Alex Silver
@halfvivid.bsky.social
Folk music experimentalist and French teacher. Portland, Maine area.
https://halfvividsongs.com
https://alexsilver.bandcamp.com/
https://halfvividsongs.com
https://alexsilver.bandcamp.com/
It's hard to imagine being so patient with the air you breathe. Eric Hehr gives great context to this album, and how it fit into Ammons' life. But also close feeling for the role of tone, which I just sit there and relish so much.
Gene Ammons :: Nice an’ Cool (1961)
aquariumdrunkard.com/2025/12/16/g...
Midnite jazz. Nice ‘an Cool is nothing if not a “mood album,” the overall unity of the quartet eclipsing any one section of the arrangement.
aquariumdrunkard.com/2025/12/16/g...
Midnite jazz. Nice ‘an Cool is nothing if not a “mood album,” the overall unity of the quartet eclipsing any one section of the arrangement.
January 14, 2026 at 4:33 PM
It's hard to imagine being so patient with the air you breathe. Eric Hehr gives great context to this album, and how it fit into Ammons' life. But also close feeling for the role of tone, which I just sit there and relish so much.
@newfeelingcoop.bsky.social w/ great points on precarity and gig platforms.
"But for things to change, we have to imagine more than hermit crabbing from one platform to the next: we have to resist the ways our work is becoming individualized in the first place."
www.newfeeling.ca/dont-start-a...
"But for things to change, we have to imagine more than hermit crabbing from one platform to the next: we have to resist the ways our work is becoming individualized in the first place."
www.newfeeling.ca/dont-start-a...
Don't Start Another Substack
Michael Rancic writes about how platforms like Substack push writers toward individualized survival strategies over solidarity.
www.newfeeling.ca
January 11, 2026 at 6:37 PM
@newfeelingcoop.bsky.social w/ great points on precarity and gig platforms.
"But for things to change, we have to imagine more than hermit crabbing from one platform to the next: we have to resist the ways our work is becoming individualized in the first place."
www.newfeeling.ca/dont-start-a...
"But for things to change, we have to imagine more than hermit crabbing from one platform to the next: we have to resist the ways our work is becoming individualized in the first place."
www.newfeeling.ca/dont-start-a...
Listened to this one quite a few times now, it's great.
"...strumming and plucking, tapping until the shape of a song emerges" and "...how organic and conducive to day-dreaming the music is." I think they're really really good at pulling meandering sound into a solid, locomotive body.
"...strumming and plucking, tapping until the shape of a song emerges" and "...how organic and conducive to day-dreaming the music is." I think they're really really good at pulling meandering sound into a solid, locomotive body.
The New Eves emerged as a favorite avant-garde act of 2025. Here's my review of their debut album, The New Eve Is Rising @post-trash.bsky.social #musicsky #post-trash post-trash.com/news/2025/12...
The New Eves - "The New Eve Is Rising" | Album Review — POST-TRASH
Brighton quartet The New Eves released their full-length debut, which weaves mystic folk and avant-garde art rock. They disrupt playlists of today by incanting, incessantly strumming and plucking, tap...
post-trash.com
January 8, 2026 at 12:16 AM
Listened to this one quite a few times now, it's great.
"...strumming and plucking, tapping until the shape of a song emerges" and "...how organic and conducive to day-dreaming the music is." I think they're really really good at pulling meandering sound into a solid, locomotive body.
"...strumming and plucking, tapping until the shape of a song emerges" and "...how organic and conducive to day-dreaming the music is." I think they're really really good at pulling meandering sound into a solid, locomotive body.
John Washington is almost done with How to Close a Camp, which will certainly be a vital book in 2026. He rushed to write it in under 5 months. I'm eagerly looking forward to this.
Last newsletter of the year, a recap of my reading and how I worked through a writer’s block.
johnwashington.substack.com/p/best-of-2026
johnwashington.substack.com/p/best-of-2026
December 30, 2025 at 2:05 PM
John Washington is almost done with How to Close a Camp, which will certainly be a vital book in 2026. He rushed to write it in under 5 months. I'm eagerly looking forward to this.
