What song would you play to counterbalance the world when it feels like a broken and unrelenting monolith designed to bring terror and tragedy?

Sometimes a counterbalance isn't what I need. Sometimes I just wanna lean into it with some shit-kicking nihilism. A lot of it is out of my control, but it's nice to remember I still have the agency to yell fuck you and go out middle fingers blazing.

Post one of your favorite songs that has the name of a color in the title.

They have names like Igor, Meldorf, and Tor Black metal is not like, it's not exactly like Living Colour I kinda hope they move here, so I don't have to pay import prices But I kinda fear them being near me because they're not nice!

What's your favorite instrumental song?

There are so many. If I thought about it for a few more minutes I'd probably come up with a song I like better than this, but this one is definitely in the top 5.

Post a cover that's done in a different style than the original version.

O Fortuna, a 13th century Latin poem that was set to music in Carl Orff's 1936 cantata Carmina Burana, as interpreted by Botch, math-core legends from Tacoma, WA in 1996.

I got to see this played live once and it was incredible.

What's a song where the remix, demo, or live version is better than the album version?

Strangled By The Stereo Wire was one of the first songs I heard by Archers of Loaf, and for years I only ever heard the version that was on their live album Seconds Before The Accident. That version is super powerful and almost reminds me of more hardcore-adjacent bands like Hot Water Music. When I finally heard the album version I was just confused. It seemed like a totally different band. It's production makes it lose some of the rawness and the vocals have more of a sing-song quality to them that feels strange when I was so used to the gruff barking tone that the live version has.

I pretty much ended up pretending that one live album was the only Archers of Loaf record and I've been happily ignoring their studio albums ever since.

A song that you discovered on a film soundtrack.

I didn't enjoy the movie Gummo. I wanted to. Lots of people involved in that movie were friends of friends in Nashville (although I didn't know any of the actors personally). Over the years, a lot of people who's taste I really respect have told me it's a masterpiece. But I just couldn't get into it. I don't really even remember that much about it. After watching it, I think my brain quickly went to work trying to purge it.

But decades later, I still remember clear as day the bike scene. The two kids with bb guns riding bikes down a hill with Dragonaut by Sleep as the soundtrack. The song just hits so hard, and is perfect for the moment. It makes everything feel so menacing and foreboding. I was never really into stoner metal, but I immediately went out and bought this CD after seeing this movie.

A song you didn't realize was a cover?

Judge is one of those hardcore bands that has never been my favorite, but every year or so I'll get in the mood for and they'll spend a couple of days in my rotation.

The song Warriors always jumped out at me because it just sounded different from their normal songs. The guitars were a little more melodic, the lyrics are corny in a different way that I wasn't ever able to really put my finger on, the whole song sounds like the soundtrack to a chase montage in an 80s teen skate / bmx movie, the whole sound of it was just a little bit more... I could never describe it, pogo? new wave? oi?

It made a lot more sense a few months ago when I finally realized it was a Blitz cover. Now that I've heard both versions, the one I like better depends on the mood I'm in.

A song you'd do at karaoke?

I've done exactly one song at karaoke in my life. It was mortifying.

A song you've seen performed live, or would really like to see performed live?

One of my most "holy shit I can't believe I'm watching this in real life" moments was at the Middle East in Boston, I can't remember how long ago, watching this Japanese band Envy that I had been trying and failing to explain to all my friends how rad they were. They're a great band all around, but this song in particular gives me goosebumps every single time. It just goes on such a journey. Soft, pretty, delicate, to loud, chaotic, crazy time shifts, back to mellow, back to frantic insanity, and then about 3/4s of the way through drops into this amazing straightforward rock screamo finish. It might be the perfect song, in my opinion.

A song that reminds you of one of your favorite places.

There are few places I like more than being hunkered down over a big bowl of phở. I realize it's from Vietnam, but to me phở is 100% about Seattle. They even name drop my favorite place (Than Bros).