Songs That Get My Juices Flowing #69

(mp3) Fireball Ministry - Flatline
Available on The Second Great Awakening (2003)

(mp3) Rage Against The Machine - Bulls on parade
Available on Evil Empire (1996)

(mp3) Slughog - A man called ass
Available on V/A - The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (compilation, 1998)

(mp3) Bottom - Hell of a lie
Available on Feels So Good When You're Gone (2002)

(mp3) Skunk Anansie - I can dream
Available on Paranoid and Sunburnt (1995)

New song from Dillinger Escape Plan

The Dillinger Escape Plan will release their fourth album on March 23rd. Farewell, Mona Lisa is the first taste of what I assume will be another masterpiece.

(mp3) The Dillinger Escape Plan - Farewell, Mona Lisa
Soon available on Option Paralysis

The Friday MP3 Shuffle #42

I'm already starting to regret parts of my list over the best albums of the year. Woods' Songs Of Shame should've been in there somewhere, at least in the honorable mentions.

And what in the name of Jesus Christ's taint was I thinking when I excluded Wolves In The Throne Room's Black Cascade?

Oh well. C'est la vie.

By the way, Mediafire has been acting up a bit lately so if you're having trouble downloading files, give 'em a minute or two to load and they should be fine. If not, just check back later, I'm sure they'll fix any snags soon enough.

(zip) The Friday MP3 Shuffle #42 (36 mb)

1. Crang - The gift (2002)
2. Soulfly - Bumbklatt (1998)
3. Gehennah - Beat that poser down (1998)
4. Grip Inc. - Rusty nail (1997)
5. Breach - Centre (1997)
6. Roach - All I need (2004)
7. Blood Tsunami - Grand feast for vultures (2009)
8. Bathtub Shitter - Rens (2009)
9. Murder Corporation - Violated (1998)
10. Metallica - The wait (1987)
11. Switch Opens - Lucky me, lucky you (2009)
12. Om - Bedouin's vigil (2006)

Buy 'em @ Amazon.com.

Vrolijk Kerstmis en gelukkig Nieuwjaar!

(mp3) Korn - Kindap the Sandy Claws
Available on V/A - Nightmare Revisited (compilation, 2008)

Why the hell don't more people listen to Taint?

You like Mastodon? Kylesa? Baroness? Then why aren't you listening to Taint? What's your excuse? They play a not entirely dissimilar style of badass sludgy rock, they're every bit as good as any of those bands, and they've been around a heck of a lot longer than any of them.

And if you are listening to them, why aren't you busy spreading the word at this very moment?

And why don't more people read Ny Moral? That would certainly make the world a better place.

(mp3) Taint - Fatman sedates us again
(mp3) Taint - Release
(mp3) Taint - Impetus (clutch)
Available on Die Die Truthspeaker (mini album, 2000)

(mp3) Taint - The sound-out competition
(mp3) Taint - Drunken marksman
(mp3) Taint - Cours et conquistadors
Available on The Ruin of Nova Roma (2005)

(mp3) Taint - Hex breaker
(mp3) Taint - Goddamn this city
(mp3) Taint - Triumvirate
Available on Secrets & Lies (2007)

(mp3) Taint - Black rain
(mp3) Taint - Despite isolation
Available on All Bees To The Sea (ep, 2009)

And while I'm at it, here's Taint live at Roadburn from last year.

Songs That Get My Juices Flowing #68

(mp3) Bluebird - Wrecking ball
Available on S/t (ep, 1997)

(mp3) Raunchy - Watch out
Available on Confusion Bay (2004)

(mp3) Cannibal Corpse - Dormant bodies bursting
Available on Gore Obsessed (2002)

(mp3) Otep - T.R.I.C.
Available on Jihad (ep, 2001)

(mp3) The Kristet Utseende - Inquisitore
Available on Sieg Hallelujah (2006)

The Best Albums of 2009: #10-1

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#10 Thåström - Kärlek Är För Dom


On Kärlek Är För Dom Joakim Thåström continued down the path of more personal songs he had explored on his previous album, and combined it with the ominous tones of the sort-of industrial sideproject Sällskapet.

Not sure how many non-Swedes will get anything out this, but go ahead and take the plunge.

