#Bill Direen

[bandcampsnoop]

11/8/23.

I've been a fan of Sophomore Lounge for years. From Bill Direen to Huevos, Ryan Davis' label (originally in Louisville, now in Jeffersonville, Indiana) has been releasing diverse sounds for going on 20 years.

It seems appropriate that the label's breakout release would feature Davis (also in State Champion) himself under the name Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band. Pitchfork reviewed it on November 3rd and gave it an impressive 7.9. This LP brings to mind Wilco, The Jayhawks, Son Volt and The Silos. One of the fans who bought this wrote, "David Berman was right when he called Ryan our [Louisville's] best living lyricist."

Joan Shelley is a guest vocalist. Check out her split single with Myriam Gendron on No Quarter.

#Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band #Jeffersonville #Indiana #Louisville #Sophomore Lounge #State Champion #Bill Direen #Huevos #Wilco #Son Volt #The Silos #The Jayhawks #Joan Shelley #Myriam Gendron #David Berman #Bandcamp

[ozkar-krapo]

BUILDERS

"Beatin Hearts"

(LP. Flying Nun rcds. 1982) [NZ]

#builders #1982 #bill direen #new zealand #post punk #diy #alternative #records #Bandcamp

[dustedmagazine]

Bill Direen — A Memory of Others OST (Sophomore Lounge)

BILL DIREEN "A Memory of Others" OST by BILL DIREEN

Before the Clean and Flying Nun Records, there was Bill Direen. Born and raised in Christchurch, on New Zealand’s South Island, he started making records on the most frayed of shoestring resources in the late 1970s, and he’s still at it today. Direen stands with Chris Knox in the vanguard of the country’s non-conformist rock pantheon; he’s another guy who has led by example, and hung in there through some cruel ups and downs. He’s spent most of this century in Europe, but occasionally makes the track back home to play some songs, publish some books, and take stock of the place that begat him. The film A Memory of Others was made on one such trip.

Like Direen, filmmaker Simon Ogston is from Christchurch. While he trekked the length of New Zealand with Direen in order to make the movie, the town looms large in A Memory of Others. One learns that Direen had to leave the place, for reasons he doesn’t like to talk about. The town has had some troubles of its own in this century, chief among them a disastrous season of seismic disruption that toppled and ruined buildings and impelled a fair portion of the population to leave. Direen left long before that, but you get the sense that both he and Christchurch are bouncing back as they go about their business in 2016, when the filming was done.  

A Memory of Others is not just a movie. While the price of purchase obtains you a digital version of the film, it also supplies a double LP that skips a-chronologically around Direen’s career. Songs from his first, rare as hens’ teeth 7” records sit next to songs recorded in 2016, united by the impetuous passion of Direen’s singing. You can hear certain influences in his early work, which was mostly recorded with people who would later show up in the Terminals and the Bats — Nuggets compilations, the Velvet Underground, Bob Dylan. “Love in the Retail Trade,” for example, is basically a more literate than average song of the “I want that girl and she probably doesn’t want me” variety. But then there’s “Russian Rug,” a dizzying collage of echoed-to-the-max riffing, sardonic narration, and a Christmas Mass purloined off the radio. It’s actually a pretty unrepresentative song, because more often Direen’s music sounds dashed off, albeit sometimes thrillingly so. He is more concerned with creating an experience in the present, whether by playing a blazing rock tune or making up a surreal ditty for a classroom of elementary school students, than he is with creating lasting documents, which makes this record’s scattershot organization pretty true to its subject.  

Bill Meyer

#bill direen #a memory of others #sophomore lounge #bill meyer #albumreview #Dusted magazine #Simon Ogston #new zealand

[bestreasonstowriterecordreviews]

“...faultless heart intrusion from a guy that you should fucking well know about. Simple.”

BILL DIREEN & THE BUILDERS review by JIMMY JOHNSON, Editor

FORCED EXPOSURE #16 1990 (page 79), Jimmy Johnson, Editor

Whoa, Bill Direen. He maintains a great stand alone web site at http://william.direen.free.fr/ and he is a very busy man. 

Jay Hinman interviewed and featured Bill as the cover story in Dynamite Hemorrhage #2 (November 2014): “An interview and career-spanning retrospective with BILL DIREEN, the New Zealand-based musical iconoclast and creator of some of the most weird and wonderful underground pop music of the last 35 years. Great old photos of Vacuum, Six Impossible Things and more - with Direen's take on his many recordings, bands and general outlook on creation & creativity.”  STILL AVAILABLE!

Although Forced Exposure #16 is no longer available at Forced Exposure, try these Amazon dealers if you dare: 4 used from $19.99 as of 1/1/18.

