Category Archives: Check Out This Song

Songs you should check out.

Ball of Wax 66 Songs: Strange Torpedoes – “Watching the Driveway (for Headlights That Never Came)”

I love instrumental song titles. The little bit of context they provide goes a long way in coloring our understanding of the piece. Strange Torpedoes’ “Watching the Driveway (for Headlights That Never Came)” might be about latchkey kids or a … Continue reading

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defineartworks – “We Come in Peace”

A brief ambient interlude, a little under two minutes but suggesting a much greater span. We (they?) come in peace, but the arrival is also tinged with nostalgia for infinite time and endless space. Ball of Wax Volume 66 by … Continue reading

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Ball of Wax 66 Songs: Colin Ernst – “The Point of No Return”

For some reason, I tend to think of Colin Ernst as being a part of Ball of Wax since Levi first started putting it together. This isn’t the case, so it must be that Colin’s material embodies something of the … Continue reading

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Ball of Wax 66 Songs: Bryan Nicolas Brophy – “Watch the World”

As I hope is obvious by now, I am a fan of all kinds of strange and weird and adventurous music/sound: Weird time signatures; drone; unusual or homemade instruments; noisy, lo-fi recordings, I love it all. That said, I’m also … Continue reading

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Ball of Wax 66 Songs: The Magic of Multiples – “Mimas”

The Magic of Multiples brings multitudinous multitracking (of voices) over asymmetrical meter: we’ve heard this before, somewhere in the shadows of our memory, but it remains just beyond the edge of identification. Ball of Wax Volume 66 by The Magic … Continue reading

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Ball of Wax 66 Songs: PonyHomie – “Lost”

PonyHomie’s “Lost” is a four-on-the-floor, kick drum dance party, complete with frantically climbing, arpeggiated synthesizers, drum machine handclaps, and warbling, vocoder-like vocals. This darkly subdued take on new wave calls to mind bands like Survive (of Stranger Things fame) and The Faint. … Continue reading

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Ball of Wax 66 Songs: Darryl Blood w/Green Light Cameras – “A Hunter in Hiding”

I’m trying to determine what portion of the excitement I feel when listening to “A Hunter in Hiding” is due to this being a collaboration between two of my favorite Ball of Wax regulars (one of them a collaborator of … Continue reading

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Ball of Wax 66 Songs: autOaudiO – “Ocean City”

Dig deep enough into any keyboard or synthesizer, and you will find sounds with names like “metal” or “crystal vibes” or “glass.” autOaudiO’s “Ocean City” builds its nest with these deep dives into preset patches. Though bird calls and sitar-inspired … Continue reading

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Ball of Wax 66 Songs: Virgin of the Birds – “Dreaming with the Hobgoblin”

I think Jon Rooney/Virgin of the Birds first shared his minimalist, synthy side with us on Ball of Wax 53, with his simmering meditation “The Earth Won’t Die, We Will.” He hasn’t stopped writing erudite pop songs, but I appreciate that … Continue reading

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Ball of Wax 66 Songs: Jason Sidney Sanford – “16 Oct. 2021_experiment 02”

It would be tempting to listen to this piece as a synth workout with all of the voices set to tones one wouldn’t normally use, say “sweet jam and dig that low-end groove,” and leave it at that. However, context … Continue reading

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