(mp3) Thåström - Kärlek är för dom (feat. Anna Ternheim)
(mp3) Thåström - Axel Landqvists park
(mp3) Thåström - Linnéa

Buy it @ Amazon.com

#9 Richard Hawley - Truelove's Gutter


It's becoming quite easy to recognise a Richard Hawley record - within second you know exactly who you're listening to.

His previous records have been ideal for night time endevours, now he's moved on to morning music. More sparse and intimate than ever before and with his vocals pushed way up front, Truelove's Gutter is the soundtrack to those forlorn moments at four o'clock in the morning when the whole world is asleep except for you and the street lights.

(mp3) Richard Hawley - Open up your door
(mp3) Richard Hawley - Soldier on
(mp3) Richard Hawley - For your lover give some time

Buy it @ Amazon.com

#8 Gallows - Grey Britain


Gallows' 2007 debut Orchestra Of Wolves did absolutely nothing for me. Disjointed songs that went in many different directions, none of which were very satisfactory. Run of the mill screamo-ish punk largely devoid of hooks, air guitar-worthy riffs or anything even remotely memorable.

Grey Britain also took a few listens to strike a chord with me, but I cannot but admit what a masterpiece it truly is. I've been an anglophile for as long as I can remember, and as much as I loved Britpop I must say it's quite refreshing to finally hear its complete antithesis. Grey Britain is The Sex Pistols' God Save The Queen distilled and filtered through thirty years of discontent and misanthropy.

Listening to it I can't help but see images of every loveable/loathsome British stereotype I can think of. Cockney dock workers having a stout and some toad in the hole at the local greasy spoon, people who spend more money on football tickets than dentistry, fat jaded couples in their 60s who think going to Blackpool over the weekend and eating fish 'n chips with way too much vinegar on a rocky beach ignoring each other for two days counts as going on holiday.

It's also intestering that it points the finger of blame inwards, not at the people in power. It's not the politicians fault we're in this shit, we brought this on ourselves by not doing enough to stop them, by not caring enough. Grey Britain wants to be a call to arms to inspire people to snap out of their apathy and sort everything out, but it knows it's too far gone and the hopelessness never ceases to shine through. I'm sure that's something we can all relate to in one way or another, British or not.

But apart from the nihilism of its theme and its lyrics, the album is a triumph musically - it's all the best components from punk, hardcore, rock and metal crammed into one cd. All four genres constantly wrestles and fight to get in the front and the result is at times downright exhausting.

Still can't fucking stand Orchestra Of Wolves though.

(mp3) Gallows - Black eyes
(mp3) Gallows - The vulture acts I & II
(mp3) Gallows - Crucifucks

Buy it @ Amazon.com

#7 Big Business - Mind The Drift


After two dirgy, sludgy albums Big Business opened their sound up a bit. While the band has always been known as a bass & drum band only, they've used plenty of guitars in the past, and the addition of guitarist Toshi Kasai as a full-time means that signature monster bass has been pushed to the back a bit, giving the band a perhaps more conventional rock sound. Less heavy, but every bit as good.

Someone (sadly I don't remember who or where I read it) compared this album to Uriah Heep, and as strange as that may sound it actually kind of fits. Mind The Drift has such a clear classic rock leaning that you could almost think they'd been inspired by Crack The Skye. That's not the case though, as the albums were recorded more or less at the same time. The two make quite nice companion pieces though, they compliment each other nicely.

(mp3) Big Business - Gold and final
(mp3) Big Business - The drift
(mp3) Big Business - Ayes have it

Buy it @ Amazon.com

#6 The Devin Townsend Project - Ki and Addicted




Much like the Omar Rodriguez stuff at #21, I couldn't help but slab these two masterpieces together in the same spot. I already wrote about Addicted here, go and read it.

Devin Townsend - one of very few musical geniuses alive today. Worship the Phil Spector of metal. Something tells me both Deconstruction and Ghost will rank quite highly when it the time comes to present the best album of 2010.

(mp3) The Devin Townsend Project - Coast
(mp3) The Devin Townsend Project - Heaven send
(mp3) The Devin Townsend Project - Lady Helen
Buy Ki @ Amazon.com


(mp3) The Devin Townsend Project - Supercrush!
(mp3) The Devin Townsend Project - Hyperdrive!
(mp3) The Devin Townsend Project - Numbered!
Buy Addicted @ Amazon.com

#5 Giant Squid - The Ichthyologist


I have no idea what to make of this album, I really dont. Definitely the best album I've heard in the "let's throw every last thing we can think of into the mix and see what happens" category since Fireside's Elite.