#Bill Direen #The Builders #Bilders #1990 #2014 #Jimmy Johnson #forced exposure #Jay Hinman #Dynamite Hemorrhage

[dustedandsocial]

Bill Direen & The Bilders - Nobody’s Fault

From the new vinyl reissue of 2008′s “Chrysanthemum Storm”. Put out by Austria’s Zelle Records

It was winter in Dunedin. A snow storm hit Bill Direen as he was driving home, and the huge flakes spread out across his windscreen like white Chrysanthemums. He was living in the attic of a boot shop with a sniper’s view of Otago Harbour, and he just had to walk out the door for the songs to arise. There are songs about a guy who installs heat pumps, a night nurse who follows local bands, a young right winger who thinks of society as a marketplace. It has humour, eg. about the waiting time on telephones (Try Again in Ten Minutes) and it addresses more serious issues, such as some people’s mistaken belief that criminality is genetic (Criminal Minds). Every song on the album was inspired by people, stories and events going on at the time in New Zealand.

The band practised for a week in Auckland and hit the studio armed with some very good musical equipment and mikes. The high resolution master was never released on vinyl as intended, and seven years later it is now a reality thanks to a friendly collaboration. The movers are Zelle Records (an Austrian label that specialises in vinyl releases of New Zealand music), Powertool Records of Auckland (champion of dozens of New Zealand underdog bands) and South Indies (Bill‘s rights company). Each album has a poster sized insert of lyrics and photos.

Chrysanthemum Storm vinyl is a bundle of portraits of people, their problems, habits and saving graces. Above all it is the right format for songs developed and recorded with great care by a band that was that special mix of flair and experience, of talent and raw ability which characterises all Bill Direen‘s ‘experiences’. His bands are always greater than ‘the sum of their parts’.

The 2008 band has moved on to become parents, teachers, and record company and live venue managers. Andrew McCully (piano/organs) is music teacher at Cockle Bay School. Andrew Maitai (drums) runs a record shop and the venue UFO in New Lynn. Brett Cross (bass) has moved to the Waikato where he is bringing up a child and making books. Bill remains in Middlemarch, Otago, working on more poems, stories and above all songs.

Links: Vinyl (via Grapefruit Records) / Digital

#2008 #2017 #New Zealand #Rock #Zelle Records #Powertool Records #Bill Direen #Bilders #Builders #Bill Direen & The Bilders

[goodbysunball]

Best of 2019

Happy new year, y’all. Here’s a handful of favorites from yet another ridiculously robust year for music from zee underground and below. Joshua Abrams & NIS was a no-brainer for me, a nearly perfect release all the way around, but the Bobby Would and Mount Trout albums were probably the two I listened to the most this year. Bad Breeding, SCAN and Asid kicked my teeth in, I zoned way the fuck out with Crazy Doberman, K-Group and the Dead C/the Never Quartet, and that Maleem Mahmoud Ghania record is now probably the best sounding record I own. I like that Siltbreeze only puts out one record per year now, I like that Jim Shepard's vaults were cracked, and if you like that legendary Keggs 7″, let me introduce you to the Society’s 7″. Lots of great stuff didn’t make the cut, and I’m still discovering more in the lists/recommendations of other trusted sources (like this Anadol record, or this Extended Hell mini-LP), so keep ‘em comin’. I didn’t do as much writing as I’d like this year, but that’s gonna change soon. Onward!

LP

Joshua Abrams & Natural Information Society, Mandatory Reality (Eremite)

Krypts, Cadaver Circulation (Dark Descent)

Bobby Would, Baby (Low Company)

Chronophage, Prolog For Tomorrow (Cleta Patra)

Bad Breeding, Exiled (Iron Lung)

The Dead C, Rare Ravers (Ba Da Bing!)

Sempiternal Dusk, Cenotaph of Defectuous Creation (Dark Descent)

Crazy Doberman, s/t (Mastermind)

Itchy Bugger, Double Bugger (Low Company)

C.I.A. Débutante, The Landlord (Siltbreeze)

...and six more:

Fabulous Diamonds, Plain Songs (Alter)

Carla dal Forno, Look Up Sharp (Kallista)

Monokultur, s/t (ever/never / Förlag För Fri Musik)

The Pheromoans, County Lines (Alter)

The Stroppies, Whoosh (Tough Love)

Yellow Eyes, Rare Field Ceiling (Gilead Media)

7″/12″/Cassette

Asid, Pathetic Flesh 12″ (La Vida Es Un Mus)

Euromilliard, "Elève Modèle” b/w “Indolore” 7″ (Pollymaggoo)

Forra, Mostrame Lo Peor 7″ EP (La Vida Es Un Mus)

K-Group, “Accueil” b/w “Over-Future Shop” 7″ (I Dischi Del Barone)

Mount Trout, Shelter Belt cassette (Rough Skies)

