10 x 2012

everyone has one, an opinion and the internet access to share it. aka top 10 of 2012. so here goes ours. in no particular order:

NEUROSIS - HONOR FOUND IN DECAY
obviously. i wanted this so bad i bought it on CD. when the vinyl drops next year it will go on my 2013 list as well. i don't know the last time my CD player saw this much action. spun this so many times i'm afraid it's going to burn up the motor.

TRAGEDY - DARKER DAYS AHEAD
the first few years of tragedy's existence i would pick up every new 7" hoping to like it as much as his hero is gone and never did. when i saw this i grabbed it for the sake of consistency. made me go back and re-listen to all their old stuff and it's totally changed my mind. everything they ever recorded fucking slays.

HOAX - three 7"s
so i guess they have 3 EPs? i'm not exactly sure the dates on them but i picked up all three over the course of the year and any of them could make the list easily regardless of date.

ROT IN HELL / VEGAS - SPLIT 6"
exactly what you'd expect from both of them and i think that's the best compliment i could possibly give it. another obvious one here. i wish it was 1 to 6 inches longer.

COLUMN OF HEAVEN - MISSION FROM GOD
i feel super fortunate to have worked on this project. when andrew first emailed me the tracks i knew it would be on my 10 whether we were able to work together or not.

OAK - SILENT SPRING
this was in with a box of tapes chris from prairie fire/dub ditch picnic sent me and i'm really glad he did because i otherwise might not have heard or heard of this one. if there isn't already talk of giving this the vinyl treatment there should be.

YOUNG AND IN THE WAY - live/2x12"
i don't know if they even had anything new come out in 2012. they're just that good. i guess the 2LP of their stuff from 2010 and 2011 came out this year. and i know the 2nd press of their torch runner split 7" is coming up. did the first press come out in 2012? either way, top 10.

SUTEKH HEXEN - BEHIND THE THRONE
wait, did the empyraisch 12" come out this year too? in that case its a tie.

INTEGRITY / GEHENNA - SPLIT 7"
another obvious one.

IRON LUNG / THE PROCESS - SPLIT 7"
i guess this is a re-release of the same split from 2007. but it's new to me and i've already almost worn out the grooves. best song the process ever recorded.

honorable mention:
HORDERS - FIMBULVETR
i'm not enough of an egoist to put my own album on a top 10. but it was really exciting and meant a lot to me to have this album see the light of day. so even just as a personal experience, this was a big one for me for 2012.

maw/soafob preview

in the middle of a hand full of different projects. a little sample here of something i've been working on for the upcoming MAN AMONG WOLVES / STANDING ON A FLOOR OF BODIES split 10". more to come.

verm

mail call: 7 degrees

mentioned previously how some sisster ssound releases were now available from 7 DEGREES in germany. just got a mess of records from them in the mail. including the 12" vinyl version of the STANDING ON A FLOOR OF BODIES "sacrilegious and culturally deficient" album that sisster ssound did the cassettes of. thanks simon.

updates

the HORDERS 'fimbulvetr' LP is available now in full for stream and/or download at horders.bandcamp.com. cassettes are now sold out, but the vinyl is still available in the GIVE UP STORE. as well as DOMY BOOKS, END OF AN EAR, and VINYL EDGE in houston and austin, respectively. and direct from FEAST OF TENTACLES in the uk of course.

in sisster distribution news, BLACK COFFEE, STANDING ON A FLOOR OF BODIES, AND RVEVV cassettes are now also being stocked at DOMY BOOKS, END OF AN EAR, and VINYL EDGE. as well as being available now from 7 DEGREES in germany, PRAIRIE FIRE TAPES in canada, and CRUCIAL BLAST in maryland.

on the design front, we're currently working on the art and layout for the upcoming STANDING ON A FLOOR OF BODIES/MAN AMONG WOLVES split 10", the ROT IN HELL "ruined empire" LP, and the second 7" from BLACK COFFEE. plus a couple of others its still a little too early to comment on. more soon.

prairie fire/dub ditch mail call

chris from PRAIRIE FIRE TAPES (responsible for the HORDERS 'fimbulvetr' cassette and the PINK PRIEST split cassette, among others) and DUB DITCH PICNIC, respectively, just sent me a whole mess of new tapes. heavy digestion to ensue here. thanks chris. find out more about these and others at his sites HERE and HERE.

BREAK TIME "pony tail" video

BREAK TIME just released a video, shot entirely with VHS recorders, for their song "pony tail" from the now out of print tape on SISSTER SSOUND. physical copies of the cassette are long gone, but you can still download this and the rest of the songs off their bandcamp page HERE.

AT OUR HEELS tshirt

just wrapped up and sent off these letters and tshirt design for northern california's AT OUR HEELS. ordering info, music, and tour dates available on their SITE.

MINE tshirt

another one for MINE. this time i re-worked an image from an older GIVE UP print to be more suitable for a tshirt. info on purchase soon at CULT CULTURE.

