2020 Year In Review
This year once again I invited some friends and colleagues to reflect on 2020
JG Thirlwell
Composer
Foetus Xordox Manorexia Steroid Maximus Venture Bros Archer
www.foetus.org
2020 was a troubling and disturbing year.
I created a lot of music and experienced a lot of nights waking at 5am in a panic.
I deeply missed the sacred experience of being able to see live music.
In its absence of that I listened to a lot of music.
It was difficult to whittle down this list but here are a lot of albums I enjoyed in 2020, in no particular order.
Le Grand Sbam Furvent (Dur Et Doux)
John Elmquist’s HardArt Group I Own an Ion (900 Nurses)
Roly Porter Kistvaen (Subtext)
Liturgy Origin Of The Alimonies (YLYLCYN)
Clark Kiri Variations (Throttle)
Dai Kaht Dai Kaht I & II (Soleil Zeuhl)
Chromb Le livre des merveilles (Dur Et Doux)
Horse Lords The Common Task (Northern Spy)
Ecker & Meultzer Carbon (Subtext)
Insane Warrior Tendrils (RJ’s Electrical Connections)
Jeff Parker Suite For Max Brown (International Anthem)
Jacob Kirkegaard Opus Mors (Topos)
Tristan Perich Drift Multiply (Nonesuch)
Bec Plexus Sticklip (New Amsterdam)
Vak Budo (Soleil Zeuhl)
Merlin Nova BOO! (Bandcamp)
The The Muscle OST (Cineola)
Zombi 2020 (Relapse)
Regis Hidden In This Is The Light That You Miss (Downwards)
Rival Consoles Articulation (Erased Tapes)
Sarah Davachi Cantus, Descant (L.A.T.E.)
Sufjan Stevens The Ascension (Asthmatic Kitty)
Idles Ultra Mono (Partisan)
Daedelus The Bittereindeers (Brainfeeder)
Boris No (Bandcamp)
Aksak Maboul Figures / Un peu de l’ame des bandits / Onze Danses Pour Cobattre La Migraine (Crammed)
Noveller Arrow (Ba Da Bing)
Felicia Atkinson Everything Evaporate (Shelter Press)
Ital Tek Dream Boundary (Planet Mu)
Author and Punisher Beastland (Relapse)
Sparks A Steady Drip Drip Drip (BMG)
Corima Amatarasu (Soleil Zeuhl)
Code Orange Underneath (Roadrunner)
Deerhoof Future Teenage Cave Artists /Silly Symphonies / To Be Surrounded../ Love Lore(Joyful Noise)
Sote Moscels (Opal Tapes)
Run The Jewels RTJ4 (Jewel Runners)
Oranssi Pazuzu Mestarin Kynsi (Nuclear Blast)
Master Boot Record Floppy Disk Overdrive (Metal Blade)
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith The Mosaic Of Transformation (Ghostly International) / Ears (Western Vinyl)
Michael Gordon Acquanetta (Cantelope)
Neom Arkana Temporis (Soleil Zeuhl)
Rian Treanor Ataxia / File Under UK Metaplasm (Planet Mu)
Helm Saturnalia (Alter)
Ivvvo doG (Halcyon Veil)
Robert Normandeau Figures (Empreintes Digitales)
Ben Vida Reducing The Tempo To Zero (Shelter Press)
Beatrice Dillon Workaround (Pan)
Dan Deacon Mystic Familiar (Domino)
Sea Oleena Weaving A Basket (Higher Plain Music)
Elysian Fields Transience Of Life (Ojet)
Rhapsody Symphony Of Enchanted Lands II - The Dark Secret (Magic Circle)
Duma Duma (Nyege Nyege)
Ulla Strauss Tumbling Towards a Wall / Seed (Bandcamp)
Honorable mentions
Carl Stone Stolen Car (Unseen Worlds) Nazar Guerilla (Hyperdub) Iwo Zaluski with the Children of Park Lane Primary School, Wembley The Remarkable Earth Making Machine (Trunk) Nahash Flowers Of The Revolution (SVBKVLT) Cindy Lee Whats Tonight To Eternity (Bandcamp) Insect Ark The Vanishing (Profound Lore) 33EMYBW Arthropods (SVBKVLT) Declan McKenna Zeroes (Tomplicated) Layma Azur Zeii (Bandcamp)
FILM TV
Succession
ZeroZeroZero
Escape at Dannemora
1917
Small Axe : Five films by Steve McQueen
Pirhanas
Monos
The Hater
Better Call Saul
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Drew Daniel
Matmos, The Soft Pink Truth
an alphabet of 2020 recordings
Arca “KiCk i”
BFTT “Intrusive / Obtrusive”
clipping. “Visions of Bodies Being Burned”
Duma “Duma”
Eilbacher, Max “Metabolist Meter (Foster, Cottin, Caetani and a Fly)”
Forbidden Colors “La Yeguada”
GILA “Energy Demonstration”
HiedraH Club de Baile “Bichote-K Bailable Vol. 2”
Ian Power “Maintenance Hums”
Jeff Carey “Index[off]”
Kassel Jaeger “Meith”
Laurie Anderson “Songs From the Bardo”
Mukqs “Water Levels”
Negativland “The World Will Decide”
O’Rourke, Jim “Shutting Down Here”
Perlesvaus “These Things Below with Those Above”
Quicksails “Blue Rise”
Rian Treanor “File Under UK Metaplasm”
Slikback “///”
Terminal Nation “Holocene Extinction”
Ulcerate “Stare Into Death and Be Still”
Various Artists “HAUS of ALTR”
William Tyler “New Vanitas”
Xyla “Ways”
Y A S H A “Summations”
:zoviet-france: “Châsse 2ᵉ”
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Sarah Lipstate (Noveller)
With all live performances canceled, this was truly the year of demo videos and home studio recording for me. These are 10 pieces of gear that came out in 2020 that helped keep me feeling creative and inspired during lockdown. In no particular order:
EHX Oceans 12 Dual Stereo Reverb - The Oceans 12 ticks all the boxes for what I’m looking for in a great soundscaping reverb. I used the Shimmer and Reverse algorithms in conjunction a lot when I was composing music for a film score.