The Never Quartet, “1.001.006″ b/w “1.001.007″  7″ (I Dischi Del Barone)

Ossuary, Supreme Degradation cassette (Darkness Shall Rise)

Overt Hostility, s/t cassette (Loki Label)

Pinocchio, s/t 7″ EP (Toxic State)

SCAN, s/t 7″ EP (self-released)

Skiftande Enheter, s/t one-sided 12″ (Levande Begravd)

Reissue/Archival

Maleem Mahmoud Ghania with Pharoah Sanders, The Trance of Seven Colors 2xLP (Zehra)

Jim Shepard, Heavy Action 2xLP + 12″ (ever/never)

Smelly Feet, Left Odours cassette (Independent Woman)

The Society, “You Girl” b/w “Lonely” 7″ (My Mind’s Eye)

V/A, Heavy Space Records - Anthology Vol. 1 cassette (Ikuisuus)

Above: Bill Direen at the Pilot Light, Knoxville, TN, Nov. 17

Shows

Jon Mueller at the Pilot Light, Knoxville, TN, January 23

Gong-trance heaven

This Is Not This Heat at the Mill & Mine, Knoxville, TN, March 23

Best show of the year, no contest

BIG|BRAVE and Primitive Man at the Earl, Atlanta, GA, June 17

One of the most punishingly loud shows I’ve ever seen

Cube at the Pilot Light, Knoxville, TN, June 20

Danced like a fool to his cracked techno

Joshua Abrams & Natural Information Society at the Diana Wortham Theatre, Asheville, NC, August 24

Now with faster tempos - brilliant

Bill Direen at the Pilot Light, Knoxville, TN, November 17

“I’ve always been a mistaker”

#Joshua Abrams & Natural Information Society #Krypts #Bobby Would #Chronophage #Bad Breeding #The Dead C #Sempiternal Dusk #Crazy Doberman #Itchy Bugger #CIA Debutante #Fabulous Diamonds #Carla dal Forno #Monokultur #Pheromoans #Stroppies #Yellow Eyes #Jim Shepard #Maleem Mahmoud Ghania #Pharoah Sanders #Asid #Euromilliard #Mount Trout #Forra #K-Group #Ossuary #Never Quartet #SCAN #Skiftande Enheter #Overt Hostility #Pinnochio

[cyanidetooth]

Minami Deutsch! The Flying Luttenbachers! Carbon! Klick & Aus! Sonic Youth! Health Hen! CIA Debutante! most of the Noise Fest cassette and feat. a live session & interview w/ BILL DIREEN!

#WFMU #spinageblasters #creamocoyl #freeformradio

[bandcampotheque]

Listen/purchase: Ferocious by Ferocious

#noise rock #poetry #new zealand #Bill Direen #bandcamp #rattle records

[13thfloornz]

Watch: Bill Direen’s 13th Floor Video Session!! Dunedin-based musician, writer, poet and all-around artist Bill Direen was in Auckland recently to celebrate the reissue of his classic Flying Nun album…

#13th floor #Bill Direen #Do You #Interview #Live performance #marty duda #Peppermint Train #Reposession #Video Session

[thlayli-rah]

I was talking about how - this childhood tendency of mine - I’m the most gullible person alive. I believe everything I’m told. Not just while it’s being told to me; a poet named Bill Direen has a very strong credo that, you know, for the duration of the story that someone is telling you, believe it. But I can’t escape at the end and so that’s sort of a thing about me. And consequently, I’m the kind of person who- and I think more people have this than admit it. You know how you hear a really dumb song - like you know it’s dumb, it’s just not the sort of stuff you maybe normally would listen to - and then you start to cry. And you say, ‘Why am I crying at ‘Nearest Distant Shore’, a country song from the eighties?’ Well, it’s that you let yourself get sucked into it and suddenly everything- the protagonist person was real, so maybe it’s dumb because they’re feeling beleaguered and they’re not really powerful enough to articulate things in a way that’s really clever because they’re in a whole, huge amount of psychic pain. Maybe that’s the reality of the dumb song. So anyway, I play video games and sometimes- and I’m not talking about video games with complex plot lines that everyone cries at, right. Everyone cries at 'Ocarina’. It’s true, when they seal Zelda up in the amber and you can’t- everybody cries at that. But this is not that. There’s not a lot of people who, when you reach the end of the maze and it blinks and Pac-Man has eaten all the dots and eaten a few ghosts while he was at it, so he has earned some right to freedom and rest… and the maze blinks and this music plays and you think, 'Oh, what music are they playing for Pac-Man?’ Maybe, as they usher him into the house that he won because he completed the maze. 'It’s so nice that he’s finished. He worked so hard at it. He died twice on the way through the maze and now he’s done! So now, good for him. And I helped him get there. So, this is great!’ And then a new maze full of dots presents itself. And there’s new ghosts, none of them are actually dead. Every time you eat them, the ghosts come back to life. And if you’re me, you reach a point where this feels like a crushing psychic weight. Like, 'Oh my god, Pac-Man will never be done. He will never be done. He has to eat the dots forever. There is no escape from the maze. There’s an exit on this side of the screen, but it just comes right back out on the other side of the screen. It’s hell. Pac-Man was born in and lives in hell. That’s all you’re doing, is helping him walk around down there and be chased by demons who have names like Inky and Blinky. You have to pool in a harsh universe through which he lives.’ So this song is about a little fellow who goes to free the woman he loves from an evil dragon. And he’s really not… he’s just a plumber. He’s not a hero or nothing. He’s just a little plumber–and he’s exceedingly little. I know it’s uncool to call people little, or something; like, people are all sorts of sizes but this guy’s literally like half an inch tall. And like one day, he just wakes up inside a sewer and the sewer has creatures that fly and he fights and fights and fights. But when he gets past the evil dragon, the person he’s looking for isn’t there. But somebody else he knows is, that he didn’t even know was being held prisoner. His name is Mario. His friend’s name is Toad. I find their story profoundly moving so I wrote this song for them.

