markm

I'm interested.

I still love my Periodic BE IEM's. I grabbed a DragonFly Red USB DAC/Headphone Amplifier. Hungus recommended them to, me .His post made me think about it. The Be's at $300 which is much more than I thought I'd ever spend punch above their price point. I feel no need for a high end IEM. With the Dragonfly, that's about a $500 system. Sounds like a lot, I know, but I listen to them all the time. They sound great with metal and rock. Best compliment I can give is that I plug and play don't think about the sound. It just sounds good. I don't think, man it needs more detail, more slam, more base, better high's. It just sounds right. I listen and forget about all that audiophile stuff. Usually when something is off that's when you notice. In the past, I'd have OK but budget IEM's and think, yeah, sounds alight, but it lacks oomph/soundstage depth or it sounds fuzzy and lacks clarity or more so, the base is too thin or the highs are kind of recessed. With a good sounding system, you forget about all that stuff and you just enjoy the music.

Speaking of which, The System has Failed is the last recent MD album I genuinely enjoyed not that I've been paying close attention. Starting the scramble to listen to stuff on the web metal lists: Ashenspire/ Hostile Architecture-Was hopeful for this one as I do appreciate some avant weird metal but not feeling this at all really. At the end of the day, any album has to deliver. Feels a little self consciously avant-garde to my ears today. I've read the lyrics are political which isn't helping me as I'm not reading them. Not for me. Thou and Mizmor/ Myopia-This should be right up my alley. Feels more Thou than Mizmor-not bad by any stretch, but not loving it initially-should be in my wheelhouse. Chat Pile/God's Country-guess I'll get the weird art critics picks out of the way....

Glad you got those and congratulations. I've always wanted to hear a pair myself. One of these days, I should grab another pair of cans. I've got my LCD-3 but it would be cool to have something a little easier to drive and lighter weight.

There's a lot of RSV going around right now that's not Covid that's reeking all kinds of havoc, in the U.S. anyway.

Messa/Close

Danse Macabre,tThe Celtic Frost box set that just dropped is piquing my interest. https://nowspinning.co.uk/celtic-frost-danse-macabre-5cd-box-review/

Great to see you post Hungus! Hope all is well with you my friend.

Can't go wrong with Sketches. More time with Swans/ Filth and Cop.

Swans/Cop/Young God EP: Source-Spotify Another one, I've had on my bucket list. I started listening Swans in 2012 with their highly praised Seer which has become one of my favorite non metal albums of all time and was the first their twenty teens trilogy, considered a kind of comeback by some and brought them popularity into Pitchfork, Stereogum and related experimental indie hipster fame. But I only got into Swans after reading over and over what an influence they were on bands particularly Neurosis who are one of my besties. But, others as well. TBH, while I loved the trilogy, I never really heard the metal connection, not that they didn't have moments of compelling drone, insane percussion and tapped into a collective tribal sound that is quite prevalent in many metal acts-YOB, The Ruins of Beverarast, Mizmor and on and on. So, I researched their most beloved albums and devoured albums like The Great Annihilator, Soundtracks for the Blind, Children of God. Great albums, moments of heaviness, not really feeling much metal. So finally this Thanksgiving weekend-first with Filth and now with Cop-I have found the heaviness. Cop reportedly was a big influence of for the guys in Neurosis. So much so, apparently that when Gira started seeing the hardcore and metal demographic show up, he thought, man I've fucked up if these Neanderthals are coming to my show, I'm doing something wrong and went an completely different direction with Jarboe. I'm still not sure if Swans really had a profound influence directly on metal or if they simply influenced a handful of artists who then went on to inspire whole sub genres of extreme music. It doesn't really matter. COP is undeniably heavy, uncompromising and inaccessible for all but a few and surely directly or indirectly all those bands that fuse pummeling, post drone whateverthefuck metal-right now making me think of Cavernlight's first album, Dragged into Sunlight and shit like that. Shit that I generally get into.

That would be more than awesome!

High Command/Eclipse of the Dual Moons-this is pretty dang catchy And some new pick ups ripped onto my Sonos System Cavernlight/As We Cup our Hands and Drink..... Daeva/Through Sheer Will and Black Magic Blackbraid I

Checking out some of Santa's 2022 metal lists picks, strictly non goat mafia approved shit Boris Rocks (2022)-I'm a big Boris fan...this one is more in a hard rock 70's psyche vein than their shoe gazey stuff or my favorite shade which is sludge/drone/doom, but decent for these crazy chameleons Judicator/The Majesty of Decay-Think this is the one touted as the reclamation of old Blind Guardian greatness. Could this be the power metal album that finally gets my attention or will I be content with occasional spins of Imaginations from the Other Side....vocalist does sound a bit like Hans Kursch. Not overly feeling this a couple of tracks in. Like most PM these days, the trade in too much speed metal for dexterous lightness. It all feels PM decafinated. High Command/Eclipse of the Dual Moons -or maybe it was this one-which is more aggro/trad HM and faring better on my ears.