I would love to see @pressherald.com continue its dedicated Wabanaki coverage after @reportforamerica.bsky.social funding expires. Either hiring the so-far excellent @reubenschafir.bsky.social or someone else for the job. This public education is profound. TY!
www.pressherald.com/2025/12/21/t...
www.pressherald.com/2025/12/21/t...
To fight loss, Passamaquoddy speakers are talking new life into their language
Elders say it's not too late to save their mother tongue, and a younger generation is stepping up to help.
www.pressherald.com
December 22, 2025 at 3:20 PM
I would love to see @pressherald.com continue its dedicated Wabanaki coverage after @reportforamerica.bsky.social funding expires. Either hiring the so-far excellent @reubenschafir.bsky.social or someone else for the job. This public education is profound. TY!
www.pressherald.com/2025/12/21/t...
www.pressherald.com/2025/12/21/t...
Thank you @rosyoverdrive.com for mentioning Chico States in your latest Pressing Concerns. Check out Addicus from Marquette, MI! Great song. It makes me happy to see music is alive and well up there. That stretch of Lake Superior is one of my favorite places in the world.
New blog post! Wrote about new records from Earwig, Sting Pain Index @housingjames.bsky.social, Dietz, and Addicus:
Pressing Concerns: Earwig, Sting Pain Index, Dietz, Addicus
December or not, there’s still plenty of new music to cover in Pressing Concerns. Today, we’ve got new albums from Dietz and Addicus, as well as new EPs from Earwig and Sting Pain Index…
rosyoverdrive.com
December 2, 2025 at 3:59 AM
Thank you @rosyoverdrive.com for mentioning Chico States in your latest Pressing Concerns. Check out Addicus from Marquette, MI! Great song. It makes me happy to see music is alive and well up there. That stretch of Lake Superior is one of my favorite places in the world.
If you happen to already be a member of @subvert.fm artist/label/supporter co-op, you can check out my first collection, "songs less off-sync with the shuddering landscape." From looking around, I'm one of the few people who has written full editorial so far. I've played this myself many times 💚
November 29, 2025 at 4:51 PM
If you happen to already be a member of @subvert.fm artist/label/supporter co-op, you can check out my first collection, "songs less off-sync with the shuddering landscape." From looking around, I'm one of the few people who has written full editorial so far. I've played this myself many times 💚
Our local paper has a dedicated reporter on Indigenous communities, thanks to @reportforamerica.bsky.social. Therefore Maine is reminded weekly that it's false to place native peoples on a timeline that ended in the past.
www.pressherald.com/2025/11/26/i...
www.pressherald.com/2025/11/26/i...
In Wabanaki communities, giving thanks is common. But the holiday is complicated.
Tribal governments give away hundreds of turkeys each November.
www.pressherald.com
November 26, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Our local paper has a dedicated reporter on Indigenous communities, thanks to @reportforamerica.bsky.social. Therefore Maine is reminded weekly that it's false to place native peoples on a timeline that ended in the past.
www.pressherald.com/2025/11/26/i...
www.pressherald.com/2025/11/26/i...
Thank you for your diligent research, from which we learn that not everyone can feel the Earth on their first try.
November 25, 2025 at 11:31 PM
Thank you for your diligent research, from which we learn that not everyone can feel the Earth on their first try.
Chico States was included in The Best Country Music on Bandcamp for November! Thank you @bcsalmon.bsky.social. Feeling grateful 💛
daily.bandcamp.com/best-country...
daily.bandcamp.com/best-country...
The Best Country Music on Bandcamp, November 2025
Our monthly round-up of folk, bluegrass, roots rock, Americana, and all things country-ish.
daily.bandcamp.com
November 21, 2025 at 7:19 PM
Chico States was included in The Best Country Music on Bandcamp for November! Thank you @bcsalmon.bsky.social. Feeling grateful 💛
daily.bandcamp.com/best-country...
daily.bandcamp.com/best-country...