Chase Bliss Audio Blooper - While I don’t actually own a Blooper, I had the pleasure of borrowing one from Mike of Baranik Guitars after NAMM this year. He made an incredible Blooper-inspired guitar and I was completely charmed by them both. Chase Bliss always delivers pedals that push me creatively and the Blooper truly hits the mark.
Cooper FX Arcades - I love everything Cooper FX has released to-date so the opportunity to access those sounds in one pedal via plug-in cartridges is just awesome.
SolidGoldFX NU-33 - I was asked to do a demo of this pedal for its release and ended up being really charmed by this box’s approach to lo-fi nostalgia. I’ve used it a lot for film scoring and highly recommend adding it to your collection.
Demedash Effects T-120 DLX V2 - I LOVE a good tape echo and the T-120 Deluxe V2 ranks up there with the best I’ve tried. This pedal made its way to me this Christmas and I look forward to making some beautiful sounds with it in the new year.
Hologram Electronics Microcosm - The Microcosm is one of those pedals where you should fully read the manual before diving in but once you put in that initial effort you’ve got a massively powerful tool on your hands. It does glitch like no other. Definitely worth the homework
Azzam Bells MP019 - I discovered this unique instrument through a post on Reverb’s IG page and immediately looked it up and ordered one. These experimental percussion instruments are hand-made in Italy and they’re as beautiful visually as they are sonically. I used it for bowed cymbal and daxophone sounds on a film score and it was absolutely haunting.
Echopark Dual Harmonic Boost 2 - I love the control you have over dialing in the perfect amount of grit with these dual boost circuits. I use it a lot as a textural tool when I’m laying down drones or bringing in big distorted swells. It’s one of the most versatile overdrives in my collection and I love that.
Fender Parallel Universe Series Volume II Maverick Dorado - I was smitten with the Maverick Dorado when I first saw it at NAMM. It has a lot of the specs that I look for in a guitar and the body shape with the Mystic Pine finish just blew me away. I hope that I get to use it live soon.
Polyeffects Beebo - The Beebo is one of those pedals that I genuinely feel is smarter than I am. It’s like an entire computer in one small touchscreen box. I can’t claim to have mastered using it yet but the sounds that I have managed to get out of it so far have been brilliant. I’m looking forward to spending more time with this box in 2021
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HELM 2020 REVIEW
Let's get the bad stuff out the way first, 2020 was undoubtedly an awful year. I'm still not sure how to really respond to seeing a global pandemic bring the capital to its knees and everything I love and hold dear to a grinding halt. Our government fucked it's response, putting profit before people and killing tens of thousands. The Labour Party descended into farce with the newly elected leader Sir Keith revealing himself as a bland centrist with no opposition or ideas. On a personal level it sucked not being able to travel or see my friends in different parts of the world - or even the same country - who I am starting to miss a lot. However, I was fortunate enough to get through the year with my sanity intact. Music, art and culture once again being my main positive. I think I listened to more music than I have in any year ever. I read more books than I have done since I was a teenager probably. I also re-discovered the joys of walking long distances and am extremely thankful for living near a lot of incredible green spaces: Epping Forest, Walthamstow Wetlands, Walthamstow Marshes, Wanstead Park, Wanstead Flats...
Music. My favourite albums of the year.
Oranssi Pazuzu - Mestarin kynsi
Wetware - Flail
Raspberry Bulbs - Before The Age Of Mirrors
Necrot - Mortal
Rope Sect - The Great Flood
Private World - Aleph
Oneohtrix Point Never - Magic Oneohtrix Point Never
Pyrrhon - Abcess Time
CS+Kreme - Snoopy
Speaker Music - Black Nationalist Sonic Weaponry
Drew McDowall - Agalma
Regis - Hidden In This Is The Light That You Miss
Nazar - Guerilla
Zoviet France - Russian Heterodoxical Songs (and all the ZF reissues!!)
