To whom it may interest, While music writers and enthusiasts were busy compiling those "Best Of" lists during the long-elapsed final days of 2022, No Ripcord 's podcast, Quarantine The Past , was running a multi-episode series devoted to the same endeavor. I was asked to participate for episode 4, which was posted today. A little late maybe, but some good albums are reviewed. Discussed: Chat Pile  black midi OFF! Die! Die! Die! The Soft Moon Enumclaw Denzel Curry Ka Guerilla Toss Gilla Band (formerly Girl Band) I contributed some blurbs for the  written list :  Placement: 47).  OFF!  —  Free LSD  (Fat Possum)   38).  Enumclaw  —  Save The Baby  (Luminelle Recordings) 26).  Danger Mouse and Black Thought  —  Cheat Codes  (BMG) 12).  Chat Pile  —  God's Country  (Flenser) Sincerely, Letters From A Tapered

How was 2022? Better than 2021.  Midyear I tested positive for COVID. I found myself unable to move or rest, which sounds contradictory until you experience bludgeoning exhaustion on top of significant physical discomfort. I'm lucky, though: In spite of testing positive for a full 8 or 9 days after symptoms showed up, the worst moments took place over the course of two full days. After that, it was just a matter of regaining some level of energy. It's no exaggeration to say that I felt drained for maybe a full month.  I saw some gigs this year and bought a LOT of albums. I think my record collection is beginning to outgrow my space, which means I may need to consider some purges.  Omissions & Lamentations for 2022: There are always too many of those. Considering I didn't even bother attempting to round-up my favorite albums in 2021, I'm going to focus on what I did hear and enjoy. We'll go back to being sad next year.  While I know that the blogosphere has lost ...

"As awful as it sounds, an album is simply a data dump now." — Jon Caramanica, New York Times , 1/1/21 I'm a few days late delivering my favorite "data dumps" selections for 2020. I have no excuses other than pure exhaustion and an embarrassing lack of motivation. Plus, I wanted to revisit some of these albums before I committed them to a list.  On New Year's Eve, it came to light that the inimitable Daniel Dumile, a.k.a. MF DOOM, had passed away at the age of 49 two full months before anyone knew. He'd apparently died on Halloween. A mere two weeks ago, two (evidently posthumous) MF DOOM tracks produced by Flying Lotus and BADBADNOTGOOD surfaced. Doesn't really make the bad news any better, but it's something sweet for the ears at least.  Omissions & Lamentations  for 2020: I think 2020 should be an omission. It's already a lamentation. I'd like to be more active on the writing front moving forward and I'm in the process of pur...

While I understand the point of submitting these "best of" lists prior to the year's actual expiry, the reality persists that albums continue to emerge up until the last few seconds of the year tick away. That said, I'm hesitant to finalize these lists weeks prior to the New Year. This list has changed multiple times and been submitted and scrutinized in multiple different ways over the last couple of weeks of December. I think I got it now so, if you're interested, please read on. Omissions & Lamentations for 2019: I didn't write as much as I wanted to this year and I'll continue to blame my day-well-into-night job.  I didn't submit a single video this year, so my YouTube channel is going to waste. I'll work on changing that in 2020. I missed a lot of releases and didn't get to talk about some that I really enjoyed. There were not enough show reviews in 2019 despite seeing some excellent performances by Neurosis and Oh Sees am...