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!     



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

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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!    



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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!   



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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"

Song of the Day Spotlight - Jonathan Wilson "There's A Light"

Hey - do you like these Song of the Day Spotlights? Haven't seen a whole lot of reaction. I'm not sure I'm going to keep posting them. Please let me know, either with a comment, or by sharing/mentioning on social media, or shooting me an email at glowinthedarkradio -at- gmail -dot- com. There are other ways I can bring you new music you might enjoy - let me know if these spotlights have been working for you.

Today's spotlight falls on the second single from an album that arrived on March 2nd. The official video, and a new acoustic version, just came out last week. The fact it's a second single got me thinking...

Sometimes the first track - now, often, tracks - released from an album won't catch your attention. We in radio sometimes chide record companies for "picking the wrong first track" on an album project. But it's not an exact science, no matter how many metrics they bring in, with streaming spins, Shazams, shares, and such all now tabulated and collated and studied like numerical tea leaves - marketing magick attempting to predict listening. Doesn't always work. Surprise.

I love the inexactitude of music, its inability to be entirely accounted for by quantitative measurements. Sure, you can - and they do - research music. You can identify through auditorium testing what 200 old rock tunes you should play to keep 25 to 54 year old men listening to your classic rock radio station. For example. It's easy - and safe - to determine and play what people have liked.

Much harder to predict what people will like, in the future. That's the risk with new music, as seen from the bean counters' viewpoint - you can't test and predict consumer behavior toward the music product when it's new music - too many unknowns! Harumph! Once a tune starts spinning, you can gauge reaction, but how do you decide what to play in the first place? Can't really test for that. If you've ever wondered why more stations don't play more unknown or new music, that's why - the bean counters demand a mitigation of the risk - play safe songs that keep them listening.

But I digress... the reason I got into all of that in the first place was that I didn't "hear" the first track from Jonathan Wilson's new album Rare Birds. I mean, probably listened to it - try to check out as much new music as possible - but it didn't "stick" - didn't register. But the Laurel Canyon-meets-George Harrison-esque "There's A Light" grabbed me first listen! It has a deliberately positive message, and brings Light and hope for the future, even if the Light is only spotlights now, and not the brightness we might all desire. Check it out:

Do I know if you'll like this song? Heck no. But I know that I do, and I hear a certain something in it that makes me think others might, too. And that's how I pick new music to play - I listen for that certain something. What is that? Don't know. That is about as specific as I can get! Don't know how to define it, and I don't think I can or maybe should even try to... much as the bean counters might want it dissected, quantified and stickered with a price tag. Too bad for them.

Better for us!

And again, please let me know if you like these Spotlights - should I keep posting them? Please let me know. Thanks! - Mike

Song of the Day Spotlight - Frank Turner "Be More Kind"

What the world needs now...

U.K. folk-punk-rocker Frank Turner's new album Be More Kind comes out May 4th. There's a great interview with Frank about it this week in The Sun. He was inspired by poet Clive James, who closes his poem Leçons Des Ténèbres with “I should have been more kind. It is my fate. To find this out, but find it out too late.”

From the article:

Turner says: “It really made me think and start with a new direction for my record. 

“Clive James is not the only person who has made that comment. (American writer) Kurt Vonnegut also said something similar. There are a lot of people who have said it. It tends to be people who are near the end of their life. It therefore comes with a lot of weight and wisdom attached to it as far as I am concerned. 

“Today it’s so tempting for everybody to get angry as your first response. There are times when we should get angry but I feel like we’ve forgotten how to argue properly or at least in a civil way."

Amen. Be more kind.

The lyrics are below the posted song, worth reading along. This title track was released as an advance track on February 23rd. The record company, however, is pushing "Blackout" as a single - a fine song, but not as substantial as this one. This one has power, empathy, and hope. It's also quite beautiful!

If you're not familiar with Frank Turner, you should be! He's one of the most authentic voices out there making real music. He comes from a punk background (in the band Million Dead), but the acoustic guitar is now his "weapon" of choice - thus the "folk-punk" label. That classification doesn't do Turner's music true justice - back before everything got classified down into micro-genres, his stuff simply would have been called "Rock".

