Hi, so this time round I have done a end of year write up, it's a little shorter than the usual.
I guess it has been a challenging year for all, it's especially hard to stay positive when what goes on in the fills you with dispair.
However, musically (is it music) for me I guess it's been an OK year, and feel I'm finishing on a positive with these recent shows. Would like to have got a new release out, but just never made the time.
Thanks to those who made it down to the shows I did this year. Especially to James and Paul who booked me and to the other artists who played. It was great to start playing again, not so great to lug my Peli case around. But cheers for cheap cabs and free drinks, more for 2024!
I think one thing that stood out to me playing gigs for the first time in a few years was the volume of great new noise/experimental/whatever artists there are now both locally and across the UK has exploded post-pandemic. I feel like maybe 4-5 years ago I knew pretty much most of the artists who made noise in the UK but now I know virtually nothing! And I'll be honest it's really encouraging and hopefully means more gigs, meeting new people, and pushing the boundaries of genre.
I thought this year I'd try to get a EOY list completed as I don't think I did one for last year.
So this is a "list of records / experiences / reissues that really stood out over the last year, in no order at all..."
- Wilderness Years - Kiran Arora (Fantasy Knife)
- Aphorisms - Graham Lambkin (Blank Forms Editions)
- Model Of Malehood - Max Julian Eastman (Tribe Tapes)
- Another (Looped) Sunday - seht (Another Sunday)
- Distant Dosage - Robert Turman (Dead Mind Records)
- Three Things - Luciano Maggiore & Louie Rice (Adhuman)
- Thatch - Daniel Menche (Self-release)
- Plays / XCIII - Merzbow & Smegma (Helicopter, Troniks)
- Calisthenics in reverse - Jam Dodge (Historic Masses)
- At War With Windsor - The False Face Society (Chocolate Monk)
- Cacophony - John Wall (Self-released)
- Electronic Music from 1972-2022 - Carl Stone (Unseen Worlds)
- Tapes - Angus MacLise (Art into Life)
- Sheet Erosion - Mark Vernon (Sonoris)
- Live - Knurl, Mlehst (@ New River Studios)
- Château Mordécoly - Mordecoli (Valerio Tricoli & Ecka Mordecai) (Alter)
- Unbalanced Contraptions & Misc Loops #1- #3 - Michael Ridge (Chocolate Monk)
- Under the Island: Experimental Music in Ireland 1960 - 1994 - Various (Nyahh Records)
- Self titled - Jackson-Pratt & Shredded Nerve (Total Black)
2024, so what is the plan? I'd like to get the Cycle noise project I started completed plus another full length record that's been off/on in the works done. Maybe some releases from the archive finally seeing light? Gigs, yes I'd like to play some more, some of the ideas I started to work on for the 'Mulch' gig in November need to be explored further. Plus also it's great just to play something incredibly harsh and noisey.
So to you who are reading this post have a great festive season, here's to 2024.