I hadn't noticed this, but @pressherald.com published a write-up on @goldfishbloom.bsky.social's powerful Gaza benefit compilation, written by @aimsel.bsky.social. You can get it for a dollar and it's 33 very significant songs. Got into some new artists this way.
www.pressherald.com/2025/11/10/m...
www.pressherald.com/2025/11/10/m...
Maine musicians contribute to Palestinian relief album
The album 'Songs of Hope for Gaza' is available on Bandcamp.
www.pressherald.com
November 13, 2025 at 7:33 PM
I hadn't noticed this, but @pressherald.com published a write-up on @goldfishbloom.bsky.social's powerful Gaza benefit compilation, written by @aimsel.bsky.social. You can get it for a dollar and it's 33 very significant songs. Got into some new artists this way.
www.pressherald.com/2025/11/10/m...
www.pressherald.com/2025/11/10/m...
Our local alt-weekly @the-bollard.bsky.social wrote the most perceptive, flat-out entertaining review of our band's latest record. Super grateful, mostly on behalf of my friend Joe, the songwriter. No one has matched Chris Busby's close reading 🤯
Wherein I pretend to be Tommy Mottola or some shit like that...
The Bollard Bulletin for Nov. 3, 2025
Local Music Monday: Would you sign Chico States?
open.substack.com
November 8, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Our local alt-weekly @the-bollard.bsky.social wrote the most perceptive, flat-out entertaining review of our band's latest record. Super grateful, mostly on behalf of my friend Joe, the songwriter. No one has matched Chris Busby's close reading 🤯
Thank you 💘 Reminds me another time someone "won the internet," linked below. Let's just pin this one globally at Google.com and we can all catch up with the cavemen in terms of graciousness today.
Instead of watching "journalists" with sloppy "gotcha" videos and other forms of contemporary internet miseries, you can just watch Cocteau Twins' "Iceblink Luck."
youtu.be/L_Tj4bJ0VFw
youtu.be/L_Tj4bJ0VFw
Cocteau Twins - Iceblink Luck (Official Video)
YouTube video by Cocteau Twins
youtu.be
October 31, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Thank you 💘 Reminds me another time someone "won the internet," linked below. Let's just pin this one globally at Google.com and we can all catch up with the cavemen in terms of graciousness today.
Watch out for this Cuban artist. Love this. Bought the track and planning to blast this several times on the way to the staff breakfast.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-P1...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-P1...
EIDI - El Güinche (feat JD Asere) (Video Oficial)
YouTube video by EIDI Oficial
www.youtube.com
October 31, 2025 at 10:12 AM
Watch out for this Cuban artist. Love this. Bought the track and planning to blast this several times on the way to the staff breakfast.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-P1...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-P1...
Friday night in a small city
Friday, October 24th
*underlining represents Maine based musicians
*underlining represents Maine based musicians
October 24, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Friday night in a small city
New Chico States album is out today! Nothing quite like my friend Joe's meticulous surveys of this world through a country-western lens.
anythingbagel.bandcamp.com/music
anythingbagel.bandcamp.com/music
Anything Bagel
we are a diy record label focused on limited run screen-printed cassettes and other goodies!
thanks for being here :) <3
contact: [email protected]
anythingbagel.bandcamp.com
October 23, 2025 at 4:45 PM
New Chico States album is out today! Nothing quite like my friend Joe's meticulous surveys of this world through a country-western lens.
anythingbagel.bandcamp.com/music
anythingbagel.bandcamp.com/music
Yes, we premiered the album in Spain because the weather was more suitable to the sound.
www.mindies.es/2025/10/estr...
www.mindies.es/2025/10/estr...
