To whom it may interest, Apologies for the absence. If you're reading this, I'm coming off of a series of 60-70 hour work weeks which haven't left much time for things like making dinner, washing dishes, being a present father and husband, or writing about music. This blog is always in the back of my mind, sort of whimpering pitifully in that "we don't talk anymore" manner of pleading. And when I do have those moments when I want to type a few words, run through my email and see what's new, dig for new sounds that might either brighten my hour or pique what little interest I may be able to conjure after a 14- or 16-hour work day, I'm too drained to come up with anything worth typing and my patience is worn too thinly to keep trying. All I can do is sit and maybe staring zombie-like into my phone while I await paralyzing exhaustion to envelope me so I can sleep.  Plus, I'm still working from home. As convenient as it's been to not have a commute...

"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...

Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead