Simply the Best

2010 has run its recession-plagued, prop-8 decrying course, capping the end of this Bush-bespeckled decade.



I hope you have a moment to spare in your busy day to allow me to take you back...

back to relax and rub elbows with our old friend Father Time. Grab my crystal balls and rub vigorously...



we are about to descend, you and I...



We are all a little older and a little less wiser. The gulf is as oil-logged as a port-a-potty after a Nazareth concert, David Wojnarowicz's art still scares the shit out of Christians, queer kids getting bullied finally made it into the news, volcanoes erupted, Chilean miners emerged, children sighed, butterflies flew, mists misted, leaves fell and idols toppled... and yet sugar still manages to taste as sweet.



First off, a lot of amazing and talented people passed away this year. I am sure there are some people I am forgetting, it felt as though every other day somebody's death was being announced and making me sad:

Peter Orlovsky, Dino De Laurentiis (who produced your favorite movie), Susso Cecchi D'Amico (who wrote my favorite movie), Dennis Hopper, Black Lizard director Umetsugu Inoue, Leslie Nielson, Dick Giordano, Mike Esposito, Fernando Fernandez, pioneering artist Violet Barclay, Bill DuBay, George Hickenlooper, Chris Kanyon, Rammellzee, When Rabbit Howls author Truddi Chase, Alexander McQueen, the amazing composer Henryck Gorecki, Ari Up, Albertina Walker of The Caravans, Lena Horne, Mike Edwards (cellist for ELO), musical pioneer Peter "Sleazy" Christophson, Gang Starr's Guru, Pete Quaife, producer Sonia Pottinger, Debbie Abono (manager of Possessed, Exodus, Cynic, Obituary, Skinlab etc.) Tuli Kupferberg of The Fugs, Teddy Pendergrass, FEAR's Derf Scratch, Armando Acosta, the beautiful Shirley Verrett, J. D. Salinger, Howard Zinn, Rue Mcclanahan, Captain Beefheart and last but not least Ronnie James fucking Dio, Frank fucking Frazetta and the incredible artist Louise Bourgeois.



R.I.P. and thanks for the long, strange trip.





Now to the part you've all been waiting for: THE LIST

Before I dive in, I want to show you the sheer panic and insanity that can occur when writing said list.


Shelby Cobras brought the pimpled wrath of a thousand bleeting Metal Sucks readers who promptly drunkle finntrolled and fromped all over Illogical Contraception.


Witness the horror, if you dare:
http://illogicalcontraption.blogspot.com/2010/12/behold-top-20-shittiest-metal-releases.html

Metal Sucks bloated itself with Korn-fueled fury in the aftermath:
http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=5629764869954858933



There was so much music that came out this year, I haven't had a chance to wade through it all. I still haven't found the new Deathspell Omega or the new/old Abruptum EP. Come on, NY record stores, get with it!

And this isn't in order. Music isn't about hierarchies.

AVSKY - Scorn
COSMIC CHURCH - Absoluutin Lävistämä
LYRTHAS - In Shadows Imbued
BETTYE LAVETTE - Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook (OK, to be honest this isn't that great, but if you see her doing it live it is incredible. The bland studio musicians kind of ruin the recording, but she's a legend)
SWANS - My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky
1349 - Demonoir
THE FALL - Your Future Our Clutter
FREITOD - Nebel der Erinnerungen
WINTERWOLF - Cycle of the Werewolf
CRETACEOUS - Saurian Jihad EP (R.I.P.)
SALOME - Terminal
THE MELVINS - The Bride Screamed Murder
BURZUM - Belus (People shit all over this but I thought it was great)
ENSLAVED - Axioma Ethica Odini
ABIGOR - Time is the Sulphur in the Veins of the Saint (they regained their footing after the previous, iffy release)
DRUDKH - Handful of Stars
KORPBLOD - Norrön Megri
ERYKAH BADU - New Amerykah part 2: Return of the Ankh
M. LAMAR - Negrogothic (cass)
M. LAMAR - The Black Death
SKYFORGER - Kurbads
RAMESSES - Take the Cure
ANU - Opus Funaerum
XASTHUR - Portal of Sorrow (the final album, and I couldn't think of a better obituary for this incredible project. R.I.P.)
DEATH IN JÜNE - Peaceful Snow / Lounge Corps (at first I had trepidations about this album but it is fucking beautiful, campy and terrific)
DARKTHRONE - Circle the Wagons (the best of their new crusty sound, with riffs for days!)
THE MEADS OF ASPHODEL - The Murder of Jesus the Jew (metal's weirdest weirdos with what might be their best album)
SHARON JONES AND THE DAP KINGS - I Learned the Hard Way
BONE AWL - Bowing Heads demo
GRAVELAND - Cold Winter Blades (a.k.a. music to LARP to... this was a grower)
DIAMANDA GALÁS - The Cleopatra Set? Monthly releases (Not a proper album, but some of the greatest fucking music to come out this year, released monthly on her website)
LUDICRA - The Tennant (if you hate metal, this will show you why you are a tool)
MOIRA SCAR - Slink to Intensity (musical genius)
DISEMBALLERINA - Demo CDR
THE CHASM - Farseeing the Paranormal Abysm (even though this technically came out in the end of 2009, it is probably the best album on here and everybody slept on it on their end of year list)




