Guidelines for Living: “Don’t Get Stressed, Just Get A’s”

Posted on November 6, 2026 by Brian LaRue

I had a grave procrastination problem in college. I struggled to conceptualize how to break down large tasks into manageable pieces. I also second-guessed small, simple tasks, trying to locate whatever secret complicated thing might be buried in there. Sure, I was meeting deadlines and earning good marks, but I felt perpetually behind the ball. Doing good work, exercising my strongest creative talents and critical thinking chops, but taking little or no joy in the work. It was all doing a number on my nervous system and sleep schedule.

One afternoon, when I was in my sophomore year, I was sitting in the office of the honors college, per usual. Ostensibly there to study, I was mainly venting to the head of the department about the burnout I saw on my horizon. After listening for a while, she paced her elbow on her desk and rested her chin on her hand. “You know who you should talk to about this?” she asked. “Curt McHugh.”*

I knew Curt. He was a junior. He lived on my floor in the dorms. The hot, athletic guy on a floor full of nerds, indie rock dweebs, and backpack rappers. “Sure,” I said. “Why?”

“Because he’s the top-ranked student in the entire honors college.” She shuffled some papers on her desk. “Not just the top-ranked junior. He has the highest GPA of any honors student here, at any level. You might find he has something valuable to share with you.”

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Let’s Codify Butt Rock

Posted on November 2, 2026 by Brian LaRue
Something about… mullets? “Uncool” gear? Is it really fair to judge the gear like that?

The last time my writers’ group convened on Zoom, the term “butt rock” came up in conversation somehow. It was unrelated to the stories we were workshopping in that session, mentioned casually and in passing. My friend Stefan seized on it, though. “Butt rock. You hear that term from time to time, but I don’t think I’m clear on what it actually refers to. Brian, how would you define or describe butt rock?”

This was a very interesting question. Also an honor to be asked: It’s a tall order, being asked to codify butt rock. I mean, loads of people have given it a shot before, but as challenges go, it was too fun to pass up. Common characteristics of butt rock started popping into my head immediately. I decided to take a beat to wrap them up together.

Butt rock is a running joke. Everyone recognizes it as pejorative, so instantly recognizable as pejorative that it can be glossed over in conversation without anyone pushing back and questioning what it is. It’s an old term of uncertain origin. There’s an urban myth that it’s a pun on the tagline “Nothing but rock,” used by numerous rock radio stations during the late ‘90s nu metal era. This is revisionist history, and it’s wrong. The term “butt rock” goes back to at least the Geocities/Tripod/Angelfire era (turn of the millennium), where it was used in regard to ‘70s and ‘80s rock fare that had fallen out of fashion.1

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What Does an AI “Musician” Want?

Posted on September 17, 2026 by Brian LaRue

A few months back, I caught a ride from a friend of mine, a fellow musician I’ve known since I was in college. A terrific player and singer, too, a multi-instrumentalist and accomplished audio engineer. He’s someone from whom I take music recs pretty seriously. So when he said he was putting something new on the car stereo, an artist a friend of his had been raving about, I figured I should stop talking and listen closely, too. A modern-day soul/R&B singer with retro ‘70s vibes, my friend told me. Live instrumentation with spot-on period production. That’s what my friend was told by his friend, who had added the music had an almost addictive quality to it. 

The production struck me at first. I heard a full band – acoustic drumkit, electric guitar, piano, all that. The band clearly got the assignment, matching the grooves and licks you’d hear on some classic early ‘70s soul LP. Then I zeroed in on the singer – a knockout vocalist, note-perfect, with remarkable command of dynamics. “The breath control,” I murmured after hearing one masterfully phrased half-verse. And the whole bag had what music heads call “the dust” – the elusive atmosphere that registers the recording as “vintage” in the listener’s mind. 

Then at one point, seemingly somewhere in the middle of a song, the instruments all paused and the singer held one high note for multiple measures. One note, soloed, hanging in midair, a crescendo and a decrescendo. Bonkers technique. And then the band came back in, and… well, it felt kind of strange.

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I Got Laid Off from My Media Job. Ask Me About AI

Posted on September 15, 2026 by Brian LaRue
The Great Wave off Kanagawa, Katsushika Hokusai (1831), overlaid with digital chicken-scratch, BGL (2026)

Let’s get this right out of the way: I was laid off on April 30. I’d worked for the PR department of a large, multi-functional media agency for just shy of four years, as a dedicated in-house writer – an atypical role for a PR firm. The layoffs hit multiple departments, from the most junior level in the biz all the way up to at least the VP level. When I tell people this, the first question they ask is usually: Was this a surprise to you? 