It's all over the place and while I've been listening to it almost every day since its release early in the year I have still to properly penerate it. It still continues to catch me by surprise with its amalgamation of doom riffs, proggy parts proggier than you'd like to know, and vocals ranging from blood curling screams (some of them courtesy of Karyn Crisis), Serj Tankian/Jello Biafra-esque operatics, beautiful goth-esque siren wails (some of them courtesy of Anneke Von Giersbergen) and Steve von Till-type moaning.

Imagine the Neurosis & Jarboe record mixed with System Of A Down and a mariachi band and you're not even close, but at least you're somewhat heading in the right direction. I honestly have no idea how to even begin to describe this album or even put into words how captivating it is and just how much love it and cant stop listening to it. It's fucked up, it makes no sense, and it's absolutely breathtaking.

If there ever was an idiot savant band in metal, it would be Giant Squid.

(mp3) Giant Squid - Panthalassa
(mp3) Giant Squid - Sevengill
(mp3) Giant Squid - Mormon Island

Buy it @ Amazon.com

#4 Them Crooked Vultures - S/t


A secret project that went on behind the curtains for quite some time, before they finally decided to present their spunktacular product to the world.

Dismissed by some as sounding like just another Queens Of The Stones Age album by people who didnt listen very carefully, Them Crooked Vultures may not be anything revolutionary in terms of its contest. It's just a rock record. There's nothing here that hadn't already been done by 1978, but many things set it apart from being just another rock record. The main one being fantastic songs, another one would be a loose, chilled-out vibe and good times. It's the feel good record of the year, rivalled only by Addicted (see above).

A third would be the best vocal performance of Josh Hommes career - compare this to the first QOTSA record and it's hard to believe it's the same guy. A fourth would be simple fact that is the best album Homme has played on in seven years, the best DaveGrohl has played on in twelve years, and the best John Paul Jones has played on in thirty-four.

Believe the hype.

(mp3) Them Crooked Vultures - Scumbag blues
(mp3) Them Crooked Vultures - Bandoliers
(mp3) Them Crooked Vultures - Gunman

Buy it @ Amazon.com

#3 Astra - The Weirding


Are you just like me and can't get enough of good old fashioned psychedelic rock? No? Oh.

Well maybe The Weirding can change your mind. On this their debut album, San Diego's Astra gives us 80 minutes of 100% undiluted derivative progressive jazzy psychedelic rock straight from the school of Pink Floyd, Camel, King Crimson, Yes and probably hundreds of obscure bands I've never heard of.

15 minute songs with long trippy jams in the middle? Of course. Rick Wright/David Gilmour style vocal harmonies? Definitely. Mellotrons and flutes? You bet your ass.

For us sane ones who understand that Pink Floyd peaked in 1971, this album is heaven. I wouldn't bet on it but something in my gut tells me this is sort of what Mikael Åkerfeldt was aiming for when he wrote Opeth's Damnation. Only this is far trippier.

I'd never heard of Astra before and I can't remember who told me about them, but I am eternally greatful, definitely the biggest find of the year for me. You want this album, I know you do.

No, you need this album. Go get it immediately.

(mp3) Astra - Silent sleep
(mp3) Astra - Beyond to slight the maze

Buy it @ Amazon.com

#2 Portal - Swarth

True evil always lurks where you wouldn't expect it.

This is why crossburning corpsepaint posers who name their bands "Christfucker" and talk about how amazing Satan is offer little but hollow provocations. This is why the most evil people, the ones will ultimately destroy the world as we know it aren't devilworhippers with guitars, but rather innocuous-looking old white guys in fantastic suits.

This is why the world's most revered horror fiction writer looks like an accountant and why the most wanted terrorist in history looks gentler than a garden gnome.

Fuck, there I go rambling again.

What I'm trying to get to is that this is also why the most nightmarish soul-rape of a record released this year comes from the land of koalas, from a group of people who call themselves Portal (a name so mundane you don't stop to think just how sinister it really is) and wear grandfather clocks on their heads.

No traditional song structures to speak of, just continuous eruptions of black slime from the darkest corners of the underworld. Imagine Evoken playing Deathspell Omega covers in Arkham Asylum and you're halfway there. Had black metal existed in 1925 it would have sounded like this. Lovecraft's ancient, slithering tentacles set to music. A landmark record.

