GOSPEL ACCORDING to TSTAT: BEST ALBUMS of 2011

My favourite albums that came out this year and a little blurb about each one. Also a link is provided if the album in particular happens to be a free download. These aren't in order.



1) SUBROSA - NO HELP FOR THE MIGHTY ONE
"Sludgey grunge-infused doom with eerie violins, witchy girl vocals and even some traditional folk elements. Good for rainy days that take place after the fall of civilization."

2) KEN MODE - VENERABLE
"Like this album or get pummelled to death by it. It wins, either way."

3) YOUNG WIDOWS - IN AND OUT OF YOUTH AND LIGHTNESS
"A complete reinvention of themselves. I like when bands do that, even when it sucks."

4) BOLOGNA VIOLENTA - IL NUOVISSIMO MONDO
"One-man cinematic grindcore from Italy. Multo bene!"
http://grindcorekaraoke.com/album/il-nuovissimo-mondo

5) HEIDECKER & WOOD - STARTING FROM NOWHERE
  "Insanely funny and deadly serious all at once."

6) GROUPER - A / A
"If aliens invented shoegaze..."

 7) JESU - ASCENSION
"Justin Broadrick's early 90s slocore tribute album"

8) DEATH GRIPS - EX MILITARY
"ITGOESITGOESITGOESITGOES"
http://grindcorekaraoke.com/album/exmilitary

9) CAVE IN - WHITE SILENCE
"Best thing they've done since Jupiter."

10, 11, 12) BORIS - HEAVY ROCKS, ATTENTION PLEASE & NEW ALBUM
"Boris are basically a different band album for album. I wish more bands would do that."

13) CLOUD RAT - FEVER DREAMS
"Grindy guitar/drums speedcore. Elements of doom, sludge, black metal and a girl who screams her guts out. That's good."
http://grindcorekaraoke.com/album/fever-dreams

14) HTRK - WORK (WORK, WORK)
"It's like there's this girl who is as horny as she is depressed and someone gave her some early Skinny Puppy demos, an 808, some reverb patches and a handful of 'ludes. And said 'Right, get on with it'."

15) AMEN DUNES - THROUGH DONKEY JAW
"Lo-fi psychedelic meanderings. Awesome, despite the horrible description I've just given it."

16) RWAKE - REST
"Enemy of the Sun-era Neuroris style doom put through an evil NWOBHM filter."

17) SKINNY PUPPY - HANDOVER
"Total old school/new school EBM. Barely a guitar to be found on here."

18) WUGAZI - 13 CHAMBERS
"It's basically that Jay-Z/Beatles Grey Album thing but with Wu-Tang Clan and Fugazi. And it's awesome." http://www.mediafire.com/?4z43zfoxmgla19t

19) TODAY IS THE DAY - PAIN IS A WARNING
"Steve Austin's self-professed love of Judas Priest really comes to the fore on this one."

20) EUSTACHIAN - THE SPHAGNUM BOG
"Totally spazzed out take on cyber grind. Yeah, I'll take that."
http://grindcorekaraoke.com/album/the-sphagnum-bog

21) RIVAL SCHOOLS - PEDALS
"Glad these guys got back together. A mellower version of themselves but still great."

22) ROBOCOP - ROBOCOP II
"Grindy powerviolence. No, your speakers aren't blown. It's supposed to sound like that."
http://grindcorekaraoke.com/album/robocop-ii

23) ZOMBI - ESCAPE VELOCITY
"Best album yet from these synth-driven prog rockers. Is it me or did it get completely overlooked?"

24) ALTAR OF PLAGUES - MAMMAL
"One particularly awesome take on black-metal."

25) FUCK THE FACTS - DIE MISERABLE
"This band gets better with each release. This album in particular is light on the death metal, heavy on the grind/crust/hardcore."

26) THOU - ARCHER AND THE OWLE
"I bought this on cassette."

27) COM TRUISE - GALACTIC MELT
"If you took those old Chrome albums, replaced Helios Creed and Damon Edge with the Daft Punk robots, it might go something like this."

28) LEGOWELT - THE TEAC LIFE
"I dunno, I just like it."

29) WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM - CELESTIAL LINEAGE
"Another fantastic take on black metal. Most bands don't know how to handle this particular genre."

30) ECHO LAKE - YOUNG SILENCE
"For fans of: My Bloody Valentine, My Bloody Valentine and My Bloody Valentine."

