Paul McCartney: SNL 2026

     I think it is super cool that our live debut for the new Paul McCartney album was done on TV, as we all got to hear it together.

    A little over 2 weeks after this performance aired, Paul will be releasing his latest studio album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane. While I loved McCartney III, really, this is his first full-scale studio effort since 2018. Andrew Watts is lead producer, and while I have been fine enough with the production of the singles, his work really brought them down for me, just like he did for the last Rolling Stones album and ESPECIALLY on the Elton John / Brandi Carlile record. He is both a producer for modern hits as well as legacy acts, but through the majority of both of those sides of his work, I think he makes songs sound very dead and lifeless. I have my concerns for how this album will sound, but still, I am incredibly excited. I think Paul wrote this album as if it's last ever. We have no way of knowing if it will be, but that mentality seems to be a part of everything so far. If his memory was ALMOST full, now it is. 

    The album also seems made for vinyl, while everything from the 90s on of his (besides McCartney III) has been intended for a CD release. It is 14 tracks on a single disc, which is a very uncommon package nowadays, but was what The Beatles did. Usually, his modern albums have taken up a little bit more time than one vinyl record, taking full advantage of CD, but not here! I am imagining the vinyl being added to a shelf, that holds people's original copies of Beatles records. I don't fully know why but that feeling of being "made for vinyl" has completely shaped how I see this release. Mediums shape the music that goes onto them.

    1. Days We Left Behind

    2. Band on the Run

    3. Coming Up

Download link: Google Drive

Will Dailey: Tremble on Me, Bradley Beach, NJ, May 17th 2026

     I made my album just another number because I thought it would be fun to let it become simply part of the stream of works I hope to celebrate here. But, starting that stream back up after it felt a little strange, but I have the perfect thing to start it with.

    I have always been a huge fan of all the musicians to come out of Greenwich Village's Cafe Wha?,  and I couldn't pass the opportunity to go last month. We went to the random show that we happened to be in town for, which was Lydia Loveless and Will Dailey. We ended up enjoying this concert so much that I checked where they were going next, and I found out Will was coming to Bradley Beach. Which is SUPER weird to hear, because it's such a quiet town, with seemingly no venues. But there is! In a man's driveway two houses from the beach is the Noah's Ark concert series.

    It was the cutest small venue I've ever been to. They asked people to bring and eat foods and desserts, and they provided blankets for that beach-town-chill.

    As for Will's music, I will let this recording speak for itself. I don't need to explain that his voice is beautiful, or he is a talented guitarist. It's from his latest album Boys Talking, which I picked up and fell in love with the month before. 

    This kind of concert is the reason I love the local Jersey Shore stuff so much. There is literally a community everywhere, and an audience. There was a friend of his who came up and started to play harmonica with him. There is music everywhere, even if not immediately obvious, and I, and hopefully you, hope to do everything I can to see and support as much of it as possible.

    My father and I have been to countless concerts, but this was the first he ever bought merch for. Also, the video itself isn't that great, so really it's just another way to hear it alongside the MP3.

Link to MP3: Google Drive