Triple Negative - God Bless the Death Drive
Permission - Organised People Suffer
Actress - Karma & Desire
Acolytes - Stress II
The Gerogerigegege - >(decrescendo)
Chubby & The Gang - Speed Kills
Flora Yin-Wong - Holy Palm
Eiko Ishibashi - Hyakki Yagyo
The The - See Without Being Seen
Prurient - Casablanca Flamethrower
Henning Christiansen - L’essere Umano Errabando La Voce Errabando
Subdued - Over The Hills And Far Away
Rian Treanor - File Under UK Metaplasm
Komare - The Sense Of Hearing
Shredded Nerve - Acts Of Betrayal
Jesu - Terminus
Autechre - SIGN
Hey Colossus - Dances / Curses
Sparkle Division - To Feel Embraced
Mark Harwood - A Perfect Punctual Paradise Under My Own Name
Still House Plants - Fast Edit
The Bug & Dis Fig - In Blue
Kommand - Terrorscape
Haus Arafna - Asche
Khthoniik Cerviiks - Æequiizoiikum
Worm - Gloomlord
Kraus - A Golden Brain
Faceless Burial - Speciation
A shout-out to Jon Abby's AMPLIFY series on Bandcamp / Facebook, which I contributed a new piece of music to.
A shout out to the labels where most of the music I listened to seemed to come from:
The Trilogy Tapes
Iron Bonehead
Penultimate Press
Dais
La Vida Es Un Mus
Gigs. Despite live music being destroyed in 2020 I still saw a few unforgettable performances at the beginning of the year.
Graham Lambkin @ The ICA, London
Puce Mary / JFK @ The Glove That Fits, London
Demilich @ Finnfest, The Garage, London
Container / PC World / National Unrest @ Venue MOT, London
S.H.I.T / Asid / Chubby & The Gang @ Static Shock Festival, ExFed, London
Books I enjoyed. Most not published this year, but all read in 2020.
Joe Kennedy - Authentocrats
David Balzer - Curationism
Tom Mills - BBC: The Myth Of A Public Service
Simon Morris - Consumer Guide: Special Edition
Luke Turner - Out Of The Woods
Various - Bad News For Labour
Mike Wendling - Alt-Right
Baited Area issues 1 & 2.
Film. Three good films I saw this year which I hadn't before.
Suspiria (Remake)
Midsommar
Cannibal Holocaust
Podcasts. I listened to a lot of these whilst walking.
We Don't Talk About The Weather
Novara Media Tysky Sour & Novara FM
Grounded with Louis Theroux
System of Systems
Red Scare loveline episodes
Suite 212
NOISEXTRA
Social Discipline
CONTAIN
TV.
Didn't watch a huge amount and what I did was mostly trash. For some reason I rewatched both series' of This Life, a British drama from the late 90's about a group of young professionals house sharing and navigating their careers. Very cringey and has aged terribly, but it was perversely fascinating to revisit something from that time in the age of the pandemic. Following on from this I binge watched the entire series of Industry which was entertaining enough. A programme about a bunch of horny bankers with what felt like a confused ideology behind it. It seemed stuck between trying to criticise and glorify the culture around the industry, but also protect the industry itself from outside criticism by portraying anyone who may oppose as an insufferable wanker. Currently halfway through Succession which is OK. The Murdoch documentaries on the BBC were excellent and a rare respite from their descent into client journalism.
Thanks to anyone who listened to my music this year also. Best wishes to you all for 2021.
Luke Younger
http://hhelmm.com | http://alter.bandcamp.com
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Elliott Sharp
composer
1. My Nr. 1 lesson: patience. Whether it's bouncing through 30 seconds of severe turbulence at 39000 feet or slogging through 30 minutes of a interminable piece of concert music, one attribute I've tried to develop is the ability to see past the discrete and awaited ending, the exact framing of the immediate process, but put it into the context of a larger time frame. I've found that this year more than all others has demanded it. Breathing helps...
2. Books: revisiting old favorites from the realm of Thomas Pynchon and Philip K. Dick (both especially relevant), digging into John Lomax's portrait of Jelly Roll Morton, the works of Colson Whitehead, random things off of the shelf…
3. Composing: with touring off the table, I focused on that which needed to be written, some requested and commissioned, some spontaneously springing forth. Composing requires that one open the windows wide to the world, which at this moment brought in grief, terror, uncertainty, anxiety, visions of plague and pestilence and incipient fascism. Okay, now shut the window and get to work! How to process, translate, transform? The work can be a comfortable and obsessive cocoon once one learns to handle the radioactive materials and put them into the creativity reactor.
