End of one year and start of another one!


Hello everyone and happy new year!

I hope everyone is alright and that the year of 2022 was decent enough for you. For me it was mainly alright and with a lot of traveling as was the case for the last few as well.

Perhaps the biggest thing that marked this year for me was the passing of my grandfather who was a major influence to me in a lot ways especially in music. I don't think I would ever be that much into jazz if it weren't for him. Although someone passing is always a sad affair he was 94 years old at the time so it's not like we didn't have enough time with him and he was getting tired of life anyway. Especially after his wife passed away. "After you hit 80 you should just be taken outside and shot in the back of your head." is what he would say (half jokingly) whenever we would have to drive him to the doctor. While I already did share a lot of artists that I'm listening to specifically due to his influence (Bix Beiderbecke, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong etc.) there are still some artists I haven't reflected on and I hope to in the following years.

The blog, as usual, isn't as active as it was in its heyday of sharing but I hope to pop in and share stuff when I get the time and inspiration.

Unfortunately I recently suffered a ruptured eardrum so listening to music has been particularly hard this past month or so but I should get into surgery to get that fixed hopefully relatively soon. I might actually focus more on some reading in the meantime or something...I don't know. We'll see how it goes!

2022 IN MUSIC

Musically I'd say this year was pretty good. I can't really say I was amazed by a lot of albums but the output was pretty good overall. Obviously I was looking forward to new Deathspell Omega but in the end it left a fairly lukewarm impression on me. I am looking forward to studying the lyrics a bit more in depth as I hear from others they're a good read. A lot of good jazz came out this year, most notably for me the Sun Ra Arkestra put out a fantastic album that I revisited a lot this year.

My list is in alphabetical order but the bolded albums are my favorites. Hope you will find something you like!

BLACK METAL

Acherontas - Malocchio - The Seven Tongues Of Ahmon [bandcamp, youtube]
Aerdryk - Met De Drietand Op Mijn Huid [bandcamp, youtube]
Bekëth Nexëhmü - De Evigas Gravrit [bandcamp, youtube]
Bhleg - Fäghring [bandcamp, youtube]
Blut Aus Nord - Disharmonium [bandcamp, youtube]
Coscradh - Nahanagan Stadial [bandcamp, youtube]
Dark Funeral - We Are The Apocalypse [spotify, youtube]
Deathspell Omega - The Long Defeat [spotify, youtube]
Doldrum - The Knocking, Or The Story Of The Sound That Preceded Their Disappearance [bandcamp, youtube]
Drudkh - All Belong to the Night [bandcamp, youtube]
Falls Of Rauros - Key to a Vanishing Future [bandcamp, youtube]
Gevurah - Gehinnom [bandcamp, youtube]
Gnipahålan - I Nordisk Vredeslusta [bandcamp, youtube]
Hate Forest - Innermost [youtube]
Häxenzijrkell - Urgrund [bandcamp, youtube]
Kathaaria - To be Shunned by All... as Centres of Pestilence [bandcamp, youtube]
Krallice - Psychagogue [bandcamp, youtube]
Medieval Demon - Black Coven [bandcamp, youtube]
Misþyrming - Með hamri [bandcamp, youtube]
Mortuus - Diablerie [bandcamp, youtube]
Nokturnal Mortum - To Lunar Poetry [youtube]
Nocturnal Triumph - Nocturnal Triumph [bandcamp, youtube]
Swampborn - Beyond Ratio [bandcamp, youtube]
Ultha - All that has Never been True [bandcamp, youtube]
Vehemence - Ordalies [bandcamp, youtube]
White Ward - False Light [bandcamp, youtube]
Ymir - Aeons of Sorrow [bandcamp, youtube]

OTHER METAL

Altars - Ascetic Reflection [bandcamp, youtube]
Artificial Brain - Artificial Brain [bandcamp, youtube]
Brii - Corpos Transparentes [bandcamp, youtube]
Conan - Evidence Of Immortality [bandcamp, youtube]
Desolate Shrine - Fires of the Dying World [bandcamp, youtube]
Elder - Innate Passage [bandcamp, youtube]
Faceless Burial - At The Foothills Of Deliration [bandcamp, youtube]
Hissing - Hypervirulence Architecture [bandcamp, youtube]
Immolation - Acts Of God [bandcamp, youtube]
Luminous Vault - Animate The Emptiness [bandcamp, youtube]
Phobophilic - Enveloping Absurdity [bandcamp, youtube]
Ripped to Shreds - Jubian [bandcamp, youtube]
Scumslaught - Knives and Amphetamines [bandcamp, youtube]
Sedimentum - Suppuration Morphogénésiaque [bandcamp, youtube]
Sumerlands - Dreamkiller [bandcamp, youtube]
Triumvir Foul - Onslaught To Seraphim [bandcamp, youtube]
UIV - Frigus [bandcamp, youtube]
Wormrot - Hiss [bandcamp, youtube]

NOT METAL

Akira Sakata & Takeo Moriyama - Mitochondria [bandcamp]
Alvvays - Blue Rev [bandcamp, spotify]
Cecil Taylor - Respiration (1968) [bandcamp]
Chip Wickham - Astral Traveling [bandcamp, youtube]
Connie Han - Secrets Of Inanna [bandcamp, youtube]
Gard Nilssen - Elastic Wave [spotify]
Horace Tapscott - The Quintet (1969) [bandcamp]
Jasmine Myra - Horizons [bandcamp, youtube]
Keith Jarrett - Bordeaux Concert (2016) [spotify]
Mark Guiliana - The Sound Of Listening [bandcamp]
Sun Ra Arkestra - Living Sky [bandcamp]
Tigran Hamasyan - StandArt [bandcamp]