Portal aren't the fastest, the heaviest or the most technical, but what they do have in spades is the Feel. Yes, with a capital F. That feel of nihilism and utter despair that so many bands, particularly in black metal, try to achieve. The feel of lurking chaos, inescapable terrors and a suffocating descent into a madness darker than the deepest chasm.

You dont believe me? Try listening to Swarth with headpones in the dark all by yourself and the volume cranked all the way up. It's the closest thing possible to a waking nightmare, one of the most terrifying, claustrophobic musical experiences you will ever have. You can psysically feel it slowly engulfing your soul, one track at a time.

(mp3) Portal - The swayy
(mp3) Portal - Werships
(mp3) Portal - Marityme

Buy it @ Amazon.com

#1 Mastodon - Crack The Skye


Well that came as no surprise, did it?

I could ramble on about Rasputin, golden umbilical cords and time travel. But I won't, enough has been said about that already. Crack The Skye is at the top of every sensible person's list and for all the best reasons. About as perfect as an album can get.

(mp3) Mastodon - Crack the skye
(mp3) Mastodon - The last baron

Buy it @ Amazon.com

The Best Albums of 2009: #20-11

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#20 Jarvis Cocker - Further Complications


I would never have thought that Cocker's über-English stylings would gel with Steve lbini's signature pebbles-raining-on-a-tin-roof sound, but somehow the two managed to put together the best album Cocker's been a part of since Pulp's 1995 classic Different Class.

When those first chords of the opening title track rattle and writhe out of your speakers you could almost swear you were listening to Shellac (not to mention Slush, the first few notes of which sounds like something from Earth's last couple of albums), but when Cocker makes his presence known sounding very relaxed and liberated indeed and like he's having more fun than in a long time, it works much than expected and it becomes clear this truly was a match made in heaven.

(mp3) Jarvis Cocker - Further complications
(mp3) Jarvis Cocker - Homewrecker!
(mp3) Jarvis Cocker - Slush

Buy it @ Amazon.com

#19 Blood Ceremony - S/t


There's no telling how much better a place the world would be if all the nimrods who love The Devil's Blood listened to Blood Ceremony instead. If you want dark, psychedelic '60s/'70s rock with female vocals, why pick the worst possible choice? It boggles the mind, it really does.

The Canadian quartet's self-titled debut album is an unholy alliance of Black Sabbath riffs, Black Widow flutes and the pagan rite of your choice. If I didnt know any better I could've sworn this was recorded at Stonehenge during the summer solstice of 1972 with a lineup featuring a druid, a couple of black magicians and a witch or two.

(mp3) Blood Ceremony - I'm coming to you
(mp3) Blood Ceremony - Return to forever
(mp3) Blood Ceremony - Hop toad

Buy it @ Amazon.com

#18 Shining - VI: Klagopsalmer

Whether Stockholm's Shining can even be musically labelled black metal anymore is debatable, but it's certainly still there in spirit.

While IV: Klagopsalmer is not quite the eyebrow-raising ballbuster that the predecessor V: Halmstad was, the band shows that they still do self-destructive, misanthropic, nihilistic metal better than nearly any other band on the planet.

(mp3) Shining - Fullständigt jävla död inuti
(mp3) Shining - Total utfrysning

Buy it @ Amazon.com

#17 Shrinebuilder - S/t


While initially quite disappointing, Shrinebuilder grew given time. A very good record, but with a lineup like that you expected the world, didnt you?

Why the album triumphs in the end is Al Cisneros, the man behind the curtain. He formed the band, gave it its name and wrote the best material on here. He also provides the best vocals on the record with his hypnotic chanting singing style. It's a shame he didn't get to sing more, it would have made the album so much more enjoyable.

Still, it's a damn good record but my gut tells me the second album, which according to Cisneros will be recorded very soon, will be even better.

(mp3) Shrinebuilder - Pyramid of the moon
(mp3) Shrinebuilder - Blind for all to see

Buy it @ Amazon.com

#16 The Gates Of Slumber - Hymns Of Blood And Thunder

There aren't enough 80's style doom bands around these days. There are more bands than you can shake a stick at influenced by the first wave of doom of circa '68-'73, and far far too many bands in the funeral doom/extreme doom/drone whatever genre, but far too few take their cues from the golden era of the mid '80s.

