Okay, so I have been off the grid for a while. Hopefully you’ve missed me, because I certainly have missed the interaction with you, each and everyone of you. Really, I think about the Starbucks gang quite a bit after having moved my office. Same goes for the Canadian group whom I missed this Christmas.  C&K&J if you are reading these notes, I miss you always when you are not around. Maybe one day you’ll explore the dropbox and find out why I really love this type of music.  Nuff’ said.

I also know that I was remiss in getting dropboxes and these notes out for the past couple of months, but life sometimes gets in the way of the music. Not that I stopped listening to new tunes in any imaginable way, but I just wasn’t able to get the writing part underway. I thought about it on a number of occasions but wasn’t able to properly put pen to paper or word document on screen. The dropbox was also kind of quiet, so if you are reading this in early January, give me a shout and I’ll help you out with the stuff that you missed along the way. However, I’ve dropped a new drobox to coincide with these notes so you should take a peek, eh?

As this is generally the time of year when I take a look at the past year and reflect on what I spent most of my time listening to, I seem to have reached a new level of listening diversity. I definitely enjoyed a more diverse year in terms of albums I enjoyed, discovered some new areas of listening enjoyment that were off my radar in the past i.e. pop records, and discovered that pop-punk and punk rock as genres are in really good shape with excellent albums by the Menzingers, Fireworks, Copyrights, and Masked Intruder last year. Most surprising is my new found appreciation for electronic albums. However, don’t get carried away. I still can’t appreciate EDM, most industrial, goth, classical or Hip Hop. I’m still kind of old so its not likely I’m going to move that far from where I’ve started.

If you are new to the Tales From The Dropbox, I only put in albums that I like. So, there are no negative reviews. If I didn’t like a record or was lukewarm or bored, or I missed it along the way, then it’s not going to show up. I’ve got enough to do in my life without wasting energy on things that don’t bring enjoyment or the cash necessary to buy enjoyment! It is called work because its not fun. If work was fun then you could use the terms interchangeable – I’m not there yet.  I do actually miss quite a few things because there were over 15,000 releases last year and there are only so many hours in the day. 24 hours I think, right? So if you don’t see it, you can point out what I’ve missed and lead me to discover a record that gives you joy. Truly exciting!

So, the next couple of issues of the Dropbox Notes is designed to accomplish a couple of important tasks:
1. Catch up on releases that I dropped but didn’t have time to give you a capsule review;
2. Give you my thoughts on my favorite records of last year;
3. Post the complete list of releases that made the dropbox;
4. Update you on the new releases in this month’s dropbox.

Whew! That’s a bunch of stuff. So, I’m going to break those tasks up into pieces and post as I go. So, there will be dribs and drabs for the next thirty days or so. Please bear with me. 2015 is already looking good for new music and we will get there….together! ….and hopefully all in one piece…

Finally, I hope that your 2015 is an exciting, prosperous, healthy, and successful year. After the major news events of the past couple of months including #icantbreathe, Ferguson, Ottawa parliament shooter, last week’s Paris attack on a newspaper, and last month’s Australian hostage situation, it, at least on the surface, appears that the degeneration of the human soul is accelerating. Hopefully these tragic events are only an anomaly.

Last year there was also some brilliant evidence of the compassionate and empathetic human spirit where people took it upon themselves to make the world a better and safer place. It is these stories of courage and compassion during difficult situations that give me hope that evil will not win even though these same “good” events don’t get the same press attention. And perhaps these quiet and individual efforts to erase the evil of murder committed in the name of religion will someday create a roar of positive life affirming goodness and we can begin again to enjoy life without the threat of darkness.
Looking forward, and back, at the same time. Happy New Year!

Now to the regular program…

First, you should take a look at what you might have missed in the second half of 2014. My last observations were in July, so here is the list of releases from the second half of 2014 that made the Dropbox:

