Mixtapes

• Definitely Metal
• Not Metal

Definitely Metal - for Katie, 2020-04-20

A good sampling of the current extreme metal I’m excited about in 2020. download

• Krallice :: IIIIIIIIIIII (track 6) :: Years Past Matter
  Their first four albums are exactly what I want from Black Metal. After that the music got weird – technically impressive, but willfully difficult like avant jazz.
• Ash Borer :: The Irrepassable Gate :: The Irrepassable Gate
  Orthodox Cascadian Black Metal. One of my favorite bands for the last decade. The members have since moved on to many other fruitful projects.
• Corpsessed :: Sortilege :: Impetus of Death
  They’ve got a really solid and heavy sound. The drums feel immense.
• Portal :: ESP ION AGE :: Ion
  What is this stuff? What is wrong with the musicians? What is wrong with me that it’s one of my favorite albums of 2018?
• Blut Aus Nord :: Haallucinählia :: Hallucinogen
  French multi-instrumentalist Vindsval has been making all kinds of Black Metal under the Blut Aus Nord banner since the mid 90s. In the last decade the music has been more varied, incorporating electronic elements, and, with this release, some psychedelia.
• Tomb Mold :: Blood Mirror :: Manor of Infinite Forms
  A particularly nice example of what I think of as straight ahead Death Metal.
• Yellow Eyes :: Velvet on the Horns :: Immersion Trench Reverie
  I think of this as very pretty sounding music, which is an odd description given that the vocalist is screaming as if someone’s ripping out his innards.
• Aosoth :: Her Feet Upon the Earth, Blooming the Fruits of Blood :: V: The Inside Scriptures
  A hive of angry and enormous hornets pursues you through a church.
• Suffering Hour :: For the Putridity of Man :: In Passing Ascension
  Dissonant metal in the vein of Deathspell Omega, but without the orthodox Satanism, and with much less prominent vocals. A really solid debut album with good production.
• Jute Gyte :: Mansions of Fear, Mansions of Pain :: Ressentiment
  Microtonal Black Metal is never going to be a hit with the youth of today.
• Cobalt :: Arsonry :: Gin
  The album that got me into Extreme Metal. I love the lean and mean guitar tone.
• Salome :: Terminal :: Terminal
  Incredibly heavy doom and one of the best metal vocalists in the business (that’s a petite woman doing all that growling and screaming)
• Liturgy :: HAJJ :: H.A.Q.Q.
  Hunter Hunt-Hendrix, endlessly nattering on about “transcendental black metal music”, gives every indication of being an insufferable bore. His music, however, is fascinatingly strange.
• Pig Destroyer :: Army of Cops :: Head Cage
  “Get on your knees / You know you want to” - This track just fucking destroys.
• Botanist :: Helleborus Niger :: I / The Suicide Tree
  Black Metal played on hammer dulcimers.
• Coffinworm :: Lust vs. Vengeance :: IV​.​I​.​VIII
  Hits like a dump truck filled with scrap iron and sewage. Feels like working the night shift in a cement plant. The soundtrack to what you wish would happen to the medical insurance industry. Horrible music for a bad world that’s not getting better.
• Lord Mantis :: Perverter of the Will :: Pervertor
  Ignore the hideous album art, pay attention to Bill Bumgardner’s (RIP) exceptional drumming.
• Enslaved :: Storm Son :: E
  My one guilty concession to Power Metal. Don’t tell anyone I have five of their albums.
• Death Fortress :: Scourge of Aeons :: Deathless March of the Unyielding
  By any objective measure this should not work – it’s repetetive, one note, no bass, no dynamics. But I love it right down to the incredibly cheezy titles (Enthroning the Oppressor, Power from Beyond the Stars, and of course the title track).
• Diocletian :: Wretched Sons :: Gesundrian
  Ugly and violent death metal.

Not Metal - for Katie, 2020-04-01

The first of a couple mix tapes for my nephew’s partner. This is a selection of tracks by indie bands that are (mostly) still going concerns in 2020 – I tried to avoid bands that were at their peak when she was in diapers. download

• mr. gnome :: Slow Slide :: Heave Yer Skeleton
  One of the best indie bands of the 21^st century. They switch seamlessly between reflective and rocking. One of Lori’s favorite bands.
• Helium Horse Fly :: Happiness :: Hollowed
  Eerie and unsettling in a way that appeals to me.
• Whores. :: I am Not a Goal Oriented Person :: Clean
  Christian Lembach snatched up the fallen banner of noise rock and carried it triumphantly into battle.
• Helen Money :: Radio Recorders :: Arriving Angels
  How hard can you rock with a cello? Pretty hard.
• Russian Circles :: Vorel :: Guidance
  A lot of instrumental rock gets boring after a few tracks but these guys have kept it interesting over the course of seven albums.
• Only Child Tyrant :: Monkey Box :: Time to Run
  Famed electronic producer Amon Tobin gives us his take on “indie rock”.
• H. Grimace :: She’s In a State
  The two tracks on this single are extremely catchy.
• Sleigh Bells :: Bitter Rivals :: Bitter Rivals
  They come so close to being exactly what I want from noise pop.
• Emma Ruth Rundle :: Protection :: Marked for Death
  Beautiful and melancholy music.
• Ken Mode :: Doesn’t Feel Pain Like He Should :: Loved
  Lurching post-punk.
• Isobel & November :: Usurper :: The Funeral Party
  The front man has a very compelling deep voice that really sells the material.
• Big|Brave :: On The By And By And Thereon :: Au De La
  Doomy music with almost chirpy vocals; works a lot better than the description would lead you to believe.
• Muscle & Marrow :: Sacs of Teeth :: Love
  Stumbled on this album randomly and was blown away. So of course the band decided to change their name and embark on a career of synth-pop. Oh well.
• Gold :: I Do My Own Stunts :: Optimist
  More heavy indie rock with female vocals. It’s my jam.
• Rainer Maria :: Suicides and Lazy Eyes :: S/T
  This late 90s indie band reformed after an eleven year hiatus and delivered their best work ever.
• tUnE-yArDs :: Gangsta :: W H O K I L L
  Merrill Garbus makes aggressively strange music that (mostly) works for me; YMMV.
• Atari Teenage Riot :: Destroy 2000 Years Of Culture :: The Future of War
  Pissed off German punks set out to curb stomp capitalism with electronic instruments.
• Sexwitch :: Ha Howa Ha Howa :: Sexwitch
  Electronic producer and indie vocalist collaborate on covers of 1970s Middle Eastern and Asian pop.
• Sannhet :: False Pass :: Revisionist
  Instrumental post-rock. The first album was almost Black Metal; by the third album they sound like the old 4AD band Dif Juz. This track from their second album splits the difference.
• Turing Machine :: Rock. Paper. Rock :: Zwei
  The track lives up to its name. Another favorite of Lori’s.
• The Austerity Program :: Song 30 - Beyond Calculation
  Two guys and a drum machine, angular guitars, intelligent lyrics about outcast characters; comparisons to Big Black are inevitable, but they really do their own thing.