Permanent Waves #91

Sports books, new prog and a TON of movies

Today’s Work: Going to spend the weekend (after joining some friends for a brewery grand opening tomorrow) setting up the formats and templates for two passion projects, ADV and OTC.

Person of Interest: Brendan (All Sports Books) - He covers almost every sport (ahem - where’s the hockey?) and, according to Brendan, “in the newsletter, I share my love of great sports writing and highlight new and upcoming sports books that you might otherwise miss. Aim is to help great books find great readers.” Check it out:

Screen: My wife and I are about embark on a journey so epic, I can’t even believe it. And we’ll do it all from the comfort of our living room. I compiled a list of movies from the Top 250 on IMDb, every Oscar winner, the box office champ from every year, the Sight and Sound and AFI Top 100, plus about 20 of my favorite Rewatchables, into a master list. I eliminated everything prior to 1965 just so we have something somewhat manageable. We’re going to watch four films from each year, one per week (so that means some classics will go unseen). We start this weekend with A Fistful of Dollars (yes, I know it’s from 1964, but its the first of the Leone/Eastwood trilogy). My wife has not seen the vast majority of these movies so this’ll be fun, watching these classics through her eyes, some I haven’t seen in 30+ years.

Artist o’the day: Advent Horizon (click through to their main page if you wish to discover more or support the band directly)

Influence - can you still hear their musical DNA in artists today?

Ok, this is the first test of this evaluation system with a relatively new band with a small following (at least on Spotify - 5500 followers). AH is influenced, not influential, at this point in their career. Only three albums since 2011, and playing the opener at festivals and minor prog tours. 1/5

Consistency - Did they have one great debut album, and pffft? Or a career of consistent progress and growth?

By the third album, 2023’s A Cell To Call Home, AH is really finding their groove. Each album since the first gets better and more fully rounded and much less derivative. 3/5

Legacy - Did they escape genre and enter the pop culture hivemind (and stay there)?

No legacy YET. 1/5

Acclaim - Were they ever institutionally recognized as one of the best at anything?

Nothing of note. 1/5

Originality - When you hear their music, do you know right away it’s them?

They’re getting there, but they aren’t tilling any new soil yet. 1/5

Longevity - Have they remained relevant or is the fanbase dwindling with every passing year?

Three albums in 14 years isn’t going to send them to Oasis territory any time soon, plus they’re playing progressive rock, the most ignored genre in the mainstream. However, they sold me, and I’m picky (he said, knowing he follows over 1300 bands). 1/5

Advent Horizon scores 8/30. This isn’t a fair assessment at all, considering the small output thus far.

Verdict - The fourth album will mean everything for these guys, as far as I’m concerned. They stay, for now.

What the heck was all that about? I follow 1,342 1344 bands or solo artists on Spotify, plus more in Bandcamp and Soundcloud. Yes, that’s ridiculous. That number fluctuates weekly as well. The Paradox of Choice kicks in every time I’m trying to find an album to listen to while making dinner, for example. So I need to cull the herd. I’m going to reconsider my fandom for each of these 1300+ artists. (I’ll go alphabetically to keep my brain having to make a decision on who to tackle next.)

I’ll give ‘em the ol’ thumbs up and they stay on the team, or I’ll relegate them to the dreaded minor leagues of my musical library, the One Hit Wonder playlist. I’ll always include a representative video when available, and you can judge for yourself. Argue with me in the comments if you like - I can’t be easily swayed, unless of course you have cash.

Beyond this decision making process, it’ll be fun (I hope) to revisit a bunch of bands and albums I may have skipped over or forgotten about for far too long.