John Darnielle on Thank You Mario But Our Princess Is In Another Castle

#the mountain goats

[still-single]

HEATHEN DISCO for 9/1/2019 <-- LISTEN

New show’s up. https://www.mixcloud.com/mosurock/heathen-disco-with-doug-mosurock-show-180-01-september-2019/

Fun one, lots of good tunes within.

Playlist here:

Siouxsie & the Banshees - Eve White/Eve Black

The Monorchid - X Marks the Spot: Something Dull Happened Here

The Fall - Spector vs. Rector

Scythe - Flower, Drop

Maddy Prior & June Tabor - Silver Whistle

Tropical Fuck Storm - Desert Sands of Venus

Peter Jefferies & Robbie Muir - Catapult

Josef K - Chance Meeting

John's Children - Remember Thomas A Becket

A Guy Called Gerald - Voodoo Ray

Prince Charles and the City Beat Band - Jungle Stomp

Tubby Hayes Quartet - Where Am I Going

Khruangbin - Firecracker

The Associates - Paper House

In the Nursery - Stone Souls

The Method Actors - Commotion (Dance Mix)

The Shocking Blue - Oh Lord

Status Quo - Oh Baby

Leech - phoenix9v

Dylan Moon - Blue Jean

Can - Tony Wanna Go

Pumice - Where You Helmet Laddd

Spray Paint - Cleaning Your Gun

Roxy Music - Pyjamarama

Bringers - Standing Moon Salt

Ghosts of Dance - Walking Through Gardens

Ramones - Slug

Scupper - Scene of the Crime

Del Shannon - Runnin' on Back

Matt Lajoie - Plane of Return

Jordan Reyes - Quicksand

Bill Direen - Circle of Blood

Bel Canto - White-Out Conditions

//TENSE// - Pulse Beat

Alexander Tucker - Artificial Origin

M - Moonlight & Muzak

Master C & J - Dub It

[bandcampsnoop]

8/28/23.

Micah, Rick and I used to love "econo CDs". Actually, maybe it was only me that loved them, but I incessantly talked about them to the point where I think Micah and Rick liked them just to keep me quiet.

Powertool Records (Auckland, New Zealand) has been releasing music since 2001 and are celebrating their 200th release by issuing "The Second 100" - highlights from releases 101-200. This is a 2 CD behemoth with 41 songs.

Andrew Maitai is relentless - he has one foot firmly planted in the storied past of New Zealand music, while the other foot is dead set on finding new artists that are carrying the fine and diverse tradition of the Kiwi scene. The two-foot metaphor is proven by the likes of Bilders (Bill Direen), Surf Friends, AJ Sharma and One Man Bannister. They represent the past foot. The new crop of musicians foot is represented by The Fuzzies and The Doubtful Sounds.

Thanks Andrew. You've quietly done more to keep the Kiwi music scene alive than most.