To which I say: A surprise, but not a shock. I’m a Professional Content Person, have been since high school, and media pros (editorial, PR, marketing, comms, advertising, adtech, martech, media buying, etc.) are always vulnerable in a down economy, because media is usually downstream from the real money source. If you’ve lived and worked through a few economic slumps, you learn how to spot some common warning signs. 

The second question people usually ask is: Did AI have anything to do with the layoffs?

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Out of the Crates: Respect for Full-Discography Deep Cuts

Posted on August 3, 2026 by Brian LaRue
Not only was this image totally created with free, commodified AI, I feel like the AI wasn’t even trying very hard.

There’s an old line that functions as a punchline among music heads: “I’ve heard of them… but I’ve never heard them.” It’s funny because the speaker is basically revealing they’re trying to stay afloat in a conversation about an artist who they can’t admit they’ve never heard. 

Yeah, happens. Every music fan walks around with a head full of mental Post Its bearing names of kinda recognizable bands and performers that they haven’t gotten around to yet. But look, there’s a lot of internet out there. If you’ve never heard a thing, but you’d like to, why not try hearing it? Grab your phone and let the floodgates open. You can preview an entire discography, hours of material, before deciding which album you need to buy first. Heck, you can hit the budget used bins and you’ll probably be able to find at least a couple of their records – maybe not the primo material, but enough to provide a hint of why people talk about ‘em.

Now, one group that I think stands as a really good example of a semi-slept-on yet worthwhile discography is Kinda Recognizable but Not Super-Famous Late ‘70s/Early ‘80s Band.

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Revisiting the Classics: ’60s Pop Exemplified

Posted on July 29, 2026 by Brian LaRue
Image created by AI. Free, bad AI

I’d expect anyone who knows me – as a person, or as a musician, or as a social poster – knows I have this deep and broad affection for pop music of the 1960s. The songwriting approaches, the production values and arrangements, the stylistic variety across record labels, the sheer fun of being able to pin a single’s sound to a particular year and even location of origin – there’s so much I enjoy about the whole listening experience that I’ve never felt like I’ve had enough.

Shouldn’t be shocking. When I was a kid, “oldies radio” meant pop music from the late ‘50s through the very early ‘70s. The big hit records of that era were low-hanging fruit. When I got into my late teens, I started moving up the branches, exploring the interesting misses, the oddities, the true freak fare. But when it comes down to the ‘60s music I gravitate toward on a regular day, to the records I consciously emulate in my own work, I keep coming back to “the canon.” Call me basic, but the classics are often classic for a reason. 

So, I felt inspired to share a list of some of my own favorite classic ‘60s albums that have informed my own music over the years, and probably always will. If you see a title you know and love, pull it off the shelf right now and spin it with me:

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New single and music video from Safe Houses: “I’ll Be Bad to You”

Posted on May 16, 2025 by Brian LaRue

My band, Safe Houses, just dropped a new single and music video, “I’ll Be Bad to You,” and it’s currently available on all the usual-suspect platforms: video on YouTube and Vimeo; audio on Bandcamp, SoundCloud, Spotify, YouTube Music, and the other major streamers. I often describe Safe Houses’ sound as “jangle-garage,” but what that really means is a blend of powerpop, garage rock, “classic indie,” post-punk, and whatever else happens to be in the air. Punk backing and ‘60s pop sensibility that reserves the right to go off the rails when appropriate. “I’ll Be Bad to You” is, to my ear, squarely in the powerpop zone, but we welcome alternate opinions. It’s the latest digital-only release from my label, University of Space Recording Co., and the lead single from our upcoming EP, The Winter I Turned Psychic. It’s also available via a QR code on a business card, and if you’re in a bar or a coffee shop in Bushwick, Brooklyn or Ridgewood, Queens, you might find a few. The QR code links to Bandcamp – you can actually download the song there, for just $1.

