Back!

Hi guys! I know I haven't been on here in like a year, but a lot of things have been going on in my personal life. Most notably, I graduated last week with a Bachelor of Arts in Literature. So that's been kind of cool. Now I'm just hanging out in Santa Cruz for a bit before heading back home to LA. My ideal goal would be to land some sort of librarian job in San Jose, but that's quite a long shot.

But enough about my personal life. Several things have happened in the prog world during my hiatus. I think most notably I went to see Steven Wilson in concert in his Grace for Drowning tour promoting his 2012 solo album Grace for Drowning as a follow up to his superb 2008 debut solo album Insurgentes. Both of which are amazing and beautiful. The cool thing is, though, I managed to meet Steven! I got him to sign my copy of Cenotaph, and got a picture with him.

That's me on the far left, with my two friends in the middle. Directly next to me is Mason, current bassist to local Santa Cruz band Old Arc. To the right of him is my Tumblr buddy Adam, a great aspiring musician who has several interesting projects going at the moment. The dialogue between Steven and I went as follows:

Me: "I love Bass Communion, great stuff."
Steven: "Thanks."

I'll admit, I was in that nervous stupor of meeting an idol for the first time, or I would have thought of something more to say. Great night that was, though, great night. The show was great as well, as a lot of the songs were different than the album version. An added solo, more flair, more power.

Anyway, the other noteworthy release I was anticipating was Steven Wilson and Mikael Akerfeldt's collaboration Storm Corrosion. Also released earlier this year, self titled album Storm Corrosion did not disappoint. Incorporating experimental post-rock elements, what we get is hauntingly beautiful pieces. These songs evoke a strange though not unpleasant sadness in me, a bittersweet melancholy that I have not felt before. Though because of this I still don't have a concrete grasp on my standing toward the album, I would still hands down recommend it. Great stuff.

That's all I can think of for now. Now that I'm not occupied with school, I hope to post a lot more on here, as well as devote more time to my various projects I've been contemplating over the years. Exciting times.