31) ALASKAN - ADVERSITY; WOE
"Another band that continues to step it up with each release. Awesome sludgy doom."

32) BASTARD NOISE - SKULLDOZER
"The heaviest un-metal available."

33 & 34) DESPISE YOU/AGORAPHOBIC NOSEBLEED - ...AND ON AND ON & AGORAPHOBIC NOSEBLEED - A JOYFUL NOISE
"Domestic powerviolence"
http://grindcorekaraoke.com/album/a-joyful-noise

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

PALE SKETCHER - SEVENTH HEAVEN EP
GATES - MOTHS HAVE EATEN THE CORE
KRALLICE - DIOTIMA
WOLVHAMMER - THE OBSIDIAN PLAINS
TUNE-YARDS - W H O  K I L L
BURZUM - FALLEN
ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER - REPLICA
VYGR - HYPERSLEEP
ASVA - PRESENCE OF ABSENCES
KURT VILE - SMOKE RING FOR MY HALO
LOU REED & METALLICA - LULU
BLUT AUS NORD - 777 SECT(S) & 777 THE DESANCTIFICATION
BRUTAL TRUTH - END TIME

and, of course, the 3 TSTAT releases that meandered their way into existence should not be overlooked! Certainly not by me, at any rate.

THE SUN THROUGH A TELESCOPE - ORANGE
THE SUN THROUGH A TELESCOPE - GREEN/BLACK
THE SUN THROUGH A TELESCOPE - SUMMER DARKYARD

and, last and always least....

DAIQUIRI - FLOWER SHAPED NUM NUMS

Happy New Year

I'LL DIE, GOODBYE

2 REVIEWS OF SUMMER DARKYARD

The first comes from a blog called MEAT MEAD METAL. It's a very in-depth dissection of SUMMER DARKYARD and SURACHAI's TO NO AVAIL (both available from HANDSHAKE INC. and GRINDCORE KARAOKE). This guy breaks it down, track by track, and has some really cool insights into the music. CLICK HERE!

The 2nd comes from another blog, this one going by the subtle handle SCUMFEAST METAL 666. The author makes mention of the fact that the opening track scares him. He wouldn't think so if he knew me. I'm not scary. CLICK HERE!

SUMMER DARKYARD Now Available On GRINDCORE KARAOKE

I love AGORAPHOBIC NOSEBLEED. ALTERED STATES OF AMERICA is one of my all-time favourite albums. I mean, 100 songs in roughly 20 minutes? Hyerspeed musical journey.

With some help from my good friend DAVE HALL (he of HANDSHAKE INC), JAY RANDALL (he of ANb) has thrown me a massive bone in the form of releasing SUMMER DARKYARD on his incredible GRINDCORE KARAOKE online record label. This puts me in some SERIOUSLY good company. To name just a few - CLOUD RAT, BOLOGNA VIOLENTA, ROBOCOP, SURACHAI, BESTOWER, BURIED AT BIRTH, HOGLUST, DEATH GRIPS, WUGAZI, JUCIFER, GIGANTIC BRAIN....I could go on and on. A plethora of great music on there. It's an honour to be a part of it. HUGE thanks to JAY RANDALL for hosting TSTAT and more thanks to DAVE HALL for bringing TSTAT to JAY's attention. Phew!

Download SUMMER DARKYARD from GRINDCORE KARAOKE (for free!): CLICK HERE!

I

TSTAT FEATURED ON SPETTRO RECORDS

Through a weird and convoluted set of circumstances, I was put in contact with SPETTRO RECORDS. They are an Italian record label that focus strictly on free digital releases. Basically, they host a lot of cool releases that one can grab for zero dollars, if one is so inclined. Not at all unlike what Jay Randall is currently kicking ass with his GRINDCORE KARAOKE venture. Anyways, my 3 existing releases are all available on SPETTRO RECORDS for free download. I'm hoping this will result in a substantial Italian fanbase cuz I fucking love that place. CLICK HERE

Oh, and this ad is featured in the newest issue of DECIBEL magazine (the one with Dave Mustaine snarling on the cover). Big-ups to Dave Hall and his HANDSHAKE INC. for making that happen. I'm huge.

