2023 saw an absolute glut of great music so much so that I spent a lot of time rethinking my choices for best albums this year. Lo-fi black metal cemented it’s rise as did dungeon synth as well as a breakthrough of dark folk into more mainstream channels. While wars rage in the world our collective soul is hurting and perhaps the most salient sign of this is the ferocity and force of the music we are creating. So here it is: my top albums of 2023 ALL GENRES, IN …

We have arranged a few special shows to celebrate the release of our new album Victory & Defeat! Our schedule is as follows:
11/30 – Seattle, WA @ The Rabbit Box with Nesting, Medina/Walsh
12/2 – Victoria, BC @ Rebel Company Garage with Funerary Call
12/3 – Vancouver, BC @ The Heatley with Tithe, The Nausea

Victory & Defeat is a journey through a world in turmoil manifesting itself in 10 songs of unrest, esoterica, and a dark determination with a few promises of peaceful release. Spanning haunting dirges, dark folk, melodramatic pop, and epic swells of faithless calls to the deep; the record is the next chapter in the Headstone Brigade saga. Brought to you by Weregnome Records & Existence Establishment.

November 5th @ Teatro de la Psychomachia
$10 – 7PM
Returning
Xiphoid Dementia
Vanessa Skantze & Celadon

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The Artists

Peter J Woods (Milwaukee, WI)
Peter J Woods – A Story
Peter J Woods is a musician, playwright and performance artist from Milwaukee, WI. Up until a few years ago, these three areas were kept isolated, performing music under a number of different monikers and with a handful of different bands (Phoned Nil Trio, xALLxFORxTHISx, Raperies (Like Draperies), Coelacanth, Peter J Woods Free Jazz Ensemble, just to name a few), writing short absurdists pieces for a number of different theatre companies (Insurgent Theatre, Pink Banana, Alamo Basement), and doing …

Introducing the latest effort from Kalpamantra and Malignant Records. The Black Plague is a massive 36 track anthology of some of the best dark ambient and industrial in the world today. The compilation is completely free and is available for download here. The tracklist is as follows:
Part I: Fallout
1 Caul – Lay Your Shadow On The Sundials 4:13
2 False Mirror – The Fall Of Hyperion 6:33
3 Inner Vision Laboratory – Swarm Palace 9:07
4 Troum & Yen Pox – Mnemonic Induction V 12:33
5 Rasalhague & Terra Sancta – Celestial …

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The Artists

Being (Dayton, OH)
Being – Untitled (Excerpt)
Being is the harsh noise project of Luke Tandy, who also operates the Skeleton Dust Recordings label. Starting in 2006, the project has been a vessel for exploring the depths of a variety of extreme sounds and frequencies. There is no political or sociological message; just pure sonic worship. It is the sound of an amplified existence.
The performance for the evening will consist of contact microphones, cassette loops and fuzz pedals used together to discover the possibilities of decaying acoustic feedback …

Now in its eighth iteration, the Milwaukee Noise Fest returns with a facelift, promising to be bigger, better and noisier than ever. From August 22nd to the 24th, FTAM productions will fill the Miramar theatre with twenty four of North America’s absolute best in controlled (and uncontrolled) dissonance and sound wave hijacking.
While the festival continues to focus on local musicians playing host to twelve of the city’s best noise artists, this year will include an expanded roster of international musicians. Creative commons crusaders and plunderphonics masterminds Negativland – best …

Small Cruel Party – An Accident in Substance 3xCD
Harbinger Sound
An Accident in Substance is a mammoth 3 disc retrospective of the work of Small Cruel Party representing a wealth of material. For me, it is actually the introduction to this artist who’s name I have heard floating around for years but never had the motivation to really delve into. Well, I’m glad I did because this is some simply intriguing and even at times profound material.
A written introduction in the packaging states that “the music of Small Cruel Party was …

Blue Sabbath Black Cheer – Crows Eat the Leviathan’s Carcass CD
Release The Bats
One of my favorite projects that I have discovered in recent years; Blue Sabbath Black Cheer present this harrowing full-length comprised of various collected tracks from their more limited releases and a few unreleased tracks as well. If you are not familiar with the project they hail from Seattle and present a barrage of harsh noise and creative industrial that plays out like a more bleak Wolf Eyes.
Due to the fact that this is a collection of …