#Powertool Records #Andrew Maitai #Auckland #New Zealand #Bilders #Bill Direen #AJ Sharma #One Man Bannister #Surf Friends #The Fuzzies #The Doubtful Sounds #Bandcamp

[ozkar-krapo]

Die BILDER [The BUILDERS]

"Schwimmen in der See"

(12". Unwucht. 2012 / rec. 1982) [NZ]

#bilder #builders #bilders #1982 #new zealand #alternative #diy #records #bill direen

[tmgbanter]

I was talking about how - this childhood tendency of mine - I’m the most gullible person alive. I believe everything I’m told. Not just while it’s being told to me; a poet named Bill Direen has a very strong credo that, you know, for the duration of the story that someone is telling you, believe it. But I can’t escape at the end and so that’s sort of a thing about me. And consequently, I’m the kind of person who- and I think more people have this than admit it. You know how you hear a really dumb song - like you know it’s dumb, it’s just not the sort of stuff you maybe normally would listen to - and then you start to cry. And you say, ‘Why am I crying at 'Nearest Distant Shore’, a country song from the eighties?’ Well, it’s that you let yourself get sucked into it and suddenly everything- the protagonist person was real, so maybe it’s dumb because they’re feeling beleaguered and they’re not really powerful enough to articulate things in a way that’s really clever because they’re in a whole, huge amount of psychic pain. Maybe that’s the reality of the dumb song. So anyway, I play video games and sometimes- and I’m not talking about video games with complex plot lines that everyone cries at, right. Everyone cries at 'Ocarina’. It’s true, when they seal Zelda up in the amber and you can’t- everybody cries at that. But this is not that. There's not a lot of people who, when you reach the end of the maze and it blinks and Pac-Man has eaten all the dots and eaten a few ghosts while he was at it, so he has earned some right to freedom and rest... and the maze blinks and this music plays and you think, 'Oh, what music are they playing for Pac-Man?' Maybe, as they usher him into the house that he won because he completed the maze. 'It's so nice that he's finished. He worked so hard at it. He died twice on the way through the maze and now he's done! So now, good for him. And I helped him get there. So, this is great!' And then a new maze full of dots presents itself. And there's new ghosts, none of them are actually dead. Every time you eat them, the ghosts come back to life. And if you're me, you reach a point where this feels like a crushing psychic weight. Like, 'Oh my god, Pac-Man will never be done. He will never be done. He has to eat the dots forever. There is no escape from the maze. There's an exit on this side of the screen, but it just comes right back out on the other side of the screen. It's hell. Pac-Man was born in and lives in hell. That's all you're doing, is helping him walk around down there and be chased by demons who have names like Inky and Blinky. You have to pool in a harsh universe through which he lives.' So this song is about a little fellow who goes to free the woman he loves from an evil dragon. And he's really not... he's just a plumber. He's not a hero or nothing. He's just a little plumber--and he's exceedingly little. I know it's uncool to call people little, or something; like, people are all sorts of sizes but this guy's literally like half an inch tall. And like one day, he just wakes up inside a sewer and the sewer has creatures that fly and he fights and fights and fights. But when he gets past the evil dragon, the person he's looking for isn't there. But somebody else he knows is, that he didn't even know was being held prisoner. His name is Mario. His friend's name is Toad. I find their story profoundly moving so I wrote this song for them.

John Darnielle introducing Thank You Mario But Our Princess Is In Another Castle, Rio Theater on 2012-06-22

#john darnielle #the mountain goats #tmg #thank you mario #long post

[dustedandsocial]

Top Several Hundred Records of 2020

My Top 11: 1. Slum Of Legs - Slum Of Legs (Harbinger Sound / Spurge) 2. Oily Boys - Cro Memory Grin (Cool Death) 3. Model Home - SE (Future Times) 4. Valentina Magaletti & Marlene Ribeiro - due matte (Commando Vanessa / Horn of Plenty <O) 5. Kris & Tavi - Kris & Tavi (Misophonia) 6. Still House Plants - Fast Edit (Bison) 7. None - Khneï Khneï Thnacapata Thnacapata (Unknown Precept) 8. Rychlicki / Kostkiewicz - Zapis (Absolute Fiction / Maternal Voice) 9. Rosso Polare - Lettere Animali (Klammklang) 10. Patois Counselors - The Optimal Seat (ever/never) 11. Impatiens - Scene At The River (Altered States) Favorite 20 That Weren't My Top 11: 12. Irma Vep - Embarrassed Landscape (Gringo) 13. FRKSE - Desecration Anxiety II (Iron Lung) 14. Merula - Sleep (Men Scryfa) 15. Al Karpenter - If We Can't Dream, They Can't Sleep!! (ever/never) 16. BbyMutha - Muthaland (the muthaboard) 17. Pose Dia - Front View (Bureau B) 18. SIR E.U - Midnight Train To Velvet (Self-Released) 19. Nightshift - Nightshift (Cusp) 20. Massicot - Kratt (Harbinger Sound / Spurge / Bongo Joe / Red Wig) 21. Alessandra Novaga - I Should Have Been a Gardener (Die Schachtel) 22. Zeroh - BLQLYTE (Leaving) 23. Swallow - Body Horror (ANA) 24. Pink Siifu & Fly Anakin - FlySiifu's (Lex) 25. Balans - Sam pravm (Kapa) 26. Bruch - The Fool (Trost / Cut Surface) 27. P22 - Human Snake (Post Present Medium) 28. ovrkast. - Try Again (do more.) 29. Chapelier Fou - Méridiens (Ici d'ailleurs) 30. Schisms - Speech Copy Rap Master (Fort Evil Fruit) 31. Új Bála - How the Cookie Crumbles (Czaszka Records)