My love for his music began with the release of his 2011 album England Keep My Bones through the track "Peggy Sang the Blues". I've gone back for his older solo work before that, and kept up as he's released Tape Deck Heart, Positive Songs for Negative People, and compilations of rarities, singles and EPs. Very much looking forward to his new collection - and maybe after you hear this title track, you will be too.

And I just love this message - Be More Kind.

"Be More Kind"

History's been leaning on me lately
I can feel the future breathing down my neck
And all the things I thought were true when I was young, and you were too
Turned out to be broken, I don't know what comes next

In a world that has decided that it's going to lose its mind
Be more kind, my friends, try to be more kind

It seems like everybody's raising walls now
Like hackles raised upon a cornered cat
On the borders in our heads between things that can and can't be said
We stopped talking to each other and there's something wrong with that

So before you go out searching, don't decide what you'll find
Be more kind, my friends, try to be more kind

You should know you're not alone
Trouble comes and trouble goes
How this ends no one knows
So, hold on tight when the wind blows

The wind blew both of us to sand and sea
And where the dry lands stands is hard to say
As the current drags us by the shore we can no longer say for sure
Who's drowning, or if they can be saved

But when you're out there floundering, like a lighthouse I will shine
Be more kind, my friends, try to be more kind
Like a beacon reaching out to you and yours, for me and mine
Be more kind, my friends, try to be more kind
In a world that has decided that it's going to lose its mind
Be more kind, my friends, try to be more kind

Words and Music by Frank Turner

Song of the Day Spotlight - Lord Huron "Vide Noir"

The first time I heard this song, with it's haunting keyboards and sitar-like guitar, it hooked me - so good! I was listening to the new Lord Huron album Vide Noir track-by-track and hit the title song second from the end - not a single, nor an advance track - but a plain, old, hear-it-when-you-listen-to-the-whole-album sort of deep cut.

Lord Huron bring a sort of landscape portrait quality to their music, with evocative and atmospheric tunes which might fit comfortably on soundtracks for aerial films or big sky Westerns. Some have a darker, brooding feel, still others rock with an updated Buddy Holly-influenced honesty. There's usually a variety of sounds.

This album is still atmospheric, but all kind of dark and downtempo for my tastes. Wasn't even making it all the way through every tune as I checked it out. But then, I hit track 11. And it hit me back - it's awesome! Best tune on the new album, and that includes the single and the advance songs.

I appreciate the experimentation and weirdness of the first tracks released, "Ancient Names (Parts 1 & 2)", but they didn't hook me. The "official" single, "Wait By the River", is a bit too plodding for me - that's one slow river. In my first listen to the full album, too many songs seemed slowed down, and it began to feel like the band took the success of their "The Night We Met" as an indication many tunes' tempos should be slowed to match their hit.

But that allowed a sort-of sameness to creep in, and I grew a bit bored... until "Vide Noir" itself lifted me back up! It's still a little slow, but in a good way - it's slinky, haunting - "staring into a pure black hole" - heading for the edge - may not come back... with snapping fingers, or clapping hands, soaked in reverb, a solid bass line, and that slinky, sitar-like guitar... it's fine Lord Huron music. And, while not fast or uptempo by any stretch, there's more going on here, and enough to sink your teeth into to be satisfying.

Check it out - in my opinion, the best new song by Lord Huron "Vide Noir":

Songs of the Day Spotlights

Been fun bringing you a new tune almost every day! Here are the past week's songs:

Song of the Day Spotlight - Damien Jurado "Allocate"

Song of the Day Spotlight - King Tuff "Psycho Star"

Song of the Day Spotlight - In the Valley Below "Pink Chateau"

Song of the Day Spotlight - The Record Company "Life to Fix"

Song of the Day Spotlight - The Moondoggies "Easy Coming"

Song of the Day Spotlight - Leriche "Nomadic Heart"

Song of the Day Spotlight - A Perfect Circle "So Long, And Thanks for All the Fish"

And, curiously enough, you'll find all of them on my Spotify playlist The New Good Stuff -



Enjoy! So much great new music coming out!

Song of the Day Spotlight - Damien Jurado "Allocate"

Have to say... Music is amazing right now!

So many great new songs, new albums - what an incredible time to be a music fan! There's too much good music to be contained by radio, really...