Back when doom was still in every discernable way the evil twin of classic heavy metal, before bands like Kyuss and Sleep came along and influenced a whole new generation of bands, making the distinction between doom and stoner increasingly difficult to such a degree that by 2009 the two genres have more often than not merged into one and the same.

Then along comes The Gates Of Slumber with their fourth album, one that would sit quite comfortably on the shelf next to Candlemass, St. Vitus, Witchfinder General and Pagan Altar, with more than a few nods to these heroes of old. Is it a coincidence that Iron Hammer namedrops a vintage Trouble song in its very first line? Like hell it is.

Add to this a crummily organic, analogue sounding production, some of the most fun drumming I've heard on a heavy record since Stanton Moore tore Corrosion of Conformity a new asshole on In The Arms Of God four years ago, and an album cover worthy of Cirith Ungol and you got yourself an instant classic.

(mp3) The Gates Of Slumber - Death dealer
(mp3) The Gates Of Slumber - Iron hammer
(mp3) The Gates Of Slumber - The mist of the mourning

Buy it @ Amazon.com

#15 The Bronx - Mariachi El Bronx


When L.A. punk rockers The Bronx announced their plans for a mariachi record back in 2007, most probably thought it was a joke. Well, two years the album finally arrived and it's fucking stunning. As much as I love their punk output, I'd have to say this is their best release yet.

The best part about it? That they pull no punches, this is no pastiche, no pisstake. It's not some sort of elaborate joke, The Bronx really have made a full-on mariachi record straight from the heart and they mean every note, every word. No ironic posturing, all cheeks are completely free of tongues. A dead serious album full of songs of heartaches, loves and losses.

Absolutely brilliant.

They didn't do it all on their though, there are plenty of guest musicians helping out, including David Hidalgo from Los Lobos, who also played on Bob Dylan's Together Though Life, another seminal 2009 release .

(mp3) The Bronx - Quinceniera
(mp3) The Bronx - Silver or lead
(mp3) The Bronx - My love

Buy it @ Amazon.com

#14 Sleep - Live @ All Tomorrow's Parties '09

Yeah yeah, I know this is not a real album and therefore has no business being on this list, but whatever. It's not even a real live album, just a tinny sounding bootleg, never officially released. But whatever.

I never miss an opportunity to dis a reunion, but with neither Om nor Shrinebuilder quite living up the expectations with their 2009 releases and with no new High On Fire release until next year, the reunion of the power trio to end all power trios (Al Cisneros, Matt Pike and Chris Haikus) will do just fine. More than fine actually, this is one of the most crushing things I've heard since... well, since High On Fire's 2007 album Death Is This Communion, probably.

No inbetween song banter to speak of, mostly just the occasional thank yous and Al's quick remark "Tony Iommi is your friend", a line which is now my ringtone signal (no joke). Just pure pot-hazed doom metal of the finest sort. Hits from most of their catalogue, even a snippet of the monolith known as Dopesmoker.

Instead of offering a few tracks for you to sample, I'm giving you the entire 95 minute gig squashed into one big fat mp3 file, as this is not something to enjoy in small doses but as a whole.

In conclusion I wish to send out a big fuck you to everyone who got to experience this in person. I hate you.

(mp3) Sleep - - Live @ All Tomorrow's Parties '09

Buy all things Sleep @ Amazon.com

#13 Nile - Those Whom The Gods Detest

Nile have gained a reputation for their Egyptian themes, so much that their H.P. Lovecraft influences often get overlooked. I'm such a Crafthead that I latch on to anything even remotely Lovecraftian, so 4th Arra Of Dagon is bluntly put one of the most orgasmic musical experiences of the year for me. I don't know if it's possible for ears to ejaculate out of sheer arousal over what they're hearing, but I'm pretty sure my did.

When that apocalyptic riff starts at 5:36 and Douglas Toller-Wade, the most awesome looking man in death metal, starts chanting "Arra! Arra! Arra! Dagon! Dagon! Dagon" it just has to be the soundtrack of the wretched captain Obed Marsh standing alone on the Innsmouth waterfront summoning the titular dark deity with ice cold salty waves crashing against the rocks.

When, after a short break, a whole cookie monster choir joins in the chanting it's near impossible not to imagine the ancient beast itself answering the call and rising from the black waters. I hardly ever listen to the whole song, just the last four minutes. Over and over and over and over, and I get chills every time - it's that good.