I've driven from NOVA where I grew up just outside of DC to Hattiesburg years ago for a summer stock gig I had back in summer of 90 when I graduated JMU in VA at Univ of S Mississippi in Hattiesburg. Some of the cast drove out to Pensacola and to New Orleans to party it up. Long time ago! I reckon, Atlanta must split the drive between Balt/DC and Florida. Of course, Fla is a long state so I'm sure it depends how far south you drive from in Fla. If I go back to Atlanta one of these days to visit my Aunt, I'll have to get the name of that record store.

That sounds like a long ass drive, Navy from Florida to Atlanta and back! I have family in Atlanta. From D.C. to Atlanta is a haul, I know that.

Yeah, I guess I did. I think we both have the ability to self reflect. Self awareness. To Thine own self be true. We are all a work in progress.

I should do a CF deep dive. The only album I have is Into the Pandemonium. I feel I've got Warrior's sound covered with the two Triptykon albums altho I never listened to Monotheist.

LOL-If you look at my post I didn't write 'closed minded, but I'm sure I have previously. You wrote a post the other day where you stated you've opened to some music recently because people have been accusing you for years of being closed minded. But you made a case for forums forcing you to confront your own musical blinders, or something to that affect. We all have those issues. I assume you're talking about stuff like YOB or Neurosis or maybe Killing Joke but not prog or avant stuff. I'm not making the close minded claim, even though it's probably true; more so, I think you've got ADHD, spectrum-like focus on a small piece of the heavy music pie . That floats your boat which as you say, is all that matters. We process music differently. We all have baggage in one way or another. As a cis male of a certain age, I have cultural bias against Depeche Mode, New Order and The Smiths based on non cis male behavior from the theater college climate I came up in. I cop to that.

Swans/Filth (deluxe)-F.A. was right, this is compelling. Gira has done a tremendous job compiling massive multi disc sets of old albums with additional comp materials. It's a case of the sum is greater than the parts. This set I'm streaming is the original, abrasive so called "no wave" meets industrial album Filth that I've read about for years but never bothered with. Having listened to my share of Neurosis and weird ass droning metal, Sunn0)))) etc., my ears are primed for this . I'm sure at the time it was pretty "out there", today I can hear all kinds of echoes in bands like Ministry, God Flesh and even the recent Killing Joke discussions. However, those comparisons come largely from the additional material beyond Filth. Filth, seems to me was a young group of artists reacting at their disgust with the human race in the U.S. in the early 80's. So this set is really a massive 3 disc set of Swans 82-84 with Filth at the centerpiece. A lot of the material beyond Filth sounds like an underground post punk and punk vibe. From Amazon: definitive picture of Swans in the years 1982 - 1983/4. Includes: Disc one feature the Swans' original debut LP Filth from 1983, with the line up of M. Gira, Norman Westberg, Roli Mosimann, Harry Crosby, and Jonathan Kane. Also features versions of 'Strip/Burn,' 'Heatsheet,' 'Blackout,' 'Clay Man,' 'Stay Here, and 'Weakling,' all recorded live. Disc two includes Body to Body material comprised of various studio out-takes and live recordings 1982-85, with a nine-minute version of 'Raping a Slave,' recorded live in Berlin, 1984 (originally released with FILTH on YGD-11) while disc three features the Debut 12' EP #1, originally released in 1982. Plus additional live performances from NYC and London. Unfortunately it's only available in vinyl or as a digital download. They have a 2 disc set-basically the first two discs of the above set called Filth/Body to Body/Job to Job reissue-may grab this one I prefer physical media-especially for something like this. For some reason, I can't get enough Swans. All of Gira's re-issues have tons of extras and most of it engrossing to those with a penchant for wide ranging experimental and in this case heavy fucked up music.

This is turning into more of the random thoughts/what's on your mind kind of threads. I live in in what they call exerbs. I bring this up because in the developed world, affordable housing is a real problem. My wife and I both grew up in Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington DC, moved to LA and came back east to raise our daughter. My wife was staying home with our one year old at the time. On a teacher's salary, I found an affluent well paying school district with a high tax base and more competitive teacher salary to afford a decent home on the property we wanted for our 3 big large Newfoundland dogs-actually way more property than I'd rather have to maintain these days. I'd be perfectly fine living in an urban environment or suburbs just out of DC like Silver Spring/Takoma Park in MD or Arlington VA if I Had space for my kayaks which take up a third of my two car garage out her in the semi rural area where Ilive . Plus, it would cut down on my drive to the river which is my playground. But on two moderate salaries in education (my wife is the assistant to the dean at Mount Saint Mary's University), there is no way we could swing the $500,000 or more more mortage-might be closer to 3/4 million now-- for the kind of home we'd want closer to D.C. Shoot, I'd be happy to live in D.C., but wouldn't get the space I'd want for my gear. And, it would be sweet to be close to the culture in DC-music venues, diverse restaurants and the like.

