I have not featured Nita Strauss in some time. She is usually the lead guitarist with Alice Cooper's touring band. She took some time off a few years back to record a solo album. Well, she teamed up with various vocalists (including Alice Cooper on one track), but today's song is an instrumental.
This song is "Momentum" by Nita Strauss from her 2023 album The Call of the Void.
Lindsey Stirling is an artist whose music I have loved for a long time. (At least a decade.) ARKAI is an "electroacoustic duo." One plays the violin, the other plays the cello. They apparently went to Juilliard together.
The music fits together very well.
This song is "King of Coins" by ARKAI & Lindsey Stirling. It was released 9 September as a video on YouTube. This is just the audio. I find most "official videos" distracting, and this one is more distracting than usual. It is easy enough to find if you are interested.
I'm not in the mood for remembering, but I do remember. Do people remember, or has the country as a whole decided to forget?
Page down for a song. It is hard to believe the September 11th attacks were 25 years ago.
This song is "I Remember" by Deadmau5 and Kaskade from the 2008 album Random Album Title. Like most dance music, it takes about 30 seconds to get past the intro.
More insomnia means more late-night/early-morning video watching. One of the things I am continuously amazed by, is how little people know about music that was popular before they were in high school. It doesn't surprise me that the average kid today, or most Zoomers, and Millennials, know nothing of the Big Band era of music. But when a drummer or a drum critic doesn't know who Gene Krupa was that is just plain sad. (But then I ran across a video by one drummer who didn't know who Neil Pert was.)
Purportedly the first sticksman to use a bass drum on a recording session, big-band swing meister Gene Krupa can claim to have influenced the format of the modern drum kit. He was also instrumental in establishing the popularity of cymbals and tom-toms. Renowned for his explosive “drum battles” with Buddy Rich. [Ref. 50 Best Jazz Drummers Of All Time.]
And no, they don't know who Buddy Rich was either. (I think there are some problems with that list, but they do seem to cover everyone, and more importantly, they say why Krupa was important.)
The use of bass drum, high hat, floor toms, in addition to a snare, with drums as an integral part of the band, actually contributing to the overall feel of the song marked a change in music. That pretty much started with Big Band and Swing. And today's song, and Gene Krupa, played a major role in that.
This is "Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing)" by the Benny Goodman Orchestra. It is from a recording that features Gene Krupa on drums. (I think it is a 1955 recording, but I'm not sure of that.) It is probably the song that made Kruppa the star that he would go on to be.
And yes, I have featured "Sing, Sing, Sing" in the past, but that was a Louis Prima Orchestra version.
I'm no linguist, but it is my understanding Anak Krakatau is essentially "Son of Krakatoa." More on the original later. Indonesia cancels flights as Anak Krakatau volcano erupts
Indonesia’s Anak Krakatau volcano erupted early Sunday, prompting the cancellation of all flights at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport and disrupting other domestic airports as volcanic ash drifted across parts of western Indonesia.
Seven airports around the region were closed, impacting 1000s of flights. I saw one headline that five of those airports have since reopened.
By Sunday evening, the closure had affected 467 flight movements in Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta airport alone that affected about 150,000 passengers. The airport was ordered closed until at least 9:30 p.m.
The news is mostly about impacted airlines, and worries about a repeat of what happened in 2018. In 2018 a side of Anak Krakatau collapsed, giving rise to the Sunda Strait tsunami. That tsunami killed more than 400 people and injured more than 14,000. It came without the usual warning, because the cone of the volcano collapsed without an earthquake to trigger the tsunami warnings.
Of course Krakatoa erupted violently in 1883.
Its explosive eruption in 1883 was one of the most catastrophic in history.
That is because we don't have historic records for the supervolcanos, only geologic records.
How bad was it?
The climax was reached at 10:00 am on August 27, with tremendous explosions that were heard 2,200 miles (3,500 km) away in Australia and propelled ash to a height of 50 miles (80 km). Pressure waves in the atmosphere were recorded around the Earth. Explosions diminished throughout the day, and by the morning of August 28, the volcano was quiet. Small eruptions continued in the following months and in February 1884.
Click that link for an interesting graphic on loudness of the explosion (remembering that decibel is a logrithmic scale), compared to atomic bombs, and rock concerts.
I include this post from X, because of the video. As volcanoes go, this eruption looks fairly average to my non-scientific eye.
🇮🇩🌋 TERRIFYING MOMENT: Anak Krakatau erupts in Indonesia.