HEMLOCK 13

recently finished tshirt design for UK based label HEMLOCK 13. should be available for a christmas release. more HERE as the time comes.

sutekh hexen

been on pretty heavy rotation the past handful of months. picked up 'luciform' first, and the others as i stumbled across them. a little late to the party i'm sure. slept too hard on the first pressing of the 'shadows' 7" and missed the boat. i'm aware of a handful of other 7"s and cassettes, but a little reluctant to go down the google/discogs rabbit hole as it will probably just hurt my feelings. if anyone has anything other than those pictured here and are interested in trading message me at ingivingup@yahoo.com.

full plate

currently working on new stuff for ROT IN HELL, MINE, STANDING ON A FLOOR OF BODIES, WORMLUST, AT OUR HEELS, and BLACK COFFEE. more updates as designs get finished/approved.

mail call - cvlt nation

traded a print for this DOOM hat from CVLT NATION a minute back and it just came in the mail. good looking out guys. thanks!

okay, i'll bite

pretty clever marketing. especially considering most people will probably just rip this (or any other record) off the internet anyway. i liked "prowler..." a lot. and i liked "terrifier". by the time "phantom limb" came out it didn't really hit so hard for me, so i wasn't sure exactly what to expect with this one. gave it a spin and i'm kind of feeling it. a little different. made me go back and listen to a few tracks off "phantom limb" again to kind of get a feel for the progression. which ultimately made me appreciate both that and this a little more.

DEISM

good mail day with the folks from DEISM. thanks garrett!

today

we've been listening to hatred surge.

MINE / CULT CULTURE

did some lettering for MINE and their new label CULT CULTURE recently and just got these tapes and shirts with the respective efforts in the mail. pretty elaborate packaging going on here with the folded corrugated cardboard box and stenciling. cassette cover photo by the homey mike jensen. thanks chris.

flood

stabbin' cabin/culturcide live in new york.

RvEvv 'MMXII' cass (SS008)

the second endeavor for SISSTER SSOUND with the UK's drone master RVEVV. this time coming as a split label release from his own private imprint STRIVVE RECORDINGS. this MMXII cassette picks up right where the MMXI tape left off. with the previous being more a collection of tracks never released in a physical form, this most recent cassette is a calculated, cohesive unit. with one song flowing seamlessly into the next, leading down a sonic path of despair. delivering 8 tracks in just under 40 minutes, RVEVV's 'MMXII' builds mammoth guitar rooted walls of sound, all contained in digestible spans. interspersed with minimal samples, field recordings and harsh noise, without ever losing the underlying melody not present in many offerings within the genre.

strictly limited to 60 copies, with 30 on red shells for US distribution, 30 on grey for the UK. each cassette comes housed in a full color jcard with b&w back designed by GIVE UP, along with a second black on black over-cover card with a cut out window.

available NOW in the GIVE UP STORE, coming soon to the SISSTER STORE.
stream at STRIVVE RECORDINGS.

BLACK COFFEE tees

just wrapped up these shirts for BLACK COFFEE. using the same art from the SISSTER SSOUND cassette/DEATH EXCLAMATIONS 7" release. pro printed using plastisol ink on regular fit, heavyweight, 100% cotton tshirts. limited availability up now in the GIVE UP store, coming soon to the SISSTER store.

honor found in decay

needless to say, VERY excited.

empire of rats

the homie zach's new band. get it.

STANDING ON A FLOOR OF BODIES cass (SS006)

the 6th official release from sissterssound - STANDING ON A FLOOR OF BODIES' "sacrilegious & culturally deficient" cassette. two headed bay area grind assault from mike and bunny stitches. brutal, disgusting, and apocalyptic. featuring a guest spot by pete pontikoff of BENUMB. 14 songs in just over 16 minutes with the program repeating on both sides.

package includes a 17"x11" two-sided fold out poster, full color jcards, and pro-dubbed imprinted cassettes, all designed and laid out by mike stitches. housed in sealed black plastic "body bags". strictly limited to 100.

www.standingonafloorofbodies.com

available NOW in the sisster STORE.

RvEvv 'MMXII' preview

collaborative release between SISSTER SSOUND and STRIVVE RECORDINGS. coming september 22nd. details soon.

CULT CULTURE logo

our friend christopher (formerly of HANG THE BASTARD, currently of MINE) recently launched his own label, CULT CULTURE, and asked me to do some lettering/logoing for him. should be launching with a cassette release of the first MINE recordings.

BLACK COFFEE release show

the homie denniz sent me this flier. BLACK COFFEE will playing their official CASS/7" release show on the 18th down in houston.

oathbreaker flier

did this hand design for OATHBREAKER a little while back for a tshirt. not sure if they ever got the shirts done but the payment cleared. good to see they've gotten some use out of the design either way. saw this flier pop up on the internet.

BLACK COFFEE cassette (SS007)

new TXHC band featuring members of older TXHC bands playing even older sounding music. somewhere in the vein of early DC hardcore mixed with negative approach, while still maintaining an independent voice and keeping current. somehow more punk even if that makes sense at all. engineered by william hesser, who over a handful of recent years has become the houston recording go-to guy, BLACK COFFEE features members that have served time in such previous acts as the burden, your mistake, and street dogs, to name a few. this cassette version is released by SISSTER SSOUND (SS007) in a limited edition of 80 to go along with the DEATH EXCLAMATIONS release of the 7" vinyl. cassette features the same 6 songs as the vinyl (five originals and a cover), but also includes a bonus live song not featured on the 7". all art and layout by GIVE UP. available NOW in the sissterssound WEBSTORE.

GROWN FEST VI poster

when mike finger asked me to do a poster for GROWN FEST 6 it wasn't a thing i could really turn down. already had the skeleton together from a previous poster that didn't pan out. so i was able to re-scan my original elements and knock this one out pretty quick. leave anything you can't see broken at home for this one, check your glasses at the door.

COLUMN OF HEAVEN 'mission from god' 12"

recently finished the art/layout for the new COLUMN OF HEAVEN lp from SPHC. couldn't be happier with the final product or the opportunity to work with these guys. features members of THE ENDLESS BLOCKADE, mixing grind/power violence/hardcore with elements of noise and sound manipulation and samples. album of the year. listen to COLUMN OF HEAVEN HERE. buy this record from sissterssound HERE.