Mozo Mozo - Mozo Mozo (Epileptic Media) Orion Moustache - EP02 (Noorden) Mentira! - Mentira! (Harbinger Sound) Leyden Jars - Gone (Outer Reaches) Last Call At Nightowls - Ask the Dust (Subsound) Gaffer - Gaffer (Helta Skelta) Inturist (Интурист) - Action! (Incompetence) Директор Всего (The CEO of Everything) - Самый занятой гражданин (Doing Great Music) Christos Chondropoulos - On Nature (12th Isle) Uptown XO - Culture Over Corporate  (1 Force United) Lichen Gumbo - Altered Village (Ikuisuus ‎/ Jumatsuga ‎/ Lal Lal Lal) The Worms - Back To The Bog (Hidden Bay) Kneeling In Piss - Music for Peasants EP (Anyway) Taste - Rope In The Closet ( If Society / Half Bear Half Cat / Roge Records) Flogging A Dead One Horse Town - Old Scum EP (MUZAI) BIG $ILKY (Psalm One & Angel Davanport) - BIG $ILKY Vol. 2 (Self-Released) Dame Area - La Soluzione É Una (Màgia Roja / B.F.E Records) Enir Da - Silence (Too Soon Tapes) Obnox - Savage Raygun (ever/never) Mike Cooper - Playing With Water (Room40) Nape Neck - Nape Neck (Self-Released) S.U.V. - Neoliberal Folk Songs II (Otomatik Muziek) Patrick Shiroishi - Descension (Thin Wrist Recordings) Pink Siifu - NEGRO (Self-Released) En Attendant Ana - Juillet (Trouble In Mind) Sergei Demin - Not Music Of The Day (Klammklang) Brandy - The Gift Of Repetition (Total Punk) Nyx Nótt - Aux Pieds De La Nuit (Melodic) Bearer - Precincts (ANA) Norms - Háború és fű (Mindig Otthon Punk Discs) Vertical Slump - Oubliette (Blank Editions) Lau Nau - Själö (With Sound Environments by Janne Laine) (Fonal) Model Home - One Year (Disciples) WOW - Falene (Maple Death) Santa Sprees - Sum Total of Insolent Blank (Leapantique) Edd Sanders - Sun Bleached & Hollow (Cadmus) Charlemagne Palestine - Ffroggssichorddd (Staalplaat) Loopsel - Loopsel EP (Mammas Mysteriska Julebox) Kuupuu - Plz Tell Me (KRAAK) (I forget whether I put the oriinal version of this on my year-end list last year. Here it is again though) QQ - Vanguard Youth (Skrot Up) DJ Speedsick - (All Releases) Armand Hammer - Shrines (Backwoodz Studioz) Lewsberg - In This House (12XU) Ubiquitous Meh! - Fecund With Love (Buried Treasure / Damnsonic) Schulverweis - Suppe (Neoprimitive) La Chasse - Meretrix ∕ Doloris (Donnez-moi du feu) No - Vol. 1 (Faustian Haus) David Nance - Staunch Honey (Trouble In Mind) Hun Bed - Brood I (Het Generiek) Młody Kotek & Niemy Dotyk - New Age Speedball (Enjoy Life) Aurat - Zeher (Etang Brulant) Addict Ameba - Panamor (Black Sweat) Sunset Flips - Between Two Sheds (Altered States) Small Bills (E L U C I D & The Lasso) - Don't Play It Straight (Mello Music Group) Nail Club - Collected Methods (Hot Releases) Maximum Ernst - Time Delay Safe (ever/never) Tim Hicks X The Dirty Church - Bullets (Humble Monarch) Lord Jah-Monte Ogbon - GOD Body & Soul Side B (Self-Released) Red Bennies - Futurist, Nihilist Post-Rock, Cyberpunk, Anti-Humanist Music (Chthonic) Tsap - Flickering Lyghte In Campsite (Altered States) Latex Cop - Privacy Policy (Cadmus Tape) Ka - Descendants of Cain (Iron Works) Violent Quand On Aime - The Movie Star (Simple Music Experience) Flaner Klespoza - Przygody i tajemnice (Nagrania Somnambuliczne) Budokan Boys - So Broken Up About You Dying (ever/never) Datblygu - Cwm Gwagle (Ankstmusik) Pays P. - Pays P. (Gravity Music) Somaticae - Amesys (In Paradisum) Kipp Stone - Homme (Self-Released) Sada Baby - Bartier Bounty 2 Tribalism3 - April on Mars (Collectif Coax) Men With Secrets - Psycho Romance and Other Spooky Ballads (The Bunker) Brainbeau - Infinite Ways (Good Samaritron) Landowner - Consultant (Born Yesterday) Jay & Yuta - Condemned Compilations (Research) Machine Woman - Dj Dolfin Snare 808 Machine (Take