2010 Listens

Not sure I’ll get to the record store before the end of the year, so here it goes… These are the only releases from 2010 to come into my collection this year, most of what I’ve purchased has been older.

I’m a little embarrassed to say I really only bought one of these, Grinderman. Bindrune Recordings is a label I helped found, Detrivore came as an unsolicited promo, and the others are projects of comrades who were kind enough to send copies my way. (none of them were mp3 downloads)

Blood Of The Black Owl - A Banishing Ritual (Brindrune Recordings)
Celestiial - Where Life Springs Eternal (Bindrune Recordings)
Detrivore – Pakt (Lyderhorn Records)
Grinderman – Grinderman 2 (Anti/Mute)
Luasa Raelon – Vampyre: Light Of The Beast (Fatal Beliefs)
posted about this here
Nazca – Out (Geoglyph Records)
posted about this here
Nechochwen – Azimuths To The Underworld (Bindrune Recordings)
The Urge Within – Blood Red Sun (Malsonus)

I’d recommend every one of these, there is some exceptional music there.

Hit the links for Luasa Raelon and Nazca, Grinderman should need no introduction.

The Urge Within release contains a previously unreleased track that was to appear on the “Those Of The Long Shadows” compilation I had planned to release on Crionic Mind until unemployment killed the label. Also included is the first new music from the project in years. The Urge Within is Jonathan Canady & David E. Williams doing churning and gritty Death Industrial

Blood Of The Black Owl is the is a project masterminded by Chet Scott. “The Banishing Ritual” is the third installment in the Black Owl triptych and may or may not be the last. Ritualistic Blackened Doom, epic spiritual purge.

Celestiial Ambient Woodland Doom, transcendental soundscapes and crushing dirges  – brushed with melody. Submerge.

Detrivore is a an project I hadn’t heard of until it showed up. Post-Doom maybe? Enjoyable, and unique.

Nechochwen combines Neo-folk and Black Metal elements revolving around Native American themes. The musicianship is top notch, some great material here.

Addendum:
I did make it to the record store and picked up a couple releases that came out in 2010.
Agalloch – Marrow Of The Spirit (Profound Lore)
Jesu – Heart Ache/dethroned (Hydra Head)

If I had to guess, the album I have listened to the most this year:

Blacklist - Midnight Of The Century (Weird Records)
Released last year, but I didn’t pick it up until this year. Outstanding modern Post-Punk. Everything about this records is spot on. Here’s a taste…

Nightmares on Tour

If you are in the midwest Nightmares a new project featuring Jonathan Canady, Mark Solotroff and David Reed will be hitting the road shortly for a brief tour. You can find all the important info here.

Jonathan Canady is best known for his projects Angel of Decay, Deathpile and Dead World. Mark Solotroff best known for Bloodyminded, Intrinsic Action and Bloodlust! Records. David Reed for Luasa Raelon and Envenomist. The three are combining forces for this phantasmagoria of analog synth goodness. I haven’t heard the project yet, but all three do great work on their own so the combination will no doubt be something genuinely special. They also have three new releases which I am sure will be available at the shows.

So if the tour comes through your area check them out. All three are good people, talented people and have been friends or supporters of what I do for a long time.

Torture Chamber/Gruntsplatter – Bisect

Wow, Amazon.com has a used copy of the “Bisect” cassette listed. This was released in 1995, and limited to 100 copies. It was the first release on Crionic Mind, and has been out of print for years. Torture Chamber was Jonathan Canady’s pre-Deathpile power electronics project, and the other member of Torture Chamber now does A Minority of One I believe. It was my first release, and is rather primitive but the core elements are there I think. I just had next to no gear back then. There are some reviews for it, mostly from Metal zines, when it was released on the Gruntsplatter page of my website under the “Split reviews” section.

The origin of the cover image of which many questions were asked over the years, most notably by the graphic designer I took it to to make the cover, is this… When I lived in San Diego I worked with a guy whose roommate worked for the coroner’s office. I didn’t really know the guy, only met him once or twice, I called him Dan Dan the Cadaver Man. I came home from work one day and a series of color photo copies had been shoved under my front door. This picture was one of them, and I can only imagine that Dan the Cadaver Man was responsible, I don’t remember actually seeing him after that to confirm.

In hindsight I wish I hadn’t used it actually, the fact that it was someone local and who had probably died not long before the image mysteriously appeared under my door, my conscience ultimately made me wish I had gone another direction with the art.

My side also features a tribute to Jeffrey Combs. I think this tape is the only Gruntsplatter release I have used samples on. It’s been a long time since I have listened to it. The Torture Chamber side is recorded live and features 4 tracks I believe, and mine is in the studio and is 8 or 9 tracks. If you have the Organ HarvestCDR I did of old and out of print stuff, the track  ”Anesthetized” was recorded around the same time as the tracks on this cassette to give you an idea of what to expect.

Anyway, I was surprised to see that, and if you are a completest of either myself or Jon’s music than it’s cheaper than you will probably see it on eBay.