{"id":5314,"date":"2025-09-19T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/5-albums-i-cant-live-without-ken-vasoli-of-the-starting-line\/"},"modified":"2025-09-19T14:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T14:00:00","slug":"5-albums-i-cant-live-without-ken-vasoli-of-the-starting-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/5-albums-i-cant-live-without-ken-vasoli-of-the-starting-line\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Albums I Can\u2019t Live Without:\u00a0Ken Vasoli of the Starting Line"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/09\/143A8805.jpg\" width=\"1290\" height=\"860\" alt=\"Ken Vasoli of the Starting Line. (Credit:Lupe Bustos)\"><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>Name\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<a><\/a><a>Ken Vasoli of the Starting Line<\/a><\/p>\n<p>More from Spin:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spin.com\/2025\/09\/yungblud-aerosmith-ep\/\">YUNGBLUD Rocks With Aerosmith On \u2018More\u2019 EP<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spin.com\/2025\/09\/deep-cut-friday-tombstone-blues-by-bob-dylan\/\">Deep Cut Friday: \u2018Tombstone Blues\u2019 by Bob Dylan<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spin.com\/2025\/09\/patrick-shiroishi-knows-how-memory-works\/\">Patrick Shiroishi Knows How Memory Works<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Best known for<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Lifer song and dance man. Simultaneous professional bass player\/semi-professional singer. Bleached hair 1999-2003.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Current city\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Philadelphia, PA.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Really want to be in<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0I wouldn\u2019t mind retiring in El Pescadero, Mexico. I would enjoy beach life with the family. Great eating and surfing, perhaps improving my skills at the latter.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a><\/a><strong>Excited about<\/strong>\u00a0<a><\/a><a><\/a>\u00a0First baby due in November! First TSL album in 18 years coming out in September,\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.startinglinerock.com\/listen\" target=\"_blank\">Eternal Youth<\/a><\/em>\u00a0on our own label Lineage Recordings. Our first headline\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.startinglinerock.com\/tour-dates\" target=\"_blank\">tour<\/a>\u00a0in 17 years is pounding the pavement in a few weeks as I write this. Big year!<\/p>\n<p><strong>My current music collection has a lot of\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0My record shelves hold quite a large selection of instrumental albums. Anywhere from instrumental hip-hop, electronic, jazz to experimental, Italian soundtracks, library records, and everywhere in between. I\u2019m not sure exactly why I gravitate to these kinds of albums, but I do enjoy the aspect of no meanings being assigned to the songs through traditional lyric delivery. It allows the music to tell its own story and control the momentum solely with mood and texture. Plenty of unexpected gems to be found in this territory of record digging.<\/p>\n<p><strong>And a little bit of<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0I keep a healthy supply of soul records in house. I adore Curtis Mayfield and Barry White, both amazing songwriters and impressive producers. I collected quite a few of their records over the years, especially \u201870s Barry. They are easy LPs to find and consistently hit VERY hard.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Preferred format<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Vinyl is my preferred method of listening. I love the ritual of putting on a record and cooking or simply relaxing in the living room as it spins, it\u2019s hard to beat that experience. If I\u2019m driving, running, or walking, streaming has forced my hand, but I\u2019m not proud of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<lite-youtube videoid=\"ohd4N6GPhTs\" style=\"bottom: 0; height: 100%; left: 0; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; width: 100%; max-width:100%;\"><\/lite-youtube>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-5-albums-i-can-t-live-without\"><strong><u>5 Albums I Can\u2019t Live Without:<\/u><\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-1\">1<\/h2>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-clinging-to-a-scheme-the-radio-dept\"><strong><em>Clinging to a Scheme<\/em>, The Radio Dept.<\/strong><\/h2>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1258\" height=\"1220\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/09\/Clinging-to-a-Scheme-Radio-Dept.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-473172\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/09\/Clinging-to-a-Scheme-Radio-Dept.png 1258w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/09\/Clinging-to-a-Scheme-Radio-Dept-340x330.png 340w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/09\/Clinging-to-a-Scheme-Radio-Dept-768x745.png 768w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/09\/Clinging-to-a-Scheme-Radio-Dept-498x483.png 498w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1258px) 100vw, 1258px\"><\/figure>\n<p>The Radio Dept. and this record in particular delivers a flawless and delightful example of understated melodic brilliance. There is nothing to skip here, it\u2019s a shimmering gem front to back. The elevator pitch would be to call this a lo-fi pop record, but that description really undersells the delicate perfection in TRD\u2019s songwriting. The music on\u00a0<em>Clinging to a Scheme<\/em>\u00a0is minimal but measured so perfectly. The drums are all programmed or looped on relatively rudimentary sounding equipment, while the clean guitars, warm keys, and calming vocals float and fold into the sequences with tact and humble nuance. The lyrics are flawlessly penned with lines that read both sensitive and profoundly bold.\u00a0\u00a0As a bass player, I LOVE how much the lines play into the upper register of the neck and also get doused in a slick spring reverb from time to time. I play this album and am able to instantly conjure a memory of riding my bike on a hot day in 2010, bombing down an empty hill feeling the wind cool my skin and pure bliss while these songs filled my ears. A perfect moment.