Diamond Drive

Sometimes all it takes is a collection of solid guitar riffs, decent vocals and simple lyrics to make a surprisingly good album. Such is the case for new release "It's Real" by Marry Timony-led Ex Hex. Top to bottom it is the best album I have listened to in 2019 so far. I had not hard of Ex Hex, and was only faintly acquainted with Timony, which made me pleasantly surprised with the ferocity in which I dug this album. Fans of rock music of all kinds should enjoy this thoroughly.

Anyhow, my bracket is cracked, but not busted completely yet (Tennessee snuck by!) Fantasy baseball begins this week, so that will be a lot of work/fun for the next 6 or so months.

I do not have much for photos except some from a Little Falls softball practice from last week. Next week I'll have more. Enjoy.

Iain and Deanna

Apparently I was living under a rock last year. It is a scary time in our history, so that might be so. Proof of this is that Flight of Conchords went on a tour and apparently had an HBO special, but I had no clue, even though they are one of my favorite New Zealand musical comedy duos of the 2000s. However, a "Live in London" album has been released and is on Spotify, and it was recorded on their European tour last year. It is incredible. It has some new stuff and some of the classics, and it is quite great. If you've never heard of Jermaine and Brett or never seen the show "Flight of the Conchords" you are missing out, and really need to watch, listen and find them.

However, I have a few photos from the March 7 Upsala playoff boys basketball game. Enjoy.

Hey, one more thing. It's March, and that means college basketball's tournament, and we have a bracket contest at APG (company who owns the Record and this blog probably). Follow this link to join the contest (unless you're in my immediate family, then you can't):  http://apge.collegehoops.upickem.net/collegebasketball/registration/login.asp

All My Favorite People/My Skin My Logo

I did something a little different this week. There was not anything I was terribly excited to listen to, so I chose two very different female artists (Maren Morris, Solange) and listened to their latest albums two tracks at a time, switching between each. It was a strange way to do a review, but I left feeling pretty similarly disappointed by each album. For "GIRL" by Maren Morris, which is supposed to be country, she seemed to forget most of the elements that make a song country music. Most of the songs, especially toward the second half of the album just sounded like sad pop music, and it wasn't particularly good. There were a few decent songs, including "All My Favorite People" featuring Brothers Osborne. As for Solange, her album was filled with a lot of interludes, short tracks and a very confusing blend of R&B. There wasn't really anything that I liked even a little. It just was not my cup of tea. I felt like most of the tracks were very artsy, and while Solange is very talented vocally, nothing had much of a rhythm or pleasant melody. There was a lot of just repeating the same words over and over, and that's not music. I felt like a lot of the tracks were rap songs without the rap. They were like a shell of a song. While I didn't really like either album in particular, "GIRL" was at least listenable, while "When I Get Home" was not even close.

I have a number of photos to share from the end of the winter sports season. Enjoy.