Music

The goal of this page is to discover new music every year.

2025 New additions to the rotation:

• Strung Out: Exile in Oblivion (2004)
• Thrice: Horizons/West (2025)
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Original Soundtrack (2025)
• Propagandhi: At Peace (2025)

2024 New additions to the rotation:

• Bayside: self-titled (2005)
• Dustin Kensrue: Desert Dreaming (2024)
• Glassjaw: Worship and Tribute (2002)
• MxPx: Find a Way Home (2023)
• Saves the Day: Through Being Cool (1999)
• Strike Anywhere: Exit English (2003)

My music history

I grew up in Southern California with parents from the east coast. They are Bruce Springsteen super fans and introduced me to rock and roll via Buddy Holly’s Greatest Hits and U2’s Joshua Tree album. And of course, plenty of Bruce. The first cassette tape they got me was either Buddy Holly or New Kids on the Block. I bought my first CD with my own money at The Wherehouse in 1997 - it was Third Eye Blind’s self-titled album, which is still a classic. I was 13, at the junior high school where several members of Rage Against the Machine had attended.

Growing up with KROQ 106.7, I also got to hear plenty of punk or punk-adjacent music. KROQ introduced me to No Doubt, Reel Big Fish, The Offspring, Pennywise, Sublime, Bad Religion, and Social Distortion. I distinctly remember an elementary school friend showing me Green Day’s Dookie when it first was released and us listening to the whole thing. Middle school was full of Green Day, Oasis, and Third Eye Blind. I was never much of a skater or a surfer, but I grew to love snowboarding. My friends were more into skating and we all enjoyed watching skating mixtapes and eventually playing Tony Hawk Pro Skater. Skating mixtapes introduced me to CKY, Operation Ivy, and Fugazi. THPS introduced me to Goldfinger, Millencolin, and The Vandals. A friend on the track team introduced me to Lagwagon and NOFX. Pop punk was unusually popular at our high school at the time, including New Found Glory, Yellowcard, Saves the Day, Home Grown, and early Blink-182. My brother introduced me to Rancid, Coheed and Cambria, AFI, The Hives, and The Mars Volta.

In high school, I became a fairly early adopter of new internet options for finding music. Via Napster and Kazaa, CuteFTP, and mIRC, my education was accelerating. I hosted a decent FTP server; to gain access, users would have to click on my banner ad and enter a word from the resulting link in as the password. I earned a quarter a click and was netting a few hundred dollars a month, which wasn’t bad for early high school. However, I earned several RIAA notices in the mail that alarmed my parents and led to less computer time. But through those explorations and early internet message boards, I found Thrice, Propagandhi, Boysetsfire, Death by Stereo, and Strung Out. I would wear my Propagandhi and Boysetsfire sweatshirts to high school with pride.

I started going to shows: Warped Tour 2003 (Rancid, Less Than Jake, Andrew W.K., The Ataris, Dropkick Murphys, Pennywise, Face to Face, Poison the Well, Thrice, Slick Shoes, Arkham, Avenged Sevenfold) Rise Against, Thrice, Cave In, Every Time I Die, Darkest Hour, Minus the Bear, Taken, Saosin, From Autumn to Ashes, Beloved, The Agony Scene, Thursday, Coheed & Cambria, Tool, Mastodon, Ratatat, Unearth, and At the Gates.

I frequented Showcase Theater in Corona, The Glass House in Pomona, The Troubadour and the Wiltern in Los Angeles, and of course Chain Reaction in Anaheim and even The House of Blues every once in a while.

I remember there was a college weekend for admitted students and everyone was discussing their favorite music. By far the most common answer for everyone’s favorite band was Dave Matthews Band, which I had barely heard of, and no one knew my answer of Thrice.

In college, close friends introduced me to In Flames, At the Gates, Dark Tranquility, Shadows Fall, Maroon 5 before they were well known at all, Rush, The Flaming Lips. The Killers, John Mayer, Jack Johnson, and Death Cab for Cutie were ascendant. It was harder to find fans of Converge or Unearth, but really fun when it happened.

Since college, I haven’t been as good of a music fan. I seem to rediscover my favorites every year at some point, but have been so busy with work and getting married and then having and raising kids, that my music taste has not evolved over time as quickly as it did before. I went with my brother to two Thrice 20 year anniversary shows: one for The Illusion of Safety, and one for The Artist in the Ambulance, in December 2022 and June 2023. These were so much fun and all of us there got to act like we were (big) kids again, singing our hearts out.