The Man in the Way

Standing in the way of Alibi Jones, his ex-girlfriend Katie and the Dakhur Kit's escape from the planet Kismet is the very man they're trying to escape from – Rene Laveillur! The crime lord unintentionally blocks their route – can they get past him? Or will they have to try something more desperate? The Adventures of Alibi Jones continue on Glow-in-the-Dark Radio - free audio science fiction adventure every episode! Host, writer and reader Mike Luoma sets the stage so you can enjoy this chapter even if this is your first time listening – the penultimate Chapter Twenty-Eight of Alibi Jones and The Sunrise of Hur!     



Join the mailing list: http://eepurl.com/0_Z7z   

Balticon this weekend! Details: http://Balticon.org  

Listen to Glow-in-the-Dark Radio on RadioPublic! https://play.radiopublic.com/mike-luomas-glowinthedark-radio-podcast-WwYzZ8   

Check out Mike's new radio home! http://wbkm.org  

Home(s): http://mikeluoma.com - http://glowinthedarkradio.com - http://alibijones.com

Life's Big Red Reset Button...

Alibi Jones' plans for rescuing his ex-girlfriend Katie and the Dakhur Kit from Kismet have died with Alibi's co-conspirator Brady Thomas. Alibi, Katie and Kit had to abandon their first escape attempt and return to the city. Can they get back to the spaceport and Thomas' ship, and get off the planet? Find out in Chapter Twenty-Seven of Alibi Jones and The Sunrise of Hur! Free audio science fiction adventure written and read each week by Mike Luoma - The Adventures of Alibi Jones continue on Glow-in-the-Dark Radio!    



Join the mailing list: http://eepurl.com/0_Z7z   

Listen to Glow-in-the-Dark Radio on RadioPublic! https://play.radiopublic.com/mike-luomas-glowinthedark-radio-podcast-WwYzZ8   

Check out Mike's new radio home! http://wbkm.org  

Home(s): http://mikeluoma.com - http://glowinthedarkradio.com - http://alibijones.com

Spotlight Song of the Day - Gin Wigmore "Girl Gang"

One of the things I pride myself on as a Music Director is my "Ear" - an ability, based on years of listening, observation, training and instinct, to find music people will like. Sometimes, they're songs I don't even like myself... but I know a lot of other people will. I can hear a potential for mass appeal in a song - spot a "hit" - that's my "ear".

It's not something easily analyzed, reproduced or quantifiable, so bean counters find it hard to value, but my efforts speak for themselves. The kind letter of recommendation from my former Program Director credits me with helping discover Nathaniel Rateliff and the Nightsweats, Of Monsters and Men, SYML, and Lorde, for example. I hear stuff.

And? I just heard a hit.

I mean, it's not one, yet. But I figure a few women and girls hear this and start spreading it around, it's gonna catch like wildfire! I could be wrong. But this speaks to female empowerment in a fun and awesome way that - I think - women are going to dig. Even if I can't join, I'm still digging Gin's "Girl Gang" - it kicks ass! I don't even care if it's mine. It's on her new album Ivory - out now. If you like the tune, share it - let's make it a hit!

Song of the Day Spotlight - Kyle Craft "Heartbreak Junky"

Kyle Craft's new album Full-Circle Nightmare arrived back in February, with "Heartbreak Junky" - the lead single - appearing back in November. So this song has been out for a little while. This is one of those catch-up tracks I wish more people knew about. The "rule" in radio and music releases is that you can't go back - unless something is a new release, it can't gain the kind of traction it needs to take off. Therefore, a song can't get popular if it's already been out and ignored for a while.

Well, until one does. Because it does happen, the exceptions that prove the rule? I suppose so. Usually, it's because a song is used in some other context - a movie scene, a TV commercial or TV show. An effective "sync" - as they call those placements - can not only introduce a new song, it can also give life to an older one. And so, I'm ignoring the "rule" and telling you to check this song out!

Using musical shorthand, Craft's music sounds to me like Ryan Adams meets Mott the Hoople, riding the edge of chaos and raw emotion with an almost honky-tonk rock n'roll vibe. He played Higher Ground not long ago - check out my LIVE facebook VIDEO of him performing this tune! Unfortunately, the show wasn't well attended. We gotta get more people out to see him next time!

