To whom it may interest, In the wake of late night neighborhood demonstrations of amateur fireworks displays and cork-ejaculated ribbons of bubbly champagne, the first full calendar week of 2023 has been officially Xd out. Time to take the Christmas trees down and bundle up for the next couple months. For last week's rounds of browser tabs, I've heard the following: ____________________________ Endorphins Lost:  "Regulation Area Bombing" (from Night People  releasing 2/1/23 by  To Live A Lie  / Rotten to the Core ) This one will beat you up pretty good: A little over a minute and thirty of throat scraping crust punk/power violence replete with excessive head-knock and a writhing breakdown for its second act.   Night People by Endorphins Lost Courtesy of Earsplit PR. Atsuko Chiba:  "Link" (from  Water, It Feels Like It's Growing  releases 1/20/23 by  Mothland ) The synth ride overtop some elaborate prog-level guitar noodling is worth explorati...

VoidCeremony At The Periphery Of Human Realms  20 Buck Spin (Cassette Release) Released: 1/6/22 When the PR notification arrived for VoidCeremony's At The Periphery of Human Realms , a YouTube link to preview the full album was made available and I wanted to survey the comments following my first listen. Evidently perturbed at the fact that the album is only available on cassette via 20 Buck Spin , a commenter asked that Death Metal (addressing the whole genre, apparently),  "… get away from these shitty cassettes?! Please?" The label's response was simply (and wisely), "A: No."  VoidCeremony —  guitarist/vocalist Garrett Johnson, guitarist Phil Tougas (Atramentus, Chthe'ilist, First Fragment), bassist Damon Good (Mournful Congregation, Stargazer), drummer Charlie Koryn (Ascended Dead, Incantation) — have followed their 2020 debut LP,  Entropic Reflections Continuum: Dimensional Unravel with what is essentially a demo tape. Clocking in at less than ten...

Side A — Assembled 1/3-1/7 Following the turbulence of the Holidays and the excessive work schedules leading up to them, music continues to be my long sought-after balm for stress and the monotony of corporate drone'dom. Side A for the first week of January is light and loud, meditative or necessarily aggro. I'm happily excited about some of the records and singles I've had the opportunity to sample so far. Is it naive to assume this trend will continue well into 2023? Probably, but I'm content for now.  Enjoy…  ______________________________________________________________________ Tomato Flower : "Red Machine" (via Ramp Local) Bandcamp — https://tomatoflower.bandcamp.com/album/gold-arc Ramp Local — https://ramplocal.com Gold Arc releases 2/11/22 ______________________________________________________________________ Sea Change : "Is There Anybody There" (via Stereo Sanctity) Twitter — https://twitter.com/SeaChangeartist Shapes Recordings — https...

I managed to fall behind a little bit on my  2020 Playlist  selections. Hope you're all doing well. _________________________________________ The Imbeciles:  "One Hand Tommy" (via Sonic PR / YouTube) Album Purchase http://www.theimbeciles.com/ _________________________________________ Kid Cudi :  "Leader of the Delinquents" (via Republic Records / YouTube) Single purchase: shop.kidcudi.com _________________________________________ Masaaki Yoshida : " There Will Come Soft Rains " (via Phantom Limb / YouTube) Album Preorder: https://phantomlimblabel.bandcamp.com/album/imaginal-soundtracking-1-there-will-come-soft-rains Via Phantom Limb: Phantom Limb's imprint Geist im Kino launches new series Imaginal Soundtracking Vol. 1: There Will Come Soft Rains , out June 19 Musicians invited to re-score forgotten works of cinema; Vol.1 features Lakker, Mas...

Finishing up April with some more additions to the  2020 Playlist . We're heading into another month under lockdown, so I hope that you're all putting aside some time for necessary respite from the... well, from everything. The influx of media is barely navigable or cohesive at this point, an unstoppable barrage of sound bites, news briefs and articles. Please stay safe. Please stay sane. And please be sure to thank anyone who works to keep our essential businesses and health services open and running despite the risks, making those of us lucky enough to function well at home comfortable, fed, and safe. _________________________________________ No Age:  "War Dance" (via mutante /  Drag City / Bandcamp) Album Preorder https://www.dragcity.com/products/goons-be-gone Goons Be Gone by No Age Via mutante/Drag City: With the digital release date for Goons Be Gone quickly approaching (June 5 for all you noobs), it's definitely time to share anot...