And then there were all the albums that came out in 1994 that I caught up to much later.  Here are those albums: Fugees – Blunted On Reality Nas – Illmatic Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Let Love In 311 – Grassroots Gravediggaz – 6 Feet Deep Sebadoh – Bakesale Public Enemy – Muse Sick 'N' Hour Mess Age Liz Phair – Whip–Smart Ween – Chocolate and Cheese Korn – s/t Method Man – Tical (And, yes, some of these are also embarrassing to admit, so feel free to poke fun.) Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

See you in 2015. Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

Since 2014 is almost a memory, I figured I'd finish talking about my 1994 fascinations and regrets. L7 – Hungry For Stink Following the still relatively decent (though dated)  Bricks Are Heavy , L7 released Hungry For Stink , an album I remember listening to quite a bit after I picked up a copy.  At some point, though, maybe after a month of consistent listening, I put it down and it's only gathered dust since.  I blame "Andres," mock-worthy lyricism ("Down in North Hollywood/There's a guy with... long hair...") coupled with grunge-as-cliché distorto-chugging, and the super-cheesy "Shirley," which was a very lazy tribute to drag racer, Shirley Muldowney .  To the album's credit, "Freak Magnet" and "She Has Eyes" continue to stand out as worth mentioning.  The rest of the album, however, has faded from memory. NOFX – Punk In Drublic  Bad Religion – Stranger Than Fiction Rancid – Let's Go I'm f...

I know December hasn't been my most active month, but circumstances unfortunately didn't permit me to generate content with any regularity.  That being said, if you're reading this, thanks for hanging in there. To sum up 2014, I know I didn't hear ALL of the best albums the year had to offer.  I missed out on Syro , which was Aphex Twin 's first album since 2001's Drukqs , Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra 's Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light on Everything , . ..And Then You Shoot Your Cousin by The Roots , the return of Cibo Matto , Ex Hex , Young Fathers , Helms Alee , Wasted Years by OFF! , Opeth 's Pale Communion,   Flying Lotus , the new Death From Above 1979 album and then I somehow completely neglected Mastodon 's Once More 'Round the Sun . And then there were albums that I just couldn't get excited about: Sun Kil Moon 's Benji , the newest Ariel Pink album, Beck 's Morning Phase, Damon Albarn 's Everyday Robots,...

Swans Filth Young God Records Originally released: 1983 Reissued: 11.14 *Yeah, she wasn't too happy with me. **Swans might be a tad too much for a six year-old's ears.  That notwithstanding, the new Filth vinyl sounds great. The crushing, pulverizing force that dominates this release sounds immense.  If you purchase the album through Young God Records, your copy will be autographed by Michael Gira .  You can purchase the album here . Here's the track she sampled: Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

2015 is weeks away and with that obviously come January releases.  First point of interest so far is this track from Disappears called "Halcyon Days," a minimalist, repetitious and spacy mutation.  In the simplest of comparisons, one could consider it a Bauhaus 'ian attempt at something Neu! might've composed, a very cyclical, cold and immersive derivation.  Kranky will release Disappears' new album, Irreal , on January 19th.  The album was produced by John Congleton at Steve Albini 's Electrical Audio in Chicago.    You can hear the track here: All info was brought to you courtesy of Rarely Unable.  "Halcyon Days" had premiered at The Quietus on December 5th and their assessment of the track is a much more eloquent interpretation than mine.  You can also sample "Another Thought," which is another single from Irreal that surfaced a few weeks ago.   LISTEN TO DISAPPEARS' NEW TRACK 'HALCYON DAYS', TAKEN FROM THEIR ...

Sleaford Mods Chubbed Up + Ipecac Recordings Released:11.29.14 Sleaford Mods is an interesting entity. Following much of the rhythmic and minimal throb of Factory-era post-punk and, of course, hip hop's rise from being a "sample sport," as Public Enemy once put it, to the largely trap-centric hit machine it is today, Sleaford Mods embodies a tirade-level synthesis of the two: a beat-powered device with which to bathe in poetic and profanity-laced commentary. The group (vocalist Jason Williamson and track maker Andrew Fearn ) gained some notoriety stateside with its 2013 release, Austerity Dogs , despite having been about five albums deep in its discography. The group's new release, Chubbed Up +, is a singles compilation that includes three previously unreleased tracks. It was released by Ipecac Recordings. The mostly repetitious loop'd loop of springy bass riffs and flat percussion offer Sleaford Mods the distinction of being the more sophistica...

Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

All Saints, a label that was launched in the early 90s, has just released four 90s-era Brian Eno LPs: Nerve Net (1992), The Shutov Assembly (1992), Neroli (1993) and The Drop (1997).  Electronic composer Chris Clark , (or as he's better known, Clark ), pulled together a mix culling samples of each of the Eno releases.  It's a pretty fluid 34 minutes of instrumental (and some vocal) works and provides a convincing sales pitch for the releases.  I myself have unfortunately never heard these albums, so Clark's mash-up has given me reason to explore them.  If you want to check it out, you can do so via Soundcloud below: If you'd like to find out more about the reissues, I've included info which was provided courtesy of Julian T. Schoen — Artist, Event & Project Management.  There are also two Eno cuts you can sample: "Prague" and "Fractal Zoom." All Saints shares Brian Eno reissues mix by Warp's Clark 4 Record Eno Rei...