DECIBEL MAGAZINE ONLINE HOSTS "DARKYARD"

Awesome review in DECIBEL ONLINE of the song DARKYARD, the title track (sort of) from SUMMER DARKYARD. You get to preview the song and everything. Big, huge thanks to the fine folks down at HANDSHAKE INC. for hooking that up. Starting to think those guys are really onto something with this whole online, internet deal.

CLICK HERE!

NEW RELEASE - SUMMER DARKYARD

The fine folks at HANDSHAKE INC. are doing me a major favour and hosting my new release there.


SUMMER DARKYARD. A 3-song single, online only and FREE as free can get (okay, I won't cover the bandwidth but I would if I could).

This release features one song I've had lying around since I worked on the material that wound up on the first 2 EPs (that's 2007, y'all). The remaining tracks were magicklly conjured over the recently dead summer. Definitely captured some weird, inverted summer vibe.

Grab SUMMER DARKYARD right here: CLICK!!!

THE SUN THROUGH A TELESCOPE & ALASKAN. TOGETHER AT LAST!

Been a pretty quiet summer for TSTAT but that doesn't mean that things haven't been in the works, okaaay?!?!? To wit, here are the results of Ottawa sludge/doom pros ALASKAN asking me to collaborate with them on a track to be featured a split release with CO-PILOT (Texas).

ALASKAN/TSTAT COLLAB! CLiCK HERE!!!

I'm also planning on releasing an online single within the next week or so. It'll be digital only and FREE, FREE, FREE! I'll post a link to my bandcamp site when it's up there. In the meantime, peep the cover art! Done up by my always amazing art-slave cousin and STREET MEAT bandmate Elena Chiara Palanza (with a picture taken from DEATH RAINBOWS and used with kind permission).

THE SUN THROUGH A TELESCOPE featured on GRINDING AFTERMATH - a free downloadable compilation -

So. Over at AMERICAN AFTERMATH, you got Ross. Then there's GRIND TO DEATH, where you got Alex (I picture them both renting out office space where they run their respective blogs. I'm sure this is the case).

These 2 dudes share at least one thing in common (at least one thing that I can confirm). They were both cool enough to throw a promotional bone my way. A fact for which I am eternally grateful. Seriously, all the bloggers and reviewers who have been kind enough to do up a review, share their thoughts, provide download links - it's amazing. It's making a world of difference as far as TSTAT listenership goes.

Anyways. These guys have pooled their resources and put together a FREE grindcore compilation of EPIC proportions. Seriously, the tracklist on this thing is like a who's who of the grindcore A-list (as far as I'm concernced, at least). Brutal Truth, Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Fuck the Facts, Weekend Nachos, Rotten Sound, Kill the Client.....the list goes on. 69 tracks in all! THE PRIEST WITH ONE BLACK HAND, the one song of mine (so far) that is a grindcore qualifier, is also featured. Can't thank these guys enough for including me. They had nothing to gain and everything to lose by associating my stinky rottenness with their sweet hyperblasts. Merci.

Here is the link to follow in order to download the comp: CLICK HERE!

Guess what? Yes, more reviews.

I really only ever write an update when a few more reviews roll in. It's all this "band" really has going for itself, at this point. Which is fine by me!!! Anytime I even start to consider the possibility of playing live shows with this stuff, I get stressed. Maybe later, definitely not now. Anyways, check these out...

JOSÉ'S BAND OF THE WEEK - Now THIS is a HUGE get for me. This particular column is affiliated with the cyber-version of none other than TERRORIZER magazine. That's pretty sweet. Mr. José Carlos Santos himself was nice enough to give my music the time of day in the following article. He has ascertained that I am "disturbed". Fair enough. You know who isn't disturbed? Any given member of the band Disturbed. CLICK HERE!

The remaining 2 reviews both come from grind-based music blogs, were both written by writers who were a little hesitant at first because my stuff isn't very grindy, and both came out the very same day. The possibility of a Polka-Roo/the male host of the Polka Dot Door type situation just became very real.

GRIND TO DEATH - Great blog by a great British bloke. I follow him on Twitter now. I really appreciate that he stepped outside of his comfort zone and gave my stuff a shot. Very cool. Good article. CLICK HERE!

GRIND AND PUNISHMENT - The grindcore community feels it is my time to be heard. They have spoken. Actually, this article contains the very first instances of some constructive criticism for yours truly. Which is just all right by me. Pobody's Nerfect. CLICK HERE!

More Reviews! TSTAT is getting so MAJOR!