Away Jazz) Slowburn - Folketro (momeatdadrecords) Twinkle³ - Minor Planets (Marionette) Unglee Izi - notice & initiation au monde alterné T.1 (Lost Dogs Entertainment) Sick Urge - Structures of Domination (Puukotus-Levyt) German Army - Pulling at Principles (Flophouse) NAPPYNAPPA - IFEELJUSTLYKTHEIRART (Bad Taste) Social Stomach + Body Shame - Split (Bento) Pacific Yew - Squeeze Demo (Hot Record Societe) Isabella - Magnetica (Ehse) Trrma´ & Charlemagne Palestine - Sssseegmmeentss Frrooom Baaari (Jazz Engine) Astute Palate - Astute Palate (Petty Bunco / Eternal Soundcheck) Axel Larsen - Les Éléments Du Crime (Macadam Mambo) Post Spiderhole Ensemble - False Alarms and Excess Baggage (Kitchen Leg) Cash Kidd - No Socks Senyawa & Stephen O'Malley - Bima Sakti (iDEAL Recordings) Henny L.O. - Sages (Mutant Academy) True Sons Of Thunder - It Was Then That (Total Punk) Tim Gick - Não Há Laranja ∕ Scrying Glass Eye (Working Man Lay Down) Junk Magic - Compass Confusion (Pyroclastic Records) Person of Interest - All Tomorrows Parties (Exotic Dance) Pumice - Table (Soft Abuse) Max Nordile - Building A Better Void (Gilgongo) Mrs. Dink + Magnum Opus - Mrs. Dink / / Magnum Opus  (Soil) Swamp Harbour (Stinkin Slumrok, Bisk, & Sam Zircon) - Swamp Harbour (Blah) Camden Malik - Understand Me (10k) Heckadecimal - Critters (Kajunga) Geld - Beyond The Floor (Iron Lung) Drakeo the Ruler & JoogSzn - Thank You For Using GTL Senketsu No Night Club - 沈丁花 (Signora Ward) Jef Mertens - NO AMP (291) Tomaga ‎– Extended Play 2 (Self-Released) [R.I.P. Tom Relleen] Boldy James & The Alchemist - The Price Of Tea In China Shoreline Mafia - Mafia Bidness pisse - LP (Phantom / Harbinger Sound) Reymour ‎– Sarabande A Deux (CAF?) Goldblum - Goldblum (Het Generiek) Phil Struck - Schleswig-Holstein Aufnahmen (Séance Centre) Maths Balance Volumes - A Year Closer (Penultimate Press) Body Double - Milk Fed (Zum Audio) Low Flung - Oil in the Mangroves (Bedroom Suck) Chris Crack - White People Love Algorithms (New Deal Collectives) Krypton 81 - Tranquility Base EP (Dalmata Daniel) Akai Solo - Ride Alone, Fly Together (Break All Records) Gad Whip - Fanimal Arms (Gad Whip Recordings) Tygapaw - Get Free (NAAFI) Pamela_ and her sons - Pink Room (Self-Released) Etceteral - Ama-Gi (Kapa Records) Ghostie - Self Hate Wraith (Self-Released) Young Nudy - Anyways DrxQuinnx & Chase Baby - God Gooch & Blue Jesus EP (Bit Tape) Museum Of No Art - Museum of No Art (Séance Centre) Terrible Signal - The Window (Heart of the Rat) Bambi OFS - Yakka (B.F.E Records / Subsist) Zarabatana - Cum Raio (tsss tapes) Soberin Exx - Normal Islands (Liquid Library) Sylvain Darrifourcq, Manuel Hermia, Valentin Ceccaldi - Kaiju Eats Cheeseburgers (Full Rhizome / Hector) Günter Schlienz + Jeans Beast - Split (Econore) Hasufel - Lamentations of the Foul High Priest (So Called Hell) Delphine Dora - L’Inattingible (Three:four / Meakusma) Suburban Cracked Collective - Swimming Amongst The Dregs (A Colourful Storm) Military Genius - Deep Web (Unheard Of Hope) Mesa Of The Lost Women - Les Tables Noires (Specific) Ferocious (Bill Direen, Mark Williams, & Johannes Contag) - Ferocious (Rattle) Domestiques - Vol. 1 (Glass Modern) gogoj a.k.a Sheng Jie - oviparity (Maybe Noise / WV Sorcerer Productions) Midnight Mines - Live From The Mystery Plane (Independent Woman) Muro - Pacificar (Beach Impediment) Satan - Toutes Ces Horreurs (Jungle Khôl / Throatruiner) Scarlatine - Mimosa (Le Syndicat Des Scorpions) Vanligt Folk - Allt E'nte (Kess Kill) VOLE - Dej Bůh Pěstí (Stoned To Death) Upsidedown Flames - Creeps At Shows EP (Fuck Yoga) Zurich Cloud Motors - Do More Than Deconstruct​-​o (Zazen Tapes)