Check out "Heartbreak Junky". Maybe I'll see you the next time Kyle Craft comes our way!

The Getaway?

Alibi Jones has spirited away his ex-girlfriend Katie and his ex-friend, the Dakhur Kit, and now, with bounty hunter Brady Thomas, they're about to try to leave Kismet and the clutches of crime lord Rene Laveillur! See if Alibi and Brady's escape plans keep working in Chapter Twenty-Six of Alibi Jones and The Sunrise of Hur. The Adventures of Alibi Jones continue – written and read by host Mike Luoma. Free audio science fiction adventure on Glow-in-the-Dark Radio!   



Join the mailing list: http://eepurl.com/0_Z7z   

Listen to Glow-in-the-Dark Radio on RadioPublic! https://play.radiopublic.com/mike-luomas-glowinthedark-radio-podcast-WwYzZ8   

Check out Mike's new radio home! http://wbkm.org  

Home(s): http://mikeluoma.com - http://glowinthedarkradio.com - http://alibijones.com

Song of the Day Spotlight - S. Carey "More I See"

Speaking of music... before we begin, a plug - please give a listen to my new radio home WBKM.org - I'm on weekdays at Noon!

Onward...

Ethereal. Love that word. Been getting a little too much use lately, however. It's not a rugged word, one must treat it delicately, like gossamer and meringue. I blame the New Age movement for its overuse! All the same, ethereal is the word that first comes to mind to describe the music of Sean Carey. Have to employ it. And on his new album Hundred Acres, released at the end of February, S. Carey has once again delivered a beautiful and, yeah - ethereal - collection of music.

Carey is also a member of Justin Vernon's Bon Iver. This is one of those cases where I like the "sideman's" work a whole lot more than the more famous group's. Not a big Bon Iver fan - find them too precious and overly self-indulgent, recent works so much so as to be unlistenable. Of course, some hail Vernon as an incredible innovator and artist. Music is subjective, and that's a beautiful thing.

I'm glad Bon Iver has an audience and support for the work - it just doesn't speak to me. Don't mean to belabor the point, just want to be clear I'm not a critic - please don't take my dismissal of anything as a judgement that something is BAD. As an independent creator, I know that what I make isn't for everyone. Neither is the work of any true artist - artistry is a blend of individual vision and universal message.

Fine art leans to the individual vision, mass art towards the universal. Too universal, one loses the art - sacrificing vision for mass appeal. Too individual, one loses the broader audience. However, with power in an individual vision, and some relation to the universals, an artist can still find their audience. And Bon Iver has. I'm not disrespecting Vernon. This world needs a whole lot more people realizing what they don't like isn't bad. It just isn't for them. Bon Iver isn't for me.

And I love Carey's solo work so much more! He leans more towards the universal, yet still explores the atmospheric soundscapes and employs the angelic, reverbed falsettos of early Bon Iver. Previous releases have been filled more with sonic meditations than traditionally structured songs. In fact, the Supermoon EP, his release prior to the new full length, was recorded during a Supermoon in 2014, and features some of his already sparse, atmospheric gems from his first two albums stripped down even further - just Sean on a hot mic to catch his breaths and breathy vocals, accompanied by his piano and occasionally a touch of strings.

I clued in to Carey's work with his last album, Range of Light, from early 2014, with the beautiful, haunting "Fire-Scene" - worth a listen, especially if you like the new track I'm about to bring you. And let's get to that, shall we?

"More I See" is representative of S. Carey's new work Hundred Acres and its more focused, structured songs. It still floats among the clouds - breathy vocals, strummed guitar... but there's maybe a little less reverb than in the past, and even a bit of a hook in the repetition of "...the more I see...". If you do enjoy this, be sure to check out more from S. Carey!

