2018: the year in review.

2018 is over.

wow.

it was a busy year, filled with lots of cool stuff...definitely my most productive yet, and I appreciate the continued support.

digitally ascendant was nominated for DELETE TV's best of the year...didn't win, though.

run until you're out debuted at new noise and screened as part of the coney island film festival.

I curated the first solo show by beeple and got a mention in vice.

I took over as director of where in the hell is the lavender house, a feature documentary about longmont potion castle.

...and the lavender house soundtrack made it onto billboard's top comedy albums chart for a week.

my latest art video, (memories of) degraded realms, debuted at autumn electronix II.

I made a video for street sects that's online...but it's technically "unofficial." maybe I'll post an explanation of my process here in the coming days...

lastly, I successfully crowdfunded my next narrative film, which will be shooting in the spring.


so, yeah...super busy...more news about my own creative work can be found here.

as busy and stressful as all of this has been, it's also been the most creatively fulfilling year of my life. 2019 is already looking to be even more action-packed...besides the narrative short, I'm gonna be cranking out a new video art piece in the next month and a half, filming a legendary band at irving plaza, figuring out distribution plans for the LPC doc, and hopefully curating a show by a ground-breaking visual artist that I can't yet discuss...fingers crossed that there'll be more on that soon.

as I continue to refine my literary and visual practices, I know that my best work is still ahead of me and that, more than anything else, is what makes me excited for the future...and in this day and age, we have to draw excitement and satisfaction from whatever we can despite the world looking more and more hopeless and dysfunctional every day.

a few of my favorite albums are below. they're probably not as underground as you all might like, but it is what it is.


___

best of the year, in no particular order

rebel wizard - voluptuous worship of rapture and response
by far the album that I listened to the most this year...riffs that bury themselves in your brain and never let go.


imperial triumphant - vile luxury
jazzy, progressive, and super weird...plus, I love the art deco new york city imagery.


portrayal of guilt - let pain be your guide
reminds me of pg.99...violent, urgent, and vital.


a perfect circle - eat the elephant
arguably the worst cover art of the year (although that's a tight race), but maynard's performance is fucking great, as usual.


xavlegbmaofffassssitimiwoamndutroabcwapwaeiippohfffx - gore 2.0
I can't decide if this is hilariously amazing or amazingly hilarious, but it's dumb, fun, and surprisingly well-crafted...and sometimes we all need music like that.


thou - magus
those EPs were just appetizers for this, the main course...and it delivers in a more immediate, memorable way than heathen.


bašmu - infernal circles of the sabbat
murky and dark with just the right vocal timbre.


esoctrilihum - inhüma
this band put out not one but two stellar releases this year, and both are worthy of your time and money...but where are the vinyl versions?


street sects - the kicking mule
great people making great music who are building the following that they deserve...music video is viewable, so do me a favor and check it out.


tsunxmi - pictures of you
bludhoney is a great label with consistent, quality material and great packaging.


the rita - sharks and the female form
one of the most inventive packages in my collection, I'll never hesitate to pick up anything sam puts out.


marsh dweller - wanderer
completely different from the last record, which threw me for a loop at first...but this scratches an itch that I haven't felt since isis called it quits.


cult leader - a patient man
perfect blend of hardcore insanity with more mellow, reflective moments.


bonedust - fruit of the ash
this was released digitally in 2017 but came out in physical form in 2018 via lee's excellent label...absolutely stellar in every way.


portal - ion
it's portal...what more can I say?


unholy vampyric slaughter sect - the power of unordained light
originally I had GVAU on here...but this one blows it away.


chapel of disease - ...and as we have seen the storm, we have embraced the eye
another unexpected, last-minute addition...amazing guitar work that lingers in my head for days at a time.


___


that's it for now.

if you've got a sound project and are interested in a visual element, shoot me an email.

2016 comes to a close.

I can't believe that metallic imagery has now been in existence for four years.

sometimes it feels like it's been a lot longer, sometimes a lot shorter...

and while the last three hundred and sixty-five days haven't brought a lot of posts, they have brought a whole lot of personal and professional triumphs.

my girlfriend made a film that's played at a few festivals across the country...it's great and I'm so proud of her.

