One of my favorite random categories of music is albums that take their name from and subsequently shape their sound and message around a place. Panopticon's stellar
Kentucky is a sterling example, blending black metal with the local flavor of bluegrass in addition to the strife encountered by the state's coal workers. Though I've driven through, I haven't spent much time in Kentucky, and so my experiences and feelings around
Kentucky are filtered through things I've read, seen, and heard about the state, including
Kentucky. I'm using the experiences of others to create my own idea of a place, to form my own associations with it; for all I know, it's all a lie, and my idea of Kentucky is completely false. Trevor Shelley de Brauw's debut solo album
Uptown is named after a Chicago neighborhood in which I've spent a fair bit of time, has no such issues.
