#ryan hall

I left a comment on Ryan’s community post thanking him for his nonprofit work while explaining the reason I was finally unsubscribing (re: Ryan’s aggressive application/staunch defense of a plagiarism machine propped up on a corporate Jenga tower of circular deals) and yeah—I spent enough time on my comment that last night I came back to check whether anyone responded. No dice. Then I checked again just now and

the comment is gone

I guess a bot could’ve flagged my post for spam a day+ after the fact. Somehow. But like.

really?

Michael Clifford - Sidequest

I had no interest in hearing the debut solo album guitarist and vocalist Michael Clifford of 5 Seconds Of Summer’s debut album, Sidequest, but something made me pick it up. I saw it at my local Walmart store, and I was surprised to see an album from Hopeless Records there, so I shrugged and went, “Why not?” I was never the hugest 5SOS fan, and I only really like one of their albums (2018’s Youngblood with its 80s pop sounds), but Michael Clifford was always the most “alternative” of the band. Him signing to Hopeless was admittedly cool, because that’s an alternative label, but I was more so curious than anything else. I was hoping the album would fall under the pop-punk umbrella, and sure enough, it does, but the question is whether or not the album is any good.

I’m here to tell youn that yes, this album is actually great, but it’s not perfect. I love this album, warts and all, and I’d go as far to say it’s one of my favorite albums of the year. There’s a lot to enjoy here, whether it’s Clifford’s voice, his lyricism, or his very diverse sound that only begins to include pop-punk. I was never the biggest fan of 5SOS, so I’m choosing to look at this album as its own work, versus an offshoot of 5SOS. If you look at it as its own thing, and you’ve never even heard of 5SOS, it’s pretty cool. Clifford is a really good vocalist, and he brings along a few guests for the ride, including Porter Robinson, Ryan Hall, and Awsten Knight of Waterparks (a band that I haven’t cared about at all, but I don’t have any feelings on one way or another).

My favorite guest spot is the latter, and “Give Me A Break” is one of my favorite cuts on the album. That’s got a more pop-punk sound to it, but a handful of songs have that sound, whereas the rest of the album bounces between that, folk-pop, and hyperpop. It’s a strange and unique mix of sounds, but it works, especially when the album is only 27 minutes. The diversity is great, because the album is so short and sweet, but it does lend itself to having peaks and valleys, especially depending on the sounds you like most. I’ll admit I like the pop-punk stuff most of all here, but the folk-pop and hyperpop songs are pretty fun. There are a ton of catchy hooks throughout this thing, and with how short it is, it also lends itself to multiple listens.

Make sure you get one with an adjustable antenna, too.

There are PLENTY of tutorials on YouTube and several books that can help you get started. As far as books are concerned, I *highly* recommend Shortwave: Radio Listening for Beginners by Anita Louise McCormick. I finished it not too long ago from the library, and it covers a very brief crash course in the history of radio including who invented it, how radio waves work, etc.

I will say that if you look for YouTube tutorials, you will run into a LOT of videos talking about "HAM radio," and that's basically for people who really want to set up their own little radio station and transmit instead of listen. You *will* need to apply for an FCC license for that, so if you wanna get into that, there is no shortage of resources of people on YouTube talking about everything you wanna know about that.

I strongly urge (actually, I'm begging whoever is reading this) to get yourself a weather radio. Weather radios are, as the weather YouTuber Ryan Hall puts it, "Like a smoke detector but for tornadoes." These radios are designed only for the weather, but if you have an emergency, from tornadoes to flash flooding, even wildfires, there is an alert system that will go off. The one I have is a simple Midland brand one that so far worked like a charm. While I havent had any nights of it waking me up due to dangerous weather, it did alert us to a tornado warning when the derecho hit the other week. That was while we had no power or internet, and because my muž and I live on my parents' farm, we have almost no cellphone signal. My mom and I got the cats to the basement before the worst of it hit us.

The weather radio I got is the $40.00 one from Ryan Hall's shop site. If you want to get that or the other model, his site keeps getting sold out on them and can sometimes be hard to keep in stock. You can program them to go off for only certain alert systems, or if you want, you can keep them on in case you think shit is so whacky that you wouldn't rule out the possibility of a hurricane or an iceberg in Nevada or something (yes, they have alerts for EVERYTHING on this little radio, they are not fucking around).

The instructions that come with your weather radio will help you figure out which regional radio station you should pick for your state and county by directing you to a website that helps you figure that out. The weather radio also comes with a wall plug, but be sure to have batteries in it (and plenty of spare batteries reserved if you're without power for many days) for when you lose power. I periodically unplug mine so I can plug in some lights, but that's for a few hours each evening. My radio lasted for 3 days on batteries alone during the power outage, and the only thing I had to reset on the radio when I gave it fresh batteries was the clock. All of my settings were saved.

Because of the current regime here in America, radio might be a lifeline regarding news, as radiowaves don't give a shit about international boundaries. Canada understands most Americans don't want the bullshit going on right now, so it wouldn't surprise me if there will be a radio station or two that might broadcast American news for any American who has a radio because the internet is a hot steaming pile of rotting garbage right now. Basically be ready for a potential Radio Free America helping us out from Canada long before the regime decides to make buying radios complicated or impossible.

You don't *need* a super-fancy radio, and be careful of dropshippers when you go to make a purchase for a regular shortwave radio. I'm getting mine in the mail today, which is a C. Crane Skywave model. I had to get it slightly used because brand new they can be pricy. (I got mine used from eBay.) The Skywave 2 (the newer model) is advertised as being able to also listen to Air Traffic Controllers, which could be important for many people's safety these days since planes are dropping from the fucking sky. The reason I had to buy a new radio is because the only non-vehicle-based radio we have is a shitty modern boombox that is already malfunctioning to some degree and doesn't have an external antenna at all. We used the sketchy radio signal listening to a station airing 80s and 90s music to fall asleep to since there was no power to power the large fan and we need background noise or else we can't sleep. (And now I've reawakened the heavenly feeling of falling asleep to the radio faintly playing in the middle of the night.)

I am begging younger generations to learn some analog tech, as you don't need internet for it, you don't need a subscription, you don't have to worry about it spying on you, etc. And fellow Millennials, re-learn what you can. Re-embrace the old tech. Teach younger gens and don't be dicks about it.