An Adult Alternative Radio Music Director makes qualitative decisions about music, judging - this is good, this isn't. Part of that judgement involves assessing a song's mass appeal - will a lot of people like this? For some reason, I hear that quality in a song. Sure, psychologically, there's probably something in my wiring about pleasing other people that's not exactly healthy in that, but - oh well - it's who I am, and makes me good at what I do. 

In the first quarter of 2018, on through this month, there were so many new releases that - to my ears - sounded like amazing, mass appeal, yet quality, crafted tunes, we couldn't play them all on The Point. We have music meetings in radio - the stack of tunes I was bringing in for consideration for airplay just kept growing, and growing... and growing. There was no "room" for them all on the air, given the restrictions of rotations and all. Now, "freed" from those radio rotation concerns, I can tell you more, each day, about all this great new music!

Some of these songs are brand new - like The Record Company's latest, earlier this week. But some of these may be tunes from a little earlier this year which have not yet have been discovered by a large audience. 

In fact, two songs competed in my brain to be today's song of the day - a brand-new tune, and one that's been out for a couple weeks. Was going with the brand-new one, an album track, and soooo good - will tell you about it tomorrow. Because I had to put it on pause - today's song popped onto my mental jukebox and wouldn't go away, insisting I hadn't yet told you about how good it is!

Damien Jurado isn't an unknown, but he does operate slightly below the popular music radar, often classed as a "musician's musician" or a "critics' darling" - usually that means hardcore music fans love a musician and can't understand why their catchy tunes aren't more popular. 

We want to be surprised by music, taken on new adventures, but sometimes an echo of familiarity draws us in - sounding a little like something we've loved in the past isn't necessarily a drawback. As I first listened to Jurado's new single "Allocate" there came a haunting familiarity - it definitely reminded me of something else, but I couldn't quite place it. 

Now, given what I've done for a living, there are so many songs in my head, I'm often reminded of other songs - but not necessarily songs I've liked. "Allocate" reminded me of... something. not a famous song, but a favorite (I've since figured it out, but I'll save that revelation for some future mix). And it's not exact - they're different tunes. There was just... an echo.

The heartbeat strum draws you in, the guitar's rhythm entraining, close as it is to your own heart's beating. Then, Jurado's lilting voice floats in over the rhythm, gliding over the top and lifting the listener into the air with him, an ethereal thing, out of body, soaring up into the sky. 

I'm not quite sure what all the lyrics are, so I'm not quite sure what they mean, but it does sound like a break-up song, of sorts. The word "allocate" itself means to give out, distribute, or, more archaically, to locate. I don't think it's the latter, so it may be what Jurado is asking for here is more attention, or more love. Or, maybe, I'm reading my own experiences into the song. The best songs let you do that - it's almost two-way communication, in that sense.

The new album, coming May 4th on Secretly Canadian, is titled The Horizon Just Laughed. I'm not sure that gives us any more clues to the meaning of "Allocate", but maybe it does. Or, maybe, we should just listen to a great song and not think so much...

Enjoy!

Song of the Day Spotlight - King Tuff "Psycho Star"

I know it's the right Song of the Day for the Spotlight when, after deciding on it, the song won't get out of my head! King Tuff's Psycho Star is now firmly lodged in my mental jukebox.

Vermonter Kyle Thomas makes music under the name King Tuff. He released his new album The Other on April 13th on Sub Pop. In advance, he released this track Psycho Star. Given King Tuff's past sound, a sort of raw garage rock-meets-glam psychedelia, the title threw me at first - wasn't sure what we were in for... another lesson in expect the unexpected, it seems!

King Tuff smoothed over the rough edges, found a cool, earthy rhythm, and turned to more universal themes. Thomas acknowledges the "Chaos and confusion" of the present and then offers vague hope, of sorts, in pulling back to appreciate nature's power and the big picture of the universe, where we're either nothing at all - or everything. And he does it in such a "Beautifully bizarre" way you can’t help singing along!

Psycho Star shows King Tuff heading in a slightly different, new direction. Haven't had a chance to listen to the rest of The Other yet - looking forward to it. This song certainly represents a solid maturation of his garage rock aesthetic. More than that, it makes me sing, and gets stuck in my head!