I've made multiple videos that have played in the united states and europe. I've worked with a whole bunch of musicians whom I really admire.

and we're working on a really awesome webseries that I know a whole lot of you will be into.

all in the continued pursuit of creative and financial freedom.

new music has played an integral role in all of this, it's just a shame that so much of it is readily available online.

and it's also a shame that I don't have nearly as much time nor energy to scour the storefronts of obscure labels and distros hunting for undiscovered gems as I used to...

but metallic imagery has continued, and will continue.


since it's also the end of the year, my list of favorite albums is below.

no subsections, no qualifiers, nothing extraneous - these are just my favorite things that I heard this year, from limited-run tapes to big releases.

streaming links are included as available...


1. sanguine relic - blood on old altars in remembrance.
2. fallujah - dreamless.
3. el-ahrairah - self-titled.
4. oathbreaker - rheia.
5. uškumgallu - rotten limbs in dreams of blood.
6. cobalt - slow forever.
7. marsh dweller - the weight of sunlight.
8. blood incantation - starspawn.
9. bastard of majesty sin - monument of gathered whore bones.
10. chthe'ilist - le dernier crépuscule.
11. wreck and reference - indifferent rivers romance end.
12. katatonia - the fall of hearts.
13. street sects - end position.
14. youth code - commitment to complications.
15. agoraphobic nosebleed - arc.
16. mizmor - yodh.
17. forteresse - thèmes pour la rébellion.
18. orgy of carrion - obscured ceremonies under hell moon.
19. alcest - kodama.
20. 40 watt sun - wider than the sky.

best of 2014, part two.

time to just get this out...lots of great new releases to post, so let's finish this....

no particular order, as always.



1. thou - heathen

hypnotic and crushing, easily thou's best full-length effort. despite it's length, this record distills thou down to their very essence.



2. gridlink - longhena

even if this does turn out to be the final gridlink album (which is looking very likely), I can't imagine them going out on a more perfect note. I don't listen to a lot of grind anymore, but this record represents everything I ever loved about the genre.



3. pyrrhon - mother of virtues

the most chaotic and complex death metal release I heard all year. there's a lot to process here but it certainly rewards repeated listens.



4. harakiri for the sky - aokigahara

honestly, this was probably my favorite album of 2014. this record takes everything I love about black metal - riffs, melody, beauty, and agony - and ties them all together in an incredible package. how this album hasn't gotten more love is totally bewildering.



5. jute gyte - ressentiment

I said this last year, but jute gyte will always have a spot reserved on my year-end lists. probably the most compositionally complex black metal release of the year.



6. behemoth - the satanist

just the fact that this album exists at all is amazing, and the fact that it's this good puts it over the top...that guitar solo on messe noire crushes every single time.



7. godflesh - a world lit only by fire

speaking of crushing...that's what godflesh have always specialized in, and this comeback record picks up right where they left off.



8. black crown initiate - the wreckage of stars

yes, this could probably be described as deathcore, but I don't care. great vocal stylings and great riffs, hopefully even better things have yet to come from this young band...



9. wreck & reference - want

probably the strangest "heavy" album I heard all year, it required multiple listens to really crack this one, but it's worth the reward.



10. a pregnant light - my game doesn't have a name

damian master's APL has undergone such a drastic stylistic change over the last two years that it's almost staggering...but it's incredible to bear witness to someone so unafraid of throwing prevailing genre conventions and expectations to the wind. melodic and heavy in all the right places, I can't wait to see what comes next.



11. indian - from all purity

right up there with heathen as one of the most crushing releases of the year. this is pure ugliness, pure vengeance, pure hatred...with a good dose of noise thrown in to make it all the more destructive.



12. the great old ones - tekeli-li

the lovecraft schtick is really easy to get wrong - countless bands do nothing but re-appropriate the great author's creatures and themes, and unfortunately they don't possess the talent to back it up. but the great old ones are incredible musicians who use lovecraft's work as a jumping-off point to explore so much more.



13. saor - aura

probably the most outright beautiful black metal release of the year. so many of the folk-influenced passage hearken back to the music I grew up listening to, so I found a lot of comfort in the majestic chaos contained within.