Estrenamos el nuevo disco de Chico States | Mindies
Hoy tenemos el placer de estrena en exclusiva ‘I Saw A Galloping Horse Cover No Ground’, el nuevo álbum de Joseph Barresi con su proyecto Chico States, publicado a través del sello Anything Bagel. Est...
www.mindies.es
October 21, 2025 at 10:21 PM
Yes, we premiered the album in Spain because the weather was more suitable to the sound.
www.mindies.es/2025/10/estr...
www.mindies.es/2025/10/estr...
New Chico States drops this Thursday! Release show in Portland with old friends and new, including several on tour.
www.blueportlandmaine.org/events/chico...
www.blueportlandmaine.org/events/chico...
Chico States + Will Lawrence + Dee Dee Sea + Number One Babe | BPM
www.blueportlandmaine.org
October 21, 2025 at 12:34 AM
New Chico States drops this Thursday! Release show in Portland with old friends and new, including several on tour.
www.blueportlandmaine.org/events/chico...
www.blueportlandmaine.org/events/chico...
Happy Indigenous Peoples' Day!
Frey's stuff is perplexingly gorgeous. I loved his show at Portland Museum of Art last year.
www.pressherald.com/2025/10/08/t...
Frey's stuff is perplexingly gorgeous. I loved his show at Portland Museum of Art last year.
www.pressherald.com/2025/10/08/t...
Two Mainers awarded prestigious MacArthur ‘Genius grants’
Jeremy Frey, a Passamaquoddy artist, and Indigenous cartographer Margaret Wickens Pearce both received the $800,000 award.
www.pressherald.com
October 14, 2025 at 1:28 AM
Happy Indigenous Peoples' Day!
Frey's stuff is perplexingly gorgeous. I loved his show at Portland Museum of Art last year.
www.pressherald.com/2025/10/08/t...
Frey's stuff is perplexingly gorgeous. I loved his show at Portland Museum of Art last year.
www.pressherald.com/2025/10/08/t...
Gah! Why didn't I know about this till seeing my email just now? I could've gone. If you live near Boston, FYI. I only know 'On A Moonlit Hill in Slovenia' but it's wonderful.
October 14th! Thrilled to co-present this special free event inside Boston City Hall with @rpmfestival.bsky.social, featuring cellist Lori Goldston and trumpeter Greg Kelley, performing Goldston's live scores along with 10 contemporary silent films. www.nonevent.org/concerts/202...
Greg Kelley + Lori Goldston: Sound + Light + Movement — Non-Event
Revolutions per Minute, Engauge Experimental Film Series, Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture, and Non-Event present a free evening of live performance and experimental silent film inside Boston’s icon...
www.nonevent.org
October 14, 2025 at 1:21 AM
Gah! Why didn't I know about this till seeing my email just now? I could've gone. If you live near Boston, FYI. I only know 'On A Moonlit Hill in Slovenia' but it's wonderful.
After giving it some time, this is absolutely my favorite song of the fall. It seizes me every time I hear it. I love it so much.
Thank you @orindal.bsky.social Records. Also, read reviews by @jenpkelly.bsky.social, who did one for this album.
"Driving slow / to a bridge / I kinda know / where."
Thank you @orindal.bsky.social Records. Also, read reviews by @jenpkelly.bsky.social, who did one for this album.
"Driving slow / to a bridge / I kinda know / where."
"wistful, bittersweet, and deeply nostalgic, like flipping through an old photo book of half-forgotten memories."
Thanks @undertheradar.bsky.social for premiering "Driving Slow" the final single/video from 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐛𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐞𝐚's debut album 𝙃𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙈𝙞𝙧𝙧𝙤𝙧 𝙀𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙚𝙨.
www.undertheradarmag.com/news/premier...
Thanks @undertheradar.bsky.social for premiering "Driving Slow" the final single/video from 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐛𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐞𝐚's debut album 𝙃𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙈𝙞𝙧𝙧𝙤𝙧 𝙀𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙚𝙨.
www.undertheradarmag.com/news/premier...