So good that it tends to overshadow the rest of the album for me, an album which just happens to be the band's best yet.

(mp3) Nile - Kafir!
(mp3) Nile - 4th Arra of Dagon
(mp3) Nile - The eye of Ra

Buy it @ Amazon.com

#12 Daniel Johnston - Is And Always Was

In the '80s Johnston made scattered, lo-fi cassettes by all himself on a boombox, which attracted a cult following mainly consisting of hipster indie musicians. These people didn't realise that those releases weren't a pose or an anarchic artistic statement against the overproduced mainstream music at the time, but rather just born out of not having any other equipment to record the songs on. If he could've made albums with Gary Moore's sound quality, he would've.

In the '90s, when these people took Daniel under their wings and tried to get him to make "real" album in a "real" studio, the results were almost always lacklustre, as the child-like naïvete and enthusiasm of the solitary home recordings were traded in for something that at best sounded like a drunken Sebadoh rehearsal or Pavement goofing around at soundcheck.

They simply didn't get what Daniel tried to do with his songs. He never wanted to be weird and obscure and underground, he never wanted to be Guided By Voices. He wanted to be John Lennon, he wanted to be the biggest pop star in the world.

That will never happen, but after 30 years Daniel Johnston, thanks to the heroic producer Jason Faulker and a group of dedicated musicians, finally got to make the album he's always heard in his head.

(mp3) Daniel Johnston - High horse
(mp3) Daniel Johnston - Without you
(mp3) Daniel Johnston - Light of day

Buy it @ Amazon.com

#11 Baroness - Blue Record

Baroness' last album, Red Album, showed much promise but ultimately didn't do much for me. Some tracks, like Wailing Wintry Wind, were nothing less than stellar, but for the most part the songs didn't seem to go anywhere. Luckily for me, the band kept the part of the album it had going for it (the raw but still controlled production) and worked on the part that lacked (the songwriting).

Blue Record is full to the brim with songs you can easily sing along to after only a listen or two. Half the songs on here could be hits on any rock station if they weren't presented in such an abrasive manner. Swollen And Halo is probably the best track on here. It could quite easily be mistaken for an At The Drive-In cover, so it can't help but be completely kickass.

The comparison to fellow Georgians Mastodon is still valid, but Baroness is much earthier and grounded, and with a more defined Southern flair. Like a Mastodon with both feet stuck in the bayou, swatting flies and avoiding gators, as opposed to flying through wormholes in outer space with Rasputin.

(mp3) Baroness - Jake leg
(mp3) Baroness - A horse called Golgotha
(mp3) Baroness - War, wisdom and rhyme

Buy it @ Amazon.com

The Best Albums of 2009: #30-21

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#30 The Melvins - Chicken Switch


With this remix album The Melvins solidify their position as one of the best, and somehow simultaneously one of the worst, bands in the world.

A vast variety of assorted noise freaks were give free rein to roam The Melvins' back catalogue and pick & choose and copy & paste and mix & match whatever they wanted in any way they saw fit. The result is something that perhaps would appeal to those who feel the band has been too straight-forward and not nearly weird enough since recruiting the Big Business boys.

Parts of this album are some of the most adventurous and confrontational I've heard from The Melvins, while other parts are completely unlistenable and pointless, even rivalling the (in)famous Prick from 1994.

Buy it @ Amazon.com



#29: Flipper - Love


According to an interview with Dave Grohl, Kurt Cobain constantly listened to the same tape when he wrote Nirvana's 1989 debut Bleach - a tape with Celtic Frost on one side and noisy punks Flipper on the other. Kurt was also seen wearing a Flipper shirt on many occasions. With Love, Flipper's first album in sixteen years, this sort of comes full circle, as the bass on it is handled by none other than Krist Novoselic.

Flipper have called it quits and reformed several times of the last thirty years. The last time they reunited was in 2005 and Novoselic jumped on board the following year. He is no longer in the band, but his sweet rumbling bass lines flow at once mellifluously and ominously over the entire album, nailing it well into the ground.

But enough with this Novoselic love fest. The bottom line is it's a really fucking good album, ten solid tracks of psychotic garage punk.

Buy it @ Amazon.com



#28 Lightning Bolt - Earthly Delights


Good noise bands are hard to come by. Many know how to make noise alright, which I suppose to the whole point.