— XPRESS (@Xpress_24_7) September 6, 2026
Footage captures the first seconds of the eruption, sending a huge plume of ash into the sky.
Watching Anak Krakatau erupt today makes it almost impossible to imagine the sheer scale of the legendary 1883 Krakatau…
And becuase I can't resist. "Volcano" by Jimmy Buffett. It is the title song to his 1979 album.
Amaranthe is a Swedish Heavy Metal band (the sing in English!) that is often described as Melodeath, though that isn't how the band describes themselves.
Their ultimate mission: to explore the opaque realms between extreme metal and electronic tunes, to pioneer the invention of new approaches of joining two traditionally contradicting musical worlds, to boldly go where no metal band has gone before. [from the band's website]
I like a lot of the music they produce.
Here's a link to the lyrics, though you probably won't need them.
This song is "Find Life" by Amaranthe. It was released in 2022 (October?) as single. It was included in their 2024 album, Catalyst.
I'm not sure why this song ended up in my drafts folder. Singles is a 1992 movie, which is notable (to me) because it features several performances by musicians from 1990s Grunge movement. I'm familiar with the soundtrack; I've never seen the movie.
This is "Seasons" by Chris Cornell from the soundtrack to the 1992 movie Singles.
I still find jazz one of the best genres of music for winding down. Some of it is anyway. People have mentioned that I listen to some music that comes across as angry. For example, Till Lindeman of Rammstein sounds angry. Not all Germans do, but he seems to go out of his way to sound harsh. While I like it, it is not relaxing.
Today's song is something of a jazz classic written by Duke Ellington in 1935. It has been covered by Ella Fitzgerald, John Coltrane, Art Tatum, Tony Bennett, Sonny Rollins, and more.
This song is "In A Sentimental Mood" as performed by Javon Jackson, Paul Gill, Davide Hazeltine and Tony Reedus from the 2007 album The Music of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn.
I'm never sure how I feel about BABYMETAL. They are a Kawaii Metal band. Kawaii Metal is sort of a mixture of J-Pop and Metal. It has everything that makes it good on a Monday Afternoon.
Here is a link to the lyrics translation. Click on "Romanization" under "original lyrics" for a more useful experience.
This is "Monochrome" by BABYMETAL. It was released as a single in late 2022 from their early 2023 album The Other One.
Miguel Gonzalez has a musical interlude every Sunday. Sunday Repose.
Click thru for a song I have not heard in a long time, "All Blues" by Miles Davis from the 1959 album Kind of Blue. There was a time I listened to lot of 1950s and '60s jazz in general, and Miles Davis was a lot of that. I'm not sure why I drifted away from it.
You should be reading Miguel Gonzalez Substack, and not just for the music. Which is usually very good.
Surf Rock is an enduring genre of music. While it was fairly popular in the 1960s, there are bands still producing it. Or there were about 10 years ago.
This is "Cassandra Complex" by The Mystery Men? Yes, the question mark is part of the name. It is from the album Sonos Delirium which came out in August of 2013.
About 25 years ago I became interested in the Nordic myths. I had studied some of the Greek and Roman stories in both high school and college, picked up a bit the Indian Upanishads along the way, and had also gotten a bit of the stories from some of native North Americans somewhere along the way, but I had never studied the Norse legends. (Marvel comics, notwithstanding.)
So while searching for something else, I had stumbled across a whole new world of music, which I listen to in fits and starts. I find it interesting, but not always engrossing enough to displace what I usually turn to. One of the artists I found from that path is Kati Rán. Here is how her Bandcamp page describes her work.
Nordic Music
Kati Rán creates song with historical folk instruments and composes her music with poetry reflecting our connection with nature.
I do like the idea of Midgardsblot. Midgard is the Norse term for the realm of Earth. Blot is a meeting of some significance. Midgardsblot is a music event that combines "extreme metal" with folk. Sounds like an interesting time. (More below the embedded video.) Midgardsblot is held every summer in Borre, Norway.
This song is "SUURIN" by Kati Rán. It was originally released as part of a 2012 EP Leaf. This version was recorded live at Midgardsblot 2016. You can find the lyrics and their English translation at this link. The lyrics are in Karelian, a Finnic language spoken mainly by the Karelian people in the Russian Republic of Karelia.
Here's a link to the "after movie" for Midgardsblot 2016. "And a good time was had by all."
This song has been stuck in my drafts folder for a couple of years. I have no idea how or why I stumbled across this song, other than I like The Pretty Reckless.