Buncha other records

Sweeping Promises record wasn't that good though. But if you guys like it when people take singing seriously, you should check out some of this music called "R&B"

[goodbysunball]

Best of 2018

A handful of favorites from what seemed like a particularly strong year for music. Rest in peace to Yuzo Iwata, who had the album of the year the second I heard it. I Dischi Del Barone was my label of the year; everything Matthias released could’ve gone on here. Most releases listed below are readily available via any links provided: support the artists, and let’s keep this thing rolling.

LP

Yuzo Iwata, Daylight Moon (Siltbreeze)

Mournful Congregation, The Incubus of Karma (20 Buck Spin)

Lolina, The Smoke (self-released)

The Body, I Have Fought Against It, But I Can’t Any Longer. (Thrill Jockey)

Woolen Men, Post (Dog’s Table)

Constant Mongrel, Living In Excellence (La Vida Es Un Mus/Anti Fade)

Mamitri Yulith Empress Yonagunisan, Yulith Lilith (Bruit Direct Disques)

Vilkacis / Turia split (Altare Productions)

Arv & Miljö, Svensk sommar i stilla frid (Omlott)

Six more:

Chris Corsano & Bill Orcutt, Brace Up! (Palilalia)

The Doozer, Figurines (Feeding Tube)

Geld, Perfect Texture (Iron Lung)

The Native Cats, John Sharp Toro (R.I.P. Society)

Patois Counselors, Proper Release (ever/never)

Mette Rasmussen & Tashi Dorji, s/t (Feeding Tube)

12″ / 7″ / cassette

Mosquitoes, Drip Water Hollow Out Stone 12″ (ever/never)

Alienation, Bitter Reality 7″ (Warthog Speak)

Fåglar I Bur, “Platt” b/w “Öppen Inbjudan” 7″ (I Dischi Del Barone)

Healer / DJ Eons, Dank Goblins split 7″ (Warthog Speak)

Honey Radar, Psychic Cruise 7″ (Chunklet)

JJ Ulius, “Tänder Ett Ljus” b/w “Era Jävla Manér” 7″ (Happiest Place)

Monokultur, s/t 7″ (I Dischi Del Barone)

The Native Cats, Spiro Scratch 7″ (Rough Skies)

Phrenelith, Ornamented Dead Eyes 7″ (Night Shroud)

Rapid Dye, Nurture or Destroy 7″ (Paradise Daily)

Mary Lattimore, Charlie’s Yard cassette (Petty Bunco)

Long Hots, Monday Night Raw cassette (self-released)

Wonderfuls, Voices Like Rain cassette (Round Bale)

Reissues? My research was scattered and lacking, but my top picks would be the Nightcrawlers’ Biophonic Boombox Recordings 2xLP, a much-needed reissue of Corrupted’s Se Hace Por Los Asesinos (buy that here or here), and Cut by Bill Direen/Bilders.

Above: Mizmor at Migration Fest 2018, Mr. Small’s Theatre, Pittsburgh, PA

Shows

Migration Fest at Mr. Small’s Theatre, Pittsburgh, PA: So many great sets, bolstered by the best company I could ask for and a multitude of trips to the nearby Grist House brewery. Mizmor, Mournful Congregation, Hell, Yellow Eyes and Fórn were my favorite performances of the weekend.

Primitive Man and Spectral Voice at the End, Nashville, TN

Bill Direen / Bilders at the Pilot Light, Knoxville, TN

Tashi Dorji at the Pilot Light, Knoxville, TN

#Yuzo Iwata #Mournful Congregation #Lolina #The Body #Woolen Men #Constant Mongrel #Mamitri Yulithi Empress Yonagunisan #Vilkacis #Turia #Arv & Miljö #Mosquitoes #Alienation #Fåglar I Bur #Healer #DJ Eons #Honey Radar #JJ Ulius #Monokultur #Native Cats #Phrenelith #Rapid Dye #Mary Lattimore #Long Hots #Wonderfuls #Chris Corsano #Bill Orcutt #The Doozer #Geld #Patois Counselors #Tashi Dorji