But I tend to prefer noise bands who actually have good songs hidden beneath all the static. Band that can write some sweet riffs or maybe (shock! horror!) get into a nice groove every now and then. On Earthly Delights, probably their most accessible album yet, Lightning Bolt do all of these things while making some of the most godawful racket you'll ever hear.

Buy it @ Amazon.com



#27 Kylesa - Static Tensions


Static Tensions is a giant lumbering T-Rex striding down the plains with a toothy grin stepping on everything in its path without even noticing it and eating whatever it fucking feels like.

A perhaps quite undynamic album in its relentless rumbling heavyness, but when you're in the right mood a giant lumbering T-Rex is exactly what you need.

Buy it @ Amazon.com



#26 Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - The Road: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack


Not since Johnny Greenwood's masterful soundtrack to the masterful There Will Be Blood two years ago has a movie soundtrack gotten under my skin to such an extent.

Great book too by the way - haven't seen the film, but looking forward to it. If someone feels like leaving a torrent link to a good rip in the comments, I wouldn't hate you for it.

Buy it @ Amazon.com



#25 Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown


With this album, the follow-up 2004's American Idiot, Green Day took yet another step away from their punk roots and continued to embrace power ballads, glam rock and various arena rock dinosaurs. Out went The Buzzcocks and The Descendants and in came The Who, Elton John and even Cher (or am I the only one who thinks Little Girl sounds like Gypsies, Tramps And Thieves?).

A couple of the tracks, like the dull first single Know Your Enemy, The Hives ripoff Horseshoes And Handgrenades and the Hitchin' A Ride rewrite East Jesus Nowhere feel superfluous, but on the whole 21st Century Breakdown is a triumph and by far the best pop album of the year.

That's not saying much, but still.

Buy it @ Amazon.com



#24 Vic Chesnutt - At The Cut


I have a thing for the broken, the downtrodden. Whether it's Pig Champion's guitar god trapped inside a sumo wrestler, Roky Erikson's delusional antics or in this case Vic Chesnutt, wheelchain bound since 1983 when he, drunk and high as a kite, smashed his car and broke his neck.

I'm sure he's just fine and happy as Larry, but in my dumb head an incident like that makes his music more honest. So when Chesnutt strums another dark country song about sad lives, hurt relations and fading memories of joyous times I can't help but feel it's more from the heart than when it comes from a singer/songwriter who does the same thing standing up.

I know, right? That's how big a moron I am.

UPDATE DECEMBER 25th: Well, it appears Vic wasn't happy as Larry after all, as he committed suicide yesterday. R.I.P.

Buy it @ Amazon.com



#23 Ancestors - Of Sound Mind


The Pink Floyd of doom? Yes, quite possibly.

With Of Sound Mind, L.A.'s Ancestors stepped it up a notch from Neptune With Fire, their debut from last year. The album is a bit marred though by the short interludes inbetween the "real" songs. Not a big deal, but they're a bit annoying.

Had these been worked into the material in a better way or perhaps deleted altogether, I probably would have ranked this album even higher. Because when it's good, it's stupefyingly good. Just listen to that mean-ass riff and distorted vocals in the second half of Bounty of Age.

That's the kind of stuff that makes you want to drop acid just so you can enjoy the music even more.

Buy it @ Amazon.com



#22 Converge - Axe To Fall


Perhaps now people will shut up about Jane Doe. But probably not. Those who don't know any better are likely to continue to proclaim that 2001 album as Converge's best, even though it's now been thoroughly and savagely beaten to a messy pulp by Axe To Fall.

Do you hear that faint whimpering in the distance? That's Jane Doe begging for mercy.

Listen carefully to Neurosis' Steve Von Till layin' down the law on Cruel Bloom or pretty much all of Ghengis Tron guesting on Wretched World (which is ten times better than anything in their own catalogue) and you'll begin to see the power of Axe To Fall.

Still prefer Jane Doe? Kindly shut the fuck up.

Buy it @ Amazon.com



#21 The Mars Volta - Octahedron, Omar Rodriguez Lopez Group - Los Sueños De Un Higado and El Grupo Nuevo de Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - Cryptomnesia






These are three of the albums Mars Volta guitarist/producer Omar Rodriguez-Lopez released this year (I confess to not having heard the other forty-seven), and I'm just gonna go ahead slab these three together on the same spot. Because truth be told I can't tell them apart half the time.