4. Beans! We have long been a fan in our house of the wide world of legumes but this year brought two stars to the front: the black bean and the red lentil. The black bean commands the lofty peaks but the seemingly infinite variations of dal surround it. Ginger, garlic, turmeric, smoked paprika, cayenne, onions, and olive oil form the basis then imagination builds.
5. Online teaching substituted for my canceled conduction of workshops in the Pyrenees Mountains of France. Between the participants and myself, we built a temporary but very congenial space online to share concepts and music. In addition, private lessons brought conversation and music with new friends in Germany, Italy, California, Australia, Illinois, Denmark, Pennsylvania, Spain, Florida, Brazil.
6. What started out as "stress baking" (before I even had heard of the term) soon became a frequent practice that yielded very edible results. The twins preferred the sweeter forays into banana bread and chocolate cake. I tried to find a balance between tried-and-true techniques and experiments in texture and taste with yeasted pumpernickels, multi-grains, and seed breads.
7. While not the same as performing 'live ', online gigs proved that it was possible to generate a surprising amount of adrenaline even without the pheromonal handshaking of a room filled with receptive ears. As a corollary, online recording collaborations with friends worldwide proved to be inspiring and a suitable substrate for sonic experimentation, exploration of new instruments, tunings, effects programming, structures. In these realms, shout-outs to Helene Breschand, Mike Cooper, Henry Kaiser, Tracie Morris, Mikel Banks, Dougie Bowne, Payton McDonald, Billy Martin, Colin Stetson, Jim O'Rourke, Scott Amendola, Roberto Zorzi, Jason Hoopes, Eric Mingus, Melanie Dyer, Dave Hofstra, Don McKenzie, Sergio Sorrentino, Veniero Rizzardi, Taylor Ho Bynum, Scott Fields, Bachir Attar, Karl Bruckmaier, Robbie Lee, Matthew Evan Taylor, Matteo Liberatore, Al Kaatz, David Barratt, Jessica Hallock, Kolin Zeinikov, Robbie Lee, Jeremy Nesse, James Ilgenfritz, Sergio Armaroli, Steve Piccolo, Sandy Ewen, David Weinstein, Jim Whittemore, Chris Vine, Werner Puntigam, William Schimmel.
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Daniel O’Sullivan
(Grumbling Fur, Guapo, Miasma & the Carousel of Headless Horses, Ulver, Sunn O))), Æthenor, Laniakea, Miracle, Mothlite, and This Is Not This Heat.)
Music
Richard Youngs - Ein Klein Nein
Alabaster DePlume - Instrumentals
Hildegard von Bingen - O Nobilissima Viriditas
Francisco de Penalosa - Missa Ave Maria Peregrina
Carlo Gesualdo - Responsoria 1611
Dirty Projectors - Five EPs
Sonic Boom - All Things Being Equal
Brother Peter Broderick - Blackberry
Richard Horowitz - Eros Of Arabia
Duncan Trussell Family Hour
Cocteau Twins in the bath
Books/comics
Alexander Tucker - Entity Reunion II
Derek Jarman - Chroma
Stephen Harrod Buhner - Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm
The Penguin Book Of Irish Poetry - edited by Patrick Crotty
The Gospel Of Ramakrishna - translated by Swami Nikhilananda
Lucretius - De Rerum Natura
Plotinus - Enneads
Ram Dass - Grist For The Mill
Lisa Brown - Phantom Twin
Other
Fasting / meditation / macrodosing
Walks in freshly coppiced woodland (for the smell mainly).
Plants / Foraging / Growing
Traditional ferments
Douglas Sirk movies
Mandolorian
Writing songs on the piano
Rediscovery of Kenneth Graham via my kids
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Karl O’Connor (Regis)
01.Wolfgang Press - Unremembered, Remembered
02. Klara Lewis - Ingrid Live at Fylkingen
03. Jesu - Terminus
04. Dave Ball - Leeds Poly Demos 1979
05. Edwin Pouncey - Rated Sav X (the Savage Pencil Skratchbook)
06. The Bug - In Blue
07. New Order - Power,Corruption and Lies ( Writing Sessions )
08. JG Thirlwell and Simon Steensland - Oscillospira
09. FM Einheit and Andreas Ammer - Hammerschlag
10. Thurston Moore - By The Fire
11. Body Stuff - Body Stuff 3
12. Ann M Hogan - Honeysuckle Burials
13. Rob Halford - Confess (Autobiography)
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Caleb Braaten (Sacred Bones Records)
Shirley Collins Hearts Ease
Dehd Flowers Of Devotion
Duma Duma
Bob Dylan Rough and Rowdy Ways
Green-House Six Songs for Invisible Gardens
John Jeffery Passage
Drew McDowall Agalma
Sweeping Promises Hunger For a Way Out
Colter Wall Western Swing & Waltzes and Other Punchy Songs
Woods Strange to Explain
My Favorite 90’s Nostalgia Movie Rewatches
Colors
Ghost Dog
Menace II Society
The Player
Rounders
Safe
Starship Troopers
Trees Lounge
Vampires
Waiting For Guffman
Most Culturally Bankrupt Year : 1997
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Charlie Looker
(composer, Psalm Zero, Extra Life, Seaven Teares)
Ten Things That Didn’t Happen in 2020
1. I didn’t write a ton of new music. Don’t get me wrong, I wrote some. I always do. But mostly I focused on my new YouTube channel, essays, and on getting old recordings released. I haven’t even been working a day-job so I thought I was going to write my next Ring Cycle, but I really didn’t find Covid inspiring.