BEST VIDEO OF THE YEAR:

GRINDERMAN - Heathen Child



How can you argue with that?




BEST MOVIE OF THE YEAR:

William Burroughs: A Man Within

I didn't really see that many movies this year. What I did see was pretty awful (I tried to watch Tron, which was like a 2 hour deodorant commercial), but this Burroughs documentary was fantastic. Inspiring, honest and pulled no punches. I almost started crying every time Patti Smith started talking.



That Banksy movie, Exit Through the Gift Shop was pretty phenomenal as well. It was utterly depressing and damning, but if you're an artist, it's a frightening wake up call. I also perversely enjoyed the Joan Rivers documentary Piece of Work.



BEST COMICS:

Hmmm... as usual I didn't read that much. Grant Morrison's Batman and Robin was spectacular, I must admit. The Judge Dredd reprint vol. 1 is vital, and Dan Clowes came out with Wilson, which I loved, although a lot of people weren't feeling it. Liz Baillie's Release the Bats was a collection of odds and ends and has a David Wojnarowicz piece that I absolutely love but really the whole collection is great. I also discovered Detroit Metal City, which I went on and on about in a previous post. It is weirdly amazing. Also I picked up Fred Chao's Johnny Hiro, which is extremely good but I haven't finished.

Hey, I guess I did read a lot of comics! Lucky me!



SONG THAT GOT STUCK IN MY HEAD A LOT THIS YEAR:

I have a love/hate relationship with this song, and I guess with Lil' Wayne in general.

Lil' Wayne - Drop the World featuring Eminem:





Personally it was a great year. I debuted Gorgeous Clothed Flies in New York and six of the original pages were featured in Keith Mayerson's NeoIntegrity: Comics Edition at the Museum of Comics and Cartoon Art. I also got a grant to publish it for reals. I started and stopped a webcomic about the civil war... it is on serious hiatus! I started writing a novel. I made two minicomics, another installment of Demon of the Fall and my first personal minicomic called Comfort's Fist, both of which I was pretty happy with.




I got to table at the Small Press Expo in Bethesda, which was a blast. My work got a shout-out in Time Out New York. I started work on Teufelskralle, a sequel to Gorgeous Clothed Flies using only ball-point pen. I designed my first logo, for Infra-Iridian and started work on a commission to redesign the logo for Everyman Espresso. I also am putting the finishing touches on an essay about Gerhard, "background" artist for Dave Sim's Cerebus.

I got to see Sunn and Boris at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple where they blew the power with a single riff. I got to see R. Crumb's Genesis in its entirety in person, I got to see Dan Clowes at The Strand, I did yoga for the first time and got to see the opera The Nose with animation by William Kentridge... and I got to see one of my favorite SF bands Ludicra play in New York.



And last but not even remotely least I put together a website (no small feat!), and began work which will become a full-fledged webcomic called

SYMPTOM OF THE UNIVERSE

and that will debut next year.



If you're a savvy savverson, you can google that title with either "Sabin" or "comics" and get a sneaky peek.










Or something else entirely...

meow!

I learned that there is a time to laugh, a time to cry, a time to gather stones... etc. etc. WHERE IS 2011?





Thanks for everyone's support, love, photos and fun.

The Meads of Asphodel - Stiller of Tempests

I can't get this damned song out of my head. The Meads of Asphodel channeling Comus on their newest album. Care to dance?

Vothana Hates You!

Vothana is the only black metal band I've heard from Vietnam. Now this spiteful one-man horde is located in the US. I've heard a few Vothana recordings, but this so far, is my favorite.

Vothana is encrusted, caustic lo-fi black metal. Nothing to surprise you, nothing to turn you off. But what I like about this record more than the others is the way the vocals match the guitar playing... they are melodic, going from growling with some "bragging" sort of shouting... I don't know, it just sounds different to my world-weary ears. Underground melodic war metal.

