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Monster Alley by VIOLENT VICKIE is one of those dangerous, decadent albums that have frightened parents for generations. The sound and vibe itself may be different, electropunk, darkwave witchhouse or whatever, but this is the one where eyebrows raise and your mom and dad would have at least considered having a talk to find out what it is exactly that’s going on with you.

But of course we’re all adults now, right? My kids are adults and they grew up with me listening to this stuff and they seem to have turned out okay. And Monster Alley is a really just a kind of L.A. party monster vibe, dark synth and sex and… your substance of choice. If pop music really had all the much of an influence, then with all the cheesy love songs, we’d all be big mushballs like tweens drawing pictures of unicorns and ponies, to paraphrase Frank Zappa. Violent Vickie is just kind of fun. Like Bright Lights Big City as an album instead of a movie. Or maybe Kids.

Funny thing is, for all the dark theme, it’s kind of a lazy flow. It’s dance music, but not frenetic, crazy dance music. It’s just kind of cool and steady and dark, like a cocaine and whiskey haze.

How do you wake up with this mood? Don’t ask me. It just happens. It’s my internal cinema. Everything is a soundtrack, even when I’m not really watching what’s on screen.

Backing off the music, I think it’s time for a spring cleaning. There’s a good chance I’ll move at some point in the coming year and there is a ton of stuff I don’t want to bring with me. The last time I moved I got rid of about 3/4 of my possessions. You’d think it would be down to minimal living now, but that 1/4 that was left was a huge pile of shit. I could live comfortably with about half of what was left. It should just go at this point. There’s no reason to have 50 t-shirts, for example, and that’s just the beginning. Time to get down to basic. No clutter of any sort in my life, whether it be belongings or behavior. Yes, cluttered behaviors is a thing. There is only so much time in a day or even a life. Stick to what makes you most happy. Be open to new things, of course, but otherwise keep it simple.

K.I.S.S.

Keep it simple, stupid.

Anyway. That last paragraph is just a reminder.