14. blut aus nord - memoria vetusta III: saturnian poetry

after the experimental 777 trilogy, this record finds blut aus nord returning to a more traditional sound, and they haven't lost a step on that front.



15. woods of desolation - as the stars

this record has received a decent amount of year-end praise and I'm glad to see it being appreciated. so dark and so deep, much like a night sky littered with stars.

best of 2014, part one.

better late than never, right?

here are two lists, with one more to follow.

I wanted to give my favorite cassettes a little more attention this year, as there were some particularly great releases. music wasn't the sole qualifier here - packaging played a major role in determining this list.

all have either been featured here or on other excellent blogs of which you're all probably already aware.

and after that, you'll find my favorite non-extreme albums of 2014.

enjoy.

part two will follow soon enough.

and, as always, these are in no particular order.




1. various artists - the goat

incredibly brutal, with great variety. this double cassette compilation never gets old. it's probably all sold out, but definitely worth tracking down. stream it here.

2. cremation lily - lines of golden light

one of the most soothing, beautiful pieces of music and packages of the year. absolutely stellar in every way, I can't get enough of this one. totally worth whatever you can pay for it.


3. death kneel - lilac and benzine

destructive and contemplative at the same time, with a killer package, to boot...especially if you got one of the first twenty-five copies, as I did. stream it here.



4. body of light - limits of reason

not the most memorable packaging, but easily some of the most memorable, catchy songs of the year. body of light is the gold standard for this type of dark, synth-based sound and this tape captures them at the height of their craft.


5. dual action - nightmare angel of the expressways

this eight cassette box was not cheap and very hard to find, but it's worth it in every way. there's a little bit of everything on here, ranging from soothing and ambient to utterly caustic.


6. herukrat - I bear witness

so far this is jackson's crowning achievement, but I expect even this will be surpassed soon enough. regardless, great packaging from total black and an incredible auditory experience within. check it out here.


7. culver - vampires of the third reich

I'm not normally into drone, but these harsh drones from lee stokoe's prolific culver project are just perfect. they straddle the line between brutal and soothing, totally enveloping the listener in the process. plus, the packaging is perfectly curated - colorful yet unsettling.


8. various artists - eden in reeds

bleak environment finally returned this year after a lengthy absence, and this double cassette compilation is the perfect statement of renewed vigor. multiple artists, each completely different from the next, coalesce to form something totally unified.


9. arv & miljö - antropocen

matthias andersson just knocks it out of the park every time, and this release on the inimitable lust vessel label is no different. great noise in a great package, definitely one to track down - copies are available on discogs.


10. dead body collection & j.adolphe - deep into the halls

by far the most sonically diverse release in dead body collection's massive catalog, this collaboration is absolutely first-rate. bringing dr. alex's walls together with jan warnke's ambience, this is one of the most cohesive collaborative efforts I've ever heard. stream it here.






non-extreme albums of the year, also in no particular order:

1. nebelung - palingenesis
2. wovenhand - refractory obdurate
3. run the jewels - run the jewels 2
4. atmosphere - southsiders
5. barren harvest - subtle cruelties
6. aphex twin - syro
7. disemballerina - undertaker
8. banks - goddess
9. interpol - el pintor
10. sun kil moon - benji




part two coming soon....

best of 2013 - part two.

as always, this list is in no particular order and certainly not meant to be definitive. there was a ton of great stuff this year and ranking everything was difficult and, at times, arbitrary - several could easily be swapped out for others.

these are all widely available in (almost) any format you could possibly want - digital and/or analog.

no links will be provided - find them on your own (many are available on bandcamp) and buy whichever ones you enjoy the most. they're all worth your time and money.



top twenty wide releases.

1. a.m.s.g. - anti-cosmic tyranny

satanic, noisy black metal. who ever would have thought a saxophone could be so seamlessly woven into such brutality?

2. the body - christs, redeemers

epic and wintery noise that was the perfect soundtrack to fall. brutal and beautiful all at once.

3. gorguts - colored sands

I could say I was worried this would tarnish their legacy, but that would be a lie. I knew this one would be incredible and it delivered perfectly.