Get ready to sing along as you listen to Psycho Star. Here are some of the chorus lyrics, so you're ready (the rest of the lyrics are posted below the song): Watching the wind blow/Watching the wind blow/Watching the rain so hard/Watching the fire/Getting higher/On This strange little star...

Enjoy!

Lyrics:

Looking out my window
There's no doubt about it
We don't belong in this world
Be better off without us

Madness and destruction
Maybe that is just who we are
The universe is mostly made of nothing
Isn't it so beautifully bizarre
That here we are

Watching the wind blow
Watching the wind blow
Watching the rain so hard
Watching the fire getting higher
On this strange little star

We were always dreaming
Of castles in the sky
Dreaming of another planet
How could we be so blind?

Chaos and confusion
Maybe that is really all we are
The universe is probably an illusion
But isn't it so beautifully bizarre
That here we are

Watching the wind blow
Watching the wind blow
Watching the rain so hard
Watching the fire getting higher
On this strange little star

Chaos and confusion
Is that really all that we are
The universe is probably an illusion
But isn't it so beautifully bizarre
That here we are

Watching the wind blow
Watching the wind blow
Watching the rain so hard
Watching the fire getting higher
On this strange little star

Songwriters: Kyle Matthew Thomas

Psycho Star lyrics © Third Side Music Inc.

Song of the Day Spotlight - In the Valley Below "Pink Chateau"

Slinky. Sexy. Sensuous. Playful! All of the above, really... and it sticks in your head, too. "Pink Chateau" comes from the Elephant EP from In The Valley Below, husband and wife duo Jeffrey Jacob Mendel and Angela Gail Mattson . The EP was released last July, but "Pink Chateau" was put out as a single and video more recently.

Gail says the tune is "an invitation to sex." She's singing about her Pink Chateau in the valley below... hmmm. Not especially subtle, but not screamingly obvious, either. And as I said, incredibly catchy! This song has managed to lodge itself in my subconscious - it keeps floating back up into my mind, insinuating itself into my thoughts, until I find myself singing, "Simmer down, it's indigo..." or "I've got something you don't..."

If you're ready to get a song stuck in your head, give a listen:

You can read a little more about the band in the Atwood Magazine article that Gail's quote above comes from: http://atwoodmagazine.com/itvb-elephant-interview-valley-below/.

The Escape Plan...

Alibi Jones saved his ex-girlfriend Katie. He'll next try to free cat-like Kit. Then, they'll try to leave Kismet and escape the clutches of crime lord Rene Laveillur! See how far they get in Chapter Twenty-Five of Alibi Jones and The Sunrise of Hur! Free audio science fiction adventure written and read by host Mike Luoma - The Adventures of Alibi Jones continue on Glow-in-the-Dark Radio!   



Join the mailing list: http://eepurl.com/0_Z7z   
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Song of the Day Spotlight - The Record Company "Life to Fix"

First off, I just like these guys, personally. They're three genuinely nice and, well... genuine folks. The Record Company came in, played live and chatted with me on the air a couple of times when I was with The Point. They're for real - true - authentic in who they are and what they're doing. Felt a real connection with Chris, Alex and Mark. That's Chris Vos, singer, harmonica and guitar player, Alex Stiff, bassist and producer, and Mark Cazorla, drummer and percussionist.

If I can get real for a second? I'm a horrible purist - I'm not one. I like blends, mixes, hybrids, melanges - purist expressions kind of bore me. Can't take too much pure reggae, or pure bluegrass, for example... or pure blues. Sorry. I need music to transcend its genre, if that makes sense. Hope it doesn't sound too musically arrogant. Can't help it - I just need something more.

The Record Company are the closest thing to pure blues rock that has moved me in a long time - because they do infuse the genre with something more, something extra - something original and purely them. I'm not exactly sure what that is - and that's okay. It just works.

Sometimes what elevates a deceptively simple band (what, a three piece?) is a bass player with a strong sense of melody, whose bass lines act as a sort of rhythmic lead. Mike Mills of R.E.M. is one example, often carrying the melody of the song while Peter Buck plays a rhythm part.

His production work on their recordings speaks to Alex's great ears - but it's Alex's bass playing that helps set The Record Company apart from so many of their peers. Kind of amazing something so solid, such glue holding it all together, can still be so damn fluid!