<\/p>\n<p>Funny story! A few years after I fell in love with this album I played some festival shows in Australia alongside another favorite band of mine, Millencolin. One night at a fest after-party, I saw the singer of Millencolin standing next right outside the bar. I felt bold and introduced myself as a fellow musician and longtime fan. We engaged in small chit chat. I knew that Millencolin were from Sweden, so I had excitedly asked him if he listened to the Radio Dept. (also from Sweden and have been at it for quite some time). Do you know what he said??? \u201c\u2026No.\u201d That conversation pretty much wrapped up then and there.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-2\">2<\/h2>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-some-kind-of-cadwallader-algernon-cadwallader\"><strong><em>Some Kind of Cadwallader<\/em>, Algernon Cadwallader<\/strong><\/h2>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.spin.com\/app\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Some-Kind-Of-Cadwallader-Algernon-Cadwallader-1-1290x1252.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-473203\"><\/figure>\n<p>I\u2019m realizing through this exercise that I achieve different benefits from specific records that I favor in the collection, this one in particular delivers a sure shot, supercharged dose of happiness to my dopamine receptors. Algernon has always impressed me since the get-go. Full disclosure, they happen to be friends and from the neighborhood, but that plays zero part in securing this coveted No. 2 spot. Just a solid bonus! I\u2019ve had the pleasure of seeing Algernon Cadwallader perform everywhere from Gazebos and VFWs to the finest Philadelphia stages over the years. They have always struck me as one of the most uniquely original modern punk bands of my generation, not just locally but globally! These guys are undisputed trendsetters. I hear their influence in countless bands who came to follow. They nail this signature combination of glass sharp dueling guitar tones and heady rhythms juxtaposing one of the most on-point raw, guttural vocalists in the game who also manages to display impressive pitch control. Perhaps the most naturally \u201ccool\u201d bands I\u2019ve come to know and love. They\u2019ve never taken themselves too seriously or compromised their style to serve mainstream audiences. Always retaining their magic and integrity every step the way.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This debut album, Some Kind Of Cadwallader, felt like a classic punk piece to my ears upon first listen. Equal parts airtight performances with just enough scrappy rambunctious energy equating to a brilliant sonic roistering. The moment I heard the gang hook erupt \u201cOh man, it\u2019s taken me over!\u201d on Track 2, I knew this LP would be a mainstay of the music collection. Big fun-in-the-sun, skateboards-by-the-beach kind of music. I only recently started looking up the words I was previously unable to decipher by ear and I can now confirm the lyrical wit is by all accounts unmatched!\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A beautiful coincidence. Early into dating my now wife a decade ago I visited her apartment in her home state of Texas. I was thumbing through her record collection and was joyously surprised to discover that she also owns and loves this Algernon record. Now we have two copies in our home! Kismet!<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-3\">3<\/h2>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-you-fail-me-converge\"><strong><em>You Fail Me<\/em>, Converge\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1414\" height=\"1226\" src=\"https:\/\/www.spin.com\/app\/uploads\/2025\/09\/YOu-Fail-Me-Converge-2.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-473180\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.spin.com\/app\/uploads\/2025\/09\/YOu-Fail-Me-Converge-2.png 1414w, https:\/\/www.spin.com\/app\/uploads\/2025\/09\/YOu-Fail-Me-Converge-2-340x295.png 340w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1414px) 100vw, 1414px\"><\/figure>\n<p>This is the unequivocally heaviest record I\u2019ve ever heard by my absolute favorite heavy band. Listening to Converge music is not typically a shared experience for me. This is the only album of my five picks that I\u2019m ashamed to say I don\u2019t own on vinyl, for the sole reason I fear I would likely disrupt my loved ones in the household if I amplified this pummeling masterpiece through the living room speakers. (My wife has affectionately referred to this as \u201cdude music.\u201d) Therefore this is a bigtime headphones and solo car ride album for this dude. I am a runner. Not a fast one, but I do run often. I\u2019ve timed myself repeatedly and I can scientifically say with confidence NO ONE MAKES ME RUN FASTER than Converge (by a huge margin!). This album is the perfect example of brutal sonic violence with unmatched rhythmic intelligence and relentless intensity within the punk universe.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The sonics on\u00a0<em>You Fail Me<\/em>\u00a0are downright blistering! I purposely chose the \u201cRedux\u201d version for the newer and improved Kurt Ballou mix. The sound has a deep low-end gut punch, the finest bass guitar growling tone I could ever dream up,\u00a0\u00a0and drums that BITE like a goddamn grizzly bear. Some other great albums have a one-two punch with exciting first tracks, right? Well, this baby has six devastating haymakers lined up immediately after the \u201cFirst Light\u201d bending guitar intro. No other music energizes me quite like Converge does, especially on this album. For that alone, they deserve a clinched spot in this hypothetical eternal rotation.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-4\">4<\/h2>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-shades-of-blue-madlib-invades-blue-note-madlib\"><em>Shades of Blue:\u00a0Madlib Invades Blue Note<\/em>, Madlib<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1450\" height=\"1402\" src=\"https:\/\/www.spin.com\/app\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Shades-of-Blue.