Do you live your life by design or by default? Living by design means living according to a plan in order to achieve your true purpose in life. Living by default means living without plans and letting things happen as you go. It's widely considered that living by design leads to success, while living by default leads to mediocrity. Most people can be placed in a spectrum between design and default. We all have a little of both in us. I think it's bad to be at the ends of the spectrum, especially the design extreme point. Planning is everything, but the plan is nothing. Not all things will go according to your plan. Even the best and elaborate plan will not make much difference. Instead, you should put your trust in people, circumstances and opportunities. When one door closes another one opens. It's a sliding doors moment, where you can look back several decades from now and see whether you chose the right or the wrong door. However, even in hindsight it will be difficult to determine whether it was the right or wrong door. Personally, I have always aimed at mediocrity. "Mediocrity is always praised" said my first boss and I marked his words. He met opposition and resistance with a cold steel approach. He also introduced me to the concept of repressive tolerance and how to master it. Because of his efforts, I was sent on a path for which I am grateful for.

There are situations where you need to cleanse your mind and re-start yourself. It's similar to computers; you need to reboot them when there is a problem. Music is a perfect tool for this. The best cleansing music is folkpunk. The term is made up of two words: folk and punk, seemingly a contradiction in terms. Folkpunk combines the instrumentation of traditional folk with the raw energy of punk. Same same, but different. Folk and punk have the simplicity and authenticity in common. Some characteristics: Non-bourgeoisie lifestyle including squatting, hard-charging vocals, political bent (socialism, anarchism and environmentalism) and lyrics without subtlety. No allegories whatsoever. What is said, is meant. Notable folkpunk bands are Blackbird Raum, Ramshackle Glory and Mischief Brew. I've got five Blackbird Raum albums in my collection: Purse-Seine (2007), Swidden (2008), Under The Starling Host (2009), False Weavers (2013) and Destroying (2015). I like folkpunk, but these are the only folkpunk albums that I've got. Any expansion of the collection needs to be nipped in the bud. Otherwise, there's an imminent risk that the floodgates will open and never close. And it's going to be costly. Paradoxically, used cdr are very expensive. It's supply and demand. The market forces tend to apply also in the folkpunk sector. A disclaimer, the folkpunk genre is crammed with talentless people who can't play and/or sing. It's not surprising. The level of entry is low, while the tolerance level for deficiencies is indefinite. However, if you take the time there are some nuggets out there. In my opinion, the best album for cleansing your mind is Douglas Für "The Dried Up Rivers Will Be The Mass Graves Of Tomorrow". The album is available on Bandcamp for your listening (dis)pleasure. Folkpunk may constitute a contradiction in terms. However, they work perfectly fine together.

This is the third of six blog posts in a series of female artists or female-fronted bands that will be published under 2024. This blog post deals with Elouise. The band name has nothing to do with the irrepressible Eloise who lives in the penthouse at the top of the Plaza Hotel in New York City. The band Elousie is led by Elouise Walker on vocals, bandoneon and accordion. This is blackgrass, the antithesis to bluegrass. To be honest, it’s more of "included but not limited to" blackgrass. Elouise's music is varied. The common denominator is the darker side of folk, bluegrass and country. Over time, I have developed an ability to distinguish the wheat from the chaff. Contrary to popular belief, music doesn't start to grow on you. At least, not if you are a connoisseur as myself. In some cases, I find inspiration from a renowned writer and/or website. This is the case here. A review in American Roots UK caught my attention: "This incredible album takes deep dark old time hillbilly, gospel and blues (race music) to a depth of sinister unearthliness that has not been heard or even imagined for many decades and yet running counter to that it is also a recording of dark beauty." The debut album "Deep Water" was released in 2015. I's a creepy album with both covers and originals. The take on the covers are so different that they could be mistaken for originals. The best songs are "I'll Fly Away, "Amazing Grace", "Oh Lord", "I'll Be Good To You", "Black Horses", "East Jesus" and, last but not least, a cover of Link Wray's "Fire And Brimstone. The arrangements are spooky, hanted and haunting. This is so much better, than all the copiers, fakers, imitators, impersonaters and imposters out there. A cd copy can be bought from their website (opens in a new window). 

This website is dedicated to gothic country, southern gothic, gothic americana, american gothic and dark americana and ...whatever. It doesn't concern itself with blues in any shape or form. However, there’s nothing in the statutes which prohibits a detour now and them. Like now. During my university studies, a friend introduced me to blues guitarist and singer Son Seals. I was cautiously negative. I don't dislike blues per se, but I'm not overly exaggerated about it either. Maybe, I have been listening to the wrong kind of blues: tedious twelve-bar blues with generic lyrics like "woke up this morning and my woman was gone". The album The Son Seals Blues Band was placed on the turntable. Track four "Your love is like a cancer" made sound waves through the loudspeakers. I was hit in solar plexus. This was something different. Pounding drums, rolling bass lines and an organ(!), and last but not least, a tormented guitar. "Your love is just like a cancer, woman / Lord, eating away my life". I was blown away by the gritty Chicago blues (although Son Seals was born in Arkansas). Later, I listened to another song from the second album Midnight Son from 1976. The song was "Going Back Home". "Sometimes I wonder, why'd I ever leave home? / Sometimes I wonder, why'd I ever leave home? / I had a few dollars in my pocket / Oh, now that little change is gone". The rest of the lyrics is filled with pain and suffering. The city is a mean place and going back home isn't an option. The train has left the station, literally and figuratively. "Mmm, hmm, what in the world am I gonna do?". The vocals and the guitar playing are exquisite. This is music with an authentic nerve and it still hit as hard as it did when I first heard the artist in the mid 1980s. Son Seals passed away in 2004. In 2009, Seals was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame, in the category Performer. Rightly so. 

Some waiting is anxiety-filled, like the unnerving and excruciating wait for a follow-up album. Antic Clay released "Hilarious Death Blues" (HDB) in 2007. A true masterpiece in the one-album-only category. Much to everyone's surprise a second album "Broom of Fire" was announced to be released in 2018. The album was originally scheduled in 2017 as a 10 year anniversary of the release of HDB. But no album followed, only updates: songs written and ready to record (2019), "Center of the Night" and "Brother Wolf Sister Moon" released on Bandcamp (2020), "Elijah" released on Youtube (2022) and on Bandcamp (2024). "Broom of Fire" missed the 10 and 15 year anniversary, but could still make the 20 year anniversary. I mention this as a matter of fact, not as a criticism or any reprehension. My frustration comes from not knowing, if and, when a new album will be released. But, maybe I should lower my expectations. "Hilarious Death Blues" was an album that blew your mind. "A slow dark ride across the scorched hide of America. Think Johnny Cash riding a skeletal mule to Hell. Not without moments of beauty and hope, however". Recreating something close to this album should be impossible. Does Antic Clay still got the powers in him after all these years? I don't sense any HDB-vibe in the three above-mentioned songs. But I would like to be proven wrong.