Category Archives: Check Out This Song

Songs you should check out.

Ball of Wax 63 Songs: KO SOLO – Quarantine Boogie

I think I first heard Kate Olson play solo at the Bourbon Bar at Columbia City Theater. Years ago. Pandemics ago. Maybe it was a century ago, because Kate Olson always seems to transcend time and space. And yet time … Continue reading

Posted in Ball of Wax, Check Out This Song | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Ball of Wax 63 Songs: Datura Blues – Silence for the Apple

With “Silence for the Apple,” the sprawling, long-lived collective known as Datura Blues brings us a brief, percussive meditation, created during a 20th-anniversary (!) improvisational retreat in the pre-Covid days of late 2019. It is noteworthy that six musicians contributed … Continue reading

Posted in Ball of Wax, Check Out This Song | Tagged | Leave a comment

Ball of Wax 63 Songs: Orion – Witch’s Blood

“Witch’s Blood” by Orion works a spell of converging time periods and ignites within me a nostalgia for events that never happened, or that I never experienced. It wastes no time in getting down to its main progression, with prickly … Continue reading

Posted in Ball of Wax, Check Out This Song | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Ball of Wax 63 Songs: NIGHT of 21 HOURS – “Flight Risk”

The origin of NIGHT of 21 HOURS is written on their Bandcamp page: By the winter of 2020, approximately 9 months of COVID related isolation had started to wear on me. That’s when this started. The credits on ISOLATION, their … Continue reading

Posted in Ball of Wax, Check Out This Song | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Ball of Wax 63 Songs: Night Owl – “Lunar Ghost Phase”

As you might expect, Night Owl’s “Lunar Ghost Phase” is perfect nighttime music. Specifically, driving at night. Specifically-er, driving late, late at night, the neon from empty bars reflected in the rain-slicked streets ahead of you. The interplay of guitar, … Continue reading

Posted in Ball of Wax, Check Out This Song | Leave a comment

Ball of Wax 63 Songs: Saint Nefarious – “All Promise Is Bust”

Our dear friend Lattney (see also Grumpy Bear, Holly and the Dead Saints)’s newest offering, “All Promise Is Bust” does not come from a happy place. You can hear the darkness creeping in with the first slow, heavy drum beats … Continue reading

Posted in Ball of Wax, Check Out This Song | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Ball of Wax 63 Songs: Die Geister Beschwören – “A Cultivation of Reflective & Meditational Skills”

Before I get to the psychfolk epic-in-miniature that is “A Cultivation of Reflective & Meditational Skills,” please allow me to share my love for this act’s chosen name: Die Geister Beschwören may not roll off of your tongue, but it … Continue reading

Posted in Ball of Wax, Check Out This Song | Tagged | Leave a comment

Ball of Wax 63 Songs: Sceneries, Placements – “Handful of Hope”

I don’t know if Sceneries, Placements were thinking of Emily Dickinson when they concocted the delicately peculiar “Handful of Hope,” but the first thing that came to my mind as I pondered the title, and this piece, was the phrase … Continue reading

Posted in Ball of Wax, Check Out This Song | Tagged | Leave a comment

Ball of Wax 63 Songs: Bike Monday – “The Snow”

Do you believe in love at first sight? Do you believe in love at first sight when it comes to a song? I do. Listeners of vinyl records are aware that certain songs will grab you simply by the way … Continue reading

Posted in Ball of Wax, Check Out This Song | Tagged | 2 Comments

Ball of Wax 63 Songs: Virgin of the Birds – “Moon Chariot”

I feel like every time I sit down to write about a Virgin of the Birds song, I can’t help but comment on just how dang Virgin-of-the-Birds-y it is. And here we are again. “Moon Chariot,” Jon Rooney’s newest idiosyncratic … Continue reading

Posted in Ball of Wax, Check Out This Song | Tagged | Leave a comment