2. Trump wasn’t re-elected. Cool.
3. I didn’t lose anyone to Covid. I am, of course, profoundly grateful for this. But I feel pretty embarrassed remembering group-texting ten friends in March, “We are all going to see a loved one die. Every single one of us. Don’t kid yourselves”. I can get hysterical, and that was somewhat irresponsible of me.
4. No revolution happened. I don’t mean to be smug or cynical, or to belittle anyone’s participation in the protests. But, as far as I can tell, nothing happened in 2020 that promises to reduce police brutality or human suffering of any kind. We’ll see. That burning Minneapolis police station was exciting to watch at the time, if only on an aesthetic level.
5. I have a stack of unread books I bought this year, just staring at me, with nary a crease among them. These include:
Adorno and Horkheimer, The Dialectic of Enlightenment (looks amazing, but I haven’t touched it)
Marx, Grundrisse (it’s 1000 pages for fuck’s sake. Amazon also accidentally sent me two copies, and its double presence in the stack is just comical)
Reza Negarestani, Intelligence and Spirit (the first 15 pages blew my mind, then my mind blew it off)
6. I didn’t settle into living in LA. I moved here six months before Covid and I was just starting to cultivate some friendships and play shows. This was quashed and I still feel like I still live in New York. I still barely know the layout of the city here.
7. No brand-new buzzy musical artists burst onto the scene, that I can recall. No new hyped micro-genre of the moment. There was just no way for there to be a hot new trend. I’d say that was refreshing, but it wasn’t.
8. Tyson’s return was not awesome. Two minute rounds, ended in a draw. I’ve been getting way into boxing this past year. This fight was a bummer. I’m looking forward to Mayweather vs Logan Paul (LOL) because we know it’s comedy ahead of time.
9. For three weeks in July, I didn’t do a single thing other than watch street fight compilations on YouTube and Worldstar. That’s just grim.
10. There were no school shootings in March. Apparently, this was the first March with no school shootings since 2002. Not a single 7th grader got a hand job in March either. I cannot begin to imagine what it’s like to be a kid now.
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Chuck Bettis
https://chuckbettis.com
Other People's Music released this year:
Coil "Musick to Play in the Dark" (Dais)
Duma "s/t" (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
Twig Harper "External Boundless Prison/ in 4 parts EP" (self-release)
I.P.Y. (Ikue Mori, Phew, YoshimiO) "I.P.Y." (Tzadik)
Kill Alters "A2B2 Live Stream 11/13/2020" (self-release)
Krallice "Mass Cathexis" (self-release)
Lust$ickPuppy "Cosmic Brownie" (self-release)
Doug McKechnie "San Francisco Moog: 1968-72" (VG+ Records)
Merlin Nova "Boo!" (self-release)
Omrb "Milandthriust, The Graths of Mersh" (self-release)
Akio Suzuki & Aki Onda "gi n ga" (self-release)
Yoth Iria "Under His Sway" (Repulsive Echo)
Wetware "Flail" (Dais)
My own music released this year:
collaborations
Chatter Blip "Microcosmopolitan" (Contour Editions)
Matmos "The Consuming Flame: Open Exercises in Group Form" (Thrill Jockey)
Reverse Bullets "Dreampop Dsyphoria" (self-release)
Snake Union "live at Roulette" (self-release)
Snake Union w/ Hisham Bharoocha, Bonnie Jones, Heejin Jang, Matthew Regula "Three Arrows" (Rat Route)
Thomas Dimuzio "Balance" (Gench Music)
YoshimiO & Chuck Bettis "Live at the Stone" (Living Myth)
solo
Chuck Bettis "Arc of Enlghtenment" (Living Myth)
Chuck Bettis "Motion Parallax" (Living Myth)
compilation
Various Artist "Polished Turds Vol.1" (Granpa)
Music Books read this year
"Intermediary Spaces" by Eliane Radigue/Julia Eckhardt (Umland)
"Ennio Morricone In His Own Words" by Ennio Morricone/Alessandro De Rosa (Oxford University Press)
"Free Jazz In Japan: A Personal History" by Soejima Teruto (Public Bath Press)
"Rumors of Noizu: Hijokaidan and the Road to 2nd Damascus" by Kato David Hopkins (Public Bath Press)
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Maya Hardinge
(musician / artist)
list of things i liked this year
first ever solo road trip through new mexico and Texas right before lockdown
experiencing manhattan with no cars on the road . having a car to escape in to nature. (which i craved so much)
walks and bike rides with friends… FRIENDS!