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-473177\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.spin.com\/app\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Shades-of-Blue.png 1450w, https:\/\/www.spin.com\/app\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Shades-of-Blue-340x329.png 340w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1450px) 100vw, 1450px\"><\/figure>\n<p>This monumental album is a perfectly executed culmination of several personal favorite aspects of the music world, namely the union of top shelf instrumental hip-hop production and the legendary Blue Note Records jazz archives. It is of my own passionate opinion that Otis Jackson Jr., a.k.a. Madlib, is the greatest living producer this world has to offer. There is something in the way his pocket always sits so flawlessly in a collage of supremely chosen instruments and textures weaving together with such charismatic style. I think this album best showcases the man\u2019s extraordinary talents as an audio visionary with a knack for sample-based production far ahead of his time. I marvel at the achievement of how he blurs the line between sampled and recorded material so seamlessly. I house plenty of jazz as well as instrumental hip-hop records in the collection, since neither of these genres are represented on the rest of this list,\u00a0<em>Shades of Blue<\/em>\u00a0is an absolute no-brainer to keep on deck forevermore.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-5\">5<\/h2>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-selected-ambient-works-volume-ii-aphex-twin\"><strong><em>Selected Ambient Works Volume II<\/em>, Aphex Twin<\/strong><\/h2>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1266\" height=\"1272\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/09\/Selected-Ambient-Works-Volume-II-Aphex-Twin.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-473175\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/09\/Selected-Ambient-Works-Volume-II-Aphex-Twin.png 1266w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/09\/Selected-Ambient-Works-Volume-II-Aphex-Twin-340x342.png 340w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/09\/Selected-Ambient-Works-Volume-II-Aphex-Twin-768x772.png 768w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/09\/Selected-Ambient-Works-Volume-II-Aphex-Twin-498x500.png 498w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1266px) 100vw, 1266px\"><\/figure>\n<p>I recently had dinner catching up with a longtime friend and electronic music collaborator, and he joked that the older and deeper one gets in this genre of music [it] always leads to collecting ambient albums and cassette tapes, and I am admittedly guilty of both right on schedule. Coincidentally he was also revisiting\u00a0<em>SAW VII<\/em>\u00a0regularly in his recent listening rotation. This brought up an intriguing question: asking each other what it is that makes this record so special?\u00a0\u00a0My friend\u2019s response was something astute along the lines of \u201cit\u2019s just so innocent.\u201d That really stuck with me and I couldn\u2019t agree more.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>To know Richard D. James and his body of work, is to understand that his style of sound is fearlessly ever-changing while existing in his own vast (yet cohesive) universe. He is perhaps best known for his work on more drum-and-bass-leaning records. This album is essentially and famously drum-less, practically wordless while revealing from its core a sprawling sonic bed of transcendently stretched and drenched loops blossoming with marvelous grace. The music itself feels like an effortless and purely guilt-free expression of art. There was speculation between my friend and I if some of these pieces were initially unfinished starts intended for more elaborate final compositions. Regardless of whether or not that theory holds water, Richard made a masterfully prophetic decision to exercise such an elevated level of restraint by keeping the field of sound so confidently minimal. The experience of listening to this record is unlike any others in my collection, it emits a potently hypnotic transmission. I find it can transform the room in a drastic way. As boneless and wordless as this album is, it somehow feels CATCHY in a way that my brain gravitates towards before any pop song melody I\u2019ve heard in my life. I feel as though could listen to that same \u201c#21\u201d arrangement on loop for an eternity, and have caught myself humming that tune in my head with no accompaniment.<\/p>\n<p>I nabbed the 4-LP Expanded Edition of this album earlier this year and the records have rarely left the turntable. That\u2019s the other nice thing about this album, the music is sprawling, plentiful and never rushed. It\u2019s an unforgettable floating trip across a divinely serene atmosphere. One of my favorite parts of the 2024 physical record is a message included in the \u201cRhubarb Notes\u201d written by Richard. It reads: \u201cMy mum gave me so much love, dedicated her life to me, filled me to the brim with confidence, and somehow managed to be a nurse at the same time. That love she gave can now be felt by millions all over the world and beyond through this music. Thanks for everything Lorna James!\u201d As a guy who lost his mom four years ago, these words hit me with a weighty significance and drew my relationship to this music even closer. What a magnificent triumph to honor the irreplaceable love of a mother. Bravo, Richard.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spin.com\/2021\/07\/the-greatest-rock-stars-of-all-time\/?utm_source=yahoo&amp;utm_medium=bottomlink&amp;utm_campaign=yahoolink\">click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Name\u00a0\u00a0Ken Vasoli of the Starting Line More from Spin: YUNGBLUD Rocks With Aerosmith On \u2018More\u2019 EP Deep Cut Friday: \u2018Tombstone Blues\u2019 by Bob Dylan Patrick Shiroishi Knows How Memory Works&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[262,3705,166,3817,31,3818,24,3819],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-5-albums-i-cant-live-without","category-algernon-cadwallader","category-aphex-twin","category-converge","category-features","category-madlib","category-pushly","category-the-starting-line"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5314\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}