August 07, 2014 Dropbox

1. Anti-Flag – A Document of Dissent [2014]
2. Army Navy – The Wilderness Inside [2014]
3. Courteeners – Concrete Love [Deluxe Version] [2014]
4. Spoon – They Want My Soul [2014]
5. Rise Against – The Black Market [2014]
6. Nico Vega – Lead to Light [2014]
7. The #1s – The Number Ones [2014]
8. Ghost Wolves – Man, Woman, Beast [2014]
9. Downtown Fiction – Losers & Kings [2014]
10. Bleachers – Strange Desire [2014]
11. Bishop Allen – Lights Out [2014]
12. Big Deal – June Gloom [Deluxe Edition] [2014]
13. Allison Weiss – Remember When [2014]
14. Angus And Julia Stone – Angus And Julia Stone [Deluxe Version] [2014]
15. Colony House – When I Was Younger [2014]
16. Engineers – Always Returning [2014]
17. Gaslight Anthem – Get Hurt (Deluxe Edition) [2014]
18. Grumbling Fur – Preternaturals [2014]
19. Interrupters – The Interrupters [2014]
20. J Mascis – Tied to a Star [2014]
21. Joyce Manor – Never Hungover Again [2014]
22. Muffs – Whoop Dee Doo [2014]
23. Stiff Little Fingers – Original Album Series [5CD][2014]
24. Rentals – Lost In Alphaville [2014]
25. Baby Ghosts – Maybe Ghosts [2014]
26. Bats – Volume 1 [3CD] [2014]
27. Dry The River – Alarms In The Heart [2014]
28. Literature – Chorus [2014]
29. Raglans – Raglans [2014]
30. Real Friends – Maybe This Place Is the Same and We’re Just Changing [2014]
31. Thousand Foot Krutch – Oxygen Inhale [2014]
32. Dead Stars – Slumber [2014]
33. Twin Atlantic – Great Divide (Deluxe Version) [2014]
34. Ty Segall – Manipulator [2014]
35. Cymbals Eat Guitars – Lose [2014]
36. Allah-Las – Worship The Sun [2014]
37. Dylan In The Movies – Sweet Rebel Thee [2014]
38. Dirt Farmer – Free BBQ [2014]
39. Darlings – Made Of Phantoms [2014]
40. Arkells – High Noon [2014]
41. Empire! Empire! I Was a Lonely Estate – You Will Eventually Be Forgotten [2014]
42. Lucero – Live from Atlanta [2014]
43. Courteeners – How Good It Was EP [2014]
44. Neighbors – Failure [2014]
45. Neighbors – Will You Please Be Quiet, Please [2014]
46. Wax Witches – Center Of Your Universe [2014]
47. Philip Selway – Weatherhouse [2014]
48. Quietdrive – The Ghost of What You Used to Be [2014]
49. Roadkill Ghost Choir – In Tongues [2014]
50. Sports – Sunchokes [2014]
51. Cool – Paint [2014]

December 18, 2014 Dropbox

1. Hard-Ons – Yummy [2014 Reissue Expanded Edition] [2CD] [2014]
2. Royal Blood – Royal Blood [2014]
3. Screaming Females – Live at The Hideout [2014]
4. Merchandise – After The End [2014]
5. Moon Duo – Live in Ravenna [2014]
6. OBN IIIs – Third Time to Harm [2014]
7. Ballroom Babies – Change To Silver [2013]
8. Bad Things – Bad Things (Deluxe Edition) [2014]
9. Colourist – The Colourist [2014]
10. Copyrights – No Knocks [2014]
11. Twin Atlantic – Great Divide (Deluxe Version) [2014]
12. Afghan Whigs – Gentlemen at 21 [2014]
13. Gob – Apt 13 [2014]
14. War On Drugs – Lost in the Dream [2014]
15. A Sunny Day in Glasgow – Sea When Absent [2014]
16. Alvvays – Alvvays [2014]
17. Yo La Tengo – Extra Painful! [2014]
18. Pixies – Doolittle 25 B-Sides, Peel Sessions and Demos [2014]
19. Wilco – Alpha Mike Foxtrot Rare Tracks 1994-2014 [2014]
20. Republic Of Wolves – Covers (Vol. 1) [2014]
21. Parkay Quarts – Content Nausea (Official) [2014]
22. Springtime Carnivore – Springtime Carnivore [2014]
23. Superfood – Don’t Say That [2014]
24. Ty Segall – SINGLES 2 [2014]
25. Viet Cong – Viet Cong [2015]
26. Big Star – Live in Memphis [2014]
27. Walk The Moon – Talking Is Hard [2014]
28. Cult of Youth – Final Days [2014]
29. Girlpool – Girlpool [2014]
30. Fox & The Law – Stoned To Death [2014]
31. Foo Fighters – Sonic Highways [2014]
32. Baby Ghosts – Ghost Walk [2014]
33. Chumped – Teenage Retirement [2014]
34. Ex Cops – Daggers [2014]
35. Fugazi – First Demo [2014]
36. Game Theory – Blaze of Glory [Expanded Edition] [2014]

So, which of these releases should you have not missed? Well, the next Tales From The Dropbox Notes will cover the key releases that belong in everyone’s collection! (No…. the Foo Fighters record is not one of them. Sadly, not in the top releases of 2014. Solid record, but not one that I’m going to keep coming back to listen. Shelf life = 3 months, perhaps 6 months at best.)