The web site ‘workaway’ that helped me feel that there were options for escape.
playing games weekly on zoom during lock down
teaching yoga weekly on zoom.
Witnessing and being part of the BLM protests.
witnessing and being part of the demise of T
sitting on my couch at 6am drinking a cup of tea, appreciating my apt.
making time to meditate.
halloween without tourists .
some music I’ve bought and/or enjoyed this year
Elvis Perkins-Black Coat Daughter
Patricia Kokett -Soi soi
Henning Christiansen - OP201
Bryce Hackford- Safe
Svitlana Nianio and Oleksander - Snayesh yak? rozkazhy
Brannten schnure - Sommer im Pfirsichhain
Killing Joke - Nighttime
David Shea - Tower of mirrors
Shakey - Shakey
Woodford halse tapes
Coil - Musick to play in the dark
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BJ Nilsen
sound artist / composer
Work 2020
Despite Covid 19 lots of things actually did happen.
In Feburary I visited the only active nuclear plant in The Nederlands as part of my "Expanded Field Recording” project together with SML. In March revisited the Acousmonium at the Elevate Festival in Graz with an additional trip deep inside the Schlossberg recording old mining trains. In March and April I did two daily recording projects “Pending and Auditory Scenes” - both of Amsterdam during lockdown. In May did my first Zoom field recording workshop with the CAMP project. In June & July two research trips in Waldviertel, Austria with Franz Pomassl. In August recorded bells and organs in 10 different churches around Amsterdam for Jacob Lekkerkerker. In September recorded Kali Malone at the Orgelpark in Amsterdam. Performed at Heart of Noise Festival in Innsbruck and A4 in Bratislava. Also went ice-skating for first time in 20? Years. In November and December I travelled to Jeju island to record field recordings for a project by Femke Herregraven for the Gwangju Biennale, commissioned for 2021.
Did lots of gardening, released two tapes “Call it Philips, Eindoven” and “Zomer 2020” with Sigtryggur Berg Sigmarsson.
NOW! Looking forward to 2021.
http://bjnilsen.info
https://soundcloud.com/bjnilsen/sets/auditory-scenes-amsterdam
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Vicki Bennett
(People Like Us)
Negativland - True False https://negativland.com/products/truefalse-cd (this came out last year but is so THIS year)
Bob Dylan - Rough and Rowdy Ways https://www.bobdylan.com/albums/rough-and-rowdy-ways/
The Soft Pink Truth - We from Shall We Go On Sinning So That Grace May Increase https://thesoftpinktruth.bandcamp.com/album/shall-we-go-on-sinning-so-that-grace-may-increase
Carl Stone - Stolen Car https://unseenworlds.bandcamp.com/album/stolen-car
Porest - Sedimental Gurney https://porest.bandcamp.com/album/sedimental-gurney
Matmos - The Consuming Flame: Open Exercises in Group Form https://matmos.bandcamp.com/album/the-consuming-flame-open-exercises-in-group-form
Domenique Dumont - Miniatures De Auto Rhythm https://antinoterecordings.bandcamp.com/album/atn044-domenique-dumont-miniatures-de-auto-rhythm
The The - See Without Being Seen https://www.thethe.com/product/see-without-being-seen-cd/
Ciggy de la Noche - Hold Tight HMRC https://soundcloud.com/ciggydelanoche/hold-tight-hmrc
Neil Cicierega - Mouth Dreams http://www.neilcic.com/mouthdreams/
and my details:
http://peoplelikeus.org/
https://peoplelikeus-vickibennett.bandcamp.com/
pic: http://peoplelikeus.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Welcome-Abroad-promo3-2-scaled.jpg
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DJ Food
Music -
Type 303 - Sticky Disco / Analogue Acidbath 7" (45 Live)
The British Space Group - The Ley of the Land CD (Wyrd Britain)
Squarepusher - Be Up A Hello LP / Warp 10 NTS mix (Warp)
dgoHn - Undesignated Proximate (Modern Love)
LF58 - Alterazione LP (Astral Industries)
Robert Fripp - Music For Quiet Moments series (DGM)
Run The Jewels - RTJ4 (BMG)
Simf Onyx - Magenta Skyline / The Unresolved 7" (Delights)
Luke Vibert - Modern Rave LP (Hypercolour)
JG Thirlwell & Simon Steensland - Oscillospira (Ipecac)
Aural Design - Looking & Seeing 7" / DL (Russian Library)
Luke Vibert - Rave Hop (Hypercolour)
Clipping. with Christopher Fleeger - Double Live (Sub Pop)
APAT - Terry Riley's 'In C' performed on Modular Synthesizer (YouTube)
Field Lines Cartographer - The Spectral Isle LP (Castles In Space)
Jane Weaver - The Revolution of Super Visions single (Fire Records)
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - K.G. LP (Flightless)
Humanoid - Hed-Set - forthcoming on (De:tuned)
Film / TV -
Inside No.9 (BBC)
What We Do In The Shadows Season 2 (Netflix)
Tales From The Loop (Amazon)
Keith Haring - Street Art Boy (BBC)
John Was Trying To Contact Aliens (Netflix)
The Social Dilemma (Netflix)
The Mandalorian (Season 2) (Disney+)
