The Historical Conquests of Brian Olson

Random Start: Minus the Bear - The Fix

Whatsup crew. 

I’m a month away from my year anniversary of moving out to St. Paul and things are different. It has me missing some routine things that I used to do, like this little diddy. Heck, I was doing this ever since early college and almost permanently stopped a year ago. Going to try to buy some more coffee, wake up that thirty minutes earlier throughout the week and pump out some posts.

Random Start: The Gaslight Anthem - 45

The bad news is that they recently went on another hiatus. The good news is that I saw them in Milwaukee unexpectedly when I was there for meetings this year. It was actually pretty unreal. I got back to the hotel, checked out some spots around town, noticed I was within walking distance to the Pabst theatre that so happened to have one of my favorite bands playing there that night. 

Random Start: Thrice - The Earth Isn’t Humming

About to revive the ole blog here with Beer Time! Let’s do this.

Hop Crisis Imperial IPA

21st Amendment Brewery

California, USA

According to the can, the hops have been imprisoned and must be freed. I released them and drank them all. Pardon.

Pretentious Beer Reviewer Excerpt

Can purchased at Nathaniel Square Corner Store in Rochester, NY. This one pours a clear dark orange, with a small head, and a little bit of lacing. This one smells like dank grapefruity citrus and a bit of sweet malt. I get maybe a little bit of vanilla, but I don't really feel that the oak aging did a whole lot for the flavor here. Otherwise, there's ton of grapefruit and orange here, with some malty sweetness- kind of a sugary syrupy feel that's luckily not too overpowering. The alcohol is not noticeable at all. This is medium bodied, with- as stated above- a slightly syrupy mouthfeel. This has a moderate level of carbonation. Definitely a solid effort from 21A here- if the finish was a bit drier, this would be a lot better.

From some guy in New York. I don’t mind his review honestly, he said dank grapefruity citrus yo.

This guy came in a sweet package that looked like this. 

Random Start: Josh Ritter - Lark

Random Start: Manchester Orchestra - Golden Ticket The randomness suits well today, as I’m seeing Manchester Orchestra tomorrow! I doubt I’ll see this song but they’re discography is full of gems. It’ll be the second time in two summers seeing them and a second time seeing Brand New. 

Random Start: Nada Surf - Always Love

Random Start: Dawes - When You Call My Name

I’m hyping up towards a summer full of music so I felt like reviving the random start posts. And what a perfect start since Dawes will be on the list of folk festival performers I’ll see at one point in time.

BUT

Random Start: Title Fight - Where Am I?

In reverence towards Thrice’s comeback, I’ll make a comeback of my own. I miss writing deeply. Lately, it has only been write ups and apology letters at work. 

Where Am I? is a nice little track to start off the string of Random Starts again. I’m sure it’s a song about being a musician but being away from home - the only place I’ve lived in until 24 when I moved to Minnesota - and getting in a daily grind of working and figuring out life on my own, it has me asking the question too. It’s a song that usually keeps me grounded and thinking about living in the now.

Well hello hello. It's been awhile. I've been caught between busy months of work, and months of loss, and weeks of transitioning into a better job and a better city. I'm a grown man since I last wrote more than three sentences on this site. So let's get into the music that's helped me put on my big boy pants within the last year or so.

Here's the cautionary paragraph where I tell you this list isn't the list that represents what music was BEST of the year. It's just the music I got caught up in whether I was in jubilation at the folk festival, or I was awkwardly sitting in my parent's basement listening to something so I could take my mind off the fact I was living with my parents, or I saw the band live and fell head over heels. Let's get started and exhausted, because this ain't gonna be short.

Manchester Orchestra - Cope

Manchester is rock'n'roll. Just listen to these guys. I feel the attention bubbling below the surface but I want them to bust the cover off the pot man. Get those stadium tours. Get it. Maybe they're too associated with the likes of eeemmmoooo bands but they make a fantastic rock album just as good as Black Keys or Arctic Monkeys (ducks to avoid AM junkies throwing hair combs and leather jackets at me).

Bahamas - Bahamas Is Afie

My unashamed man crush and ultimate cool dude - Afie Jurvanen. What a guy. Did you see him play "All the Time" on Conan? Those solos tho. I creamed my pants at a hotel computer desk space watching that. I also annoyed like 4 passerbys for blaring that on the speakers while fangirling too hard.

Cloudkicker - Little Histories

I SAW CLOUDKICKER AND YOU PROBABLY DIDN'T. And if you did, be ma' friend. Ben Sharpe is doing a wonderful thing in the music scene. Go find his albums. You can pay what you want. If you don't like his earlier stuff, listen to something in between or relatively new. There's something for everyone here. And I got to pee right next to him after his set. eeeeeeee

Another side story; I met the drummer of Intronaut (the band that helped Ben perform as Cloudkicker live) at a bar in Omaha while I was visiting a friend. That visit was profoundly eye-opening on making the decision I had to see Cloudkicker happen live. Then when I saw him going bonkers on drums (and you can watch him do it online somewhere), I couldn't wrap my head around it. He's insane on the kit and extremely nice in person. Believe me, he gave me his left over hummus.