Spotlight Song of the Day - Lo Moon "All In"

I love this song... before I get into it, though - in case you haven't heard, or to remind you - I'm back on the radio! AND you can listen to me all over the world - on WBKM.org! Noon Eastern time every weekday. PLUS I'm helping program the station even when I'm not on the air, so aside from the many fine specialty shows on the station, you're hearing a mix I help create. Listen in!

You just might hear Lo Moon "All In"...

We were introduced to Lo Moon very slowly, beginning with the September 2016 release of the brilliant "Loveless", their first "single". Of course, a track that clocks in at over seven minutes isn't really a single... I didn't care. The majestic build, atmospherics, the tension and the release as the timpanic drums roll in created such anticipation - could not wait to hear more from this band!

But we would have to. They had a plan...and Anticipation was its name-o. They'd release a few more songs, and over a year would pass, before the album finally came our way, at the end of this February. We got "This Is It" in May of 2017, "Thorns" in October, "Real Love" in January of this year, "My Money" in mid-February, just before we got the album itself - the self-titled Lo Moon - on February 23rd. Almost a year-and-a-half between the release of the first track and the album!

I did get to see the band live, at about the halfway point - in August of last year, out a radio music conference in Boulder, Colorado. They were amazing - really moved me, in a brief outdoor performance, under a tent, outdoors, after lunch. Lo Moon is a band whose sound seems suited to dark clubs, cool lighting and fog billowing across the stage, but they managed to create the mood, the vibe, and the feeling even in almost diametrically opposed surroundings.

Give a listen to Lo Moon - you'll certainly hear echoes of Peter Gabriel and Talk Talk, both obvious influences on the band - but you'll also hear the sound that is Lo Moon, a fusion of those earlier inspirations which then goes on further, to become its own new thing. Check out "All In"

Join Me on WBKM.org!

OK - no new Song of the Day Spotlight today, but for a very good reason - I'm prepping for my first show at my new stomping grounds, WBKM.org! I'm getting into internet radio with a station that founder Tony Gallucci helped shepherd through the last 10 years, building an impressive musical entity.

Now, I'm joining Tony at WBKM.org to help build the future! I'll be on weekdays beginning at Noon (EDT) starting TODAY. Join us and find out what the future has in store...

Song of the Day Spotlight - Darlingside "Futures"

If you're a writer, you've no doubt heard the phrase, "kill your darlings." I've seen it attributed to William Faulkner. Whoever it originates with, the idea behind the phrase is that you have to edit yourself. You'll write sentences, dialog, scenes, which you love - your "darlings" - but which often must be edited out - "killed" - for the sake of the integrity of the work. Or just to make it better.

Loved the music of Darlingside for a long time before someone I was with asked them where the name of the band came from. I'd interviewed them on the radio several times, but the question never came up.  David Senft explained to us how the name originated with the literary phrase - and that they'd changed the "c" in "-cide" to an "s" so people would say it correctly.

Aha! It was a "light-bulb" moment - made so much sense! And made me love the band and their music even more. Informs the way some perceive the band, too, I think - NPR called their music "exquisitely-arranged, literary-minded, baroque folk-pop” - a quote you'll find on the band's Wikipedia page. Ironically, it's a nice turn of phrase, but a bit of a darling itself - doesn't really describe the band and their music with much specificity.

Darlingside is a four-piece based out of the Boston, Massachusetts area. Really got into their music with the release of their last album, 2015's brilliant Birds Say - we played the track "Go Back" a bunch on the radio in Vermont. Don Mitchell, Auyon Mukharji, Harris Paseltine and David Senft gather 'round a single condenser microphone on stage and let their harmonies flow - their voices work incredibly well together, with the harmonies indeed being "exquisitely-arranged".

The four switch between an array of instruments depending on the song, all seemingly adept on a few. Guitars, bass, a kick-drum, but also mandolins, violins, keyboards and other oddities - a few songs on the new album Extralife even feature a bizaare little hand-held synth called the Septavox, for example.

They're gifted musicians, talented vocalists, hard workers and genuinely nice people. Hard not to root for them, so... I do! As I embark on new adventures, I'm truly enjoying this new track from their album Extralife - the album came out at the end of February. The whole thing is beautiful - if you like this track, check out the rest. This is "Futures"