Premiere: herbal tea Shares New Track, “Driving Slow”
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www.undertheradarmag.com
October 12, 2025 at 9:38 PM
After giving it some time, this is absolutely my favorite song of the fall. It seizes me every time I hear it. I love it so much.
Thank you @orindal.bsky.social Records. Also, read reviews by @jenpkelly.bsky.social, who did one for this album.
"Driving slow / to a bridge / I kinda know / where."
Thank you @orindal.bsky.social Records. Also, read reviews by @jenpkelly.bsky.social, who did one for this album.
"Driving slow / to a bridge / I kinda know / where."
The world was fragrant, dense, and multi-dimensional until what, like 2014?
October 8, 2025 at 8:11 PM
The world was fragrant, dense, and multi-dimensional until what, like 2014?
This is a lovely, patient album that "makes sense" whether you play it in the trees or the dark fold of an idea-world. Calming and I love "A Vivid Imagination" for its images.
I'm back with a new release, under the new alias Forest Dweller!
Mastered by @exitchamber.bsky.social / Out now on CS/DL on Peak.
juliendemoulin.bandcamp.com/album/foreve...
Mastered by @exitchamber.bsky.social / Out now on CS/DL on Peak.
juliendemoulin.bandcamp.com/album/foreve...
Forever Elusive, by Forest Dweller
9 track album
juliendemoulin.bandcamp.com
October 7, 2025 at 10:14 PM
This is a lovely, patient album that "makes sense" whether you play it in the trees or the dark fold of an idea-world. Calming and I love "A Vivid Imagination" for its images.
Awesome background on Portland, Maine's (so-far) successful effort to prevent a Live Nation venue.
See @spacegallery.bsky.social,
@umaw.bsky.social, and Maine Music Alliance
#portlandme #music #arts
jacobin.com/2025/10/live...
See @spacegallery.bsky.social,
@umaw.bsky.social, and Maine Music Alliance
#portlandme #music #arts
jacobin.com/2025/10/live...
Musicians Against Live Nation–Ticketmaster
Live Nation–Ticketmaster controls nearly every corner of the US live music business, from ticketing to touring. In Portland, Maine, a coalition of venues, musicians, and art workers rallied the city a...
jacobin.com
October 6, 2025 at 11:38 PM
Awesome background on Portland, Maine's (so-far) successful effort to prevent a Live Nation venue.
See @spacegallery.bsky.social,
@umaw.bsky.social, and Maine Music Alliance
#portlandme #music #arts
jacobin.com/2025/10/live...
See @spacegallery.bsky.social,
@umaw.bsky.social, and Maine Music Alliance
#portlandme #music #arts
jacobin.com/2025/10/live...
"In the latest case for East Coast Country music"
Them Blundstones, they ain't cowboy boots / Me and you, we’re just blundering on through / A dozen beers ahead of most of the rest of the world
Thanks Ugly Hug!
uglyhug.com/2025/10/01/c...
Them Blundstones, they ain't cowboy boots / Me and you, we’re just blundering on through / A dozen beers ahead of most of the rest of the world
Thanks Ugly Hug!
uglyhug.com/2025/10/01/c...
Chico States Share “A Dozen Beers”, Announce New Album | Single Premiere
In the latest case for East Coast country music, Chico States shares “A Dozen Beers”, the first single from their upcoming album I Saw A Galloping Horse Cover No Ground out October 23rd via Anythin…
uglyhug.com
October 2, 2025 at 12:00 AM
"In the latest case for East Coast Country music"
Them Blundstones, they ain't cowboy boots / Me and you, we’re just blundering on through / A dozen beers ahead of most of the rest of the world
Thanks Ugly Hug!
uglyhug.com/2025/10/01/c...
Them Blundstones, they ain't cowboy boots / Me and you, we’re just blundering on through / A dozen beers ahead of most of the rest of the world
Thanks Ugly Hug!
uglyhug.com/2025/10/01/c...