I don't think Laurel Canyon is an actual genre so much but a musical scene. The musical landscape has changed so dramatically since we grew up that a mainstream indie or even pop album with pop rock or folk, singer songwriter, etc. focus gets my attention----anything well done that's not hip hop or dance music. I only know the Laurel Canyon term other than the place, as I used to live in L.A., from that Lana Del Ray album from the online reviews. I've tried sampling her other albums, and they don't do anything for me. Re: Laurel Canyon: that sort of country tinged folk rock isn't my big go to and never owned albums from most of those artists except Neil Young and Zappa who are both amazing artists, but now I like a wee bit of Eagles, Carly Simon, DORS, Janis Joplin, Steely Dan (mixing genres here), CSN&Y, Buffalo Springfield, Fleetwood Mac, even stuff like Moody Blues, ELO, etc. in my non metal mix. Don't ever really put it on other than random play though when I'm in the mood for listening to a rock mix genre shuffle. You may or may not be an asshole, but not because of your musical tastes. Close minded? Hyper focused on the slimmest margins of musical experience to confounding levels? Check. That does not make you an asshole. I'd have to ask your ex to really know that 😁. I reckon we can all be assholes from time to time. Then, again, you were into punk at a time when most metal fans, myself included despised punk. Now, more of us from the day have come around. So closed minded is relative I suppose.

Actually, I'm not really a fan of King Buffalo. Jon prolly likes them more than I do, but I think Jon and I are in agreement they are serviceable as background rock music. I know they are sometimes labeled as a stoner band. I think of them as a stoner adjacent progressive jam band. Nothing wrong with that but not much wow factor. General of Whitenoise you like the stoner with hyuge riffage with punk attitude. I get that and like that style too. To me Wo Fat is more nuanced blues rock stoner with a kind of Stevie Ray Vaughan jam feel. They do take their time to get to the point though. Cavernlight/As We Cup Our Hands and drink from the Stream of our Ache (2017)-dig the new Cavernlight album so revisiting their last one..... Driving back and forth to my Mom's retirement home pushing music my wife will semi tolerate Lana Del Rey/Norman Fucking Rockwell-one of the pop albums in recent years I genuinely like for its homage to 70's Laurel Canyon musical scene of the 60's-70's Then, Rainbow/Rising and Scorpions/Love Drive-afterwards I asked her, so what do you think of those two albums-"it's just noise"-but she didn't tell me to "turn that shit off". For the record, she liked Love Drive slightly better remembering the overplayed track-Rock You Like a Hurricane and doesn't hate power ballads and referred to Rising as "one of those pussy bands" meaning of course bands like Poison and Whitesnake...-after 28 years of marriage, I'll have to take that with a rye smile. Swans/Filth-Because the heavenly Father Alabaster tells me I need to listen it again-It has a certain charm.

And didn't you move for a while to New Zealand or Greenland at some point? Since I'm 'Merican, I can't distinguish the two, other than they are beautiful cold places with a lot of white people. I should probably check out Sulphur Aeon's first two albums at some point. Funny how my musical tastes sync with your much of the time. Have you been listening to The Long Road North much? I think it's my most listened 2022 album so far. It's struggle listening to old favorites with a collection that keeps growing. Like some of our socio-political discussion-you know, the impracticality that the current model for successful global affluence being dependent on ever growing economies in a world of shrinking natural resources, listening to an ever growing musical collection for me becomes a game of hide and sink. For bands like the Gathering, I often will make playlists or queue's with different qualities-chick bands for instance. I have the Gathering added to a massive playlist of "non metal" which tends to include everything from classical/jazz to punk and "clean" metal. It's inanely large, about 14,000 tracks and I play it like my own eclectic commercial free radio station. If I listen long enough I'll hear all of those little niche bands I might forget about. In fact, I'm listening right now as I'm waking up. It gave me Kurt Vile, G'N'R, a track from a Wagner opera, a movement from a Shostakovich symphony-number 8(why do the order of vowels in his name always fuck up my spelling?), Stolen Babies, Motorhead, Social Destruction, Kinks and Nightwish-there's my chick metal!

Digging deeper into winter dark beers while available...and it's not even Winter Oliver Brewing (MD) Speed of Darkness Imperial Stout-saw this one -local brewery and grabbed a single-enjoyable Founders Dirty Bastard Scotch Styled Ale Navy you were right about Oscar Blues Ten Fidy Imperial Stout-good shit And, no I did not have all three tonight 😁

Sulphur Aeon - The Scythe of Cosmic Chaos-2018-Been a minute since I've listened to this. They say the older you get, the faster times goes by. Did not think it was 4 years ago. Zach turned me onto this one. Dig the huge, exotic, melodic sound married with dissonance making this something different than your run of the mill DM release.