melding so many things that have come before into a stunning  - yes, brilliant - new whole. When it arrives on March 31st, I'll be reminding you - you need to get this album.


Second? The Amazing - Picture This (Partisan) - The Amazing are from Sweden. On their third album they bring shimmering, breathy, shoe-gazey pop to a new pinnacle - and then twist it ever-so-slightly. A few of the songs here seemingly have two parts - for example, the title track opens with a perfect pop tune, then shifts gears and jams for another five minutes or so with a relentless, guitar driven groove. The video is oddly compelling for simply following folks down the street, though the girl we follow through most of it is awfully sweet, might have something to do with the attraction:


I'm a fan of albums - and Picture This has a proper album's cohesion and flow. Much like the songs themselves, the album takes some odd turns and goes darker places than you might anticipate given the ethereal quality of the poppier material - if they occasionally stray into sounding a bit like Snow Patrol, they compensate by veering into early Pink Floyd territory - sometimes within the same song, as on "Fryshufunk" or "Safe Island":



If you're intrigued, here's another that's out for listening:


Lucky for you, this one has been released! Came out just about two weeks ago as I write. Start with the title track - check out that "Picture This" video. Don't mean to suggest the whole album is "out there" - there are a few straight ahead songs as well as the twisty-turny ones, like strummy guitar piece "The Headless Boy" or that clever "Tell Them You Can't Leave". And "Winter Dress" is the perfect closing track - the album's flow wraps and finishes strong with an almost-traditional sounding, beautiful slow-dance of a song.

There you have 'em - my two new favorites, two early 2015 standouts - and there's a lot of strong, new material coming out every day! I've made a playlist anyone can listen to - no apps or subscriptions needed - of many new favorites at 8Tracks.com: http://8tracks.com/brotherzag/new-loves-2015

Hope you like what you hear!