Don't mean to diminish Mark's contributions, either. A melodic bassist can't ride the melody if his percussionist doesn't give him a foundation he trusts and can rely on - Mark is solid. Yet he, too, plays with a sense of melody, as so many of the great drummers have, giving each piece in his kit its own voice. There's a certain funkiness within his precise timekeeping, too - not ostentatious but not, well... boring.

With this kind of foundation, Chris can then let fly - he knows the other two have his back. He can conjure up images, situations, free himself to sing about it all, knowing his brother bandmates are there to bring him in for a safe landing in the end. Doesn't hurt that he's got great pipes and can wail on both the guitar and harmonica, and knows how to work a crowd until they're sitting in the palm of his hand. His easy charisma draws you in, a humble shaman, not out to merely charm you but to rock your soul...

Their new tune "Life to Fix" - just out - encapsulates their dynamic beautifully, opening with Alex laying down the bass, Mark coming in on drums, and then Chris taking off on vocals and guitar. Not only does it highlight the band's strengths, it gives fans even more reason to look forward to the new album - sounds like they're both stepping it up, and staying true to themselves. And that sounds very, very good!

Actually, it sounds a lot like this:

The new album, All Of This Life, comes out June 22nd on Concord. It had been fun before talking with the band about how made their breakthrough album, Give It Back to You, in Alex's living room. In a new article in Jambase, Chris says, “After that first album, everything just got amplified.Our lives got crazier and bigger and more complicated in the best possible ways, and our sound and our songwriting just naturally grew alongside that. We’re the same people we always were, but The Record Company isn’t just three guys in a living room anymore.” (https://www.jambase.com/article/record-company-announces-new-album-shares-single-confirms-2018-fall-tour)

They may not be in the living room anymore, but they haven't lost their touch, their authenticity, or their ability to craft a kick-ass blues rock tune! Looking forward to hearing the rest of All This Life - here's hoping "Life to Fix" is a sign of great things to come.

Song of the Day Spotlight - The Moondoggies "Easy Coming"

The Moondoggies new album A Love Sleeps Deep came out last Friday (4/13/18). It's brilliant! Mesmerizing and perfect in so many ways... have to review the whole album soon. They are their own thing, have their own sound, yet follow in the footsteps of pre-Dark Side Pink Floyd and the psychedelic Bay Area bands of the late 1960's.

Do you love the sound of organ, piano, synthesizers, most keyboards, as part of a rock band? I gotta have the guitar, drums, and bass, but love the sweetening, the atmosphere, washes, and subtler backgrounds of the synths and organs - and the more foreground and percussive contributions of the piano as well. Gimme keyboards!

The Moondoggies incorporate a pretty sweet organ sound alongside their chiming lead guitar, noodly rhythm, and Laurel Canyon-esque harmony vocals, giving them a lush, full sound that recalls bygone eras, yet creates a haunting and beautiful moment in the here and now. The new album is hitting me in a big way only a few listens in - who needs a review? Just dive into A Love Sleeps Deep!

Check out the song that leads off the album, "Easy Coming" - hope you love it like I do.

A Love Sleeps Deep is out now on Hardly Art. And it's brilliant!

The Glow-in-the-Dark Radio Blend on Spotify

Exploring the many different ways to bring you music experiences... check out the new Glow-in-the-Dark Radio Weekly Playlist on Spotify!


There's a deliberate, artistic flow built into the playlist - please listen through at least the first time, before shuffling.Selections aren't restricted by radio format or music genre, though this is a rock-based playlist, and most selections come from the worlds of rock, alternative, adult alternative and progressive rock.

There are several new songs in the mix - The Moondoggies "Easy Coming" off their brand-new album A Love Sleeps Deep leads us into the mix and sets the initial tone - I love this song! Just started listening to the full album - pretty solid so far, a couple listens in, beautiful work.

The new songs in this mix that I haven't told you about before you'll probably find in my Song of the Day Spotlight soon.

Speaking of telling you about stuff, back in January, I told you how blown away I was by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard's Polygondwanaland. The three songs here are, in truth, three parts of one longer song - they run right together - the title track into "The Castle in the Air" into "Dunes..."

The rest, I'll let speak for themselves. At least for now.

Let me know what you think! Comment here, below, or on facebook or Twitter. Thanks for listening!