They have all have Omar at the helm, more often than not the same people playing on them and a lot of the times they sound the same. Los Sueños De Un Higado is a personal favorite of mine though - a selection of previously released Omar solo songs re-recorded with his girlfriend Ximena Sariñana behind the mic.

Buy Octahedron @ Amazon.com

Buy Los Sueños De Un Higado @ Amazon.com

Buy Cryptomnesia @ Amazon.com

The Best of 2009: Honorable Mentions (M-Y)

You probably thought I was just amazing in terms my musical tastes, didn't you? The fact is I'm amazing at most things, I am a man of countless talents. For starters I make the world's best lasagna. Most people don't know that.

Right, now that I've pimped my newest amazing blog, let's move on to the last batch of great albums that didn't quite make it onto my Best Of 2009 list. Another thirty two albums in fact. Goshdarnit, will it ever end?

Yes, this will all end next week when the top 30 albums of the year are presented. Until then, enjoy these.

A personal favorite here is Megasus, a band featuring people from Lightning Bolt and other less savory characters. Just check out the lyrics to their song Megasus:

The cult of blood gave rise to a mythic beast
Sprung from the shrine of gods at the lunar feast
No living thing no sage no king left standing in its way!

Grim destroyer thunders from its hidden lair
Immortal beast spreads it wings sets fire to the air
Ancient worm mare of night born of plague and doom!

Elders demand a sacrifice
And so the village passed from light
The sea of blood it fails to please him
Hordes of men prepare to fight!

Dawn of war has begun
Brave kinsmen they fight as one
The clash of shield and sword and helmet
They hint of slaughter yet to come!

Iron and bone upon its flesh
Brave words and deeds put to the test
Bitter teeth, claws, wings and hooves now
Death awakens from its nest!

How badass is that? You don't have to answer it, I'll do it myself: It's extremely badass. Almost as badass as their badass album cover.






(mp3) Maim - Carnal feast
Available on From The Womb To The Tomb





(mp3) Maserati - Monoliths
Available on Passages





(mp3) Masters of Reality - Always
Available on Pine/Cross Dover





(mp3) Megasus - Megasus
Available on S/t





(mp3) Mono - Ashes in the snow
Available on Hymn To The Immortal Wind





(mp3) Mumakil - Without grief
Available on Behold The Failure





(mp3) N.A.S.A. - Spacious thoughts (feat. Tom Waits & Kool Keith)
Available on The Spirit Of Apollo





(mp3) Napalm Death - Procrastination on the empty vessel
Available on Time Waits For No Slave





(mp3) New Model Army - Today is a good day
Available on Today Is A Good Day





(mp3) Obliteration - The spawn of a dying kind
Available on Nekropsalms





(mp3) Om - Meditation is the practice of death
Available on God Is Good





(mp3) Otep - Smash the control machine
Available on Smash The Control Machine





(mp3) Pearl Jam - The end
Available on Backspacer





(mp3) The Prodigy - Run with the wolves
Available on Invaders Must Die





(mp3) The Project Hate MCMXCIX - The locust principles
Available on The Lustrate Process





(mp3) Rammstein - Bückstabü
Available on Liebe Ist Für Alle Da





(mp3) Rise And Fall - It's a long way down
Available on Our Circle Is Vicious





(mp3) Russian Circles - When the mountain comes to Muhammad
Available on Geneva





(mp3) Siena Root - We are them
Available on Different Realities





(mp3) Snail - Underwater
Available on Blood





(mp3) Soulsavers feat. Mark Lanegan - You will miss me when I burn
Available on Broken





(mp3) Spinnerette - Rebellious palpitations
Available on S/t





(mp3) S:t Erik - Your highness
Available on From Under The Tarn





(mp3) Switch Opens - Pyramids
Available on S/t





(mp3) Therapy? - Crooked timber
Available on Crooked Timber





(mp3) Todd - Happy easter Florida
Available on Big Ripper





(mp3) Totalt Jävla Mörker - Ett vackert landskap af ensamhet
Available on Söndra & Härska





(mp3) Träd, Gräs Och Stenar - Svärmors brudpolska
Available on Hemlösa Katter





(mp3) Vic Du Monte's Persona Non Grata - She's a rocker
Available on Autoblond





(mp3) Withered - The fated breath
Available on Folie Circulaire





(mp3) Wooden Shjips - Motorbike
Available on Dos





(mp3) Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson - Relator
Available on Break Up