NO REASON TO LIVE cd/tee

mentioned working on some art for a cd layout and tshirt for NO REASON TO LIVE a few posts back. just got copies of the final output in hand. i generally have a good idea of how stuff will look once its printed. since i do the bulk of even my design work on paper first. saving any digital adjustment only for stacking the final color layers and making sure it's in the right template. still there's always some small anticipation on what might happen between my hand, the scanner, digitization, and final printing/production. really pleased on how these all came together though. you can stream/download the songs on their bandcamp, as well as find links for ordering physical copies.

zine thing

went by FAREWELL BOOKS the other day and picked up a couple new zines. one from daniel ortuno (aka VILE TREND). who, incidentally, is also responsible for the first BACK TO BACK 7" cover.

and this (i believe) split photo zine by brandon mahler and santos rivera that sweet, sweet young barry pops up in a handful of times.

SOMEONE TALKED

put together this poster for PERMANENT SLEEP PRESS for their reading tour with chris colohan and joseph sulier. this particular poster is for the february 14th date in baltimore. pretty exciting stuff going on over at PERMANENT SLEEP. check their SITE for more info and additional dates, as well as ordering info for copies of these zines and others.

late to the party

wait until the middle of january to post my best of 2013 list? sure, why not.

didn't buy a hundred records in 2013. have almost worn the grooves out already on the ones i did. quality over quantity this round i guess. a few that might be slightly out of character for my historic tastes, but here goes the best 10 either way. in no particular order:

lycus 'tempest' 12" - okay maybe this one is in the number one spot for a reason. how do you make doomy sludge dynamic? i don't know, but they nailed it. also tone of the year.

perfume river 'no wind' flexi 7" - originally came out on tape a couple years ago i think. flexi is all 2013 though. doesn't hit quite as hard as the 'concrete winter' tape did for me, but it's still light years beyond a lot of the other d-beat stuff i heard this year.

COH 'holy things are for the holy' 7" - never really liked power violence. LOVE column of heaven. the way they layer noise and samples and then re-amp and process the shit out of some the sound layers is amazing. i guess this release is pretty far removed even for them, but as far as i'm concerned they can do no wrong. see also the 'failures' and 'romance' cassettes.

YAITW/withdrawal split 7" - this was 2013, right? either way both bands slay. and young and in the way have very quickly become one of my favorite bands. enough BM to keep me interested, enough crust for tempo and tone.

sutekh hexen - black noise dipped in oil and set on fire. they had a ton of stuff come out this year on various labels. mostly vinyl represses of stuff long since sold out on cassette or 1/4" reel. but to keep it 2013 i'll go with the andrew liles remixes double lp. the presentation is amazing as well - full color gatefold jacket with spot gloss details, with laser etching AND playable grooves on the B and D sides.

war master 'blood dawn' 12" - bolt thrower worshipping old school death metal from houston. wasn't sure how they'd pull off replacing the vocalist, but it still works. love the 'pyramid of the necropolis' lp, the 4 songs on this ep blow those out of the water.

sabbath assembly 'ye are gods' 12" - the second round from sabbath assembly of the psychedelic rock hymns of the process church. this time accompanied by readings from the writings of robert de grimston as well as recordings of church gospel. the follow up to 'restored to one', with consistent presentation, but really ramped up content.

hatred surge 'human overdose' 12" - the final album from hatred surge and by far their best. following the trajectory of previous releases, delivering wholly on the the death the groove. almost completely removed from the power violence of their earlier years. cd version also has the songs from the 'purgatory' 7" and 'brutal supremacy' comp.

iron lung 'white glove test' 2x12" - this might have come out in 2012 actually, but i'm still spinning the shit out of it. see column of heaven review. this could make my 10 off the C and D sides alone.

integrity 'suicide black snake' 12" - this one's a no brainer. though i wouldn't be surprised if it showed up on some 'most slept on' lists. a fair number of these songs, or versions of them anyway, already existed as 7"s. but as strong as any one of them are independently, collectively they're even better.

to be clear. the reason the back to back 7", mindless 7", and mammoth grinder 'underworlds' 12" didn't make my list is because i didn't want to show too much texas favoritism. the vvlad side of the horders split cassette didn't make the list because i didn't want to big up my own release or label too hard. and had i not gotten that new war master ep in december, the wolvserpent 'perigaea' 2x12" would have definitely been on the list.

NO REASON TO LIVE

recently wrapped up a full CD layout for pittsburgh death metal/hardcore crossover band NO REASON TO LIVE. physical copies should be available now from the band directly. will post photos of the respective covers, insert, tray, disc, etc once i get my own copies in. for now you can get in touch with the band and stream/download the album through their bandcamp.

COH patches, etc.

just got a few patches from andrew nolan using some art i did for COLUMN OF HEAVEN last year. was stoked to get a handful of COH/etc tapes from him that had disappeared from distros faster than i was able to order as well. as i understand it, the COH guys don't really care to deal with mail order. but the fine folks over at ANTHEMS OF THE UNDESIRABLE have been kind enough to keep their store pretty well stocked.

Motherland (Short, 2013) from Oak & Arrow on Vimeo.

as if andrew wasn't busy enough this past year, he also found time to score this short film by OAK & ARROW. just really great stuff all around.