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”