4. circle takes the square - decompositions: volume number one

this one, however, I was worried about. and although it's certainly no as the roots undo, it has an identity all it's own and shows a band that's far more capable and eager to progress than most would've thought.

5. cultes des ghoules - henbane

this one totally took me by surprise. after one listen I wasn't sold, but once I was in there was no looking back.

6. subrosa - more constant than the gods

to say I was excited for this album would be a huge understatement. is it better than no help for the might ones? probably not, but that doesn't mean it isn't an incredible and worthwhile work in it's own right.

7. gris - à l'âme enflammée, l'äme constellée...

the first of two double albums on this list, this new gris record is just what traditional black metal should be. it features interludes between every track that provide a great break from the chaos. an essential release.

8. locrian - return to annihilation

another one that I was hugely anticipating. locrian produce some of the only dark ambient music that I have the patience for, mainly because it's so richly textured and has just the right amount of black metal thrown into the mix.

9. fell voices - regnum saturni

I wasn't a huge fan of fell voices prior to this release, but regnum saturni made me a believer. so raw, so tortured, so dense - just impeccable. 

10. pharmakon - abandon

my girlfriend and I had the pleasure of seeing a live pharmakon performance a few months ago and it was every bit as brutal as I had hoped. can't wait for whatever comes next...

11. deafheaven - sunbather

I don't care how "metal" or not people may think this album is - either way, it's simply astounding. epic, beautiful, and furious, often all at once, there isn't anything else like it out there.

12. christicide - upheaval of the soul

another pleasant surprise, I checked this out when I heard it was being released by hospital productions. angry but strangely melodic black metal with surprisingly strong production.

13. portal - vexovoid

it's portal, what more can I say? I love this band and this album is just as suffocating as we all hoped but with much more clear and precise production - exactly what I was hoping for.

14. cosmic chruch - ylistys

I wasn't in love the previous cosmic church full-length, but this one is absolutely untouchable - easily one of the best black metal releases in recent memory. 

15. wolvserpent - perigaea antahkarana

moody and entrancing doomy blackness...I don't know how else to describe wolvserpent's relapse debut. oh, and excellent.

16. jute gyte - discontinuities

jute gyte never disappoint - that's all there is to it. whatever black metal record adam releases next, I guarantee it'll end up on that year's best-of list, too.

17. FFH - make them understand

the long-awaited debut from this hospital productions staple. the vinyl sold out quickly and then went up for insane prices on discogs. do whatever you can to track it down...

18. the dillinger escape plan - one of us is the killer

I love miss machine and ire works, but wasn't crazy about the last DEP record. well, this one has restored my faith. crushing and catchy, they weave melody into heavy music better than anyone.

19. celeste - animale(s)

the second double-album on here, celeste's newest release is pure blackened hardcore fury with just the right amount of restraint.

20. youth code - youth code

I have no idea what genre this is, but it's still brutal as all hell. there's some industrial, some darkwave, and a whole lot more. they make it all coalesce perfectly.

____

obviously this was an excellent year for extreme music, and there are already several releases in store for 2014 that I'm dying to hear. 

and again - do your best to purchase any of the above albums that you love, then see the artists live and buy their merchandise.

every bit of our support only helps them produce more of the music we love so much.

best of 2013 - part one.

crafting end of the year lists is frustrating, especially because there are always a few critics and bloggers who decry the given year as one of the worst ever for new music.

but incredible music comes out every year, and if you don't believe that, you're just not looking hard enough.

here are my favorite splits, cassettes, and non-extreme albums that came out this year.

each list is in no particular order.

my top twenty metal and noise releases will follow tomorrow.