Hoang Gia means Wilderness in Vietnamese. See, you're learning things already.

This record was to be limited to 100 copies but supposedly after it was uploaded onto the vnkvlt internet, the remaining copies were destroyed because they weren't meant to be heard by the likes of you. So if you want the actual ten-inch you'll have to fork over some benjamins.

Don't believe me?

See for yourself:



Or you can download it HERE. Enjoy. Or should I say, thưởng thức!

Vothana hates the internet.

Vothana hates you.


"Flattery will get you nowhere"

In the Glare of Burning Churches

Even Satanic hooligans practice good penmanship:


A few decades ago church burning was all the rage amongst long-haired hooligans with too much leftover Halloween make-up. While I don't condone arson on any level (that means you, Left Eye!) I also think all the backlash it created was ridiculous.

In Norway, some in the black metal community said it was stupid. How is it any more or less stupid than if it had happened by accident? If it was struck by lightning would you condemn nature?

God spoke to Moses through a burning bush.

Nobody wept for the bush.

People are too hung up on intent. An action is simply an action. Motive has become bigger than action. It's not what you do but why you do it. Why did you make this record? Why did you burn this place down? Why did you do anything today?

Stop blaming others and start thinking for yourself and yourselves. True art often happens spontaneously. You might even say, in "a flash." The unimaginative have to categorize and be told why it happened. Instead they should be asking what it means to them, to the world in itself.



Unchecked growth is called cancer. Nature needs the push and pull of growth and recedance to maintain balance. Humanity still can't learn. We work to eradicate cancer yet can't grasp the metaphors that art offers us.

Nobody wept for the cancer.

A Magnetar:


Destruction needs creation to destroy, and creation needs destruction to make space to create...

Nobody wept for the stars.

Infra Iridian Logo Completed!

Hope you like it!

Satanic Powers in Jamaican Hills

Although I've never been to Jamaica, I've heard tell it's a pretty rough place. A few Jamaican friends of mine have returned to visit friends/family there and felt completely terrified of going back. I'm not that worldly, so what do I know? Yes I love Lee Scratch Perry and have known to play The Congos more than a hundred times. In fact, the only music I've ever heard exported from the island of Jamaica is reggae, rocksteady, ska and early soul...

Imagine my surprise at this foul stench of crusty blackness that floated over the seas masked in a green ganja cloud only to vomit shrieks of Yoruban mythology in my ear! Yes, metal is not the first genre that comes to mind when you think of Jamaica. But how excited I was to discover that this wasn't some thrash, grind or death metal... and luckily wasn't what I feared would be some reggae-metalcore crossover! Nay, Orisha Shakpana not only plays metal, but black metal? Not only black metal but extremely lo-fi crusty black metal?

This one-man horde creates bedroom black metal in the style of VON, blasting his way through a loneliness I can only imagine. Being the only guy on an island that plays music like this makes you eight hundred times more awesome than a gaggle of pimply Norwegians rubbing their pasty fingers raw on the 666 string.

Lord Ifrit's project is (as far as I can tell) relying on the internet to spread the disease. So won't you help him please? Totally KVLT Jamaican Black Metal, why not pass the word?



What's that? You're wondering about the name? Oh wait, I'll wikipedia it for your lazy ass:

Ori literally means the head, but in spiritual matters is taken to mean an inner portion of the soul which determines personal destiny and success. Ase, which is also spelled “Axe,” “Axé,” “Ashe,” or “Ache,” is the life-force which runs though all things, living and inanimate. Ashe is the power to make things happen.

In Dahomey mythology, Shakpana (or Sopono, Sakpata) is the divinity of smallpox. He inflicted insanity and disease on humans.


And still more:

myspace:
http:www.myspace.com/orishaoftheearth

random downlad blog with 2 songs:
http://r-a-b-m.blogspot.com/2010/04/orisha-shakpana-demo-2006.html

Apator Hates You!!!

If you are reading this and have never ridden the Cosmic Hearse, I beseech you to call shotgun and hang out with Aesop and the appendix of metal and encyclopedia of music that lives in his head. I have been turned on to so much good music thanks to him.

This is about one such music. You can find a link here:

http://cosmichearse.blogspot.com/2010/05/rub-one-out-for-devil.html


Once I started I was hooked. Here is what I know: APATOR made a ton of demos from 1988 to 1995 and then completely vanished. The project is one person (Robert van Arnhem) , literally and figuratively, and I can only call it spoken word, or performance music, because the few demos I've heard are noises and vocals, "hate vocals" if you will, which is basically grunted chanting and/or jerking off moaning. Sort of what I imagined Abruptum to be before I heard them.