Long Hot Summers - The Style Council documentary (Sky Arts)
Zappa (Alex Winter)
Books / Comics / Magazines
Confessions of a Bookseller - Shaun Bythell (Profile books)
The Often Wrong - Farel Dalrymple (Image Comics)
Edwin Pouncey - Rated SavX (Strange Attractor Press)
Jeffrey Lewis - Fuff (all issues - really late to the party on this one)
Rian Hughes - XX - A Novel, Graphic (Picador)
Cosey Fanni Tutti - Art, Sex, Music (Faber)
Caza - Kris Kool (Passenger Press)
Dan Lish - Egostrip Vol.1
Electronic Sound magazine
Decorum - Jonathan Hickman & Mike Huddleston (Image)
John Higgs - Stranger Than We Can Imagine
Simon Halfon - Cover To Cover (Nemperor)
Very few exhibitions or shows this year for obvious reasons
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yslanam replied to your post: I still wanna RP in the Demon Knight-verse
On the one hand, this sounds pretty involved and I don’t want to miss out on VLotD. On the other hand, this sounds awesome and I have no idea what the Crypt thing is, but I would totally read this fic!
[rubs hands together] Okay so...
“Tales from the Crypt” was originally a horror comic anthology series published by EC comics. It was one of three that they put out (the others being “The Vault of Horror” and “The Haunt of Fear”), and... well, let me stay on track, because I can and will babble about TftC, EC, and William M. Gaines for a while if I’m allowed to.
In 1989, HBO started a “Tales From the Crypt” TV show. The Cryptkeeper (a puppet, voice by John Kassir who also did the voice of Meeko the Raccoon in Pocahontas - let that sink in) would book-end each story - almost all from one of the three EC horror comics - with bad puns and horrifically screeching laughter.
I freaking love this show. (Well, the last season sucked, but what’re you gonna do?) Anyway, they made a movie. Technically more than one but we don’t talk about those. Tales From the Crypt: Demon Knight.
Is it good? Eh, probably not by most people’s standards. It’s schlocky, it’s gory and gross, it has unnecessary sex and a killer soundtrack (pun entirely intended). But it’s basically a feature-length version of a TftC episode, except with waaaaaaaaay better worldbuilding and also Billy Zane romping around chewing scenery. I adore Demon Knight and I especially love its world (well, really, universe) building.
As explained by the main character:
Brayker: You wanna know what’s going on? Shall I tell you? In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth...
Irene: You’re talking Genesis. THAT beginning?
Brayker: And the Earth was a formless void and Darkness covered the face of the deep. But the Darkness wasn’t empty. It was full of creatures... full of demons. And they had seven Keys formed into a circle that focused the power of the cosmos into their hands. Until God stepped forth and said, “Let there be light.” And there was Light. He scattered the demons, and He scattered the Keys, all across the universe. Now we fast forward about two or three million millennia. Now the demons are back. They got six of the Keys. And one day, they find the seventh Key here on Earth.
To save it, God filled it with the blood of... a carpenter, who was being crucified by the Romans, and gave it to a thief named Sirach.
Jeryline: The blood ins-inside... is that...?
Brayker: Some of it, yeah. It gets used, y’see. Sirach had to refill it. Bad neck wound. Talon caught the artery here [tracing it on his own throat]. Most of what’s in here now belonged to a soldier named Dickerson, gave it to me in France, August 23, 1917. Funny how you remember the big dates, isn’t it?
Bob: Jeeze. That, uh... would make you...
Uncle Willy: What happens when you run out of blood?
Brayker: They bring back the Darkness.
Uncle Willy: Just like that?!
Brayker: Just like that. So. Now you know. [looking around at all of them] You feel better?
The Demon Knights are all thieves. Each one is marked with seven stars, burned into their palms from the Key itself, and when they are branded, they see - and feel - the past lives of all the Knights who came before them. Because, you see, you can’t become a Demon Knight until the previous one dies. The last thing a Knight does is to pass on the Key and the duty to protect it from the demons, and then they die.
They can be killed, but they are otherwise essentially immortal right up to that moment (as shown by Brayker, who was a soldier in WWI and is still alive, definitely not looking his age). The circumstances under which a Demon Knight can pass on the Key and their duty are very specific, and they’ll know their time has come when the stars on their palm - which are normally grouped together - form into a circle. They’ll wind up under siege some place with seven people... and one of those will be the new chosen one, the new Knight.