THAT'S HOW KIDS DIE - I really love this blog in particular. From the perspective of one man (Josh), there are many great insights into the current state of metal to be found within. Plus, he can be really mean and sarcastic which is always awesome (if you're funny, which he also is). This particular article outlines the steam-roller effect a website as awesome as Bandcamp can have over the laughably mismanaged sitting duck that is Myspace. He was nice enough to include a link to my bandcamp page in said article (along with several other bands worth checking out). Thanks Josh! CLICK HERE!

HEAVY PLANET - I'm pretty sure this blog is somehow affiliated with THE SODA SHOP which is a pretty major stoner/doom blog. In a regular feature titled "New Band to Burn One To" (sure), this writer asks the question "Is this new-age music for metalheads?". Could be, could be. CLICK HERE!

RESONANCITY - A Toronto-based music blog. I love the comparisons to the frostbitten Norwegian musical climate (though, for the record, my shit is more of an "autumn" vibe). This is also probably the one and only time you'll ever see the word "political" in connection to any music I'm responsible for. Or maybe not! It's out of my hands now. CLICK HERE!

Another batch of reviews/write-ups from the Heavy Metal Bloggers out there

HEAVY BOOTS MUSIC - Nice lil writeup. They recently relocated to Tumblr. CLICK!

GOOD MORNING METAL - I like metal in the morning too. Slayer, mostly. CLICK!

DOOMMANTIA - REALLY in-depth review! This writer pointed things out that even I had not noticed before. Very cool. CLICK!

THE HEAVIEST MATTER OF THE UNIVERSE - Named after a song by Gojira (who I kind of like, sort of sometimes...) CLICK!

It's really cool and weird to read what complete strangers think of this stuff. I'm so used to virtually every note of music I come up with staying mainly within the vicinity of my own personal headspace. It's been literally 20 years that I've been playing music and it's just as weird now as it would have been the day I first picked up a pair of drumsticks: someone other than myself having an actual opinion of something I came up with.

NERD

2 more reviews of ORANGE & GREEN/BLACK

Blog power is rearing its noble head once again. And with it, brings.....reviews! Of my stuff. Reviews.....FAVOURABLE! Fantastic. Can't thank these guys enough for helping to spread the word on my own personal Drone/Doom schizophrenia. I can literally see the results of it on Bandcamp, LastFM....anyways. The reviews!

DISORDERLY CONDUCT (a metal blog based in Norway - home of Black Metal and burning churches) CLICK! (scroll down the page about a quarter of the way for the review)

NOIZINE (a metal/hardcore/experimental blog from Greece - home of food that I fucking love to eat)
CLICK!

2 new reviews of ORANGE & GREEN/BLACK

It's funny. Around Christmas time, I sent out about 30 odd requests for reviews to different music blogs in hopes that maybe a couple of them would throw Street Meat (another one of my bands) a bone. Not surprisingly, the indifference was overwhelming. Not one response, not even a polite "fuck off". Makes sense to me. I probably wouldn't bother either. But then I don't purport to give the impression that I'm in the habit of giving a shit about other people and their various endeavors.

Last night, I sent about 13 similar requests to various metal blogs begging for the same sort of exposure for The Sun Through a Telescope. Not 12 hours later, 5 responses received and 2 REVIEWS already posted!!!! Incredible. Just goes to show that metal dudes are infinitely cooler than pretentious indie-rock dorks. That's completely fair, right? Anyways, check out these reviews. They are fantastic and totally appreciated.

This is Book's Music: CLICK HERE!


American Aftermath: CLICK HERE!

Orange and Green/Black double cassette - Now available from Dwyer Records

The good people of Ottawa's own Dwyer Records (who also just so happen to be the good people of Ottawa's own awesome doom/sludge band Alaskan) have done me a kindness. They released the Orange|Green/Black double-cassette, double-EP extra-special limited to 50 copies only package. Incredible. Can't thank those guys enough.


Available right now at their webstore: CLICK HERE.

Visit the store, visit the site. Do some listening.

Also available as a digital download at the gamechanger of a bandsite, Bandcamp: CLICK HERE.

Buy the mp3s or simply stream them for free.

Orange & Green/Black - FINISHED!

The majorest of props to my cousin/graphic design slave Elena. She made these things look amazing. Check it out.

Available soon, REAL soon from Dwyer Records. I'll keep you posted.