Some ol' ESL chestnuts you might break out at this years Xmas party:

"Apator's stiff cock points at the heavenly sky"
"I know where you live"
"God has horny servants"
"Fifteen unholy centimetres"
"One hell of a homo"

and who could forget the time-tested standard:

"Satan, I will be your whore"



If you're looking for metal, it is nowhere to be found, yet it pervades every aspect of this project.

Early recordings were done under different names:

Quorton (1988-1989)
Helldozer (1988)
Zaag (1989)
Apaat (1989)
Het Geluid Kruipt (1989-1990)



The demos were much discussed in zines, but when actually acquired were mostly thrown out. Partly due to homophobia (although you probably know what you're getting in to with titles like "You Would Love to Suck Apator's Cock. He Won't Let You Do It!!!"), but most likely due to the fact that this is closer to avant garde noise or amateur music and sounding nothing like... anything. You could in no way call this outsider music, because Robert van Arnhem seemed pretty well connected for a guy that whipped his dick out every chance he got around the Dutch scene or a camera or blood spurting out of his head.

Apator opened for Samael, Exhorder and Impaled Nazarene, hung out with the singer from Funeral Winds (Gorgoroth, who took some of the pictures) and his brother drummed for Thanatos. He performed in sweatpants with the crotch cut out and bled all over after cutting his head. He had a zine called Humbled Return of Christ and Horny Muhammed where he interviewed Thergothon, Bestial Summoning and Impaled Nazarene.

For a complete list of releases go here:

http://www.nlbme.nl/home.htm


For a sample go here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OSIG2rPRDk


So Apator, hope you're Satan's sex slave by now, but if not, at least declared mentally competent and you hopefully aren't the racist asshole we once knew you as. If not, then jerk on (or is it off?) you hell of a homo... God has horny servants, indeed!


If anyone has more info, please slip it in!

PS this is extreme music and you may find the politics not to your liking... racism and religious hatred abound... caveat emptor





BONUS! hilarious write up from rasputin at Sputnik Music:
http://www.sputnikmusic.com/album.php?albumid=47905

Satan’s most blasphemous and prolific child out of Rotterdam, Robert van Arnhem aka Apator lives and works in the deepest recesses of sacrilegious krieg. Between the years of 1988 and 1996 van Arnhem recorded the diabolical manifestations of the Dark Lord so that his children and followers could unite under the one banner, to raise the flames and angelic defilement from the depths of the underworld. Masturbate in Praise of Black Satan is merely one of many worthy tomes of satanic and profane ruination, representing the unadulterated worship of the Antichrist. For the entirety of its length, Apator spews forth the message and heretical divinations of the Dark Lord so that we may besmirch our bodies and minds.

Where the remainder of Apator’s discography supplements his manifesto of destruction, Masturbate in Praise of Black Satan is the pinnacle of Satan’s will on this earth. To sit in the dark and hear the very voice of the one who will take us to transcendent realms of existence is an experience for all of the world, for all of the Antichrist’s possessions. It is expected that with the aid of such irreverent recordings we prepare ourselves for the ultimate profligacy, by which our souls will utter the vile words of acceptance and we accept Satan into our hearts.

Summary: In your prayers, remember: your Soul is your nearest, and the bringer of all good things. Your God is stone deaf.

Rated: 5.0 CLASSIC

Jesus Points the Bone at You?

This is why you should study anatomy... you don't want your distended stomach to look like a big chub... or do you?

This is in some church in Oklahoma. And it is hilarious.

British TV ist Krieg!

To Mega Television:

STRIBORG!

Hey, if you like the lowest of the lo-fi... I mean dragged through the tundra tapes and crusted, buried recordings that were scratched by demons escaping from Hell... music made to be eclipsed by roots on a full-moon night while the day of the humans is done:

http://csendhajnal.blogspot.com/

Has the ENTIRE Striborg discography up.

If you've never heard Striborg, you may be in for a shock. Early drums were recorded with a folder and a bicycle wheel, then played on a boombox and recorded on a 4-track.

Tasmanian abysmal, ghost-like music that is only getting sadder as the weather warms here.

And P.S. Support independent music. The entire discography isn't up just so you can put it on your itunes and be a hipster completist. It is so you can hear things you've never heard and go out and SUPPORT the artist making said music. MP3s sound like shit. Do your ears a favor and get the record.

There is a Striborg DVD that is pretty new as well.

Don't say I didn't warn you!

I tried to make it impossible to read. Which it is.

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