Music I Liked – Deicide, Willie Nelson, Dark Tranquillity

Last week there was so much music. I saw 5 bands and 7 ballets, and that was all I had time to write about. But I did listen to a little recorded music, and I liked Deicide, Willie Nelson, and Dark Tranquillity.

Deicide

Deicide is one of oh-so-many OG death metal bands I completely missed back in the day when I succumbed to the siren call of Chris Cornell. Of course I’ve gone back and done my remedial studies, and when the blogosphere alerted me to the existence of Overtures of Blasphemy, I gave it a listen. And another… Yep. They’ve still got it.

Willie Nelson

Willie Nelson was a fixture of my childhood. But I think I’ve still listened to him more this year than ever before. First I checked out his newest album. Then I saw this article about long-time fans abandoning Nelson over his support for Texas Democrat Beto O’Rourke. Now, all I know about O’Rourke is pop-culture stuff. He was in a band in the 90’s, Twitter loved his answer to a question about how to support black women. I haven’t dug deep enough into his policy positions to have a solid opinion, but he’s running against Ted Cruz, and I would donate money to a pot-bellied pig running against him.

It is no surprise to me that an old hippie like Nelson would support the candidate who said, “the big, bold, confident, strong people of the state of Texas” would help show the United States not to fear immigrants, Muslims or anyone else who might be considered “different.” I mean, Willie Nelson’s photo literally shows up next to the definition of “outlaw country.” My empathy levels are already too low to get what’s going on with the “regular folks” who support the current regime, but the cognitive dissonance goes through the roof when someone is “surprised” and “disappointed” that Willie Nelson isn’t in that crowd. It makes me love him even more. So this week, let’s listen to some outlaw country. And for those “fans” who don’t know who Willie is, get y’all some education (this video pays more attention to Waylon, but Willie is clearly an accomplice.)

Dark Tranquillity

As I wrote in my concert review, I never really got into Dark Tranquillity, even though my husband has had them on high rotation in our house for years. Then I saw them live last week and I finally got it. I probably didn’t listen to them any more this week than usual, but this week I liked it.