We shot the video for “I’ll Be Bad to You” in and outside of East Williamsburg EconoLodge, the long-running DIY spot somewhere in the tangle of the industrial park. We worked with co-directors Tasha Lutek and Jamie Frey, friends of ours – Tasha and Jamie also co-directed our video for “Someday Is Starting Now,” and Jamie fronts the excellent NYC rock’n’roll band Nite Music. (I played guitar for a spell in NO ICE, Jamie’s previous excellent NYC rock’n’roll band.) The concept is that Safe Houses and our fictional “evil” counterparts, Dangerous Motels, are both playing shows, and Dangerous Motels keep trying to undermine Safe Houses’ gig while harassing folks around the venue. Then, of course, Safe Houses and Dangerous Motels face off, or in other words we basically have to fight ourselves in the street. We shot it in one very productive afternoon.

When we play “I’ll Be Bad to You” live, I often intro it by saying, “This song is about what it’s like when you’re single and you’re thinking, ‘If I could convince someone to be in a relationship with me, I’d be a really good partner,’ and then you find yourself in a relationship and you realize you were totally wrong about yourself.”

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Introducing University of Space Recording Company

Posted on September 16, 2024 by Brian LaRue
Logo by Olivia Russin

After years of threatening to do so, I quietly launched a record label in early 2023. I say “record label” colloquially. More accurately, it’s a cassette and digital label. It’s called the University of Space Recording Company, and it’s the first element to emerge publicly of the broader interdisciplinary University of Space organization. I know this sounds cryptic and odd, but I can explain.

First, though: The University of Space Recording Company is something I’d been working on gradually behind the scenes since the pandemic shutdowns in 2020. Through that time, I’d been editing and prepping a handful of solo recordings I’d made in the past, but hadn’t released. So when my own jangle-garage band, Safe Houses, needed to release a digital double-A-side single – “Someday Is Starting Now (Julia)”/”I Don’t Feel Like Dancing” – it felt intuitive to roll it out under the University of Space banner and give it a promotional push. That’s the label’s first proper release. There’ll be more to come in 2024, as we bring more acts onto the label, and explore new channels and partnerships to bring the music to a wider audience.

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Heavy Breathing with the Scam Call Center

Posted on July 5, 2023 by Brian LaRue
This wasn’t the guy btw

Everyone knows the best thing to do with an incoming phone call from a number you don’t recognize, at a time when you’re not expecting a call, is to ignore it. Everyone knows it’s probably going to be a scam call. Everyone knows that if it’s not a scam call, it’ll go to voicemail, and you’re experiencing any suspense about what’s up, you’ll be able to find out in 30-ish seconds. 

And everyone knows that if you pick up a scam call, you’re just going to have your number flagged by scammers as a number that picks up, and that as such, they should call this number again sometime in the future. 

I don’t remember why I picked up the phone when an unfamiliar number, from an area code of a city where I didn’t think I knew anyone, called me that afternoon. Maybe I picked up on the off chance that it was someone who worked with one of the businesses I was working for as a freelancer. Maybe I was just in a mood, and I really wanted to hand it to someone for having the nerve to try to grift me in the middle of a work day, for god’s sake. Maybe it was a slip of the thumb. But I picked up, and I thought, Welp. Guess I’m on a list now. Too late to turn back.

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The Best Lesson I Ever Learned About Soloing, I Learned When I Was 16

Posted on June 27, 2023 by Brian LaRue
Not so much a rule, as a reminder not to get too far ahead of yourself

So, one thing about me as a musician is that I’m a guitarist who is deeply ambivalent about guitar solos in a rock or pop context. I’ll take a solo, sure, if it makes sense in the context of the song. But a lot of songs don’t need one. 

Look, my problem with solos isn’t that they are solos. Some of the most transcendent pieces of music I have heard, and will ever hear, are extended improvisations. My problem, if you could call it that, is with players who are more focused on demonstrating their chops than they are on connecting with the audience. This tendency goes all the way back to that teenage or preteen point at which so many musicians start feeling the itch to learn an instrument. A lot of kids start playing an instrument for the same reason kids do a lot of things: to become very skilled at something, and subsequently show off how skilled you are. Which is cool, in that the beginner’s drive, and the rush of learning a skill, can really help push you down the road toward mastery. Some musicians eventually stop caring so much whether everyone notices them shredding, and some don’t. 

I started to realize this dynamic at a pretty early age, fortunately sparing me the messy trial and error I probably would have undergone otherwise. The best lesson in soloing I’ve ever learned is one I learned when I was 16.

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