My year as a music fan was quite a fruitful one. Sourcing album news and suggestions from mailing lists, friends, the BandCamp feed, and other nefarious back channels that I’ve cultivated for years I really feel like I ran the gamut of releases this year. Although I’m sure there are some essentials I may have missed I’m more than satisfied with the array of excellent albums that saw the light of day this year.

2 day event of heavy industrial music from US and European artists, gathering together to shake the grounds of San Francisco. Taking place in the heart of San Francisco’s beautiful Chinatown, this two day event will feature monumental names of the related genres, both seasoned and new, gathered for a massive journey and dynamic blend of dark industrial sonic and visual exploration.

Thanks for the people at Love Earth Music for hosting this virtual in-studio Xiphoid Dementia set at the 2021 Northeast Noise Fest. It features 3 new in-progress tracks performed live with interactive video projections.

And here is the video of the full festival:

Two bold voices resounding from deep within the Pacific Northwest darkfolk zeitgeist amalgamate as one on “Crooked Headstone”, the collaborative album between British Columbia’s CROOKED MOUTH and Washington State’s HEADSTONE BRIGADE. For years, each project has toiled alone in a decaying genre, carving singular identities capable of breathing new life through masterful melodies and incredibly dense doses of poignancy.