is there anyone prepared to tell me why

It was a balmy 70 degrees today in our little suburb northwest of Boston. My wife opened up some windows to let the fresh air in, and I started sweating from the heat while working though my weekend chores, even though I was only wearing jeans and a t-shirt. It was preferable to digging out from under a January blizzard, but it just didn’t feel natural.

A ferocious wind picked up after the sun sank behind the western hills. I was out on the patio just prior to writing this, watching the silhouettes of the trees behind our back fence twist and sway violently against the violet backdrop of the twilight sky. I could hear the dry bone rattles and snaps of their branches even above the howl of the wind. It was muy creepy, and I’m thankful that none of the trees are within falling distance of our house.

(The winds have died down completely since I began typing this, adding another layer of disturbing unreality to this day's meteorological antics.)

Pylon – Weather Radio (from Gyrate, 1980) – A nice bit of instrumental postpunk out of the legendary Athens, GA scene. It’s sad that Pylon’s material is out of print and largely forgotten while R.E.M. went on to become (boring and overrated) college rock legends. (Am I being too harsh again? You try spending a semester in a drawing class where the instructor, an MBA student slumming for supplemental income, accompanies each ninety-minute class session with the Out of Time album on repeat. Yes, R.E.M. is directly responsible for killing my desire to draw.)

Red Lorry Yellow Lorry – Talk About the Weather (from Talk About the Weather, 1985) – A latecomer to the postpunk party, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry sound is an odd convergence of influences. Traces of gothic rock, indie gloom, and an embryonic from of goth metal swirl around in the mix, as if some mid-80’s art student distilled one of her ninety-minute mix tapes into a single four-minute song.

Crass – Dry Weather (from Penis Envy, 1981) – Penis Envy, the Crass album even Grandma enjoys! I kid, but it seems like every time Crass comes up in a conversation, that album is the only work by Crass that people say they’ve listened to. It makes sense, I suppose, since it is about as close as the band ever got to a “poppier” sound, relatively speaking.

The Radiators – Let’s Talk About the Weather (from Ghostown, 1979) – Also known as The Radiators From Space, this early Irish punk band included future Pogue Phillip Chevron. This track is from their second and (until their 2004 reunion) final album, where the band put aside ther punky roots in favor of a mellower, melodic power pop sound.