This is "Heaven Knows" by The Pretty Reckless from their 2014 album, Going to Hell.
Is this Metal? Probably not really. More Rock. But since I make the rules...
Miguel Gonzalez has musical interlude every Sunday. Or I haven't noticed him missing any, but life happens. Sunday Repose
Today he serves up a live performance by Jaco Pastorius with a performance recorded live in Montreal. I am not sure when it was recorded, but Pastorius died in 1987 at the age of 35, so it was some time ago. One of many artists gone too soon.
I prefer the work Pastorius did with Weather Report to most of his solo work. But that was the era in which he started his decent into addiction.
From The Life of Jaco
The mid-1980s were difficult for Jaco and those who loved him. He was evicted from his New York City apartment and crashed with friends for as long as he could. After a tumultuous visit to his father’s home in Pennsylvania, Jaco briefly entered a psychiatric facility. The bassist didn’t like the effects of the lithium given to him as treatment. Jaco returned to New York and continued to play, but with his reputation for performances that could be inspiring one night but dispiriting the next work was hard to find.
It was during that period that his relationship ended and his drinking increased.
How did a love of Heavy Metal lead to some great acoustic guitar? Rodrigo y Gabriela are a pair of guitar players from Mexico City who met due to a common love of Heavy Metal. But the music they play, or what little I have heard, is definitely not Metal.
This is "Stairway to Heaven" by Rodrigo y Gabriela from their 2006 album, Rodrigo y Gabriela. It was, of course, originally written by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, and recorded by Led Zeppelin on their 1971 untiled album, usually known as Led Zeppelin IV.
Another song that comes to us by way of WXRT's Saturday Morning Flashback. WXRT (Chicago's Finest Rock) was revisiting 1994 on 1 August.
I like Saturday Morning Flashback, because I hear music I wouldn't hear anyplace else. Music I heard regularly on the radio, that dropped completely out of my life, when the radio and the market moved on. Music I liked, but not enough to have purchased the CD.
This song is "Send Me On My Way" by Rusted Root from their 1994 album When I Woke.
Frank Beard. 11 June 1949 to 17 August 2026
The Feral Irishman brings us bad news. R.I.P. Frank Beard
Click thru for one video that contains the songs "La Grange" from the 1973 album Tres Hombres, "Gimme All Your Lovin'" from the 1983 album Eliminator, "Sharp Dressed Man," also from Eliminator, "Tush" from Fandango (1975), and "Legs" from Eliminator. And a couple of great photos.
Rolling Stone, which I have mostly abandoned in recent years, has Frank Beard, ZZ Top’s Hard-Shuffling Drummer, Dead at 77
The tireless drummer anchored the Texas band on hits like “La Grange,” “Tush,” and “Cheap Sunglasses” during its five-decade run
And an interesting headline from Newsweek (by way of MSN). Frank Beard had the most ironic name in rock. Now ZZ Top's drummer is gone.
Frank Beard, the ZZ Top drummer whose name became one of rock’s enduring ironies as the band’s only member usually without a beard, has died at 77.
Beast in Black is a Power Metal band originally from Helsinki, Finland. Don't worry, they sing in English. And you also don't need to worry about the Death Metal, Death Growl. Yannis Papadopoulos, the lead singer, has an almost supernatural clarity in his singing, and despite the fact that he is Greek, I never have trouble understanding him. And anyway, today's video includes the lyrics.
And I can't call this is a Power Ballad. It's a love song, and parts of it are ballad like, but mostly it is just Heavy Metal.
This song is "Born Again" by Beast in Black from their 2017 album Berserker.
Bad Omens is listed as either alternative rock or alternative metal. I haven't heard a lot of songs by that band, but most of them don't scream Metal to me. I went back and forth on this song, as to whether it should be included Metal for Mondays, and finally decided that it sounds more like Rock to me.
This song came to me by way of the Tidal music streaming service. In particular, it was part of the Rock Hits playlist from Tidal, way back in 2025.
This song is "Specter" by Bad Omens. It was released as a single in August of 2025. There is apparently an album in the works, as several singles have been released, but I can't find any info on a release date.
Another song and artist I was reminded of thanks to WXRT and Saturday Morning Flashback. Granted, it was a long way back that it was featured on WXRT. It has been languishing in drafts for a very long time.
Greg Kihn passed away on 13 August 2024, at the age of 75.
This song is "Remember" by The Greg Kihn Band from the 1978 album Next of Kihn.