top ten splits.
1. ames sanglantes / alberich
2. akitsa / ash pool
3. aylwin / stellar descent
4. a pregnant light / deeper wells
5. the rita / caligula031
6. sun worship / unru
7. vestiges / panopticon
8. torturing nurse / the rita / safe / vomir
9. botanist / palace of worms
10. mare cognitum / spectral lore


top ten cassettes.
1. cremation lily - it's ok to say no
2. the rita - retrospective two
3. werewolf jerusalem - curse of the crimson altar
4. paysage d'hiver - das tor
5. vomir - en dehors, en rien
6. dressed in streams - the search for blood
7. various artists - svn okklt
8. blodvite - falskt spektrum
9. various artists - frozen in time
10. a pregnant light - domination harmony


top ten non-extreme releases.
1. the uncluded - hokey fright
2. queens of the stone age - ...like clockwork
3. autechre - exai
4. man's gin - rebellion hymns
5. vatican shadow - remember your black day
6. boards of canada - tomorrow's harvest
7. run the jewels - run the jewels
8. shane carruth - upstream color original soundtrack
9. lux interna - there is light in the body, there is blood in the sun
10. croatian amor - the world

best of 2012 addendum, part 2.

here's another bonus list, this time filled with my top twenty noise and avant-garde releases of the year.

as always, in no particular order.


1. cremation lily - votive mirror
2. various - port out, starboard home
3. black church - heaven's temple fails to rise
4. material sequence - residual grid
5. tollund men - looking for love/chains of desire
6. diamond mare - I saw the sky
7. croatian amor - mermaids of jadransko
8. deadmoths - asylum dreams
9. locrian & mamiffer - bless them that curse you
10. sutekh hexen with andrew liles - breed in me the darkness
11. theologian - the chasms of my heart
12. circle of eyes - s/t
13. nocturnal poisoning - other worlds of the mind
14. thisquietarmy - phantom limbs
15. f.e. denning - rites of passage
16. loscil - sketches from new brighton
17. vomir/wet dream asphyxiation - untitled
18. nadja - dagdrøm
19. crown of cerberus - awakening
20. lussuria - american babylon I, II, & III

best of 2012 addendum, part 1.

as a little added bonus, here are my top ten non-metal albums of the year.

once again, in no particular order.


1. el-p - cancer 4 cure
2. grizzly bear - shields
3. death grips - the money store
4. flying lotus - until the quiet comes
5. swans - the seer
6. godspeed you! black emperor - 'allelujah! don't bend! ascend!
7. aesop rock - skelethon
8. deftones - koi no yokan
9. die antwoord - ten$ion
10. hexvessel - no holier temple


addendum part two coming soon.

best of 2012.

here are four best-of-the-year lists for your reading pleasure - twenty widely released albums, ten cassettes, ten splits, and ten digital releases. each list is in no particular order.

it was an especially great year for cassettes, splits, and digital from small labels.

these albums are readily available all over the internet for free. but please buy something if you like it.

top twenty widely-released albums
menace ruine - alight in ashes

evoken - atra mors

elysian blaze - blood geometry

panopticon - kentucky

sutekh hexen - larvae

wrathprayer - the sun of moloch…

rage nucléaire - unrelenting fucking hatred

wildernessking - the writing of gods in the sand

baroness - yellow & green

mutilation rites - empyrean

worm ouroboros - come the thaw

mgla - with hearts toward none

mares of thrace - the pilgrimage

cryptopsy - s/t

bosse-de-nage - III

drudkh - eternal turn of the wheel

pseudogod - death womb catechesis

horseback - half blood

ash borer - cold of ages

pig destroyer - book burner

top ten cassettes

this station of life - plastic fire

rhinocervs - rh-12

rhinocervs - rh-14

ash pool - cremation is irreversible

dommedagssalme - to that which lies dormant

dressed in streams - s/t

voltur - obscuritas incantamentum

grinning death's head - golden dawn

hell - hell III

torture chain - time is but a doorway to the incinerator

top ten splits

absum/odz manouk

a pregnant light/obscure lupine quietus

wheels within wheels/merkaba

thou/hell

barghest/false

muknal/the haunting presence

trist/lonesummer

white medal/cäina

year of no light/altar of plagues

yellow eyes/monument

top ten digital/self-releases

ekadzati - s/t

thenn - threshing the golden fields

jute gyte - senescence

venowl - patterns of failure

cellgraft - s/t

acédia - l'exil

book of sand - mourning star

mare cognitum - an extraconscious lucidity

dephosphorus - night sky transform

botanist - III: doom in bloom

what did I miss?