Mogwai - Rave Tapes

This one won my heart over way back in February when I gave it a shot. It's not hard for Mogwai to do. It fits well while night-driving next to a city with a beautiful skyline (ie Minneapolis/St. Paul). I recently drove back and made it the soundtrack to get through the city and I felt like I was flying.

TV On the Radio - Seeds

After the death of their bassist, I was worried I was getting into some heavy business with this album but it's definitely more upbeat than I had imagined it to be. I haven't tackled lyrics yet but this is straight forward TV On The Radio with catchy song after catchy song.

Nothing - Guilty of Everything

Thanks to Tumblr friend Sahani (She's at shoesgaze), I gave them a shot and got plenty of similarities from a lot of different bands that are right up my alley. They happened to stop by Fargo and so I went. I couldn't have made a better decision.

Spoon - They Want My Soul

Seriously, Spoon is real fucking good. "Hey Brian, what band should I listen to?" SPOON DUH. That exact conversation happened more than you think.

Wye Oak - Shriek

It's like Beach House on caffeine pills. Beach House and caffeine pills ARE THE BEST.

Tycho - Awake

I revisited this album a couple days ago and I'm glad I did. It was pretty far down on the playlist of albums to review before I committed to this EOY list. Much like Mogwai, this is brilliant to listen to on long car rides when driving through a big city. It also works when cleaning rooms/packing/studying homework/playing video games/being the soundtrack to your whole effing life, etc.

Beck - Morning Phase

This is my first Beck album and since I couldn't name more than one song from Beck before this, I was surprised with how much I fell in love with this album right away. It's dreamy without being sleepy. It's summery so it takes my mind off the -40 wind chill. It's like waking up in the morning alert without feeling exhausted. It's the best of feelings.

Sharon Van Etten - Are We There

SHARON. I love this woman. That voice. I mean when she talks, it's the cutest. dorkiest thing ever. That voice. When she sings, her voice is captivating and so beautiful. God, it's sooooo BEAUTIFUL. Combine that with incredibly personal, heartbreaking lyrics, unique songwriting, and wonderful harmonies with Heather Woods Broderick, it's a rollercoaster of emotions to listen to. I won't love music any other way. I followed her around for three days man. THREE DAYS. I stalked the shit out of her dude. Two days at the Winnipeg Folk Festival and one night show in Fargo. I was coming off 5 consecutive nights of 4 hours of sleep or less - to my hometown with a bed that was so inviting - but I needed to see her one more time. I needed her her voice to give me chills during the chorus of "Break Me". I needed the contrast - the contrast between her playful banter and songs. She gave me chills man. Add those on to the chills of the last night of incredibly cold folk festival... I was a mess.

When in Fargo, she didn't seem happy with the outcome of Winnipeg Folk Festival and I felt sad about it. It was probably weather related. It was definitely border patrol related. But I didn't do my part to let her know how much she made my time at the folk festival worth it even though she might have had a bad time. My biggest regret of 2014 is not shaking her hand and telling her how awesome she is but hey, a man gets nervous. IF YOU'RE READING SHARON, YOU DA' BEST.

I also stopped some incredibly loud, drunk jerks from talking during your encore in Fargo SO YOU OWE ME. 

bands/musicians that missed the cut (aka you guys aren't good enough to get a paragraph hahahahahaha jk, I love these albums so much)

St. Vincent - St. Vincent Cold War Kids - Hold My Home Hospitality - Trouble Damien Rice - My Favorite Faded Fantasy Old Man Canyon - Phantom & Friends Cataldo - Gilded Oldies Mastodon - Once More 'Round the Sun Noah Gundersen - Ledges Old Man Gloom - The Ape of God

(Random) Start: Dustin Kensrue - Blanket of Ghosts

This random start, which is not random at all, is selected for a recent death in family. My grandmother passed away earlier this week. 

My grandma was a stubborn, heart-on-sleeve, good-cooking, strong Italian woman. She loved her family more than she loved anything else, mostly because her life was hard and there wasn't all that much to love about it. She was forced to marry at a young age in order move away from terror of World War 2. Winnipeg, Manitoba became her new home. She separated from the forced marriage and met my grandpa soon after. My mother and uncle came into the picture not too long after.

A few years pass and I'm old enough to be in elementary school. My grandfather passes away, leaving her to live all by herself in a small cottage on Lake Winnipeg. The winters are devastating. The nearest grocery store is a 30 minutes walk. The closest relatives she had were 20 miles away. She lived alone like this for almost 20 years.

Towards the tail end of her life, I would visit her once a summer right before the folk festival. It was nice to catch up to her. She always offered a pepsi and a warm hug. It was comforting to smell the musky scent scent her cottage had to offer with a slight bread like aroma. She had a thick Italian accent that was tough to understand sometimes but it was still an Italian accent that I wish I had. I usually left with a sad embrace and money she forced into my pocket. Right before I would leave, she would tell me how much it sucks living the way she lived. She was brutally honest. She was "unlucky", she often said. She hated the way her cards were dealt except when she got to see her family. And that's all she really cared about. To see me happy. To see my sisters happy. To see my mother happy most of all. And my mother is a fantastic mother and an even better human being because of my grandma. So don't worry grandma, you have something to be happy about.

Random Start: John K. Samson - Maryland Bridge