Basically, for what should have been schlocky, gory fun, this movie had this incredibly kickass setup and it makes me twitch to do SOMETHING with it. Make a new Knight, still reeling from what they’ve lived through to get here on top of the solemn duty that is now theirs. I hadn’t thought of combining it with something else until Voltron entered the picture.
We really haven’t seen the Galra destroy a planet utterly since Altea (unless you count that planet that’s sucked dry by the komar). So my brain was like, “Altea had one of the Keys and Zarkon made a deal with the demons to destroy Altea if he procured the Key for them...”
If I let myself, I could almost certainly do a lot with this setup - that what many people on Earth think of as God the Father is what the Alteans thought of as the Goddess of the Universe; that Voltron was made, in part, to protect the Keys but that, having been sealed away for 10,000 years, it has been unable to do so; that now the mission is not only to free planets from Galra rule but to wrest the Keys back from the demons and to protect Earth not ONLY as the home of the Paladins but as the home of the last Key - but, as you said, V:LotD really needs to be my priority.
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Thermal Underwear Market | Innovative Product Launches to Boost the Market Growth
Market Dynamics
Market Research Future (MRFR) expects the thermal underwear industry 2020 to post a growth rate of 6.2% between 2019 and 2024. The market can also project to touch a valuation of USD 3.1 billion by 2024-end. We will provide COVID-19 impact analysis with the report, along with all the extensive key developments in the market post the coronavirus disease outbreak.
Top Drivers and Main Restraints
The thermal underwear market is faring well owing to the escalating awareness with regard to products like bottoms, set and tops. Thermal underwear or long johns or long underwear are preferred over ordinary apparels to induce warmth, and generally lightweight and more comfortable. During winters, the snug-fitting property helps in trapping heat from the body, which helps drive its demand among people living in colder areas around the world.
Thermal underwear falls in the category of undergarments that also include leggings, socks, nightwear, sports & leisure wear and more. The frequent product innovations along with technological developments in the apparel sector to create more creative and better quality thermal underwears can also enhance market growth in the following period. Considering the health aspect, thermal underwear is largely preferred by the ageing population and also among people that are less immune to cold and flu. Therefore, thermal underwears have been in great demand given the rising need to curb cold-related mortality and morbidity.
A great deal of leading designers and manufacturers are developing diverse styles that fall under very type of clothing category. Consumers are spoilt for choice, with the introduction of sleeveless and short sleeve thermal underwears in the market. The rising use of natural and synthetic fabrics while producing thermal underwear has also been a recent development in the global market. Cotton and wool fabrics are gaining momentum in the market, emerging as key trends as these materials help trap greater amount of warmth than other materials.
Leading Competitors
Some of the leading competitors studied in the MRFR research include Lux Industries Limited (India), Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail Limited (India), Rothco (Ireland), Gildan Activewear Inc. (Canada), Komar Brands (US), Thatchreed Ltd (UK), L.L. Bean Inc. (US), Namaldı Underwear (Turkey), Floso (UK), Sub Zero Technology Ltd (UK), and more.
To get more info: https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/press-release/thermal-underwear-market
Market Segmentation
The market segmentation for thermal underwear comprises product type, material type, end user, as well as distribution channel.
The thermal underwear market, with respect to the product type, takes into account bottoms, sets and tops.
The key material types listed in the MRFR market study are synthetic, cotton, blend and wool.
The end-users in the thermal underwear industry include men, unisex and women.
Considering the distribution channel, the thermal underwear market can be dissected into store-based as well as non-store-based. The store-based types covered in the market study are supermarkets & hypermarkets, such as stores, and more.
Regional Insight
North America, APAC/Asia Pacific, Europe, along with RoW/the rest of the world are the primary markets for thermal underwear across the world.
In 2018, the highest gainer in the global market for thermal underwear was North America, with a share of 37.13%. The North American market is also presumed to procure the fastest growth rate in the years to follow, thanks to the extreme cold weather conditions and the resultant high demand for apparels that ensure warmth. The continuous developments in the products to enhance their moisture-absorbing and antibacterial ability also work in favor of the thermal underwear market in the region, especially in Canada and the United States. The advertisements along with the high number of celebrity endorsements also add to the market strength in North America.
The APAC market is one of the strongest contenders on a global scale, as a result of the constantly evolving trends and the rising number of people becoming style and brand-conscious. The thermal wear industry in general has picked up immense pace in the past few years, given the rapid growth in the cold climate. The regional market is quite innovative when it comes to features and designs which easily catches the eye of the consumers here. The recent introduction of the sweat-resistant technology in the Indian market, unpredictable weather changes and the rising cold days in various areas of the country has been beneficial for the thermal under wear market. The improving disposable income and the favorable buying patterns of the consumers have also helped the thermal underwear market gain significant impetus in the region.
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